Slitherine

The war economy has received a significant boost with the capture of all oilfields in the Caucuses in December '43. After meeting determined resistance, we forced the Russians to split their defence of Baku as we drove south from Grozny and east from Poti. This allowed our Grozny forces to capture the oilfield near Baku, providing a huge blow to the Russians. We will now consolidate our position and mop up the remaining allied troops in the area.


Meanwhile, our desert force has managed to eliminate the British defences around Baghdad and capture the adjacent oilfield, providing another substantial boost to our war economy, whilst denying its use to the Allies. Whilst we are facing some local counterattacks from remaining British forces, we will soon repel these and send our troops north to join up with Army Group South, whilst capturing the cities lying in between.


In conjunction with the capture of the oilfields, we have delayed the Italian advance on North Africa to allow us time to upgrade them with the latest weapons and equipment which has just recently become available.

GeneralWerner wrote:Hello JimmyC,
that looks already a little bit dramatic. If the Red Army can really break through even with a large number of infantry it will take you a lot of time to recapture all the occupied positions from the entrenched infantry. And time is the critical currency.

In that case my prognosis is:
After capturing Kursk and moving north attacking the Russians near Smolensk trying to recapture the lost territory you will face the next strong Russian counter offensive in the Kursk area
After you solved this Overlord will happen and you have to split your troops to fight on both frontlines.
You will simply find no opportunity to send the Italians back to North Africa.
Looks like a Draw. I guess due to the oil resources this will be a "comfortable" draw.

I am very interested how your story is going on.
Good luck

The Italian troops have landed in North Africa, but the new '44 units have now become available, so i decided to upgrade all of them first, so that they pack a little more punch. This will take a while, so i expect their advance to be delayed until Spring of '44. I'm hoping that with my naval and air supremacy it will offset the poor standard of the Italian troops and armour.

As for Russia, my hope is that once i mop up the remaining Russian troops in the Caucuses, i can then transfer this Army north. Hopefully this will tip the scales and allow me to destroy the major Russian cities one by one, starting with Stalingrad.

Whilst worrisome, the Russian advance on Vyazma/Smolensk should eventually be crushed by my units advancing on Kursk, which will be captured shortly. Until then, i just have to delay the Russians and stop them from advancing too far.

Anyway, we will see how things turn out, but with my large income and by prioritising my spending, i think i should be ok. As an aside, the Stug IIIG really is an exceptional piece of armour for only 353 prestige (the late war cost of this unit). I am half in mind of spamming some of these units to help stem the Russian tide around Smolensk. They would also be useful for Overlord.

The Russian forces advancing from Vyazma were able to push back our forces around Smolensk, resulting in us abandoning the city. Our troops have now occupied the 3rd and last prepared defensive positions, west of Smolensk around the city of Vitebsk and in the woods to the south of Smolensk. This leaves an opening for the Russians along the frozen Dnieper, but our armour is available to deal with any breakthroughs.


Further north there is a large Russian force advancing along the road from Rzhev. Some Finnish troops are slowing down their advance in a desperate attempt to buy time so that we can bring in reinforcements and commission new units around Nevel and Pskov.


After annihilating the Finnish infantry, the Russians have reached the outskirts of Pskov, where they have been met by our Stugs and upgraded infantry. The gods seem to be on our side, as the weather cleared, allowing the Luftwaffe to rain death on the advancing Russian units. With us rushing further reinforcements to the area and given clear weather is forecast for the next week, we are hopeful of finally stopping the Russian advance on this front.

Our desert forces around Baghdad have suffered a setback. Just as we commenced pushing north towards Kirkuk, the British surprised us by performing a flanking maneuver and capturing the undefended city of Nadjav and the oilfield lying between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers (circled red). We have therefore had to divert our forces back to recapture these positions and destroy the British forces, delaying any advance north. Once captured we will have to garrison the oilfields and cities with troops in order to prevent any further counterattacks. Whilst we are confident of destroying the Commonwealth forces, it will prove a drain on our resources and further limit the manpower available to advance north.

The Russian advance from Rzhev to Pskov was a real threat, so I decided to purchase some new units to stop their advance. A new Stug IIIG, plus 2 Wermacht infantry ’44 units should hopefully see them stopped, although this has resulted in my prestige dropping back to 0 again.

Whilst not mentioned, partisans have been a royal pain in the arse recently and seem to almost be coordinating their appearance with the Russian attacks. I generally lose 50 or 100 prestige each turn to them. I wish the Volkstrum were available now as I need a cheap and effective way to deal with them. As it is, I mostly use the minor Axis nation troops to deal with them – but they are spread very thin and take too long to destroy them.

The surprise British recapture of one of the Baghdad oilfields is putting further pressure on my resources, although I soon expect to take it back.

I have a very strong air defence in the west, so it is very rare for me to lose prestige to Allied bombers. However in the Atlantic it is rare for me to have any u-boats on the shipping lanes as there are just too many Allied surface vessels patrolling them. My Condors and surface fleet have been engaging them, but I have suffered casualties in the process. With Normandy approaching mid-year, I am going to gradually transfer my surface fleet back to Denmark so they can assist in challenging the Normandy landings. Therefore its unlikely that I will generate much prestige from the shipping lanes in the future.

One area where I may generate significant prestige is in North Africa, assuming that the Italian forces are able to defeat the Americans.

JimmyC wrote:
Whilst not mentioned, partisans have been a royal pain in the arse recently and seem to almost be coordinating their appearance with the Russian attacks.

I set up some of the partisans so that they can support major Allied operations, and not only in the east. I think it makes sense that they are ordered to make more trouble when their regular comrades are starting an offensive. Historically there was also some coordination between allied high command and the partisan leaders.

With winter set to come to an end, HKW has reassessed our strategic position and laid out priorities for the next 6 months.



Eastern Front
① Leaving a strong garrison at Kursk, we will retake all cities to the north, including Smolensk and Vyazma. This will cut off the Russian forces attacking Pskov and will allow us to surround and defeat them. We will then commence a direct attack towards Moscow from the west.
② A small force around Rostov will advance to the west bank of the Volga and commence preparatory bombardment of Stalingrad.
③ The majority of our forces in the Caucuses will advance north, capture Astrakhan, before attacking Stalingrad from the south.
④ A small Gebirgsjager force will destroy any remaining Russian units in the Caucuses and capture all remaining Russian cities in the area.

Middle East
⑤ After recapturing the oilfield and destroying all British forces in the area, our forces will head north up the Tigris River and capture all British held cities. We will then advance further north through the Caucuses to Grozny, where we will utilize the rail network to transport these units to France. Given their experience in fighting British forces, these troops should prove invaluable in repelling the expected Allied landings in France.

North Africa
⑥ Our Italian forces will attack towards Tunis where the majority of American forces are situated. In what is expected to be a pitched battle, we are hopeful that the strong Italian air and naval forces will tip the balance in our favor. If we can defeat the American army at Tunis, it should leave the rest of North Africa open and we expect our troops to quickly conquer the remaining American held cities. This will provide a two-fold benefit – providing us with substantial resources and protecting the southern coast of France from a possible Allied seaborn invasion.

France
⑦ Recent Allied naval movements, combined with a large buildup of troops in Britain have alerted us to the fact that there is likely to be an Allied landing on the west coast of France sometime this summer. As the Eastern front remains the top priority, we have determined not to transfer any Wermacht troops to this front, apart from the Desert Force currently in the Middle East. As the Desert Force will take some time to complete its current mission and will likely arrive after the initial landings, we have decided to commission some new Wermacht infantry units by obtaining men from non-essential industries. These troops will occupy strongpoints slightly back from the coast so that they are mostly out of range of the Allied surface fleet. These will be supported by 2nd tier artillery (mostly that of Hungary and Romania). As we already have a strong AA contingent in France, we should have adequate protection from any air threat. We will also divert some towed AT divisions to help in delaying the enemy armour until the Desert Force reinforcements arrive.

Atlantic
⑧ The surface fleet of the Kriegsmarine will be gradually redeployed from the Atlantic to the coast of Denmark, ready to lend assistance by interdicting any Allied naval transports coming from the north of the English Channel. These will be covered by 3 squadrons of experienced FW-190’s and further supported by 2 squadrons of JU 188A’s. This will leave our u-boats and Condors (based out of Iceland) to harass the shipping lanes, although it is unlikely they will have much success. The troops garrisoning Iceland will be pulled back to Western Europe, as it is thought unlikely the Americans will attempt another invasion there following the debacle which was their previous invasion attempt.

McGuba wrote: I set up some of the partisans so that they can support major Allied operations, and not only in the east. I think it makes sense that they are ordered to make more trouble when their regular comrades are starting an offensive. Historically there was also some coordination between allied high command and the partisan leaders.

Yes, it seems that Partisans appear more often during major Russian attacks. I've also had my artillery being attacked from behind by Partisans whilst fending off the Russian attacks. I feel this adds a further degree of realism as it would make sense that they would choose that time to conduct major partisan operations. But sometimes it makes me despair as i'm only just holding off the Russian hoard only to see partisans springing up behind my lines!!

Really nasty. For example you move a tank unit back into a city to upgrade them and suddenly the tanks are attacked and really damaged by Partisans coming out of nowhere. Or you get a message about a blocked railway and you have to find the partisans first because they are hidden in the fog of war.

But in reality Partisans also made a lot of trouble to the Axis.

With the D-Day you will see also more Partisan activity trying to block your railways preventing you from sending troops from east to west. So as you plan to move your troops from Grozny to France: protect the railways you need for that move!

Good luck for D-Day!

GeneralWerner wrote:...With the D-Day you will see also more Partisan activity trying to block your railways preventing you from sending troops from east to west. So as you plan to move your troops from Grozny to France: protect the railways you need for that move!

Good luck for D-Day!

Thanks for that tip. I will keep it in mind. Actually, my D-Day troops are well behind schedule. Its unlikely the Desert Force will get there until Autumn and my Icelandic troops have also experienced a setback (will update that shortly). So all i have are a heap of AA and some newly commissioned infantry that are occupying bocage. Time seems to be running out to set up my defences here.

With the upcoming Allied landings expected in northern France, our troops defending Iceland are being transferred by aircraft to assist in the defence of fortress Europe. The Hungarian artillery and German AT division departed in March, leaving one German infantry division, which had to wait several weeks due to limited availability of transports.

Just as these troops reached the airfield, an urgent report was received from the Icelandic coastguard that American transports had been spotted off the coast. With no time to confer with HKW, the division commander must make the decision – to depart with his infantry division and abandon Iceland or stay and fight?

Apart from the infantry division which he commands, there are 2 Condor squadrons that he can call upon. However with 4 transports spotted and likely more approaching, this will not be enough to repel the invaders. His only hope lies in the Kriegsmarine – are there any of the surface fleet within range?

Breaking radio silence he called out to any friendly vessels in range – “Allied invasion force sported off Icelandic coast. Situation critical. Please respond”. Hearing only the drone of the Condors taking off in preparation for a bombing run, he prepares to order his troops to board the Junker transports. But suddenly, the radio lights up “Battle Cruiser Scharnhorst and Heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper within range. Moving to engage enemy transports.”

It looked like he and his troops would be spending a little longer on this cold and dreary island…

Very well written - I was actually getting worried about your Icelandic commander in your last update!

For proof that I lack the concentration to play such large maps: I lost a recon in France earlier today because - after working out how to clear an escape route (which worked perfectly) - I got distracted and forgot to move it to safety, leaving it to face at least 8 angry French units.

Thanks. Usually i write factually, but have been inspired by General Werner's writing style which really puts you in the shoes of the commanders.

The timing of the US invasion of Iceland really caught me off guard. I had already sent most of the Kriegsmarine and ground forces back to Europe and next turn would have transported the last infantry unit out. Will provide an update tomorrow on how they fared.

Eastern Front

Attack Force Moscow
After capturing Kursk, our forces proceeded to head north, rolling up all Russian resistance encountered on the way. The earlier Russian counterattack from Rhzev was cut off and destroyed, with only scattered Russian forces managing to escape the encirclement. Our forces in this area have now been re-designated ‘Task Force Moscow’ and have been assigned the objective of capturing the Russian capital itself.

Even now, our forces advance from the south and west of Moscow. The Russians have been sacrificing troops to slow our advance, however we will soon be in a position to directly attack the capital. As the Russians have had significant time to entrench, we have deployed several pioneer regiments to assist in the assault. Whilst we have bomber support, the heavy flak defences in the area mean that we will mostly rely on our artillery to assist in reducing the defences, with the tactical bombing arm of the Luftwaffe being used to attack Russian armour around the city.

The Russians have been deploying light tanks as we approach Moscow, which our forces have easily crushed. Have the Russians committed the majority of their heavy tanks to the counterattack at Kursk? If so, it will make the capture of Moscow all the easier.

Counterattack at Kursk (again)
The Russians seem determined to retake Kursk and have launched another counterattack from their bases at Voronezh with heavy armour supported by Russian infantry. The Russian air force is also concentrating in this area.

With the end of winter our pilots were surprised to encounter the new generation of Russian fighters, which are on equal footing with our most modern Bf109’s. As almost our entire AA is located in Western Europe and given scarce resources, this has led to the previously unheard of situation where our fighter pilots are declining to engage the Russian fighters. Instead, our fighters are either interdicting any unprotected Russian bombers, or else covering our own forces.

Whilst we left a strong garrison at Kursk after capturing it, the Russian counterattack has forced us to relocate our premier panzer division containing the majority of our Tiger tanks to Kursk. These had originally been earmarked to spearhead the attack on Moscow. We have also transferred a Panther and Stug division to the area, in addition to a significant number of infantry, backed by artillery, in order to repel the Russian attack.

The Russian forces employ heavy armour and SMG infantry in their efforts to retake Kursk.

The Battle for Stalingrad
Following the successful capture of Astrakhan by our forces in the Caucuses, we have advanced on Stalingrad and have commenced attacking it from the south. Concurrently, a small force advanced from Rostov and now bombards Stalingrad from the west. With the city attacked from 2 sides, we expect that it will be captured in late Autumn of ’44. Depending on the strategic situation at the time, we will then either advance north along the east bank of the Volga, or redeploy our forces to other areas, whilst leaving a strong garrison in the city.

Whilst strongly garrisoned, the defenders of Stalingrad will be blasted out of the city by our artillery.

Western Front

Operation Neptune, the largest seaborne invasion that the world has ever seen, commenced in early June ’44. Whilst not completely unexpected, the sheer number of Allied aircraft caught us by surprise, with them quickly achieving air supremacy and forcing the Luftwaffe to withdraw further inland. Our fighters are now engaging and destroying Allied bombers that venture too far inland without fighter support, however our 3 squadrons of Fw-190’s are otherwise helpless to support our defences near the coast. Thankfully, we have very strong flak defences, however this is not deterring the Allied bombers from attacking our troops.

The Allies also have complete control of the sea, with a huge force of capital ships screened by destroyers. Whilst the capital ships initially bombarded our fixed coastal defences, they are now targeting our troops further inland, which will necessitate the withdrawal of our troops even further from the coast and give the Allies easy Axis to the channel ports.

This shows the position of the Allied and Axis forces at the commencement of the invasion. Rennes was initially designated as a strongpoint, with the intention of German forces to stand and fight at the city. However the rapid deployment of the Allies resulted in us deciding to withdraw our troops to more defensible positions south of the Loire river.

British Naval Forces
The Kriegsmarine had been concentrating near the waters off Denmark, ready to attack any transports within range. However all transports were located south of the English Channel and in the north there is a very strong Allied surface fleet that blocks any attempts to approach. In this area the British outgun and outnumber us and our own surface fleet has been forced to withdraw to avoid annihilation. Showing the futility of attacking the British fleet north of the channel, HKW have even released the uboats concentrating in Denmark and sent them back to the Atlantic shipping lanes, as it is believed they can cause more damage disrupting supplies rather than attacking the strongly defended capital ships. If the Kriegsmarine had been located south of the English Channel, then they would have been in a position to contest the landings, as the supporting Allied surface fleet are fewer in that area. For the moment though, they are impotent.

Of major concern is the damage the Allied capital ships are doing to our shore based defences. The constant naval barrages have resulted in all coastal defences having to be abandoned and our troops will have to withdraw far inland to escape the range of their guns. This has significant implications for our defensive strategy.

The Allied capital ships north of the English Channel are ringed by an escort of destroyers, making it almost impossible for uboats to attack undetected. The Kriegsmarine is no match for these forces and has therefore retreated a safe distance. Meanwhile, south of the English channel, the invasion force lands unopposed.

Defence of the Loire River
Our forces south east of the main landing areas have withdrawn to strong defensive positions along the Loire River, after abandoning Rennes. Further reinforcing our defences, a construction brigade has built a strongpoint/fortified bunker complex east of Nantes. As long as the Allied navy doesn’t intervene, we are confident that we can hold this defensive line. If the Allied navy does intervene, we will implement a staged withdrawal further east.

Strong Axis defences south of the Loire River. Their only vulnerability is from possible naval bombardment, should the Allied capital ships move south from their current location

Defence of Paris
We have 3 lines of defence for Paris. First, we have infantry units entrenched in the bocage terrain to the west (circled blue). These forces will delay any advancing Allied troops, hopefully inflicting significant damage, before falling back to the 2nd line of defence. The 2nd line is a combined arms battle group, consisting of AA, artillery, AT and infantry. Should the pressure on the 2nd line of defences prove too much, we will fall back to the 3rd line of defences, along the Siene River and in Paris itself. A construction brigade has built a strongpoint/fortified bunker complex at the main crossing point of the Siene River on the outskirts of Paris, whilst AA and infantry occupy Paris and its surrounds, providing us with protection from every expected direction of attack.

HKW have declared Paris to be a stronghold.

I look forward to read about your experience at the western front and whether you think the strongpoints are worth the money you have spent.

In the east it looks good. The road to Moscow seems open promising you a prestige boost. Let's see how many Red Army forces are still waiting on the eastern side of Moscow to go to battle if you try to occupy the city.

GeneralWerner wrote:I look forward to read about your experience at the western front and whether you think the strongpoints are worth the money you have spent.

Yes, i also wonder whether the cost of strongpoints is worth it, considering you can't reinforce them and they are static. But I wanted to give them a go to see how they are. Very difficult was deciding where to place them. I am not sure where they are best suited. I mistakenly placed the one south of the Loire River as i didnt notice that the river is too wide at that point to be crossed (facepalm).

I found it really tough facing the Allied air force. Anything less than a 2 star FW190 will be blown out of the sky. I had a 1 star FW190 on 10 health that was destroyed outright by just 2 Allied fighters! Also, the Allied capital ships essentially mean it is very hard (almost impossible) to defend with any units within 4 clicks of the coast, which is a huge amount of territory to give up.

GeneralWerner wrote:In the east it looks good. The road to Moscow seems open promising you a prestige boost. Let's see how many Red Army forces are still waiting on the eastern side of Moscow to go to battle if you try to occupy the city.

As i control the Caucuses it denies the Russians access to their oil. So i believe that i will be mostly facing Russian infantry, rather than armour (at least i think that's how McGuba explained it). And as i also control Leningrad, it should further weaken the Russian forces a bit. So i feel comfortable for the moment on this front. Actually the only thing that worries me are the Russian fighters, which seem to slightly outclass by Bf109G-6's. They are forcing all the minor Axis allied planes to retreat or be destroyed.

JimmyC wrote:Yes, i also wonder whether the cost of strongpoints is worth it, considering you can't reinforce them and they are static.

If they are well placed (like at a river crossing) and protected they might worth their price. However, many historians claim that the Atlantic Wall was a waste of resources. After all it was hundreds of miles long, from Norway down to the French-Spanish border and the Allies only had to penetrate it at one sector to make a foothold in the continent. And they did so with relaitve ease at Normandy. Its construction needed huge efforts, manpower and material, which could have been used elsewhere. Also it was exposed to naval bombardment. So probably a deeper and more mobile defense with some fortified areas could have been more cost effective.

I found it really tough facing the Allied air force. Anything less than a 2 star FW190 will be blown out of the sky.[/quote

Historically the Luftwaffe was virtually destroyed as a fighting force in just a matter of 3-4 months in spring 1944. It suffered huge losses due to the introduction of long range fighters who could escort the bombers all the way.

As i control the Caucuses it denies the Russians access to their oil. So i believe that i will be mostly facing Russian infantry, rather than armour (at least i think that's how McGuba explained it).

Actually the capture of the oil fields mostly reduces the number of enemy tanks and air units, but there will be quite a lot left. So it is not going to be just infantry.

McGuba wrote:

JimmyC wrote:Yes, i also wonder whether the cost of strongpoints is worth it, considering you can't reinforce them and they are static.

If they are well placed (like at a river crossing) and protected they might worth their price. However, many historians claim that the Atlantic Wall was a waste of resources. After all it was hundreds of miles long, from Norway down to the French-Spanish border and the Allies only had to penetrate it at one sector to make a foothold in the continent. And they did so with relaitve ease at Normandy. Its construction needed huge efforts, manpower and material, which could have been used elsewhere. Also it was exposed to naval bombardment. So probably a deeper and more mobile defense with some fortified areas could have been more cost effective.

Re. the Atlantic Wall, I was under the impression that it was mostly for propaganda purposes. I believe the alternative plan presented at the time was to have a large mobile force back from the coast and ready to concentrate and react to any invasion. However this plan was discarded as Allied air superiority meant that such a force would suffer significant casualties when concentrating and moving to engage (which was pretty much what happened when the Axis launched their abortive counterattack at Arracourt).

Whilst I have a relatively large number of infantry units in France, they are mostly green units which I had purchased recently. Most of the Allied units are 2 stars, which puts me at a significant disadvantage when engaging them.

For example, a British commando unit with 3 stars approached my 2nd line of defense around Paris. I attacked with artillery, which reduced him to 8 health and 2 suppressed. I then went to attack with a green German infantry ’44 unit, only to see that the odds were 2,-5 (ie. I would cause 2 damage and suffer 5 in return). Whilst I realise that the British commando probably has the best stats of the Allied infantry, those predicted combat results still seem pretty crazy!

So even though i have a large income (around 1,000 prestige per turn), buying green units isn't going to help that much. Also, as I’m playing on Field Marshal, experience is slow coming. In this regard, I'm actually considering using the v rockets to help in destroying some of the Allied invasion forces that are attacking my troops, which could actually be more useful than the prestige it would generate.