Slitherine

Campaign: 1939-1945
Difficulty: Field Marshall
Map/Scenario: Bagration
Outcome: Decisive victory.

My core
(* indicate how many stars they have.)

[Infantry]
** Wehrmacht infantry
** Wehrmacht infantry
*** Wehr Grenadiers
*** Wehr Grenadiers
* Fallschirmjager
* Fallschirmjager
** Gebirgsjager
* Brukepioneer
** SS Grenadiers

[Tanks]
* PzIV-J
* PzIV-J
*** Panther G
** King Tiger
** King Tiger
* SS PzIV-J
* SS Panther G

[Recon]
** SDKFZ 232 (Recon)
SDKFZ 233 (Recon) (Didnt participate)

[Anti-Tank]
* Elephant
** JagdPanther

[Artillery]
** 21 CM (Artillery)
** 21 CM (Artillery)
** 30 CM Nebelwerfer
* Wurfrahmen
* Wurfrahmen

[Anti-Air]
** 8.8CM Flak

[Fighters]
* BF-109K
* FW-190-D-9
*** FW-190-D-9
*** FW-190-D-9

[TAC]
*** Ju-87G
*** Ju-87G
*** Ju-87G
** Ju-87G
** Ju-87G

[Level Bombers]
*** Me-410A
*** Ju-188A



Defensive strategy.
Most of the green line is covered by a river. Any Soviet attempt to cross it result in cannonbird attack followed by tank assault. 1, 2, 3 and 4(The red line) is simply delay action. I stay here for 1-2 turns max, then retreat to the second line of defense where infantry is already waiting. I make cannongbirds attack anything in sight that could threaten my big tanks/AT's.

1. King Tiger, Grenadier and 21CM Artillery. FW190 above protecting from air strikes. The grenadier will take a beating early on so i move King Tiger and artillery one hex back. This will keep artillery safe while it can still protect the King Tiger. The Grenadier i wrote off for the rest of the scenario and i move them safely behind the front line.
2. Jagdpanther, 30CM Nebelwerfer, 8.8CM Flak.
3. Elephant and 21CM artillery. Elephant have no protection against air strikes, but anyone attacking will get an answer from the 88 and a fighter plane asap.
4. King Tiger and Grenadier. FW190 Protected. Grenadier was encircled and killed in the retreat. Most cannonbirds are also stationed here while being protected by the FW190.
5 and 6 i improvise based on how retreat goes. For me the Elephant was broken so badly i couldnt repair it so i wrote it off and moved it away from the frontline. Jagdpanther also took a breating but made it back and could still pack a punch, it was later destroyed thought.
At 5 Bridgeengineers are held up in the woods, regular infantry in the city(Lepel) and a reserve PzIV-J awaiting orders next to bridge.
At 6 the mountain troops are set up in Borisov. There is also a reserve PzIV-J awaiting orders in Minsk, which is just off the map.
7. i put my SS units here. (I like to keep them together) SS-PzIV-J, SS-Panther G, SS-Grenadiers and Wurfrahmen. A sdkfz-232 as reserve FW-190 protecting skies. This is mainly where Ivan concentrated his attacks and the SS-PzIV-J was destroyed.
8. Panther, Wurfrahmen and regular infantry. BF-109K and a cannonbird in the skies. This front saw little action so the Panther moved up to 7 and the cannonbird assisted whenever the remaining 2 was attacked. They turned back atleast 2 Stalin tanks.

In addition there are 2 Ju-52’s with Fallschirmjagers waiting to drop where needed. In my case they ended up at 5 and 6 because these lines were hit hard by Stalin tanks early on.

Priorities early on.
1. Air superiority. By turn 3-4 there isnt many VVS planes left to worry about.
2. I send cannonbirds to destroy kates and other artillery pieces. Kates seem to tear up infantry pretty good so i got rid of them fast.
3. I also took the juicy opportunity to destroy the AA tanks when i got the chanse.
I also concentrate cannonbirds to attack heavy tanks/AT’s that threaten to breach line or destroy my retreating armor
I ignore infantry, scout vehicles and light/medium tanks for the first turns.

My casualties were
*** Wehr Grenadiers.
* SS PzIV-J
** JagdPanther

May they rest in pieces.

Ill finish by saying i do not think this map is to hard.

A god plan that appeared to work

Nice to see the AAR section getting some more topics

More.


Turn 6. Situation under controll. Luftwaffe is very busy.


Last Stalin tank attacking sector 6. Stopped by fallschirmjager, gebrigsjager, neberwerfer and a cannonbird.
I didnt dare to move my TigerII down to finish off the kill as that was how i lost my Jagdpanther a few turns earlier.


Turn 10. Sector 7 is still being attacked but intensity is reduced and Soviet armor is suffering from my cannonbirds. Those trying to cross the bridge is met by a TigerII and a Panther.


Damaged tanks waiting for next round.

Decisive Victory is achieved. Because of our success, Germany negotiated peace with the Soviet Union. After such a battle, i wish peace was an alternative for my men. Instead i receive words from the oberkommando that we are transfered to the western front.
We are to spearhead the Ardennes offensive. A last breakout attempt to force the western allies to negotiate.
On the train, on our way to the west we mourn our losses, while we drink Russian vodka and sing "Ich hatt einen kameraden."

This late in the war we are unable to replace units lost. We did however recieve elite refreshments for the units we still have. And the luftwaffe have provided us with a new jetplane that will help us against the Americans and British.

Excellent AAR! I can't wait to see what happens in the Ardennes.

the true is that when I played this game for the first time I tried to only win, but after that I made little upgrades and tried to different ways. Ardens are not so hard, but everything depends on weather, special is it in Rusia