The Frozen North, Round 4
Neccromancer is one of the best MP players and my equal or superior in almost every way. This time we fought on The Frozen North (fourth time we played on this map) in a battle between two equally matched opponents of the highest caliber. We have both improved in the many months since our last battle. This is venturing into the realm of hyperbole, but this was like Manstein vs Zhukov.
Neither my opponent nor I had played this map in a while, so we were both a bit rusty to start. I didn’t deploy my troops the usual way (mostly because I had forgotten my old deployment scheme). I purchased 1 King Tiger in the north and 3 Jagdpanthers overall, along with many infantry and a few StuG IIIGs and StuG IVs. My opponent got a good combination of Soviet units, from conscripts to Guards 43 to SU-100/SU-122/ISU-122/ISU-152 to rocket artillery.
My major mistake this game was the lack of a coherent strategic plan. I usually count on my superior tactical and operational skills to win matches, but this time my opponent is every bit as good as I am tactically and operationally.
Strategy is deciding what kind of units to get, what theater to reinforce, and what the overall objectives are. Operations is specific to a theater, how I plan on advancing and taking an objective given the forces available. Tactics is stuff like using mass attack, forcing tanks to retreat onto close terrain so they can be finished off by infantry, etc. Between two players of different skill levels, usually only tactics and operations matter. But if you play against someone roughly as good as you, then strategy is very important.
My plan at the start of the game was simply to attack on all fronts and see what happens. This was ultimately a bad idea. There was a huge armored clash in the north between my units and his. Mountaineers duked it out in the peaks at the very north while the burning wreckage of Soviet and German AFVs littered the frozen fields. I caught a few of his SU-100s in the swamp terrain (which can be a bit difficult to distinguish from clear with the frozen tileset) at the beginning because my opponent didn’t notice the graphical difference, but he quickly corrected this. I made mistakes too, for instance, l left too many of my armored units exposed with no flank protection, and those were wiped out by massed Soviet armor attacks. In the past on this map, I tend to try to conserve armor strength as much as possible in the north, but this time I forgot about my old maxim.
After many fierce engagements, both sides were exhausted of armor, but the Soviets started a relentless push with infantry in the middle. First they seized control of the middle (Junction City), then they started advancing north along a broad front. I had lost most of my armor except for the King Tiger, the starting Jagdpanzer, and the odd StuG I had left or I had chosen to reinforce the area with. The Soviet attack eventually overwhelmed my defenses and took the upper NW VH, and soon I ran out of ground to retreat to and lost my entire army in an epic battle of encirclement. It’s rather depressing to be on the receiving end of my favorite type of operation. This took about 18 turns or so. I was at this point down 5 VH to 2, down about 5 core slots, and the game seemed over.
The Soviet battle doctrine emphasized massed attacks. There were often 7-8 conscripts at the front. The quantity of Soviet troops was unbelievable, and they just attacked all of my units over and over again until my troops were worn down and destroyed. The frontal assaults incurred tremendous Russian casualties (see screenshot for losses), but the Russians had plenty more men in reserve, whereas I was always desperately requesting reinforcements from High Command, but few were forthcoming. After about turn 10, I fought most of the battle about 3-5 core slots down. The reality of the Eastern Front, with superior German troops holding off wave after wave of Soviet troops is depicted very well in this regard. An attritional strategy works very well for the Soviets.
I had a chance to try to save some of my units in the north, especially my artillery pieces, but I failed to do so until it was too late. Trying to avoid an encirclement is harder than it looks, as there is a tendency to stand your ground and die rather than conduct a speedy retreat. I condemned my men to destruction because of a stubborn unwillingness to retreat until it was too late. Operationally I probably could’ve saved part of my army if I had acted faster, but strategically I was just unwilling to give up that NE VH, despite the fact that I couldn’t hold it after losing the center.
But the sacrifice of my soldiers was not in vain, as it tied down huge quantities of Soviet troops and bought me the time to set up the defenses in the middle of the map. In the south we skirmished constantly, trading blows forwards and backwards. Eventually I managed to clear out most of his armor in the sector around the time my army in the north was doomed. Using a combination of infantry, a Panzer IIIN, StuG IV, Panzer II Luchs, and the occasional Jagdpanther, I started a strong push towards the east while attempting to take back the central VH. Belatedly I realized that there was no way I could possibly take or hold the central VH, and instead I should’ve shifted almost all of my units to the east to try to take the two SE Soviet VH and try to win the game that way.
One thing that helped me out a lot was the prestige income from capturing Soviet flags. I desperately needed every point of prestige I could get, and my Panzer II Luchs did not disappoint. One of my recon units even used the eastern-most land corridor to circle all the way north, taking flags and gaining prestige as it went, only encountering Soviet troops defending VH. That one recon unit was responsible gaining me hundreds of prestige and for tying down 3-4 Soviet units in its peregrinations, making it my MVP unit.
I had a very real chance to win the game now, and my opponent thought he was certain to lose, but he nevertheless fought on, much like when things seemed hopeless for me. I had about 7 turns to take two objectives. A never-ending stream of conscripts backed up by a few SU units did their best to hold me off. I surrounded and took the mid-eastern VH, then headed south with the clock ticking down. At this point, my normally superior operational skills failed me, for instance, I didn’t send my Stuka until the last turn, despite 3 continuous turns of non-snowy weather. I didn’t get any range 3 artillery, which would’ve helped immensely to deal with the Soviet rocket artillery. And most critically, I didn’t park a Jagdpanther next to the last Soviet VH to prevent respawns. A tenacious Soviet defense held up my advance long enough to secure victory.
This game reflected the realities of the late war on the Eastern Front incredibly well. The Soviets relied on their numerical superiority to overcome the qualitatively superior German units. A huge Soviet offensive encircled and destroyed a German army, but a Wehrmacht counterattack pushed the Soviets hard and gained local success, only to fall short of gaining enough ground for a victory.
I might’ve won if I had realized earlier that I should’ve sent more troops to the south. I also should’ve realized earlier after losing the central VH that the best course of action was to conduct a fighting withdrawal with my force in the north via the extreme western land corridor. If I had placed more of a strategic emphasis in the SE, I might’ve won this game. As it was, the lack of an overall plan cost me the game. My opponent correctly saw the NW as the primary objective after taking the center. The German response afterwards was confused. Attacking east, then north, then east again was not a good plan. This was a very tense, see-sawing game where both players at one point seemed to hold a clear advantage, yet both players rallied in the face of impending defeat, and the game came down to the absolute wire. A truly well-fought battle by both sides, but my opponent was the superior at the end of the day.
Panzer Corps seriously needs a replay feature, because of multiplayer battles like this one.
Strategic map on the last turn.
SE VH. Note the composition of German and Soviet units. This sector had 2 of my 3 heavy armor units, all Jagdpanthers.
Total Losses. Note the Germans and Soviets lost about the same number of AFVs, but the Soviets lost 3 times as many infantry (mostly conscripts).
