Slitherine

(based on Storming Stalingrad, the 1942 Panzer Corps DLC mission)

The Panzer Division Commander opens his orders, and immediately starts cursing.

Previously, he had managed to successfully persuade High Command that a siege of Sevastopol was a far better option than a direct assault upon the heavily fortified port of Sevastopol. The loss of life from an assault would have crippled his precious Panzer division.

But now he had no choice. High Command had ordered him to storm Stalingrad and wasn't willing to consider a siege.

He unrolled the map of Stalingrad, and began to curse again. His Panzer division was at its best in the countryside. Stalingrad was block after block of factories and other buildings; city fighting at its worst.

Finally, he called in his regimental and battalion commanders for a meeting, possibly the last meeting they would ever have.

He looked around the table and acknowledged his three regimental commanders. Standing a few steps back behind the regimental commanders were the battalion commanders.

Addressing his Panzer Regimental Commander, he said, "Normally, the Panzers lead the assault, but because we will be fighting in the city, the infantry regiments will lead the assault.
The first Panzer Battalion will be responsible for controlling the airfields. That includes reinforcing our Italian allies and making sure we don't lose the airfields that they currently hold.
The second Panzer Battalion will be responsible for controlling the streets around the objectives that the Infantry capture.
The third Panzer Battalion will assist the Infantry in assaulting enemy controlled buildings."

Addressing the Mechanized Infantry Regimental Commander, he continues, "Your troops will lead the assault. You will clear the objective areas."
Addressing the Motorized Infantry Regimental Commander, he continues, "Your troops will take control of the objectives that the Mechanized Infantry has cleared."
"Good luck."

Order of Battle
1st Regiment: Panzers (1 SE PzIIIL, 4 SE PzIVG, 5 PzIVG, 2 KV1b, 1 KV1c)
2nd Regiment: Mechanized Infantry (1 Grenadier, 1 Mtn, 3 Engineers; all with halftracks) and 1 Para
3rd Regiment: Motorized Infantry ( 2 Wer, 5 Mtn; all with trucks)
Support: 5 21 cm Mrs towed artillery, 1 SU-122 artillery
Air Support: 3 Bf 109G fighters, 1 Bf 110G tactical bomber, 1 Ju-87 tactical bomber, 4 He 177A strategic bombers

Deployment: 3 tanks in the south (to support Italians), remainder of ground forces in the north. Air units split between Italian-controlled airfields and northern air fields

Final Result: Decisive victory on turn 16.
Lost 6k prestige (from start on turn 1, to start of next scenario after replacements purchased)
6 experienced infantry and 2 experienced tanks destroyed in scenario; built three extra engineers during scenario, other lost troops replaced with reserves

I could have kept on fighting after turn 16 by avoiding taking the last objective, and instead focusing on other prestige generating objectives. However, I felt that continuing to fight would result in greater loss of troops than the increased prestige income, so ending the battle as soon as possible would be more likely to keep my force as intact as possible.

Sounds like High Command was quite mean - Sevastopol was successfully sieged - why not for Stalingrad then. I am aware that this scenario is a core crippler. I played it on Sergeant and still lost some units!

- BNC

Urban environment.Lots of infantry needed. At least 8-9. I use Gebirgsjagers w/o transport and Grenadiers with halftracks.
You have Way too many tanks for this scenario.
You needed much more artillery, of a lower caliber for more shots.
Strange Luftwaffe contingent there. Need at least 6 fighters for gaining air superiority and escorting bombers.
As you said, your core is suited for open country, not urban terrain.

Hints:
Never put armor in city hexes.
Never put infantry on the front line in open terrain.
Back up All units with artillery for defense.
The 15 cm gun is the best against infantry in an urban environment. Your 21 cm Morsers are something I never use.

My basic formula is 1/4 infantry, 1/4 artillery, 1/4 armor, 1/4 air. You adjust this according to the terrain in the particular scenario.

You cannot afford to lose core units on the scale you experienced. Losing one is bad enough, losing more than one is a tragedy.

Playing this scenario with the proper forces makes it much more survivable.

shawkhan wrote: Strange Luftwaffe contingent there. Need at least 6 fighters for gaining air superiority and escorting bombers.

My basic formula is 1/4 infantry, 1/4 artillery, 1/4 armor, 1/4 air. You adjust this according to the terrain in the particular scenario.

You cannot afford to lose core units on the scale you experienced. Losing one is bad enough, losing more than one is a tragedy.

My 3 fighters were fine for air superiority in this scenario (although my core has six fighters for the scenarios that require more fighters). After the initial attacks, the Soviet Forces only have one airfield on the map, so incoming air attacks are predictable and easily defeated.

I think my primary issue with this scenario was that I was thinking I could play this scenario without adding units to my core. My core had 13 inf, so I brought all 13 inf. I also had 6 artillery and brought all six artillery. The reserves in my core that I didn't bring to the scenario were captured tanks, 88 Flaks, scout vehicles, bridge unit, and additional fighters and extra tactical bombers.

I have not been bringing 1/4 artillery, but I can see that would make a difference. Most scenarios I bring 4-5 artillery and several strat bombers.

Stalingrad is all about survival.
Artillery defending every position can make all the difference.
When possible I even double up artillery protection.
I use StuGIIIBs to screen the advance when artillery cannot keep up as I refuse to use the Sturmpanzer in the game.
You of course will never survive the '43 scenarios if you continue to lose core units at this rate.
Please post your experience with Stalingrad Docks as I consider it harder than Storming Stalingrad.
We are All pulling for you!

I got around to storming Stalingrad myself last night.
Couldn't make myself reduce my fighter coverage to three but did manage with only five.
About twelve armor,ten infantry(Grenadiers,Gebirgsjagers and Pioniere)
Six towed artillery, a shiny new SU-122, a Wurfrahmen and 2 StuGIIIBs.


Start positions, Northern Flank

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Start Southern Flank

I had set-up forces ready to go into the woods after the partisans while my other forces moved East.

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The assault on Gumrak went quite well, didn't use air as it is an AA intensive zone.
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After Gumrak, faced a pretty forceful Russian counterattack, which took two turns to finish off.

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The last objective fell on Turn 22.

Finished with almost the same prestige with which I started, no core units lost.

75k prestige? May i ask at which difficulty settings are you paying? I have done this recently myself and all i managed to scrounge up was around 20k prestige at this point.

I started in 1939, playing at Field Marshal.
I have done many things to save up prestige since then, since I am hoping to some day try Sea Lion '45 again, and know I will need a considerable amount to pay for replacements, not to mention buy all the pretty new toys available then.
I tend to severely restrict overstrength for units and play with the cheapest units available before going into Russia. For instance, I didn't buy tanks until the PzIVD became available and conquered France with just 3 of those.
I use Gebirgsjagers w/o transport as long as I can as it is much cheaper to replace them if you do this.
I haven't lost a core unit yet while playing the Grand Campaign.
I use towed artillery for the most part and try to always be prepared to defend with artillery back-up.
I hope to have at least 80k by the end of 1942.

That's very impressive. I still need to improve, but I'm trying to get better at using artillery.

I just finished storming Stalingrad. I tried a new approach with all my infantry (except the paras) and all my arty (a good mix but no Sigs since early Poland), all 3 88s, a 4* Marder, my best KV1B and KV1C. One 15cm and two infantry, plus my two shermans stayed in the woods with the air force (a strat bomber, Rudel, Recon Rudel in a 110 to look for AA, and four fighters) to help the Italians and hold off any southern counterattack.

The plan was to take out the northern sector, neutralise teh airfield and sweep down onto the two other objectives. As I had so many ground forces in teh northern deployment area, the SE units (3 inf and 2 Panzer IVG) were to be brought on board on turn 1.

Progress was slow but methodical, and I managed to keep casualties relatively low. I lost one core unit - an experienced fighter with a+3A hero (it made a good escort) - and that was due to a very badly timed retaking of the northern airfield, and a bad roll on the attempt to retake it - plus two or three auxiliary Italians. Casualties overall weren't that heavy compared with previous attempts. I managed to get MV on the final turn with a bit of luck, but I would probably have needed another 10 to 12 turns for DV, so way off that.

MV would have been pretty much a certainty if I'd remembered to bring on the SE units (they spent the entire battle sitting in barracks somewhere much safer), and if I had not missed a partisan in the woods (I had to go back and recapture an airport when I was all set to head North) and if I hadn't kept a couiple of units on watch in the south.

I was playing at General, and after reinforcing the damaged units back to where they were at the beginning of Stalingrad Docks I am on roughly 45,000 prestige, pretty much the same as I went in with. I enjoyed it more this time round - actually this is about the first time I have enjoyed Stalingrad. Maybe that was because I never looked close to getting DV after about turn 6, and simply focussed on doing what I could as well as possible, and accepting MV or loss as they came. I wasn't too upset about my fuel-free 109 crashing, so I must have been having fun.

Now to read some AARs for guidance on the docks...

And well done to Shawkhan on doing so well on FM - I find 1939 hard on FM!

Was doing fine until turn 18 and got crushed. Didn't expect to see the air strike late in the game and got too ambitious grabbing city squares, leaving troops vulnerable. I had split my forces for a north and south attack and let the Italians beat off the western counter-attack with the assistance of air power. But it seems from reading these posts, that everything should be attacking from the north. Is that true?

gmartinz wrote:and got too ambitious

My sympathies. Panzer Corps is very harsh on over-ambition. Almost all of my biggest failures have happened when I decided that it wouldn't do any harm to take that city/finish off that stray unit/move this unit instead of resupplying etc.

Agreed with captainjack - PzC forces you to be slow and methodical - and every move has to be chess-like or you'll end up paying. This is particularly true in the meat-grinder city scenarios.

Buut... the second time playing is a bit easier - you know where units are and where the attacks are coming from. You also know what triggers the counter-attacks so you can take a turn or two to gather yourself before the next step.

Was not ready for the AI to make an end run around my forces and hit my airfields...a very challenging and rewarding scenario. Does make you plot each move very carefully!

well...here we go again....staggering into Stalin-whatever....Storming?..that's a misnomer.. .as we move on to the next scenario....this game is VERY challenging...very much like chess....although in chess there is NO fog of war.....can't see how some dude's have so many Prestige Points...at one point a coupla' scenario's ago I had a hair over 10,000...but that's been whittled down to..well...not much...(3664 pre-deployment)...whom-ever is out there to listening to my mindless chatter...time to go......so..."DUDES (Gentleman)..growl ye must...but go we shall"...'tiz some anti social types beyond the steppes we must visit... crank 'em up boys....!

I thought I was doing ok at this game until I stumbled across this scenario.

Even with reading this thread first, I still failed to get DV.

I used my northern force to work with the Italians to clear out the forests. Then this force went after Gumrak. Captured it easily but then the counterattack! I lost the bulk of the Italian forces, 3 inf (one of which was core), PZIIN and an artillery piece.

In the south things went better, didn't lose anything of note. but couldn't do any better than take 3 objectives.

They just kept coming!!!

I was able to get a Decisive Victory:

Here is how: Day By Day and yes I too was surprised by those nasty sneakers who took my Central airfields.

Storming Stalingrad
Starting Prestige 65400 (I should have been doing this from the beginning but did not even think about it until I saw other players doing it on the beta testing)
Prestige after Replacements and Overstrength 61968 (Went Heavy)
Brought all 12 of my infantry units; 8 tanks 4 SE Pz's, 2 KV-1B's with +2 Def Heroes, Albert Kirscher and +2 attack T-34/40; 5 fighters including Otto Kittel, Walter Nowotny, Heinrich Bar, 3 Tac Bombers including Uber Rudel, 2 Strat Bombers; 11 artys.

Day 1 Sunny
Destroyed T-26s and Reg Inf
Day 1 ai CA
Lagg-3 hit Grenadier in half track -2 them -1 me; 2 units attacked aux Bersagleiri leaving me with 3 str left; 2 Conscripts and T-60 destroyed my aux recon; Lagg-3 hit Tac Bomber -3 each; Conscript hit Ital Inf. -4 me -1 them

Day 2 Sunny
Seized Airfield (18,32) and Stalingrad (20,33) I started by writing down what areas I was pressuring but it became to cumbersome and confusing to write it all down so I am only listing places I seize or retake.
Destroyed 2 Reg Inf, 4 LaGG-3 fighters, 2 Mt. Troops, T-60, 2 76.2 artys, and 2 37mm AA units.
Heinrich Pein awarded Iron Cross 1st Class
Day 2 ai CA
Arty and 2 Conscript destroyed aux tank; 2 Conscripts attacked aux Italian inf guarded by unseen arty -1 me -6 them

Day 3 Rainy
Seized Airfield (19,4) and Stalingrad (18,29) (19,30) (21,28)
Destroyed Conscript in airfield, 85mm AT in Gumrak, 2 37mm AA units, 2 other Conscript, 122mm arty, and SMG.
Bought 4 reg rep for aux Ital Inf and 7 reg rep for aux Bersagleiri
Oleh Dir received +3 Defense Hero YYYYYEEEESSSSSS!!!!! Best Possible Hero I could have possibly received.
Day 3 ai CA
One attack and it was a doozy. Colonel Raiynin attacked my SE Pz3N -6 me -3 them

Day 4 Sunny
Seized all of Gumrak and Stalingrad (22,33) (18,27) (18,24)
Destroyed Colonel Raiynin, Conscript in Gumrak, 4 other Conscript, SMG, and 122mm arty.
Strat Bomber awarded Iron Cross 2nd Class
Bought 1 reg rep for Otto Kittel
Day 4 ai CA nothing

Day 5 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (21,25) (23,26) (26,30) (25,33)
Destroyed 2 SMG and Conscript.
Bought 3 Elite Rep for SE Pz3n and T-34/40
Day 5 ai CA
2 SMG's destroyed aux Bersaglieri

Day 6 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (27,7) (27,32) (21,22) (24,28) Northern Tip of Bettonnaya and airfield (27,17)
Destroyed 76.2mm arty, T-34/43, 2 T-60's, SMG
Green SE Pz3N awarded Iron Cross 2nd Class
Day 6 ai CA
I used limited sight to my advantage.
2 SMG's tried attacking my T-34/40 in the city backed by 2 unseen arty's -0 me -11 total them YES!!

Day 7 Sunny
Seized all of Bottonaya
Destroyed 2 SMG, Conscript, 122mm arty, and 76.2mm arty.
Green Pz3N awarded a +2 attack hero
Day 7 ai CA
It took 4 units to destroy my aux Ital unit.

I had a sneak attack come and take one of my Central Main Objective Airfields and pressuring another one.
SMG hit aux Bersaglieri guarded by unseen arty -2 me -5 them; 2 tanks hit my green SE Pz3N -4 me -3 total them

Day 8 Sunny
I am so flustered about central airfield assault and what forces I should redirect to retake them and still get all of my Objectives??? Decided to take my T-34/40, 15cm arty in half track, KV-1B and planes.
Seized Stalingrad (27,10) (29,10) (24,20)
Destroyed 4 SMG's, T-60, T-70, 2 T-34/43's, T-34/41, 76.2 mm arty, and Conscript.
Bought 4 reg rep for Green SE Pz3N
Day 8 ai CA
Rest of my Central Airfields were seized.. (definitely would play this differently on replay, but that is the fun/frustration of doing a blind playthrough. I love it)
T-34/41 hit my 2nd SE Pz3n -2 me -3 them; SMG hit aux Bersaglieri -3 me -1 them; T-60 and T-34/43 hit Fallschimjager -5 them -4 me; AA hit Fighter -1 me; SMG hit aux AT -4 me -1 them; T-60 and T-34/43 hit my Green SE Pz3N -4 me -3 them; SMG hit Pioniere -9 them -4 me

Day 9 Sunny
Retook airfield (27,17)
Destroyed T-34/41 and 3 T-60's as well as SMG.
Bought 5 reg rep for Sturmpanzer, 4 elite rep for 2nd SE Pz3N and 4 reg rep for aux Bersaglieri.
Day 9 ai CA
T-34/43 hit aux AT Backed by arty -3 me -1 them; SMG hit Friedrich Pein -4 me -3 them; Conscript hit aux Ital Inf -8 me -4 them

Day 10 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (31,11) (31,8)
Destroyed T-34/43, T-70, 2 SMG's and 2 Conscripts.
Bought 3 elite rep for Pioniere unit; 4 Elite rep for Green SE Pz3N; 8 Reg Rep for Ital Inf. 3 Elite rep for Fallschimjager; 2 reg rep for aux Bersaglieri; and 4 reg rep for aux at unit.
Day 10 ai CA nothing

Day 11 Cloudy
Retook One Central Airfield
Destroyed T-34/41, T-26s, 2 SMG's, Reg Inf, 2 76.2 artys.
Bought 6 Elite Rep for Friedrich Pein and 5 reg rep for aux AT unit.
Day 11 ai CA
2 artys hit Pioniere -3 me; 2 artys hit my BA SE Inf -2 me; SMG hit aux Bersaglieri -3 each; arty and Conscript hit aux Ital inf -2 each

Day 12 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (30,6) (28,20)
Destroyed 2 122mm artys, 3 SMG's, T-70, AA, Conscript, Reg Inf, Mt. Inf.
Bought 3 Elite Rep for Pioniere unit.
Day 12 ai CA
SMG hit Sturmpanzer -2 each; T-34/43 hit Green SE Pz3N -4 me -2 them

Day 13 Sunny
Retook remaining Main Objectives in Central Airfields. (Yay that wasn't as tough as I thought it might be and added some nice prestige)
Also seized Stalingrad (36,29) (32,29) (33,07) (31,20) (31,15) (35,13) Busy units
Destroyed Reg Inf, T-34/43, 2 122mm artys, Conscript, T-70, and 2 SMG's.
Bought 4 elite rep for green SE Pz3N (again I just cannot seem to keep this guy up to full Strength)
1 elite rep for Pioniere, 4 Reg Rep for aux Ital Inf, 3 reg rep for aux AA/AT unit.
Day 13 ai CA
SMG hit aux Bersaglieri -3 each and SMG hit aux AT guarded by unseen arty -2 each.

Day 14 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (34,27) (33,14)
Destroyed T-60, 122mm arty, Engineer, and 2 SMG's.
Bought 3 reg rep for aux Bersaglieri and 1 reg rep for SE Pz4G
Day 14 ai CA nothing

Day 15 Cloudy
Seized Stalingrad (35,5) (31,23) (31,26) (30,25) (31,13)
Destroyed 2 Conscript, AA, Stronghold Engineer, T-60, and 2 T-70's.
Day 15 ai CA
So many attacks I couldn't write them all down as they are coming out of the wood work now.
The Biggest attacks were 2 Yak-7's hit unguarded Strat Bomber -8me -2 them (Wasn't expecting any airplanes have not seen them for so long)
SMG hit Pz4G -4 me -3 them.
No units lost but Stalingrad (35,13) and (35,15)

Day 16 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (34,24)
Destroyed Yak-7, T-70, Conscript, 2 SMG's, and 76.2mm arty.
Bought 5 reg rep for aux Bersaglieri, 1 Elite rep for Reg Inf, retreated from Main Objective (33,14)
Day 16 ai CA
Bomber hit arty -1; 2 SMG's hit my reg inf -7 me -5 them Yikes! ; SMG hit aux Bersaglieri -1 me -2 them.

Day 17 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (36,25) (34,19) (30,19)
Destroyed Strongpoint, Yak-7, 2 Conscripts, 152mm arty, 2 SMG's
Bought 6 reg rep for aux Ital inf, 4 elite rep for SE Pz4G
Day 17 ai CA
2 T-34/41's hit Grenadier next to Northern airfield -2 me and out of ammo.
Some other units tried hitting other units but all were guarded by unseen artys.

Day 18 Rainy
Destroyed AA and SMG
Bought 7 elite rep for Reg Inf; 8 reg rep for my Strat Bomber and 1 Elite Rep for Pioniere.
Day 18 ai CA
T-34/41 hit Grenadier in airfield guarded by arty and still out of ammo -2 me; T-34/41 hit Sturmpanzer guarded by another arty -1 them -6 me; 2 SMG's hit my aux AT/AA unit guarded by unseen arty -4 me -8 them.

Day 19 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (37,15) (36,19) (33,14) (35,13) (35,15) (38,27) (37,20)
Destroyed 3 SMG's, Conscript, Engineer, and bomber.
Bought 1 Elite Rep for Grenadier in airfield that is pressured by 2 T-34/41's.
Day 19 ai CA
T-34/41 hit Sturmpanzer -6; another Sturmpanzer was hit by another T-34/41 -4 me; SMG destroyed aux Bersaglieri ; SMG destroyed aux AT; SMG hit arty backed by another arty -7 me -4 them.

Day 20 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (39,19) (39,31)
Destroyed 2 SMG's, Bomber, 2 T-34/41's, 150mm arty.
Bought 3 elite rep for Grenadier, 5 reg rep for Sturmpanzer, and 1 elite rep for Pioniere.
Day 20 ai CA
2 SMG's hit my Pioniere -8 each Whoa!
SMG seized Stalingrad (35,5) 2 other attacks stymied by unseen artys.

Day 21 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (35,32) (39,24) (34,10) (41,27) (43,24) (42,18) (40,17) Busy units
Destroyed 5 SMG's, T-34/41, and Conscript.
Bought 4 reg rep for 15cm arty
Tac Bomber awarded Iron Cross 1st Class
Day 21 ai CA
SMG hit aux AT backed by arty -1 me; arty hit Sturmpanzer -1; KV-1C hit Grenadier -4 me; SMG hit AT backed by arty -2 both.

Day 22 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (35,34) (43,22) (43,20) (37,10) (39,9) (38,13) (37,8) Busy units
Destroyed 2 Conscript's, 2 SMG's, and T-70
Bought 8 Elite Rep for Pioniere unit.
Day 22 ai CA
Conscript hit Sturmpanzer -6 me -4 them
All other attacks were all stymied by my unseen artys.

Day 23 Sunny
Seized Stalingrad (35,5) (40,7)
Destroyed KV-1C, 2 SMG's, 122mm arty, and Strongpoint
Day 23 ai CA
2 SMG's destroyed my aux Bersaglieri unit; Conscript hit my Sturmpanzer guarded by unseen arty -1 me -6 them

Day 24 Sunny Last Turn
Seized Stalingrad (43,29) (43,31) (41,14) (49,15) (38,17) (This was the last mian Objective that I have been saving for a couple of rounds to maximize seizures.
Destroyed 2 Conscript's and 3 SMG's
Reg Inf awarded Iron Cross 1st Class.
Day 24 ai CA
2 SMG's hit Grenadier guarded by unseen arty -2 me -5 them and all other attacks were suppressed by unseen artys.

Decisive Victory!!!

This battle was huge in scope and in its progression. I thought I was going to lose some of my units but since I was able to use their inability to see far I was able to use my massive arty collection to my advantage.


The rest of my walkthrough is right here:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 1&start=40

I am in the 43 Campaign now, but have not had time to post my Day to Day AAR.

Need
more
time