Middelkerke - Zhukov was enveloped and not dug in and CAS arrived at dawn to give him little chance of winning
Russians have an even mix of 43 and 45 Infantry with some 47, which would be the newly produced ones.
Cyphers Fury - The 47 Infantry would be new you are correct. The AI is doing its usual auto modernising of its production queue. The capture of enemy divisions is always nice especially when I am going out of my way to avoid it most of time.
E. Jünger - Thank you. In January of 1947, where I got my figures for the Red Army size, the production AI of the Soviets was only building around a dozen ground divisions at once. Several aircraft and some Destroyers were also being produced.
Thurak, Pwn*Star, ColossusCrusher - That attack would not have occured without the air support certainly. It was manpower intensive but I did not fancy chasing Zhukov around China. This particular 1947 Infantry was Soviet but most I have seen are Polish.
Inner Circle - This type of encirclement I am happy to do as I forced it to happen. The deep penetration encirclements won't be happening though, even if I could manage to pull one off.
Maj. von Mauser - Canadian BB would be facing two Japanese BB's as well as the BC's right now as they are in BC Division 1. Of course that Canadian BB is not looking for trouble as it is very carefully avoiding any major Japanese fleet.
robou - Correct, Zhukov will need a new army once he gets out of Kangding. Higashikuni has the Offensive trait so he won't be forgetting how to use it
Sokraates - Hello again and welcome back
Congratulations on passing what is a rather tough exam. Not much has happened since you have been gone, honest.
BobaFett696, Nathan Madien - I wonder why it is always the same area of Australia that revolts
Timmie0307 - Thanks. I didn't want to have to encircle him as it takes months in that terrain. Quantity usually overcomes quality at sea as long as they can still shoot. Moscow by April 1948 was what the Emperor asked for, who knows maybe it might actually happen.
harezmi - I don't actually have Arma so have not witnessed the air combat changes. I can explain why my own airforce rarely gets hurt though. Org in DD does not really drop during bombing missions and is normally actually gained during the day as the bombers rest at their airbase for some of the time. I have my bombers set to 5% so they fly unless exhausted. I take some moderate damage from bombing large stacks or Carriers but that is about it.
Arma ground defence is much much higher I believe which means higher casualties for bombing. The advice others have given looks to be good as retreating troops don't shoot back much. Other things I have read is to only do logistic strike against dug in enemy forces and ground attack retreating troops.
Targetting is something I am very careful with. I chose my defensive lines using the area map mode so that I can dictate where my enemy usually ends up. Erenhot is a prime example of this strategy. The Soviets are not losing dozens of divisions there by accident as it was very deliberate to let them advance into it to allow my bombers no choices. I agree there are times when its not possible to do this as my bombers have targetted dug in troops often enough in other areas.
Regarding the problems with retreating from air combat. I can always retreat after two hours in DD. Arma may prevent that happening but I have not heard it to be so. It is very similar to the four hour sea retreat. Sorry I cannot be of more help but others have answered your question I think.
We shall see what develops in Persia
Panzer6 - Correct as always
Zatapatique, E. Jünger, safferli, Nathan Madien - Should I ever get Arma (not too likely as HoI3 will probably be out before that would happen) I would try this scenario certainly. There is more than one way to skin a cat as the saying goes. Doubtless I would require some time to get used to how much damage my aircraft would take but they do still kill in Arma by the looks of it. The nine divisions I have in Australia would be in Asia by now in Arma. Zatapatique said Naval attack is similar which means the USN would suffer as badly which just means the ground war will be different. How different I cannot say but I would hazard a guess that it is not so bad as to alter the end result, just the time taken to achieve it. The AI is the AI after all.
Avatar018 - Thank you. Moscow by April 1948 is a hard target but I would say its not totally impossible right now. The Soviet builds were not particularly good as I explained above.
Juan_de_Marco - I do appear to have stopped going backwards
cjwet - I forgot the annual slider move but it will be done on September 1st as that is the last save game I have. Probably will be towards Open Society to reduce partisans a little.
The Arma issue is of course interesting but I suspect my next AAR will be using HoI3 and not Arma. HoI3 is likely to have a similar air problem to Arma so we shall see.
Update to follow ...