Sudden Carnage - A CptEasy multiplayer AAR

[CptEasy]

...I was starting to get worried there.

I always enjoy your AARs.

Don't worry. I wont quit. My Internet deliverer sort of screw up causing delays. It seems like it will be on this weekend -with new posts coming accordingly.

[Cybvep]

Cannot wait!

[Tallfellow]

Looking forward to seeing another update, you doing fairly well so far!! Now it's USSR's turn to feel the might of the Reich! It's looking a bit grim in southern Italy, as the allies now have a foothold there.

[Tsambo]

Errmm... Why are German forces so better than Russian, French and British? Do the allies/commies have worse tech, land doctrines or worse leaders? Maybe i couldn't observe the images and Germans have more numbers (because of maybe much more IC?)? All of the above? XD

Also, thank you CptEasy and the rest of the players for the effort and the comments in this AAR. It's the best.

[Broomstick]

Errmm... Why are German forces so better than Russian, French and British? Do the allies/commies have worse tech, land doctrines or worse leaders? Maybe i couldn't observe the images and Germans have more numbers (because of maybe much more IC?)? All of the above? XD

Probably its cause Germans have better tech and better leaders.
They never (IRL) really outnumbered the enemy, if you're counting all Ally/Commie armies. (ofcourse the attack on the Netherlands the Germans had more troops, for instance)

BTW: Good you're up and running again in the weekend! Hope you like your new home

[ADEE1]

Excellent, I was starting to think we'd lost you there

[CptEasy]

Chapter XXXIII - Operation Barbarossa part II








Countries played by humans: UK, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan.








Recap: Operation Barbarossa has been ongoing for a month (August 15th) and Germany is gaining ground. The fronts are still quite short and Germany can utilize its fewer but stronger forces in an optimal way. Still, the Soviet forces are fighting in good terrain and Wehrmacht’s victories come with a painful price in German lives.












September 23rd-29th, 1940

During an intense week in the end of September the slow going around Minsk in the north finally met some distinct progress. The Red Army failed to stop German spearheads shooting in around the big city - and as the top of the sack was narrowing, they failed to retreat fast enough. First, the city of Minsk fell and a few days later, a pocket containing an entire Soviet Army was created. It was still somewhat week at some frontlines but the majority of the Red Army was under attack which denied them any initiative. Stavka had quite few alternatives as long as Wehrmacht managed to keep the powerful momentum up.

This could very well be the pocket that doomed Soviet’s whole long term possibility to have the slightest chance to win this war.












October 2nd, 1940

The Red Army failed to link up to the pocket and instead, Wehrmacht succeeded to widen the secure area around the Minsk pocket. 12 Soviet divisions were already caught and 2 more divisions had been forced to retreat to the pocket. 14 captured divisions. That was a mighty price.

The German leadership designated quite few units to crush the pocket and instead made sure to secure the surrounding lands. Dive bombers savagely attack the horde of tired Russian soldiers who were too many to be able to hide successfully which made them easy target. It would take some time to crush the pocket this way, but with so few troops involved in the bloody work, Germany had no rush. They had plenty of troops available to continue the push.

Still, they took this chance to slow down a little, shuffle around divisions, reorganize and draw new plans.












October 2nd, 1940

In the far south, Wehrmacht and Italy pushed deep into Soviet and managed to capture yet another unit. A division of elite mountain infantry had been surrounded and would soon give up with no hope for reinforcements of any kind. The Red Army had very little available to stop the panzer spearhead. Several of the Russian forts (some as strong as lvl 3) was captured without battle but in some, the Red Army managed to dig in and prepare.

And it would soon become even harder for The Red Army. The new mechanized army corps was ready for service and on their way.

Authors note: I think this was a huge miscalculation by Daphne (Soviet). He must have spent a fortune of ICs to build all those forts in this area. Had he, as he surely must have planned, retreated to them in good order, they had been damn hard for me to strike through. They were all build along defensible grounds too. As it turned out, I took half of them without battle and in the rest of them he stands to weak to really be able to utilize them. Had these ICs been turned into infnatry instead, it would have been quite many divisions. Anyway - he couldn't know it would turn out this way - but it shows how dangerous it is to rely on fixed defensive points in mobile warfare.












October 4th, 1940

The fight for the Italian mainland was over. The Italian defense had held and they managed to protect the harbor with their damaged navy. Instead, the Brits got supply problems and were dislodge from the shores but safely picked up by awaiting transports. They would need some time to lick their wounds and reorganize after the defeat – but they would be back, in one way or the other.

Still, the Italian leadership was mighty relieved












October 12th, 1940

In the northern East front, the fight continues in the Minsk pocket with the Russians losing their will and strength. Wehrmacht has not launched any new attack but consolidates and prepare.

In the south, the Soviet mountain division had surrendered and now Odessa was about to get surrounded. 1st Panzer Division was the first German division to reach the Black Sea. Also, parts of the mechanized army corps had just initiated their first battle.








October 14th, 1940

In the Minsk pocket, the battle continues – now far behind the frontline. In Odessa, a Russian garrison division has now surrounded. Also, a combat drop by the 2nd paratroop division east of Odessa (actually the easternmost German position in Soviet) caught a retreating Soviet panzer division unawares. What the dog tired Russian troopers though was safety was in fact an ambush. The entire division surrendered. Including the troops in the Minsk pocket and Odessa, Soviet has lost exactly 20 divisions, of which 4 is armor, since the launch of Operation Barbarossa. They cannot possible take this kind of punishment very long…

Now, Heinrich Hahn, Lucas Bauer and Johann Keller – the three childhood friends, were only a few provinces away from each other at the front line in Soviet.

.......

Ok - back in action, guys. Sitting on a shitty mobile network for the moment so I just wanted to try out with a couple of pictures. Coming more in a couple of days.

[theavenger]

Nice to see you're back! Great update.

[Cybvep]

Great progress. The Soviets are clearly being beaten - those lost divs must have dealt a big blow to the Soviet player's morale. Moreover, the British are stuck in Sicily ATM and the Italian coastline seems to be well-defended. The Allies are running out of good options very fast. It's incredible how your situation dynamically changed from bad to great in the couple of months.

I do not know how the Allies are supposed to win this. CptEasy seems to be handling the Soviets with German divs alone just fine and I doubt that the UK is capable of conducting a successful invasion of Italy. Moreover, the Japanese have practically no opposition and they will become a major problem for the Soviets sooner or later. No US involvement. No other major allies. Bad prospects for opening new fronts - the Balkans would be easy to defend and a potential invasion of Vichy France could easily turn into a disaster, because of the fact the Axis troops are stationed nearby.

Am I missing sth here? Does anybody see good strategic possibilities for the Allies?

[theFreeman]

Victory seems to go to the axis for the time being, how is it with the Baltic nations? Any plans of getting one of them into the axis?

[ADEE1]

Yeah, great play by CptEasy there, Daphne has proven his/herself to be a very capable defender, so to trap that many divisions is a major blow. From where I'm standing, it looks as if the USSR don't even have the forces to adequately man the front...I suspect they have some deep reserves due to this, but you have gained a lot of ground and are certainly in a promising position. Italy it seems has done a good job also of repelling the British.

As for the Allies, I echo Cybvep really, as of no it seems there is no hope for them. Britain won't have adequate troops by the looks of it to perfrom a large scale invasion at multiple points along the Italian peninsular, and certainly can't invade France without US help. That really is the problem, naval superiority will be a major issue when the USSR are finished, and the USA won't be getting involved any time soon. Situation is grim indeed for the opposition.

[etepetete]

When will the USA join the war?

[Megaherz]

Great work with France,and Tojo looks serious in the east and definantly helps you by putting pressure on your enemies from there,now Italy looks like it has problems(being driven off from Africa and the fact that it lost it's boot shape and looks more like a heel now) Awesome MP AAR(yet again)

[Leviathan07]

Looks good for the Axis, but I do not understand why the loss of 20 divisions is supposed to be a killing blow for the Soviets.

Aren't they supposed to have twice as many divisions as the Germans? And why is it a sign of Axis victory that Operation Barbarossa advances a mere 200 kilometers into Russia, in the course of two whole months?

[Cybvep]

Looks good for the Axis, but I do not understand why the loss of 20 divisions is supposed to be a killing blow for the Soviets.

Aren't they supposed to have twice as many divisions as the Germans? And why is it a sign of Axis victory that Operation Barbarossa advances a mere 200 kilometers into Russia, in the course of two whole months?

In HOI3 the Soviets don't have the production capabilities they had IRL. Moreover, the German troops are vastly superior to the Soviet troops in our case and both sides are player-controlled, so quality of troops matters even more than usual. Additionally, even if the Germans don't beat the Soviets on their own, then sooner or later the Japanese will arrive and the Soviets will have to cover both fronts. Remember that the USA is not in the Allied camp and there is no Lend Lease, either. Oh, and most likely, the UK will not be able to conquer Italy, now when the Italian troops are stationed in their homeland.

I won't even mention the fact that it's only 1940 and the Germans are in no rush. The only thing which could stop their advance would be the MP losses.

[Palm]

In HOI3 the Soviets don't have the production capabilities they had IRL. Moreover, the German troops are vastly superior to the Soviet troops in our case and both sides are player-controlled, so quality of troops matters even more than usual. Additionally, even if the Germans don't beat the Soviets on their own, then sooner or later the Japanese will arrive and the Soviets will have to cover both fronts. Remember that the USA is not in the Allied camp and there is no Lend Lease, either. Oh, and most likely, the UK will not be able to conquer Italy, now when the Italian troops are stationed in their homeland.

I won't even mention the fact that it's only 1940 and the Germans are in no rush. The only thing which could stop their advance would be the MP losses.

Also I think the weather is the main missing fact, it is what saved the soviets IRL.

[mnplastic]

Players complain that Soviet AI can not escape encirclement. However, I see it is very difficult even for human players to escape it if Germany is controlled by a human.

Why Soviet player didn't retreat when he could?

[DrakenPL]

Yep Russians lost 3 millions of soldier in first 2 months and mobilised another 3 in 1 month.

Reffering to Cybvep. I think that USSR is to weak in HoI 3

[CptEasy]

The Avenger - Thanks!

Cybe - At this time, I felt quite optimistic. On the other hand, players in difference to world leaders, usually give up when they when they see no chance for victory. In other words - Allies DO see a win-angle so I need to stay on allert. I still havn't enetered the "vast" part of USSR yet. We'll see what happens then... And never underestimate a major naval power. Amphibious assaults of various kinds are far to easy to do in HoI than in rl - or so I believe - meaning that a great naval power (UK) can come with a few surprises even if weaker in numbers and quality of soldiers.

theFreeman - No, not really. As a force, they are greatly inferior. As a route for my offensives... well... I don't see the need. What I don't need is a wider frontline.

ADEE - To widen the answer given to Cybwep; Italy have been pulling back some forces and is quite strong. Still, one to one, UK seem better and they have been winning the war of the Med. So Italy can hardly relax. UK is calling the shots. I will tell you a little bit more about the US in next post

etepetete - Answer in next post...

Megaherz - You are correct. Even if I get bogged down, Japan is going strong even if their pace have gone down in the Far East. Still, UK have conserved strength and lost quite little naval forces to Japan. I am curious, slightly fearful, of what will happen when UK chose to fight back.

Leviathan07 - You have a point. They are not doomed. Still, Soviet lost about 15 divisions (including HQs) to Japan early on in the conflict, so their casualties are mounting. We'll see. The huge plains are still in front of Wehrmacht...

mnplastic - Better Daphne answer that . But, to his defense I can say we play with no pauses and Soviet is fighting on two very long fronts so its not like he's leaning back relaxing... One of our strategies was actually to try and overload him - which of course is a very basic but effective strategy in multiplayer HoI.

[Cybvep]

Good point about amphibious invasions. Still, I am sceptical about Allied chances for victory