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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?

Well, I would say that there are a number of reasons, some of which I don't want to share at the moment - that would spoil some of the fun! You know, there are times when it is best to stay and fight :)

But clearly, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the german onslaught along the front. As you can see from the screen shots, they rarely lost any ORG. The experience they had achieved on the West Front meant that their skills and techs (like short cool-down periods) were almost supernatural (or at least super Russian).

One important comment here is "WHEN he could". Retreating is not trivial in HoI. When playing against a more mobile opponent, it requires both long-term planning and fast reflexes. As you have seen, the germans were close to breaking through my lines already before the main thrust, meaning that an early retreat would have been difficult. Once Barbarossa started, retreating the troops was of course a tactical and logistic nightmare. The 10 pop-ups per minutes doesn't help either... I would like to see some more options there, like only showing those for a specific Theatre. But these are of course the tricks of MP-veterans like CptEasy :)
 
Sudden Carnage

Chapter XXXIV - Operation Barbarossa part III








Countries played by humans: UK, Soviet Unionx2, Germany, Italy, Japan.
For a while ahead, former French player are playing the Soviet Far East while Daphne can focus on the Bear's western front (or so do I believe they shared the job).








Recap: Operation Barbarossa has been ongoing for two months and continues – just recently seeing some 16 Soviet divisions being captured but not yet defeated in the Minsk-pocket. While Wehrmacht’s onslaught continues, their front against the Soviet Union is far from the only place where the war and politics boil…











44-3.jpg

October 14th, 1940

The pressure on Allied tonnage is still nasty. The losses in each sea area is not more than 1-3 which is a lot less than in early 1940 but the extended raiding area still gives the German raiders a weekly count on about 20 convoys. A majority of these are British though some are Irish.

Italy has lessened the amount of raiders due to casualties, but they still sink half a dozen or so every week.

British raiders, however, continues to sink Dutch tonnage. It worries the German leadership for how long the Dutch can continue to supply them with the generous deals on Rare Materials.











45-4.jpg

October 14th, 1940

Japan crushes yet another nation. Mongolia has, however, been a nail in the eye for quite a long time to the Japanese leadership. The Red Army has fairly solid presence in the Far East which makes Japanese progress slow.

The Brits, however, seem to have more or less abandoned India and Japans greatest problem is actually just covering the huge land with its infantry. They have very little motorized in the area and it will take some time to walk over India.











37-3.jpg

One small nation gone, but a larger one joined in – on the other side. Canada, being a quite large nation was not a force to ignore. This nation will surely leave its foot print on the war before it is finished.

Authors note: Canada is extra important as it a quite playable nation and they usually can be quite handy for the Allies. We’ll see what they can do…











48-3.jpg

October 14th, 1940

The United States are still far away from being able to join the war. Still, it is obvious that their leadership (damn AI ;)) are eager to join as their home land spies are trying to lower their neutrality. Germany tries to counter them with their own spies.

Moreover, Canada was an expected blow but it seems no other country will join the Allies anytime soon. Instead, Bulgaria is close to the Axis. Hungary and Yugoslavia is still counter influenced by UK and does not move much.

UK researchers seem to focus on infantry and AT-technology. Quite expected and not too worrying. Their researches on mechanized seem to be finalized as well as a lot on air-tec.











1-7.jpg

October 16th, 1940

Finally, close to three weeks after the creation of the Minsk pocket, the last Soviet soldier gave up. During that time, the Germans had cancelled the attack once to launch a second attack from better positions. The total death toll was about the double as of the second battle result and more than 100 000 Russians were made prisoners of war. It was a great victory.

The front line had already advanced several provinces eastwards from the Minsk pocket.











2-5.jpg

October 17th-23rd, 1940

The battle of Odessa lasted about a week and ended with the surrender of the city garrison. Germany now had a port to the Black Sea (good mostly for the Italian submarine which was caught here since the unfortunate bugg that sealed of the Black Sea when UK entered the war) and a new airport close to the front.











3-6.jpg

October 24th, 1940

The Soviet south was virtually undefended and the mechanized army group was thrashing around like hungry hyenas ripping apart whatever division coming in their way.
In the far south, a Soviet armor division was trying to isolate the heroes of the 2nd Paratroop Division. 1st Panzer and 2nd Heavy Mech were rushing in to avoid a potential disaster.

As is visible, Wehrmacht had the majority of their panzers active in this area, making it extremely hard for the weak Red Army to get some sort of solid defense together.











4-7.jpg

October 25th-28th, 1940

The Russian plan backfired and the armor division trying to block the paratroopers was surrounded instead. Luck appeared to be on their side when a Soviet infantry division hurried in and captured Mykolayivk from the Germans, thus opening a retreat route for the armor division. The Red Army in Mykolayivk was, however, immediately attacked by the mechanized division, Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, and suffered badly. In the end, the mechanized troops dispatched the Russian infantry and re-conquered the province before the retreating armor division managed to reach it.

For the second time in a few weeks, a retreating Russian armor division was ambushed by Germans and surrendered… in this province. First time was due to a paradrop by the famous 2nd Paratroopers.











5-7.jpg

November 1st-10th, 1940

The battles around the coast of the Black Sea were not over yet. The Red Army tried to block the narrow strip of land leading to the rest of the Crimean Peninsula. During the 1st of November the 2nd Paratroopers left Odessa in their Ju-52s. It was a cold clear day. They jump behind the Red Army and effectively surrounded them.

It still took about a week to dispatch them as most of the fighting was done by the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. Unfortunately, the Red Navy was prepared and the two infantry divisions were picked up by transports. It was a slight disappointment.

The Italians had gotten the mission to take the Crimea peninsula and now the way was open.











6-8.jpg

November 10th, 1940

Authors note: Screenie taken seconds before the victory described in previous picture.

Without question, the most Russian POWs are coming from the northern section of the front, but most land has been captured by the panzers in the south. The northern front has been quite peaceful for weeks as the Germans have positioned themselves. Now, they have just launched a renewed offensive emanating from two provinces.











7-6.jpg

November 16th, 1940

The northern push is yet another overwhelming German offensive. The Red Army more or less stumbles backwards trying to offer some kind of resistance. A new sack has been formed and it as Russian defenders in Andreapor flees, the pocket seems a reality.











8-7.jpg

November 19th, 1940

A new pocket is formed. 3 divisions, were one is an armor division, is surrounded. It is obvious that the Red Army have no chance what so ever to rescue them. They are doomed and must fear the end as Sperrle’s tactical bomber soar over the sky dropping payloads on their positions.

This also gives the German leadership time to study the composition of a typical Soviet armor division. 1 medium armor brigade, 2 motorized and 1 tank destroyer brigade.
Another three Russian division are doomed.











9-6.jpg

November 10th, 1940

United Kingdom is obviously not trying to stop the Japanese forces from taking India. They have chosen the old device “live to fight another day”. However, with the amount of punishment UKs allies and friends are taking, it’s questionable if that day will ever come.











10-6.jpg

November 10th-19th, 1940

During a cold week in the middle of November, an impressive blitz by the Imperial Guards Division in cooperation with Japanese paratroopers, experienced from battles in Germany, Netherlands and France, managed to create a huge pocket north of Sinkiang. Half of Soviets new Far East Army was caught in the pocket. Sinkiang is neutral and not very close to joining any fraction.

Also, Japan was creeping ever so close to the heavily industrialized cities of Novosibirsk and Omsk. The loss of half an army as well as these cities would be truly devastating for the Russian Bear.











11-5.jpg

November 22nd, 1940

The Russians in the pocket of Zapadnaja and Precistoe continued to fight. While the defenders in Zapadnaja buckled, the Red Army in Precistoe had better positions behind the river.

Up front, the motorized and panzer spearhead pushed right through the defensive line and turned northwards to create a dangerous sack around Mal Lokhovo.











12-7.jpg

November 26th, 1940

Yet again, the fast moving troops of the Wehrmacht have blitzed through the Soviet defense and caught another 6 divisions (including the retreating garrison) and a HQ. Two of these divisions are medium armor divisions. The Red Army has lost plenty of those.

All in all, the Red Army has lost the strength what so ever to resist an organized push from the German forces. Their defeat must be less than a year away.











16-7.jpg

December 2nd, 1940

After conquering major part of India without much resistance, Japan finally attacked Ceylon. As they already had seen that United Kingdom had left division behind to protect the Island, they came in force. With Yamamoto guarding the waters west of Ceylon with a mighty fleet, it was not likely that the defending Brits would get any reinforcements.











17-7.jpg

December 1st, 1940

Around the Med some kind of equilibrium had settled. Italy did not dare try a major offensive against the Brits in Sicily and the Brits did not seem eager to launch a second attack on the Italian mainland. Likewise, Italy lacked the strength to recapture Albania or aid the Greek allies. Germany could not intervene, blocked by neutral countries.
Still, the Italian forces had one battle coming… (...in next chapter ;))


...

An extra long chapter today to ballance the last few weeks with no post...
 
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The war is looking good for the Axis so far, apart from losing Greece, Albania and Sicily you've only gained territory. And you've also killed off a fair bit of the Soviet army! :)
 
Well, I would say that there are a number of reasons, some of which I don't want to share at the moment - that would spoil some of the fun! You know, there are times when it is best to stay and fight :)

I hope you will recover and beat Germans back :)
 
Japan is doing great in India and that blitzkrieg in Siberia was very impressive. Soon the Japanese will rule almost all of Asia. Moreover, the German troops are absolutely superior the the Russian ones and CptEasy seems to cut through the Soviet defences like a hot knife through butter. Unless the SOV player has a second, solid line of defence and the UK player performs D-Day, the Allies don't stand a chance.
 
The battle of Odessa lasted about a week and ended with the surrender of the city garrison. Germany now had a port to the Black Sea (good mostly for the Italian submarine which was caught here since the unfortunate bugg that sealed of the Black Sea when UK entered the war) and a new airport close to the front.

You mean that Suez controls the Darnanels :)

(which should be fixed in FTM)
 
Quite impressie. Really looks like Russia is about to fall, with a lot of units lost and being pushed back on both fronts simultaneously. It seems like not even the Russian winter can save those troops.

Will you continue in that case?
 
terrific updates! have missed my hoi reading.. almost had to play myself there :)

It's too bad to see sov player take so much punishment. Having inferior troops and slowly pull back defending by seeding territory is a though job which I'd suppose requires much micro management in order to pull back in the right moment. Having the attention of three axis players certainly must be hard. Too bad it would have been nice to see how the fort strat would have worked. If it weren't for the unrestrained jap progress I would had more hopes for a prolonged game. I bet having been able to transfer the siberian divisions to the west front would have mattered a great deal just like during the actual Barbarossa.
 
Tallfellow, Cybe - Yes, the German mashinery of war is rolling. We'll see about that second line. I fear it myself.

Megaherz, eqqman - Heh heh. The Axis punsh-bag.

Theavenger, Megaherz - Both your comments sort of summerize my own thinking. I THINK they are more or less beaten - but I'm not really sure.

Surt - Yes. A very unfortunate bug. Really stopped Italy from aggressions from the seaside through the Black Sea.

Baltasar - Well, as I am not really in the mood to surrender, I leave that to the Allies - and who knows if they are in the mood? In other words - time will tell. Or they game will continue to 1945 :) Or US kick my butt... :(

Profetkaninen - Nice to have you back :). I like the idea to build forts, and when I saw them up ahead I became worried. As it tunred out, I had enough panzers to blitz through the defensive line ahead of the forts. I also wondered what had happened if the Rus had managed to retreat in good order. A nightmare... Always a trick to build forts in the right place as the future seldm turns out the way you thought. For instanse - the only fort I have been building so far was in Warsaw which turned out to be a complete waste. Luckily, I just made one lvl and then stopped. And yes - playing defensive against a superior enemy is one of the hardest tasks there is.
 
Well, I do not understand why Daphne didn't man that line with some troops before the fall of France. Even 1 div./province would have meant that (in the South at least) the panzers had no chance of occupying those provinces for free and finally by-passing them.
 
I hope the SOV will make a strong counter-attack,and will turn the tide....just to spice things up ;) Altough it has to be a big one as the Japanese must be stopped too before they get too close to important areas. But a territorial race between the Japs and the Krauts could be interesting too. ;)
 
Cpt Easy

Just read through this entire saga. It is amazing in how the situation has turned around--you are quite adept at mobile warfare. It looks like victory is in the works-assuming you still have some manpower left-good luck.