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Lol Bean.....I remember my first 'legal' beer....but not all the ones when under age! I almost do no drinking at all now....and if I do it is only the "good" stuff....no more 'BEER" beer or Billy Beer....Anyone remember "BEER" beer?
Nice encirclements. The SU should have 45 Armour div of 2 arm 1 mot minus say 5 that were defeated during your southern offensive. So thats 40 div of armor which is somewhere. I expect a massive SU counter attack led by Su T-34s as soon as you start your phase two of operation Barbarossa which in this case is Called 'operation mud skipper'.
Ugh, whole southern flank collapsed.
Problem is with SU leadership. While SU can prepare formidable army, that will have 100-110% oficer rate, even if 90% of leadership is spent on officers.
That also means SU can research 2-3 technologies while training officers, and in meantime as time goes by, German technological advance becomes stronger all the time.
I thought that event (or manual adding of 6-8,000 officers per year) would slightly improve SU overall position.
Problem is with SU leadership. While SU can prepare formidable army, that will have 100-110% oficer rate, even if 90% of leadership is spent on officers.
That also means SU can research 2-3 technologies while training officers, and in meantime as time goes by, German technological advance becomes stronger all the time.
I thought that event (or manual adding of 6-8,000 officers per year) would slightly improve SU overall position.
I did not now this much of the outcome when I chose the title, I must say. But I had my hopes
As 2012 is over I am no longer have vacations on Fridays. This means post will come, possibly on Friday night but more probable during weekends. I we'll have to see further on what rate I can keep as we're having difficulties and finding opportunities for all of us to play.
Nevertheless... if my little son keeps sleeping a little longer, next chapter will be out within short.
British Addendum to Chapet XI
Yes so it was overall a screw-up from the UK side. At first let me point out some success. The Naval war... note the sneaky Danes turning up. It is clear to the Brits whose side the were on from the start.
Now, I did not realize the the transport fleet was sunk until I read the AAR. I was busy trying to get on top of the battle for Britain. My memory is a bit blurry but I think that the main reasons for the failed British air war was that I did not build fighters right away. So now I was waiting for the build queue to catch up. In this situation Britain was attack both by a seemingly large Italian air-force and as you have seen Germany. Again, this was some time ago and my memory is blurry but I think UK was redeploying back and forth (see screen). So RAF is disorganized and the bombing was left alone in favor of resting RAF and waiting for new wings.
Now, the constant bombing of Malta was considered a diversion in preparation for an attack on Britain. As the RAF wing protecting Malta was worn out, reinforcements were denied in favor of staying in Britain. Intelligence later confirmed that an attack on Malta was not the goal in the first place, rater an opportunity taken. Britain had also problems with convoys at this time with was largely ignored by the high command. Instead, a large fleet was tasked with the protection of Malta. The Royal Navy never fails so this was considered foolproof protection.
The first report of paradrops was archived and was not discussed, airdropping considered unsporting. The commander of the British troops on Malta had better things to do and issued the order not to wast ammunition on those ridiculous Italian stuntmen showing of. The Italian "Honor before results" doctrine was clearly not understood yet.
Yes so it was overall a screw-up from the UK side. At first let me point out some success. The Naval war... note the sneaky Danes turning up. It is clear to the Brits whose side the were on from the start.
Now, I did not realize the the transport fleet was sunk until I read the AAR. I was busy trying to get on top of the battle for Britain. My memory is a bit blurry but I think that the main reasons for the failed British air war was that I did not build fighters right away. So now I was waiting for the build queue to catch up. In this situation Britain was attack both by a seemingly large Italian air-force and as you have seen Germany. Again, this was some time ago and my memory is blurry but I think UK was redeploying back and forth (see screen). So RAF is disorganized and the bombing was left alone in favor of resting RAF and waiting for new wings.
Now, the constant bombing of Malta was considered a diversion in preparation for an attack on Britain. As the RAF wing protecting Malta was worn out, reinforcements were denied in favor of staying in Britain. Intelligence later confirmed that an attack on Malta was not the goal in the first place, rater an opportunity taken. Britain had also problems with convoys at this time with was largely ignored by the high command. Instead, a large fleet was tasked with the protection of Malta. The Royal Navy never fails so this was considered foolproof protection.
The first report of paradrops was archived and was not discussed, airdropping considered unsporting. The commander of the British troops on Malta had better things to do and issued the order not to wast ammunition on those ridiculous Italian stuntmen showing of. The Italian "Honor before results" doctrine was clearly not understood yet.
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Chapter XV - Operation Mudskipper
Player:United Kingdom, Canada, 2xSoviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania
Recap: During the autumn of Operation Barbarossa as much as 40-45 divisions of the Red Army was destroyed during a powerful panzer-tipped blitz. The Wehrmacht has the initiative but General Winter has arrived. Nevertheless, Hitler has a plan to deliver yet a stunning blow to the Red Army.
December 10th, 1940
Authors note:
I will build up in the south, and show him that I do it. Then my main panzer column will attack (lightest blue). As they have taken the first provinces my infantry will be railed to the plains south of the huge swamp. Zid won’t see that and might believe they move behind the panzers. Hopefully that will make him react on a threat that doesn’t exist.
Instead, my panzers will turn northwards (light blue), probably without meeting a single Soviet unit as I think he have placed his new defensive line further east or/and further north. Roughly about when he realize I am not targeting Stalingrad my infantry south of the great swamp will attack northwards with the panzers continuing on their eastern flank (blue).
As the southern infantry and panzers rounds the great swamp from the east I will attack on a broad front along the entire northern front (dark blue). My hope is to create a great encirclement about here (red circle), but it is of course only a guess. The main idea is continuously surprising Zid by showing yet another card of my hand forcing him to continuously reevaluate the battle field.
As I think he lacks forces to really surprise my back, this will turn out good or really good. Hopefully it won’t give me too long supply lines during the winter, but the eastern hook might cause me problem. We shall see.
………………………
December 17th, 1940
The panzer-blitz has been initiated by the Black Sea according to plan (Blue arrows). As expected, the Red Army has pulled away completely from this area. Initial aerial reconnaissance has showed some are dug in behind the river. Soviet planes have scouted the German front as well and have now initiated logistic bombings. Luftwaffe has no fighters around as this area will soon lose significance.
Hitler was gravely disappointed when the Red Army started to pull out from the trap even before it had started to close (Blue Circle). It was these precise units Hitler hoped to catch. German troops slowly follow suite but without engaging. The hope is to not scare the Rus more than necessary in this area.
Further north, the two side’s fighters clash a couple of times and try to bomb the other. Nothing significant happens and none gains air superiority.
December 27, 1940
It is cold and the ground is frozen. The enemy is attacking roads and supply hubs which make life a little bit harder than it already is. No battle is fought. Germany claims a lot of land in fairly few days but it has no strategic value other than a buffer zone and deceit. The going is somewhat slow due to the cold.
January 1st, 1941
In the beginning if the New Year, the second phase of the operation was initiated – the all out attack from the south, which focus on Kiev and the lands beyond on the eastern side of the Great Swamps.
Not surprisingly, the Red Army has positioned themselves east of the river with some three or four divisions in each province. Very few of these are militias and Hitler is somewhat surprised by the amount forces they have been able to mass. Nevertheless, he has no plan to strike over the river and continues northwards leaving the Odessa-area weak.
The plan is delayed however, not by the Red Army but by General Winter. Movement is extremely slow and Stalin is getting much more time to react than envisioned when formulating the plan. Continuous scouting missions by the Soviet air force have probably given them a quite clear picture of the location and direction of the German Strike Army.
January 1st, 1941
A few days short of the New Year, Japan declared war on Great Britain and the Allies and attacked some of their holdings in South East Asia. They met no resistance on land. However, British submarines immediately started to raid Japanese convoys.
Authors note: According to our House Rules, Allies may put a player on USA by the year 1941 or when Japan attacks Britain. The idea is to create an incentive for Japan to not attack Britain as soon as possible after the fall of China. In Carnage al Dente, USA had a player already in early 1940 and was very powerful already in 1942. Here, we wanted to keep USA and stupid AI for as long as possible. We’ll see how that effect the game later on.
January 2nd, 1941
The United States of America reacted rather powerful on the Japanese aggression and move quite significantly towards a more hostile relation with the Axis, including breaking all trade agreements.
Authors note: As Sir Henry moved from Canada to USA he quickly fired two events that lowered US neutrality by 20 and broke all trade agreements. If this relation will decrease with 1 each month, USA will be in the war during early autumn -41.
January 6-8th, 1941
While Japan had easy victories in South East Asia, Soviet lost ground. This, in combination with a powerful internal propaganda offensive led to a vicious serge of nationalism in the Soviet Union. Where previously the soldier of the Red Army seemed reluctant to face the troops of the Wehrmacht they now seemed to think death was glorious as long as you brought down a few Germans with you. This would slow the German advance (National pride +25%).
January 9th-11th, 1941
As Hitler found out about the new Soviet eagerness to fight he wanted to try a fairly straight forward battle to test the strength of his opponent. The result was rather worrying. The harsh winter weather in combination with Soviet frenzy erased most of the German superiority. This was important knowledge, however. The strategy needed adjustments accordingly.
January 18th-21st, 1941
Hitler made sure his troops would avoid all unnecessary combat with their enemy. Fortunately, the Red Army made it easy as they had dug in behind the river and refused to cross it even if the Germans had moved away. There was no enemy challenging them as they slowly moved towards Kyiv.
In Kyiv, however, Stavka had placed two divisions which were well dug in. Hitler was glad and slightly surprised there were only two divisions there. In any case, he had an entire Army Corps attack the city. It was a clear but cold couple of days, and the battles became hard. Rather quickly, the sheer amount of Germans determined the outcome as the defenders got outmaneuvered. This could have become bloody but counting in German losses it became a rather insignificant battle. The gain of the city and its airfield was far from insignificant, however. This was needed for the Luftwaffe to dominate the region.
January 17th, 1941
According to Italian air surveillance, the Brits are massing in Sardinia. What will they be up too?
January 25th, 1941
Japans radius of influence is growing in South East Asian and the Brits have so far not done anything to stop them, except waging a rather successful convoy war.
January 26th, 1941
The first three part of the Operation is done, being little stalled by the only two battles happening during this cold 1,5 months. The winter, however, has taxed the operation gruesome as the speed of movement has been rediculously slow.
Adding to this the foresight of Stalin who started to leave the innermost parts of the “pocket-to-be” even before he could have seen any evidence of it – and the chances of succeding with another great encirclement has decreased significantly. By now, Stalin must know what Hitler is planning. Worse – he will have plenty of time to adjust to it.
Nevetheless, The Red army’s new defensive line in the south must have taxed his northern armies. Hitler is eager to launch an attack in the north before he cancels the idea of a great encirclement.
……………………………
Next chapter – the Operation continues
(Don't miss the UK addendum posted just before this Chapter)
Player:United Kingdom, Canada, 2xSoviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania
Recap: During the autumn of Operation Barbarossa as much as 40-45 divisions of the Red Army was destroyed during a powerful panzer-tipped blitz. The Wehrmacht has the initiative but General Winter has arrived. Nevertheless, Hitler has a plan to deliver yet a stunning blow to the Red Army.
December 10th, 1940
Authors note:
I will build up in the south, and show him that I do it. Then my main panzer column will attack (lightest blue). As they have taken the first provinces my infantry will be railed to the plains south of the huge swamp. Zid won’t see that and might believe they move behind the panzers. Hopefully that will make him react on a threat that doesn’t exist.
Instead, my panzers will turn northwards (light blue), probably without meeting a single Soviet unit as I think he have placed his new defensive line further east or/and further north. Roughly about when he realize I am not targeting Stalingrad my infantry south of the great swamp will attack northwards with the panzers continuing on their eastern flank (blue).
As the southern infantry and panzers rounds the great swamp from the east I will attack on a broad front along the entire northern front (dark blue). My hope is to create a great encirclement about here (red circle), but it is of course only a guess. The main idea is continuously surprising Zid by showing yet another card of my hand forcing him to continuously reevaluate the battle field.
As I think he lacks forces to really surprise my back, this will turn out good or really good. Hopefully it won’t give me too long supply lines during the winter, but the eastern hook might cause me problem. We shall see.
………………………
December 17th, 1940
The panzer-blitz has been initiated by the Black Sea according to plan (Blue arrows). As expected, the Red Army has pulled away completely from this area. Initial aerial reconnaissance has showed some are dug in behind the river. Soviet planes have scouted the German front as well and have now initiated logistic bombings. Luftwaffe has no fighters around as this area will soon lose significance.
Hitler was gravely disappointed when the Red Army started to pull out from the trap even before it had started to close (Blue Circle). It was these precise units Hitler hoped to catch. German troops slowly follow suite but without engaging. The hope is to not scare the Rus more than necessary in this area.
Further north, the two side’s fighters clash a couple of times and try to bomb the other. Nothing significant happens and none gains air superiority.
December 27, 1940
It is cold and the ground is frozen. The enemy is attacking roads and supply hubs which make life a little bit harder than it already is. No battle is fought. Germany claims a lot of land in fairly few days but it has no strategic value other than a buffer zone and deceit. The going is somewhat slow due to the cold.
January 1st, 1941
In the beginning if the New Year, the second phase of the operation was initiated – the all out attack from the south, which focus on Kiev and the lands beyond on the eastern side of the Great Swamps.
Not surprisingly, the Red Army has positioned themselves east of the river with some three or four divisions in each province. Very few of these are militias and Hitler is somewhat surprised by the amount forces they have been able to mass. Nevertheless, he has no plan to strike over the river and continues northwards leaving the Odessa-area weak.
The plan is delayed however, not by the Red Army but by General Winter. Movement is extremely slow and Stalin is getting much more time to react than envisioned when formulating the plan. Continuous scouting missions by the Soviet air force have probably given them a quite clear picture of the location and direction of the German Strike Army.
January 1st, 1941
A few days short of the New Year, Japan declared war on Great Britain and the Allies and attacked some of their holdings in South East Asia. They met no resistance on land. However, British submarines immediately started to raid Japanese convoys.
Authors note: According to our House Rules, Allies may put a player on USA by the year 1941 or when Japan attacks Britain. The idea is to create an incentive for Japan to not attack Britain as soon as possible after the fall of China. In Carnage al Dente, USA had a player already in early 1940 and was very powerful already in 1942. Here, we wanted to keep USA and stupid AI for as long as possible. We’ll see how that effect the game later on.
January 2nd, 1941
The United States of America reacted rather powerful on the Japanese aggression and move quite significantly towards a more hostile relation with the Axis, including breaking all trade agreements.
Authors note: As Sir Henry moved from Canada to USA he quickly fired two events that lowered US neutrality by 20 and broke all trade agreements. If this relation will decrease with 1 each month, USA will be in the war during early autumn -41.
January 6-8th, 1941
While Japan had easy victories in South East Asia, Soviet lost ground. This, in combination with a powerful internal propaganda offensive led to a vicious serge of nationalism in the Soviet Union. Where previously the soldier of the Red Army seemed reluctant to face the troops of the Wehrmacht they now seemed to think death was glorious as long as you brought down a few Germans with you. This would slow the German advance (National pride +25%).
January 9th-11th, 1941
As Hitler found out about the new Soviet eagerness to fight he wanted to try a fairly straight forward battle to test the strength of his opponent. The result was rather worrying. The harsh winter weather in combination with Soviet frenzy erased most of the German superiority. This was important knowledge, however. The strategy needed adjustments accordingly.
January 18th-21st, 1941
Hitler made sure his troops would avoid all unnecessary combat with their enemy. Fortunately, the Red Army made it easy as they had dug in behind the river and refused to cross it even if the Germans had moved away. There was no enemy challenging them as they slowly moved towards Kyiv.
In Kyiv, however, Stavka had placed two divisions which were well dug in. Hitler was glad and slightly surprised there were only two divisions there. In any case, he had an entire Army Corps attack the city. It was a clear but cold couple of days, and the battles became hard. Rather quickly, the sheer amount of Germans determined the outcome as the defenders got outmaneuvered. This could have become bloody but counting in German losses it became a rather insignificant battle. The gain of the city and its airfield was far from insignificant, however. This was needed for the Luftwaffe to dominate the region.
January 17th, 1941
According to Italian air surveillance, the Brits are massing in Sardinia. What will they be up too?
January 25th, 1941
Japans radius of influence is growing in South East Asian and the Brits have so far not done anything to stop them, except waging a rather successful convoy war.
January 26th, 1941
The first three part of the Operation is done, being little stalled by the only two battles happening during this cold 1,5 months. The winter, however, has taxed the operation gruesome as the speed of movement has been rediculously slow.
Adding to this the foresight of Stalin who started to leave the innermost parts of the “pocket-to-be” even before he could have seen any evidence of it – and the chances of succeding with another great encirclement has decreased significantly. By now, Stalin must know what Hitler is planning. Worse – he will have plenty of time to adjust to it.
Nevetheless, The Red army’s new defensive line in the south must have taxed his northern armies. Hitler is eager to launch an attack in the north before he cancels the idea of a great encirclement.
……………………………
Next chapter – the Operation continues
(Don't miss the UK addendum posted just before this Chapter)
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Interesting progress for the Wermacht. The British Post-Battle Analysis is missing its figures though. How unsportsmanlike of the Italians, indeed.
Soviet ARM seem to be stacked on your right flank in the South (Picture January 9th-11th, 1941).
I would expect the Soviet to let you get a little deeper toward Kiev and then launch his counterattack on your Southern flank, thus cutting your supply lines.
Am I foreseeing the future here ?
I would expect the Soviet to let you get a little deeper toward Kiev and then launch his counterattack on your Southern flank, thus cutting your supply lines.
Am I foreseeing the future here ?
I predict a Soviet Spring Offensive; or maybe a winter offensive if Stalin has the reserves to organize one.
Things may be heating up for the Italians. Of course they may be aiming for South France, but I doubt it.
The Russian front is most peculiar. If Stalin isn't fighting in winter, then when?
The Russian front is most peculiar. If Stalin isn't fighting in winter, then when?
Time is favoring the Soviets here. Ztalin knows that his doctrines are inferior to those of the Wehrmacht so he'll bide his time, wait for better weather and shore up his numbers behind natural defensive lines. He also knows that now the USA will start churning out troops and will get involved sooner or later. Furthermore, Ztalin didn't lose much important ground yet. He can fight on with what he still has or even less, so he doesn't need to fight actively and rather slows down the Axis advance until the western Allies get involved, too. If he can save the majority of his forces by then, the Axis won't have the time, men and attention to stop him from painting Europe red. We're talking about roughly 6 to 9 months here.
Japan finally moving must be relieving, especially for the Japan player. I do wonder what course of action he will take, though. It'd be good to take India and make a run for the Suez, but at the same it, it'd be good to knock out Australia and NZ and prepare positions (and fleets) for the inevitable US attack. Any chance for a screenshot of the Russian-Japanese front?
Looks like the UK are reinforcing Sardinia to prevent an Italian attack, although such a move is unneccessary. Even if Italy takes the island, the UK can just repeat their earlier operation and cut them off again. Preparing an invasion under the eyes of the enemy doesn't seem to be a good idea, though. May be Sicily could be taken but considering that the Italians will have German support in the area, it's not likely that they can pull off a run for Rome or the such. Attacking France is also not a good idea yet, although this might be an operation which could lure Axis forces away from important areas (=Rome).
How is the convoy war going, on both sides that is?
Japan finally moving must be relieving, especially for the Japan player. I do wonder what course of action he will take, though. It'd be good to take India and make a run for the Suez, but at the same it, it'd be good to knock out Australia and NZ and prepare positions (and fleets) for the inevitable US attack. Any chance for a screenshot of the Russian-Japanese front?
Looks like the UK are reinforcing Sardinia to prevent an Italian attack, although such a move is unneccessary. Even if Italy takes the island, the UK can just repeat their earlier operation and cut them off again. Preparing an invasion under the eyes of the enemy doesn't seem to be a good idea, though. May be Sicily could be taken but considering that the Italians will have German support in the area, it's not likely that they can pull off a run for Rome or the such. Attacking France is also not a good idea yet, although this might be an operation which could lure Axis forces away from important areas (=Rome).
How is the convoy war going, on both sides that is?