With the fall of the Minsk pocket we have actually reached the end of the original plan so I thought it might be interesting to look back for a bit of a review.
Plan
This is the plane as originally presented. In a broad strategic sense it has been completely followed and has been completely successful. If, however, you look in a bit of detail then there are some significance variations so let’s have a look at them.
Execution
The first deviation is the initial set of attacks where extended into a second phase east of the Dnepr and in the Crimea where the task of destroying Russian forces was more or less completed. The plan may not have been followed geographically but it was followed in principal since the first step was destruction of the Russian southern forces.
In phase 2 the big deviation was shying a bit further away from Moscow. Essentially, everything was done a bit further west and a bit further south. This was natural reaction to the insane force concentrations around Moscow. The geography was different but again the principal was the same.
We have then turned west and destroyed the Minsk pocket as planned. The northern branch was tight in to the Baltic borders rather than a bit further east but the principal remains the same. The exploitation in the south is not much different from what I expected but was never subject to any detailed planning as it was always going to be essentially opportunistic.
The end result is much the same as what was planned but with a start line for the Moscow operations somewhat further from the objective than drawn on the original plan. I must admit that in reality I would never skim as close to Moscow as the original plan indicates since it is essential that it is behind the frontline when the Moscow operation begins.
I am extremely satisfied with operations so far. A very large portion of the Russian armies has been destroyed. There air force has been rendered completely ineffective and key strategic points in the country have been occupied. The only remaining Russian forces of any significance are around Moscow and along the Finnish border. We require one finally climactic battle and their defeat will be complete. First, however, we have a phase much like phase 2 where forces redeploy to their correct locations for further operations.
In all previous games where I have used the “attack in extreme echelon” strategy combined with “overrun” tactical operations the end result has usually been the total destruction of Russian forces approximately in the frontier zone with no more than dispersed fragments turning up elsewhere. On this occasion they have done much better. They have forced further engagement west of the Dnepr, disputed the grand strategic envelopment and retained a further army for follow on operations around Moscow. Personally I think their handling of their troops around Moscow has been appalling but that’s the AI for you.
