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Introduction.

FitE is an ambitious scenario, and trying to write a DAR for a 400 turn game with such a huge map will be just as ambitious!
Rather than trying to cover everything, I will inform generally on the overall situation, and comment in detail on some selected features or incidents in the campaign. Each post will retrospectively cover many turns and will be posted at a point where doing so won’t give too much away about my future plans to my opponent. As a consequence there may be significant gaps between posts, so keep checking every once and a while for updates.

Playing a simulation of events passed, I have the education of hindsight and the 60 years worth of debate over the mistakes and successes of my historical counterparts, but then again, so does my opponent. Some obvious advantages are apparent, I know that a large and powerful force will attack and exactly when. I know that trying to hold a forward line will result in the encirclement and destruction of many of my armies, but what else do I know, and what do I need to consider in “game terms”?

I will use METTT (There is an article on this in the INTEL section)

Mission: To start with I have to slow my enemy down while I build sufficient strength to firstly resist and hold, and then counter attack. There are many locations on the map that penalize my supply and replacements when lost. I need to deny these to the enemy as long as possible without detriment to my overall mission.

Enemy. I know my enemy is strong, with well organized, proficient forces. Hindsight tells me – along with the certain events programmed into the scenario – that supply becomes a weakness as he advances and at certain time of year. Also, if you look at the map, the frontage he has to cover will grow the further east he moves.

Troops. My forces are – at the start of the game and for some time to come, poor quality, poorly organized, and not very proficient. The shock penalties against me at the start make any attacking more or less pointless, and the Air shock is so low air units won’t even defend themselves if attacked. Most of my line formations are Internal Support, which means they cooperate poorly with others. This handicap is multiplied many-fold by the fact that individual formations are spread across the map at the start of the game. As well as moving units to defend and delay, I need to try and reunite individual formations together with their HQ’s
My troops are also concentrated with a southerly bias. Towards the North, and in particular, North of Moscow and in the vicinity of Leningrad I am particularly weak. This poses a problem as I need to try and save Leningrad if at all possible.
Also worth noting is the Recon levels. I start with 5%, going up to 25% in Autumn 41. I will see virtually nothing that’s not in contact! The Axis start with 75% - not bad.

Terrain: If my opponent takes Leningrad and links up with the Finns it anchors his Northern Flank handsomely. If you look to the east of Leningrad, there is nothing but forests and Hills. By capturing Leningrad the Axis can secure and defend a line from Ladoga to Moscow with a relatively small force, releasing more of his troops for campaigns in the centre and south, where there are plenty more objectives worth taking.
In the south the terrain is generally wide and open, if my opponent achieves a breakthrough he will be able to exploit it very well with his highly mobile forces. I need to be very careful with the pace of my retreat. Maintaining reserves behind any “lines of resistance” to plug any gaps will be essential.

TIME: In absolute terms I have 5 years to complete my mission, this is a long haul, but must bear in mind that the pace and success of the enemy advance effectively modifies this. The further east he goes, and the more major cites he captures will increase the time I need to reverse the situation and tale back enough for a victory. I will be “playing for time” in every sense!

Objectives for 1941 - TURNS 1-60.


-Prevent a breakthrough
-Re-unite formations with parent HQ’s
-Try and hold Leningrad, Moscow, and a line south through, Kharkov, Tula, Dneprpetrovsk and Kherson until the end of the year.
-For the 1st 20 turns, any air units (that survive the first turn!) that are able to move will fly east until the shock is reduced.

I also decided to reinforce Murmansk right from the start. Psychology is a well known force multiplier, and there is always the Psychology of the “edge of the map”! Holding Murmansk protects supply, and if my opponent makes any tactical mistakes, having a large enough force up there could cause him a few headaches. I will “reunite” units of the 10th Army whose HQ and about 50% of the formations units are already there, and I will send another complete Army and some miscellaneous assets. If I send the second army as they turn up as reconstituted units, they will use less precious rail points to get to Archangelsk, and they can re-supply quickly when they get to Murmansk.

Strategy.

Operation Volvoski – The Crumple Zone.

HQ’s near the front will attempt to retreat in good order with any units of their formation to the first holding line.

The units then left in the Crumple zone that are some distance from their HQ’s will dig in and fight to the death in the most favorable terrain on or adjacent to key hexes such as crossroads, towns, bridges etc. in order to frustrate the enemy, slow advances and deny access to the road/rail networks.

Units to the near east of the 1st Holding lines will form the lines. I don’t expect these holding lines to hold for long, but by using terrain - especially the rivers - to buy enough time for retreating units to regroup behind them. Where possible, these units will move to their HQ and defend as a formation.

Units from further east will form up at “depots” further behind the holding lines. These will either form the next holding lines, or act as emergency reserves to prevent breakthrough. Again, where possible units will move to depots close to their HQ. Units with no HQ’s on the map will form to a Front HQ which can support them. Forming up like this rather than sending every unit directly to a defensive line or position will be essential. A line without a reserve invites disaster as soon as the line is penetrated. It is very difficult to disengage units from a defensive line especially once in contact so it is hard to plug gaps. A reserve behind the line at a good spot on the road/rail network can react more flexibly, and even if can’t plug the gap, it will prevent the breakthrough forces enjoying any freedom of strategic movement. (also being on the road/rail net and adjacent to their HQ, units in depot locations will recover readiness and supply quicker than in if thrown into a defensive line.)


Map 1 below shows an example from the southern front, with its crumple-zone, 1st holding line(Red), Strongholds (Purple), Retreat Points,(R.) Depots.(D),

North of the Pripet, the first holding line is the Dvinr – Berezina River, with strongholds in places like Wilno, Siauliai and Minsk.






Turns 1-10 June 21st to July 23rd 1941

As anticipated, the Axis brushed my forces aside with some ease. My opponent has certainly taken the sledgehammer approach – advancing all along the front and destroying every unit he encounters.

On the whole I have by now managed to reunite most formations, with only a few straggling units, mostly those that cannot disengage from the FEBA.
Needless to say, my air force was wiped out over the first two turns!

Note:
In the maps to come, with a recon factor of 5%, I can only really see enemy units that are in contact or in favorable terrain a few hexes away)

The Formation labels have a figure in () which gives a rough estimate of how many of the formations units are present. It does not indicate supply, combat factors, proficiency etc. A figure of 1 would indicate all units of the formation are present. 0.5 would be half and so on.

My first line of resistance in the North Dvinr – Berezina River was easily overcome and I had to make another hasty holding line on the Velikaya from Riga to Velikiye Luka.



The remains of the 27th Army which had pulled back and is reasonably well supplied will hold where it is at the road junctions whilst forces further north form on the Luga river.
The 11th Army will Move towards Kholm and defend at the river. The 29th Army will move west and defend between the marshes and the lakes near Toropets. These latter 2 have been forming at a Depot for a good few turns now and are fully supplied. However, The only thing between them and the Moscow Militia is a few Divisions of the 4th Army.

Further North things look a bit better.



I need to resist the temptation to pull back any of the 31st Army from the Finnish border – turn 40 will arrive before I know it!. The 54 and 43 Armies have been redeployed by rail from the southern theatres. More of their constituent units are due to arrive this and over the next 5 Turns so I will try and hold these in Depot as a reserve for as long as I can. The 32, 31 and 48 Armies will hold the “Luga Line”. I will pull back the NKVD Div to assist, and maybe move some of the Lenningrad Miliia up to the river. There are a few other Front Assets to help such as artillery, Engineers, AT , 3rd Tk Division and a RD of the 5th Shock Army. On the positive side, most of these formations are rested and well supplied.

The Smolensk front is holding up quite well.



The 20th Army is in good shape in terms of supply. AS far as I can tell it is facing up against the 18th PzG and the 19th Pz but all those I have intel on seem quite depleted – all showing red square. I hold good defensive terrain behind the super river and marshes. I reckon I can hold here for a while.
I am going to start pulling back as much of the 22nd ,13th Armies and WF Abn in good order to the rear of the 24th Army - which is well placed and in good shape east of the Dnepr. Further to the rear I have the 49th and 50th Army Depot’d and in reserve.


The Situation is mixed further South.



My first line of resistance was brushed aside. Some stragglers are just about holding Zhitomir, the holding force at Berdichev has just been wiped out, and the 16th Mech Cps + a few mixed assets is clinging on in the vicinity of Vinitsa
Behind them The 6th and 12th Armies - that pulled back early in the game - are now in good shape but quite exposed. I will pull the 6th Back towards Kiev in as controlled a manner as possible. The 12t I will pull back South East, pivoting around the 18th which will try and anchor and hold as long as possible. Directly east of the 12th behind the Dnepr is the 19th which is close to 100% in terms of units and in good supply. Forces to the south of 18th are holding quite well and will pull back towards the South Bug in good time. I might bring the 38th up to Kirovgrad in support, but will see how things go.

Map 6 shows the situation just east of the Pipryt Marshes.


This in the most interesting situation at the moment. Recon (watching playback!) observed a lot of movement through the marshes over the last couple of turns, at least a couple of Pz Divs, A PzG Dic and several Inf Divisions. This is a tactical mistake I need to try and exploit. The terrain as he approaches Chernigov is greatly to my advantage and equally greatly to his disadvantage. He has 2 super rivers to cross, and off the roads he has forest and marshes that will greatly restrict his movement and supply. My shock penalties have reduced if not vanished so I am going to hold an counter here for as long as Kiev holds to the south and the 21st can hold Gomel. I will move the 5th Mech, SW Ft Abn, and tentatively the very strong 28th Army in to support this action. I will focus on this engagement in my next post.

But Finally. Murmansk


I have the Karelian Ft successfully holding the “Archangelsk Corridor against the SS Geb Div – benefitting from being on the defensive and on well supplied rail hexes with good art support.
The enemy has approached Murmansk from the West and South with all his forces in the theatre. My position has stabilized around Murmansk, The 10th and 14th Armies along with some useful Art and Eng assets are being constantly reinforced by sea as units of their formations arrive on the map. Murmansk has a Supply point so these units recover well if I rotate them in an out of combat regularly.
At this point in the game, I am receiving a good number of reinforcements and reconstituted units every turn- most of these appearing in Gorky. My practice of reuniting units with their parent HQ’s - and at Depot locations if possible - is paying off. When deploying to defensive positions or committing forces to battle, I am now doing so with cohesive formations with their HQ’s that are mostly fully supplied. My rail capacity is up to the maximum value now and I can shift an army or two each turn!

Battle of Chernigov

Stavka.....July 23rd 194.....Intelligence reports many Axis Pz and Inf Corps moving through the Pipryet.........attempting to cross the Sozh River West of Chernigov...............

The terrain here is so advantageous to me and disadvantageous to the enemy I decided to commit some forces to hold Chernigov; counter-attacking enemy units as they try and cross the rivers and struggle through the marshes.



Two Rifle Divisions (RD) of the 21st Army will defend the river crossing at point A. Two more RD of the 21st will defend crossing B, Supported by a Tank Div(TK) from the 5th Mech Corps and the 21st Army Art (positioned so that it can also support the RD on the river crossing north of point A as well. I want it at 2 hexes range, because although the range shown on the counter is 3 hexes, 30% of this units firepower is made up of high cal 150mm guns with a range of only 2 hexes)

The Mech Div of the 5th Mech Corps will remove the Axis commandos from Chernigov and halt there as a reserve.

The 2nd Tk Div of the 5th Mech Corps will support the units defending crossing points C and D as a Tactical Res.

Units dug in and no attacks made, leaving the end of turn positions as below.



The Axis pushed to cross at all points and made some gains but it cost him dearly.

The 13th TK reacted as tactical reserve and was badly beaten up and forced to retreat itself (not surprising with a proficiency of 38%), but this action burned a lot of turn. The 17th TK reacted to the assault at crossing C and succeeded. However it was then unavailable for the assault at D where the recon unit was easily beaten back. The most annoying action was his commandos beating up the 21 Army art. T

The map below shows the positions at the end of his turn.



Underneath the routed RD at crossing A is a healthy, fortified Recon Reg, with a reasonable proficiency of 70%. It can hold there and the RD behind switch to tactical reserve. Even if he pushes me out of the way, that big, target rich stack of attacking units on a river hex will suffer.

The 21 Army HQ and an RD will move south to sort out the Axis commandos and support the defence of crossing point B. With the HQ adjacent, hopefully the art will recover quickly and in the meantime the HQ can provide fire support.

The 109 Mech Div will move up to crossing point C to defend. The 17th Tk and the 227 RD (sitting under the Recon Reg) will attack the PzG regiment that advanced at crossing point D, taking advantage of rear attacks I should shift it. The recon unit will shift east to prevent any retreating the wrong way!

The Map below shows the positions at the end of my turn.



While I forced the PzG Regiment to retreat, my units didn’t advance as they were only conducting “limited attacks” in order to keep my losses to a minimum. The attacks were over with some turn left to dig in again, but not enough mp’s to move into the vacated hexes.

I moved up the two tank Div’s of the 19th Mech Corps from Kiev, forming a reserve at Chernigov. (Although called Tank Divisions, and having the same symbol as a Panzer Division full of Panthers, these units have a dozen early KV and T34 between them. Most of their armoured equipment consists of T 26 and T37s. Wiki them and laugh).

Another RD of the 40th army has railroaded from its entry hex to as far as the river, where the line has been broken previously by another of his pesky commando units.

The Axis forces continued to push. At crossing A he used engineers to cross the river to the North of the bridge. The original defending RD retreated Northwards. The Tactical Reserve RD joined the fight and held the hex. The flanking force then attacked the retreated unit routing it then cutting the road.
At crossing C/D He further consolidated his bridgehead, but again with heavy losses.

The Map below shows the outcome of his turn.



The situation is not as grim as it looks,. Beneath the two routed RD at crossing C/D, the 5th Mech is still in reasonable shape, the 2 Tank Divisions are at 45 % readiness and the Mech Div at 89%. The 21 Art has recovered from routed with 33% readiness to rallied and 50% readiness - shows the value of a well supplied hex and an adjacent HQ.

Two more RD’s of the 40th Army are also available to form up at Chernigov, and the 23 Mech Corps pulling back from the Brezhina River (see post 1) is available to support actions at Gomel/Crossing A.

I attacked 3 hexes as shown with the intention of re-taking them. These Hexes are all road hexes so if I do I will achieve reasonable resupply.

The map below shows the outcome and positions at the end of my turn.



While forcing the Pz Unit to retreat at crossing A, by the time the successful attack was concluded, the attackers had insufficient mp’s left to occupy the hex. I successfully captured the attacked hexes at C&D.

The Axis Countered vigorously during his turn, with the results shown in the map below.



He pushed me right back again at crossing A, and although the RD at the top of the stack looks healthy, the units under it are either routed or seriously depleted.

However, the attacking forces have ended their turn in “mobile” status. I will ambush his force with the 23rd Mech from the East and elements of the 24th Army from the North.

He attacked a crossing B, but My Cav Div and RD in tactical reserve responded and repulsed his attack, leaving a stack of seriously depleted attacking units. I will counter aggressively here and push him back across s the river.

He advanced as shown at C/D. The 5th Mech Corps is reorganising as an entire formation, and the rest of the units underneath in both stacks are in a similar shape. Not as bad as it at first seems though. Although the 5th Mech Corps won’t respond to move or attack orders, they will dig in. All the reorganising units will have the opportunity to rally before the enemies’ next moves, (as well as a round of resupply) and if they do so these stacks will end up quite strong at the start of his turn.

I will counter-attack the SS PzG Reg with the 3 Rifle Divisions of the 40th Army.

Map below shows the outocome at the end of my turn



My Counter Attacks were a great success. At Crossing A, the 9 unit stack under the PzG Reg are all badly beaten up whilst my units emerged relatively unscathed.

A similar story at crossing B, I pushed him back across the river at a reasonable cost, although my turn ended at the conclusion of this battle so I never got the opportunity to dig in.

The Elements of the 40th Army pushed back his grenadiers at crossing C/D, and this battle ended earlier in my turn allowing me to dig in.

I have pulled the depleted 46 RD and a Recon Reg out of the line, and brought up a couple of RD’s and some Art to bolster my position.
I found an Air unit that was responding to orders and moved it up to the battle. I set it to CS and It joined in two battles during my first round of combat, but promptly decided to reorganise after that. (Proficiency 31% and still on the receiving end of an Air Shock penalty LoL)

The Axis forces continued with his brute force approach., with the outcome shown below.



He didn’t achieve much with his attacks at the Gomel crossing at the North edge of the battlefield .

At the south he has linked up two of his crossing points. However, the expansion of his crossing points has only been “lateral”, he has not made any forward gain or gained position to compromise the integrity of my overall position. He has taken enormous losses and his units are in poor positions in terms of resupply. Even with my poor proficiency levels, my units are recovering much quicker than his. Every one of the units I have intel on is severely depleted with red boxes showing.

My main concern is the formation at the south that is threatening to outflank me to the South. I might have start thinking about withdrawing soon.

ctd.........

(Battle of Chernigov ctd)

In the meantime, I attacked the hexes marked. (x), with the outcome shown in the map below.



The results were mixed, I advanced in places, but in the two battles marked (X), there was plenty of retreating but one or two units in the stack held out and burned my turn! As I was attacking conservatively with minimised losses, these units will start his next turn with these settings, and are in mobile status. Not the ideal situation for defence!

I have moved up the Abn Div from Kiev and reforming elements of the 6th Army to hold up the formation threatening my flank.

Quite a few of my air units rallied this turn, so I moved them forward at the end of the turn to support my forces during my opponents turn.

The Axis continued to attack all along my line, with the outcome below.



To my surprise, the formation to the south didn’t try to cross the river and outflank Chernigov (which would have compromised all my forces in the west of the river), but he wheeled them north to join the attack at crossing C/D. Also, my force at the north of the battlefield is now being threatened by the advancing Axis forces that have crossed the Dnepr further north.

Its time to pull back. The following two Maps show the progress of my withdrawal, in fair order to, good defensive positions.





I regard the battle of Chernigov as a tactical success that has supported my overall objectives. Over 5 turns a large number of enemy formations were stopped in their tracks. I spotted the complete formations of the 44, 45, 56, 86, 293 and 298 Inf Divisions, the 3, 9, 13, and 14th Panzer Divisions, the 10, 16 and 25 Panzer Grenadier Divisions, the SS Das Reich and the SS Wiking. And they all took a beating.
As an added bonus, many of my units have gained some valuable combat experience (and survived) which has boosted their proficiency. Elements of the 5th Mech Corps and 21st Army have proficiencies above 60%, from a base of around 45%

Its time to look at what’s happening elsewhere in the campaign.

i am loving this AAR. As a newcomer to the game i am looking forward to this. thanks.

Really enjoying this AAR, keep up the good work. The Battle of Chernigov is a real epic.:)

Campaign Update

Time to catch up with action across the continent. We left off at the Start of Turn 10, and rejoin at the start of (my) Turn 14.
(Remember again, my Theatre Recon is 5%, so there’s a lot out there I can’t see)

General.

The enemy advance continues in a relentless fashion. So many of his units appear to be damaged and depleted but they continue to smash forwards – how long can this be sustained?

At this stage in the game, I am getting a lot of reinforcements and units reconstitute very quickly. They mostly appear in Gorky, (and vary from almost full strength and full supply, to fractional strength and no supply). None-the-less, on average each Army is receiving one more unit each turn, and I have sufficient rail points to move them to their parent HQ. (Some -especially the smaller units - can get clobbered by his Air Interdiction forced to stop until next turn)

Leningrad Front.

Map Turn 14 Leningrad Front



Presumably in response to my reinforcement of Leningrad by rail, my opponent did try and disrupt my rail net – especially the Moscow to Leningrad route – by air-attacking bridges, but this appeared to have limited success. Only about 1 in 10 of his attacks destroyed a bridge, and I had enough rail repair and engineers to make good the damage immediately. My opponent must have come to the conclusion that these attacks were not worth the effort as they stopped after a couple of turns.

The 27th Army held well, supported by the 8th Army which added 4 RD over two turns as units entered the map and were reunited with the from an HQ and Cav Division that were there on Turn 10. (Because of this rapid growth in strength I decided to delay withdrawal of the the NKVD Divs in place on the Narva River to stop enemy forces crossing the Narva River and undermining the 8th and 27th’s positions.)

Last turn, however, Axis units “split” them and are closing on Batetskiy. This has made their positions untenable and need to withdraw the best they can, being as much of a nuisance as possible.

I need to hold the Enemy at the Luga River, otherwise Leningrad is doomed.

He has pushed the 32nd Army hard at Narva so I had to react by putting in the 54th. ( I put this formation there as their HQ is not yet on the map, but the Leningrad Front HQ (a “Free Support” Unit) is in the vicinity and can support them. I have also employed the Baltic Fleet to provide artillery support.

The 43rd Army was deployed south to the river, keeping as many units as possible in good defensive hexes and good supply. The 31st Army will defend the Luga-Betetskiy area and the 48th will cover Novgorod.

I haven’t got much left for a reserve, But the 52nd Army HQ that can be seen in Leningrad is due to be joined by 4 RD's and Recon Reg over the next 2 turns, and two more RD’s in Moscow that can be railroad in next turn.

We will see more of this front in detail very soon I’m sure!

Smolensk Front.
Map Turn 14 –Smolensk Front.



The 22nd Army was encircled and for the most part destroyed, with only 2 straggling units remaining. I moved the 49th Army from Depot in Smolensk a couple of turns ago in response to this, and redeployed the 50th Army (now pretty strong at 8 RD’s, 2 Cav Div and 1 Recon) to Smolensk at the same time.

The 13th Army managed to retreat back behind the Dnepr to Mogliev in good order. This freed up the (now quite strong) 24th Army that was in Depot there to redeploy, both covering the river south of Mogliev, and providing some units for the Battle of Chernigov, just of the southern edge of the Map.

The 20th Army held the Panzer forces river for nearly four turns, although much of it ended up drifting towards the fighting at Vitebsk which became under increasing pressure with the demise of the 22nd Army. Eventually, the Panzers force a crossing at Surail. The Defending units fought to the last and evaporated, so I had to detach a couple of units of the 49th to hold the Panzer up whilst I can pull back what I can from Vitebsk

My biggest concern is the large open space East of Mogliev (Inside purple circle). The land to the south is not a great problem. With its marshes, rivers and forests, retreating units could delay any movement in force through it for long enough for me to reinforce Bryansk with either new arrivals or unit from elsewhere.

East of Mogliev there is plenty of open terrain and a good road/rail net. If Axis forces breakthrough across the Dnepr, they could cross this area in strength very quickly, out flanking Smolensk. I will move the 3rd Army which has formed in Depot at Vyazma and is in good shape down to Roslav to cover this.

Kiev Front.

Map Turn 14 Kiev Front.



Forces in Kiev are dug in for the inevitable assault, and consist mostly of elements of the 26 Army and some other straggles and some Front Assets.

The 18th Army did very well and still hold Uman, however they have now been seriously outflanked to their right. The 6th and 12th Armies didn’t get much of a chance to withdraw as planned.

The 9th Sept Army had pulled back to the Bug in good order, with the screening force still hampering enemy movement.
(Further south, just off the map, Odessa has been surrounded, but my line on the Bug River is anchored by a reasonably sized force in Nikolayev)

These forces on the Bug, however have been compromised by failure of the 12th Army’s planned good order retreat (See first Post). There is a force headed by an SS Div and a Cavalry Division that have reach Tol’noye (And I’m sure there’s more behind them that I can’t see.)

The 9th Sept Army and the 26th Mech Corps will have to retreat back to the Ingul River. Elements of the screening force that are not engaged will pull back to the Bug and deny the enemy any crossing points. I will need to put together a force to hold a line from Kirovgrad to Cherkassy and link up the Ingul river line with the now very strong 19th Army on the Dnepr.
A Panzer Force has attempted to force a crossing of the Dnepr just North of Kanev. I should be able to push this back, at least until his assault is significantly reinforced.

The more open spaces of the Southern Front makes it much more difficult to defend than in the North, the risk and consequences of breakthrough are potentially very high. I have to give up a lot of ground to prevent the destruction of my armies in this theatre.

August 8th, 1941

Commander. Leningrad Front.

The Fascist hordes have reached the Luga River. This is the last natural barrier before the great city of Leningrad. Comrade Stalin and General Zhukov have advised me to resist at the Luga river. Now is the time to halt the enemy advance. Marshal Zhukov had promised at least two more Armies - as well as reinforcements for those I already have deployed - within the next two weeks. .................

August 8th 1941 -- Overview. (Turn 15)


Here I am, planning a rebuff, and my opponent has adds some spice to the mixture with his amphibious end-run. With an assault force of 2 Infantry Divisions, he has captured the anchorage hex west of Kronstadt, however; only 3 Regiments of infantry have made it ashore. The other 3, and both Divisional HQ’s are still on the water.
Whilst this is an imaginative tactical approach by my opponent, it’s way too soon. Once those troops land there, the only way they will get any supply is by either linking up with forces at the Luga River or capturing Leningrad.
Small amphibious operations like this are more likely to end up like Narvik or Anzio than Normandy or Sicily. Unless they are massive assaults with part of the main effort being to secure a source of supply very quickly, they are very risky ventures.
Anyway, to the tactical challenge of defending a ‘line’ line from Lake Il’men, along the Luga River to the Baltic Sea. The map below shows the terrain, without the units. (After all, those carefully crafted patches are not just there to make the game look pretty.)

Map - Planning the defence


If only I had more troops! - I’m sure every commander has cried that before. Ideally, you would want strong units fortified all along the dotted orange line - and the town of Luga as well if you’re feeling bullish - with tactical reserves right behind, and ‘Depot’ reserves a bit further back............
I haven’t enough troops to form a line or the support behind it. I know I will receive significant reinforcements over the next few turns at least, and then more beyond, so my objective will be to defend the critical parts of that line, until I am reinforced sufficiently to ‘take’ that line and hold it. (Or of course, the other option being that my opponent kicks me off the battlefield and back to Leningrad).
The purple areas are the critical zones. These will be the focus of my defence. Zone A controls all the road and rail crossings in the Northern half of the battlefield. Zone C the same in the centre and zone F the South. These areas are well supplied, with good defensive terrain.
The yellow zones will be defended but not with as much strength or aggression. Zone B is covering mostly impassable terrain (the Red X’s). Relatively weak forces should be able to hold this position. The impassable terrain in zone E creates bottlenecks and there are no roads to support any rapid penetration. I will defend here but not aggressively. Yield ground if I have to; counter attack cautiously if an advantageous opportunity arises. Zone D is the “backstop” for this position.

Back to the Battle


My actions for this turn: The 107 Mech will attack the Axis units that have crossed the Narva. With the recon and NKVD unit attacking from the rear, these should be dealt with easily with little loss.
The 32 Army HQ and an NKVD unit will move back and attach the Recon unit south of KIngisepp, supported by the engineers from the town. One of the NKVD units will stay where it is to hinder any pursuit.
The 8th Army has been outflanked on both sides now. Its HQ and 2 of its Rifle Divisions will pull back down the road and attack the axis units approaching Luga. I doubt they will break through, but with the unit in Luga joining in (with limited attacks, on limit losses) they should cause a bit of grief. The rest of the 8th Army will hold where it is and die frustrating the enemy advance.
The 2 RD and HQ of the 52 Army that have arrived so far will move to contain the amphibious landings; supported by some rail art moved up from Kingisepp. All my available air units will attack the Axis units still in on the water. The outcome of my turn is shown below



Pretty much everything went according to plan. 6 Rifle Divisions of the 58 Army have arrived by rail in a reasonable state of supply, along with a few other units. I moved some more air units into the area to support operations.My air attack on his embarked units was a phenomenal success. Most of them wiped out. I managed a brief attack with my advanced forces on the landed units towards the end of my turn before it burned away.However, in my state of smug hubris, I made a big mistake and forgot to redeploy my fleet to prevent any reinforcement of his landings.

Map – Possible Fleet Options.


There were two options, the safe and feasible blockade by occupying the Red X’s, or blockading the Purple Hexes with the destroyer flotillas and using the battleship to attach the Axis Naval units from beyond their range. Whilst the latter is feasible, I doubt I would have got enough combat phases out of the turn to achieve much with the attacks.


During his turn, the Axis again pushed across the Narva to the south of the Town as well as attacking the town itself. The attack on Narva Town cost him dearly, with 3rd TK Div responding as Tactical Reserve to support the fortified engineers he did not take the town.
The remnants of the 8th Army forming the screening/delaying force south of the river are badly beaten up but still hindering his advance. He has pushed forward slightly near Batetskiy and Novgorod. From watching the playback, He appeared to suffer a big “turn burn”, ending his turn before being able to exploit the outcome of his initial attacks.

My starting positions for turn 8, August 13th 1941 are shown below.


I will again attack the force that has crossed the Narva river. With my rear attack advantage I should push them back easily. The 32 Army will pull back North of the river and start to fortify.
I will attack the enemy troops on the roads to the SW and SE of Luga town. I am most concerned about the situation around Novgorod. This needs some reinforcement so I will redeploy the forces in the immediate area, move in the fort units and bring some elements of the 30th Army (Off Map) from the south of Lake Il’men.
I will not commit the 58th Army yet, but I will reposition it east, Allocating them and some artillery assets to the Northern Front HQ (as theirs is not yet on the map) and It will be with able to reach both Novgorod or Luga within 1 Turn from this position, whilst still being on the rail net to receive optimum supply.
The Outcome of my turn is shown below.



In the vicinity of Navara all went to plan. In the North, although I didn’t recapture his beachhead, I inflicted heavy losses whilst taking little. (Note, however, the continued inactivity of the Navy! I will have to execute some Admirals to make me feel better about my mistake.)
My attacks around Luga went too well and the 110tk went on a bit of a rampage, the engineers and recon unit in the hex SW of Luga town retreated before combat, as did the HQ South of them. During combat I then attacked the PZG and infantry in the hex SW of Betetskiy forcing them to retreat, The attacks on the road to the SW of Luga were also successful, and at this point I still had 60% of my turn left. I decided to attack the units in the Hex due south of Luga, with the intent that the 110 take would take the hex. This didn’t quite work out as planned. Most of the units in the hex retreated but they went the “wrong “ way! One unit hung on and burned up the rest of my turn. This has left the 101 Tk and the Artillery unit north of Luga in weak positions.
7 Rifle Divisions of the 59 Army arrived in the theatre by rail, as did two more Divs of the 52 Army.

During his turn, the Axis forces continued to press, the outcome shown below

Start Turn 17 August 17 1941


Well, serves me right for not deploying my Navy when I had the opportunity. He has reinforced his beachhead with 2 more complete infantry Divisions and pushed me back inland. Its not quite as bad as it looks. Underneath the 52nd HQ unit – along with several routed units - are two RD in good shape. I released two Tank Divisions of the 10th Mech Corps and some artillery from the Finnish Border, and a couple of militia units from the Leningrad line to help sort this out. The Navy will respond this turn!!
At Narva, (A) The Axis forces again assaulted the town with little effect. However it is time to pull back across the river. I will leave the engineers in the town and pull everything else back North of the river.
At Luga, the 8th Army was counter-attacked and soundly beaten and the town itself was taken. Luckily, my artillery unit survived intact. I will pull this unit back across the river.
South of Luga © i will counter attack with the 110 Tk, Bringing a rifle Division down from North to attack on the Flank (and ensure he retreats the right way!)
The Axis forces at Novgorod attacked in several places but made no gains. I will counter attack here two. I have released the 104 tank to attack the stack of units at D, along with the RD from the 5th Shock Army (Purple unit).
Now that the 59th Army (7 Rifle Divs in the stack) is rested and replenished, I will once again redeploy the 58 to a more central location.
The outcome of my turn is shown below.



My counter attacks at near Luga © went well. I have pulled the Rifle Division back North to defend the river crossing, rather than leave it in support of the 110 Tk.
My attacks in the Novgorod area were also successful, and I have pushed back his beachhead, inflicting heavy losses. My Navy has finally answered the call. Destroying the Axis fleet and blockading the beachhead from any further reinforcement.
Although I didn’t receive any more new Armies , the 52, 32 and 42 Armies all received one or two additional units.

The Axis continued to push aggressively, and made the gains shown by the yellow chevrons on the map below.



I need to be cautious here, especially in the Batetskiy – Novgorod area. The situation in the Novgorod area is not as bleak as it looks; underneath the routed units there others in reasonably good shape.
I will continue with my zonal defence. The 59th and more of the 30Th will move to Novgorod. I will not commit them to the line yet, but they will be close by. The 59th HQ is not on the map yet, so I have redeployed the Leningrad Front HQ to look after this formation.
The Bulk of the 58th Army and Northern Ft HQ have move to form a forward depot position at the road/rail junction as marked. Here they can support either of my Critical Zones, as well as the backstop should he manage to move through the lightly defended marshy ground.
They only attacks I will put in this turn are against his beachhead in the North, and I will remove the recon & light infantry unit from the hex NW of Novgorod to restore a more cohesive defensive position.

The outcome of my turn is shown in the next post........

ctd....

.....................Ctd

Map End Turn 18


I have restored a better defensive position in Novgorod. Although not quite in a critical zone, I have dug in a fairly strong force at Betetskiy. Denying the enemy this junction for a while longer will impede him more than it will cost me. I have quite a strong force in my forward depot.

Jumping forward 3 turns to August 31st , the Map Below shows my position at the Start of Turn 21.

Map August 31st 1941 Turn 21


The Axis Forces have launched several assaults. His attacks on Kingisepp were repulsed, but he has crossed the river to the North with a force of SS and supporting infantry. Whilst it is quite a large force, the terrain is poor for manoeuvring, and his supply will be minimal. The 52nd Army finished operations against his beachhead a couple of turns ago and is now well rested and resupplied. I will move them down to contain this force before planning its destruction. As long as I hold the crossings at Kingisepp, anything that crosses the river will be in jeopardy unless they can breakout.
Further south he has also forced a river crossing. Again, anything on my side of the river is in a poorly supplied position. I will move units in reserve to contain and counter these crossings.
Axis forces have managed to take Batetskiy, and he has pushed forward into the weakly defended Marsh area. These units are in poor positions and I will counter attack aggressively here, taking advantage of flanking and rear attacking opportunities. The outcome of my turn is shown below.



Most of my objectives were achieved, especially the counter attacking in the zone between Betetskiy and Novgorod which were very destructive for little loss to my forces.
I have started to build some more reserves. The 55th Army is coming together slowly, and a Second formation of units of the 27th Army with the Volkov Ft HQ are starting to assemble, although these won’t be much use for a while as they are mostly reconstituted units and are arriving on the map in a poor state.

During his turn, the Axis continued his assaults, At the start of my turn, (T22. - 3rd September 41), the situation is shown below.



His assaults at Kingisepp and his river-crossing to the North were repulsed, as where his attacks at Novgorod. He managed to link up with the isolated stack of units stuck in the marshes between Novgorod and Betetskiy, but this ‘link’ looks tenuous at best. I will attack here and destroy these units – considering their position it should be a Turkey Shoot.
Of greatest concern is the river crossing in the centre. He has put a lot of units into this assault and he has gained a bit of ground, albeit at great cost. The units to the west of this bridgehead (yellow) whilst worrying are not my greatest concern. I will contain and put some pressure on here, but my main concern is the bridge North of Luga (Purple Circle).
At the moment, his bridgehead has no meaningful supply route, but if Axis forces capture the bridge hex here, then my whole defensive position is in jeopardy. My priority this turn is to support that bridge hex, and recapture the road/rail hexes marked 1, then 2. I will also move the 55th Army South. It’s not in good shape yet and ideally I would like to give it a few more turns of resupply. In its new position it can respond to any breakthrough and be ready to support the fighting along the road should I need it.
The 43rd Army has decide to reorganise and is not responding to orders, but fortunately, underneath those units there are some more units of the 31st Army and 10th Mech that are in reasonable shape. The outcome of my turn is shown below



I easily wiped out the isolated units in the marshland between Betetskiy and Novgorod, and reinforced the crossing point north of Luga. Although I have made good in-roads into the forces that crossed the river to the NW of Luga, I did not manage to retake the road. Although I forced the enemy to retreat, “Turn Burn” got the better of me. The Enemy units retreated on the last round of combat, leaving me with insufficient mp’s to move into the hex.

The enemy continued to attack across the front, with the outcome shown below



On first impressions, this might look worse than it actually is. He has made a little ground in the Kingisepp area, but his hold on any captured ground is weak. In the centre He has expanded his river crossing and taken the bridge hex, but his units are weak, exhausted and still unsupplied.
I will counter attack aggressively all across the front this turn, committing the 55th Army in the centre, with the outcome below.



This pattern of assault continued for a few more weeks, but the enemy could never hold the ground taken. His forces were becoming ever more depleted, whereas my losses were less and a constant trickle of reinforcements were arriving at every turn to bolster my position. By Turn 28 none of his army was north of the River.

Map – 24th September 1941 (Turn 28)


By October 10th, I retaken Betetskiy and pushed his line back to the river hexes – cautiously, with as little loss as possible. The Rasputitsa would begin next turn, and with my defensive position strong and with plenty in reserve, the Axis would advance no further towards Leningrad in 1941.

Map October 10th 1941 (Turn 32)

Not bad situation on the Leningrad front. And it's already October! Besides according to the map you have a great opportunity to bag a few Jerries near Lake Il'men. You shouldn't also show all units so explicitly. The opponent knows everything about you, especially where you have units with minimal casualties set up. If I were you I'd set them at least to limited where there are strong, otherwise they are prone to retreat under attack easilly. The mighty Wehrmaht may use this knowledge against you.

Kru Wrote:Not bad situation on the Leningrad front. And it's already October! Besides according to the map you have a great opportunity to bag a few Jerries near Lake Il'men. You shouldn't also show all units so explicitly. The opponent knows everything about you, especially where you have units with minimal casualties set up. If I were you I'd set them at least to limited where there are strong, otherwise they are prone to retreat under attack easilly. The mighty Wehrmaht may use this knowledge against you.

The Cease-fire has started at this point, so I coudl attack no more. My opponent took the (sensible) opportunity to withdraw them!
I could be giving some intelegence away, but my DAR lags the game by many turns. We are at turn 62 now, the game has moved on.