Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Printable Version

Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Printable Version

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RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Plain Ian - 01-15-2019

Game Turn 17

[Image: GT%2017%20German.png]

Ok everything squeezed on to one map.

Mikes turn was pretty simple. He is taking his time with the pocket and just pushing it in from the north where most of his best units (100th Jager) are stationed. He has not attempted to attack Svechinkovskiy or try to cut off supply from the supply hex. The pocket is still sealed. He has 9 turns to finish the job......not that he has to.

In the east his Nebelwerfers attacked the 182nd again. I hope they go Unavailable soon. I am tempted to try a Night carpet bomber on them as they have been spotted!

In the south he pulled back his 'death star' towards Manoylin leaving one company as a rear guard. Job done. He continues to probe in the south against the 91st. He also fell back north of Nizhnyaya-Buzinovka.

My turn. Well I have two carpet bombers to use this turn. I usually select targets next my own disrupted units which means the north of the pocket might be suitable? However I have nothing to lose by using them in the south of the pocket.

Artillery is not great. All of my heavy artillery are Unavailable. I have nothing in range of the pocket this turn to help further breakout attacks. The 5th Gds Mortar in the south is available though. It doesn't have many targets though as its a 62nd Army unit. (only 196th Div/91st Gds Rgt are spotters)

Supply for the pocket is mixed. Tanks are Ammo Low but again most Sappers and 3/753rd have full supply. Limited attack prospects for me.
Supply in the south is similar. Most heavy tanks low or disrupted. T-70 units have supply. Limited attack prospects at Nizhnyaya possible.
Supply in east is fairly good. Most tank units have full supply. Attacks possible but no progress expected.

Edit 20th Jan - map updated to correct it. There is no gap in the German lines south of Manoylin 2 hexes west of the 365th. The village is occupied.

RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Plain Ian - 01-20-2019

Turn 18 Russian

[Image: GT%2018%20Russ%20VP.png]

Sorry for delay. Game played tonight. Results above. not a great change in VP's but but I've gained a few hexes which possibly is more important than VP's?

[Image: GT%2018%20end.png]

1st Tank Army is now only 4 km away.

Will post maps tomorrow night.

RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - ComradeP - 01-20-2019

I guess at this point you're mostly playing to see if you can reach the pocket, considering the VP's.

Note that any assaulting unit that doesn't Disrupt during the assault will knock ~50% off Disrupted units that can't retreat. Using multiple units is often not as efficient. You can assault with decent/good quality small units and achieve better results through multiple assaults, instead of one big one. That's more difficult to do for the Soviets as they have a higher chance to Disrupt.

RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Plain Ian - 01-20-2019

(01-20-2019, 09:35 PM)ComradeP Wrote: I guess at this point you're mostly playing to see if you can reach the pocket, considering the VP's.

Note that any assaulting unit that doesn't Disrupt during the assault will knock ~50% off Disrupted units that can't retreat. Using multiple units is often not as efficient. You can assault with decent/good quality small units and achieve better results through multiple assaults, instead of one big one. That's more difficult to do for the Soviets as they have a higher chance to Disrupt.

Yes I guess I'm just playing on to see if I can reach the pocket. Of course that possibly won't reflect my play, I think Mike can stop me if he wants? He possibly doesn't feel the need to stop me as the game is won anyway.

I think I'm past the point where I should have thrown in the towel so I might as well finish the game.

As for assaults I agree that attacking individually is the way to go. The Russians do have to watch for disruption although you can reduce this I think by using what I call soak offs? If you have a disrupted unit adjacent then you use this to reduce the defensive fire of the assaulted unit by trying to get it to return fire. I say "think" because I've always assumed that an assaulted unit uses the same code as a unit which is fired on during a turn and basically can return fire a maximum of 3 times? Maybe I'm wrong?

Of course artillery can also spoil an assault so that's unpredictable and a very nice touch in the game.

RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Plain Ian - 01-21-2019

Turn 18 Russian

[Image: GT%2018%20Russ%20pock.png]

Operation Exodus fizzles and splutters. The 303rd Sappers easily push back the disrupted Germans south of them although casualties were matched. The 303rd slips to moderate (yellow) fatigue.

The 644th Sep tank Bn contemplated which direction to go. South west to chase after and possibly assault the disrupted Germans again? Or south east into the inviting gap? South east it is comrade! make it so No 1. Out of the dark 5 StuG's loom. No match for 19 T-34's! The tankers press on, no time to fire, assault! However these are not ordinary StuG's they are long barreled with excellent high velocity cannons superior to the T-34 76c. After a few minutes confused fighting the Russians are brought to a halt demoralised! (No casualties just a straight Disuption on first fire, they are Fatigue 130 No Morale)

Further east the 1/40th tankers were trying to implement the second part of the attack by targeting and disrupting the StuG's facing them. They huff and puff but Low Ammo means they only manage 3 fatigue hits.

With no success the 40th Gds Sappers have no choice but to assault with reduced or slim chances of success. It must have been close as the Sappers did not disrupt and casualties were again quite even. In fact they managed to kill a StuG. However they failed to take the hex. I reckon there is only 1 StuG left and that kept the Germans in the hex?

And that folks was possibly the end of Operation Exodus. The 614th AT Rgt limbered up and pulled out to follow the 644th. The 2/84th and 3/753rd were also pushed south.

Supply from Svechinkovskiy is still hanging by a thread thanks to the corridor formed by the 2/262nd and the 1586th Sappers (supported by two T-70's of the 2/40th).

Meanwhile left behind n the north is a wall of disrupted units trying to slow down the assaults from this direction.

I reckon Mike will do the decent thing next turn and cut off Svechinkovskiy from the rest of the pocket. Surely it can't be that hard?

Off to walk the dog. Rest of the map in a few hours time. Some ground has been made......

RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Plain Ian - 01-21-2019

Turn 18

[Image: GT%2018%20plan.png]

Before I post the finished map which is a bit complicated to follow here is my initial plans.

When I do my turn I look for assaults that I will win. ie against disrupted units.

When i made up my map of German units at the end of Turn 17 I could see two automatic wins. 1 and 2. (even though 2 was hidden by night)

After making Assault 1, I then realised that Assault 3 (again hidden) was on the cards and could follow it up by Move 4 to possibly isolate him.

Similarly after Assault 2 I realised that Move 5 might be possible to isolate him.

The rest of my moves all follow on from the two first assaults.

RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Plain Ian - 01-21-2019

Turn 18

[Image: GT%2018%20Russian%20map.png]

In the east the 91st Rgt continues its fire fights. I think over both turns I'm inflicting more casualties than I am receiving but it does mean he is pinning 3-4 of my valuable units down here when they could be better employed at the front.

The 3/20th makes an assault but fails. The 2/20th pulls back.

Further east after an assault by the 3/863rd I've managed to move units up to isolate 3 of his front line units.

Just west of Verkne-Buzinovka I try a similar move. Rather than pile up units south of the town I've opted to swing them out west. Unfortunately he did have a small Panzerjaeger armoured unit just behind so I haven't managed to isolate him.

The battle of Osinovka continue but should end next turn as he is down to just X men.

At Mukovkin I tried to swing the 2/133rd around him but met a hidden Pioneer unit.

My armour batters his units at Verkne-Buzinovka but the 1/22nd suffers heavily trying to disrupt his AT guns.

Both carpet bomb attempts fail. One misses and the other only manages 3 losses at Verkne.
The 5th Gd Mortar Rgt do well though and kill two guns south of Manoylin.

So over to Mike and his response.

RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - ComradeP - 01-21-2019

Quote:As for assaults I agree that attacking individually is the way to go. The Russians do have to watch for disruption although you can reduce this I think by using what I call soak offs? If you have a disrupted unit adjacent then you use this to reduce the defensive fire of the assaulted unit by trying to get it to return fire. I say "think" because I've always assumed that an assaulted unit uses the same code as a unit which is fired on during a turn and basically can return fire a maximum of 3 times? Maybe I'm wrong?

Of course artillery can also spoil an assault so that's unpredictable and a very nice touch in the game.

Units can return fire 3 times, and Assaulting uses the same code.

Do take care when assaulting with weak mediocre quality units, as an enemy battalion that has been 1 Man/D'ed (which is the bane of Soviet units) but otherwise in good shape might Disrupt the enemy unit during the assault.

Strangely, when a defending vehicle stack defends successfully without loss but one of the unit Disrupts, the result still says "No Effect"

RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Plain Ian - 01-22-2019

Turn 18

Fresh in from the front...

[Image: GT%2018%20German%20VP.png]

And a breakdown of the losses.....

[Image: GT%2018%20German%20Chart.png]

Quick map next thread whilst i still have the will to type..........

RE: Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev - Plain Ian - 01-22-2019

Turn 18 German

[Image: GT%2018%20Germ%20pocket.png]

Mike continues to slowly squish the pocket. Plan Anaconda I think its called. Wonder what the German is for Anaconda? I did German 45 years ago? Will look it up.

Anyway I digress. Nebelwerfers or smoke mortars do a nice job on the 2/262nd and it disrupts after losing 30 men. I would have tried an assault after it lost 10 men never mind 30, but MIke holds back and continues to shoot it up. It is disrupted with fatigue 106. (started at 27)

There was some other fire but most of the damage to the pocket is caused by the assaults. The 616th Artillery Rgt are removed from the Russian OOB......although like Arnie "they'll be baaaack" for the next battle as soon as the factories crank out 36 more.

He made no moves or attacks to the south of the pocket and again Svechinkovskiy was quiet.

I saw quite a bit movement and have pasted these as best as possible. Didn't liek those StuG's scuttling past.....

Prospects for Op Gp Khrushchev/Zhuravlev are better than expected but they are still bad.
Group A has 3 units which are Full Supply and UNDISRUPTED!!!! Use them to shore up the 2/262nd?
The 1/40th (13 x T-34) and 3/753rd are Full Supply and combat effective. 1/40th and the 3/753rd do the Russian combo?
The 303rd, 2/84th, 40th Sappers are in good order but Ammo Low which makes them good probably for defense only.
I do not have any night bombers but I do have one artillery unit for support, although this might be more useful supporting 4th Tank Army breaking in?

Battle has reached an interesting point. Its going to be check mate for Mike but maybe I can spin out the moves. I possibly see a couple of desperate assaults I cam make from the pocket.

Map of the south and east later.