DAR - Russian Winter Woes

[Lt. Ketch]

I figured I better post here as it's been a couple of days since I played this camp and I'll be gone for another couple of days. I kept my wife up a while ago to get to turn 28 or so. She finally rolled over and told me to turn it off because the fan on my laptop was too loud.

Since nobody chimed in, I went a head with my plan. Within the first 15 turns or so, I realized my plan was flawed, as always. Granted, this time I don't think it was a flawed as last time, but it still cost me at least a full platoon of core. The two flaws: 1. I didn't have enough artillary that could fire fast enough and with enough ammo to stall the assualt that came rummbleing up the hill, and 2. Russian infantry get pinned easily meaning it's hard to pull back and take up a new position.

From turn 2 I got a taste of what I was up against. Several units had LOS into areas of clear terrian beyond the trees. I watched the equvalent of at least two companies of armour come towards the trees, but I suspect that there is a lot more than I first saw. The majority of the enemy AFVs were Pz 38t with the 37mm pop gun, but there was also a whole bunch of Pz IIc (or CII, can't remember right now) and a group of Pz IIIhs as well. Most seemed to be headed towards the road, but a platoon of P 38t and Flamepanzers were seen swinging north. We lost sight with the majority of the enemy's units when they hit the tree line just west of HILL N and ROAD W. The first units seen in the engament area were AC, three near HILL N by the GBUNK and four skimmed the sountern edge of ROAD W and entered the field in between ROAD W and ROAD C. I had all unit hold fire in an attempt to lure any heavier units into the killing grounds. Of the three ACs by HILL N, only one moved out of the trees. I let him come all the way across the field and into the trees on the other side where I had my T-34/76s ambush him there. The ACs in the south had unknowningly driven under the guns of my T-34/57 platoon. Needless to say, there were no survivers after two turns. .

This destruction of enemy forces helped boost moral, but was only a very small beginning to the onslaught that was to come. My two forward AC intercepted a large force of Pzs with mounted infantry in the field just west of ROAD W. They were able to destory one Pz 38t and hose the troops off of a couple of tanks before beating a quick retreat to back up the ski troops that would have to face the majority of the foe. However, at that point the enemy had found what it considered a weak point in my defences. The Mountain platoon located due West of HILL N came under heavy attack by Pz 38ts and IIcs. Three of the four squads were wiped out completely with only two tanks being destroyed and an additional one immobilized. The remaining squad (the HQ) dropped back to the trenches as I moved my T-34/76 platoon up to ambush posistions just south of the trenches, supported by the marines and ski troops. The troops guarding HILL N are currently (Turn 28) responsible for the destruction of approximatly 70% of all enemy forces eliminated. But I'm getting ahead of myslef.

At about the same time that HILL N was being attacked, two platoons worth of Pz IIIhs with a platoon of Pz 38ts started to advance up the clear area to the west of HILL S. I had my Kv-1s hold fire untill the enemy was about 100m in front of my ski troop screen and then opened up, destorying almost all of the units. The Ski pioneers were also responsible for 3 or 4 kills between the three squads. Two of the Pz 38ts tried to slip around the southern flank, but were destroyed when one of the Kv-1s repositioned and saw them. However, two of them made it through and stormed HILL S. More on them later.

While these assaults were happening, the enemy's artillary was busy, most of the time hitting nothing. Jerry was packing 17cm guns, at least three batteries of them off board and multiple 82mm mortars, probably 6 - 8 tubes total. He also has at least four 10.5 cm guns in an off board battery. The opening barrages, didn't hit anytying and put smoke in unnessisary locations. As the battle has shifted, he has used a good chunk of guns in CB roles on my artillary, but so far only one gun was abandoned and has since been recrewed. My own CB efforts have been lacking. My advance AOP and Para Scout party in the north has located three 82mm mortars but despite CB fire from my 120mm mortars, they haven't been seriously disadvantaged. My para scouts are going to see to them personally. My off board CB has done nothing. I'm a little ticked, but I understand that the majority of the enemy's off board is probably out of range (as it's 17cm and mines 152mm.) My own efforts to stall the enemy with my artillary have proven fairly worthless, however they have been effective in slowing some units in the south and drawing enemy CB fire, which they have been able to survive quite well.

As I moved out of the first 10 turns or so, it was apparent that the enemy was concentrating on HILL N. An insane number of AFVs of all kinds were coming from the field where they were spotted by my ACs, up the road through ROAD W and entering the trees to the SW of HILL N. The marine engineers and T-34/76s have faced platoon after platoon of tanks, destorying two to five AFVs every turn. The GBUNK to the NW of HILL N has also proven usefull in immobalizing and destroying about 6 AFVs and a MMG that was riding on one of the tanks. The Zis-30s to the NE of HILL N have also taken out 3 or 4 AFVs to date. The infantry in the trenches began to fight off enemy infantry squads around turn 18 and 20, showing that the infantry was finilly catching up. I moved my T-34/57 platoon up into the wreckage of the unless ACs and they have been able to provide some fire against units moving between ROAD W and the trees west of HILL N as well as two lucky shots against tanks on HILL S. Around turn 25 I also started the counter attack against ROAD W. To date, there may be as many as 60 enemy AFVs lying in ruin to the SW of HILL N and infantry has started moving aginst the objectives, but are being beaten back by my own units in the trenchs. The counter attack encountered resestance when a marine squad was almost decimated by an enemy ambush, but artillary and armoured support are inbound.

A brief conflict NW of HILL N is of interest. As menioned, two Flamepanzers (FP) were spotted moving NW in the early stages of the battle. They emerged on the backside of the GBUNK, not far from the ski pioneers that were screening the area. Two of the ski squads were unseen, but one drew fire from the FPs mmg. I retreated him back and had him take cover in the GBUNK One of the FPs moved close and, how you say "Nuked the ever living crap" out of the bunker with its flamethrower. Happily, the bunker only sustained weapon damage, and the squad that took shelter was able to bail out and destroyed the FP. The success of this opperation was mainly due to the fact that the FP had expanded all of its flamethrower ammo on the buncker. The other two squads, however, were unable to to destory the remaining FP leaving themselves vulerable. I feared the worst when I hit the end turn button, but happily, the AI had targeted the area for 10.5cm bombardment. While my squads were only lightly supressed from the barrage, the FP was destoryed by friendly fire. HE and Flamethrowers! That's what I call a BBQ!

Matters in the south, however, have not been so happy. First, HILL S. As previously mentioned, two Pz 38ts stormed Hill south, taking one objective before my troops even knew they were there. Unfortuanity, the only troops stationed there are a rifle platoon, and consiquently have only F-1 gernades, rifles and LMG - hardly effective weapons for taking out German armour. (Now don't me wrong, I've taken out Pz IVcs with F-1 hand gernades, But it took over five squads over 4 turns to fianaly get the blighter.) Since all other assets were over 800m of hard terrain away and tied up at the moment, I tried to have my squads route the crews of the tanks. Unfortainitly, the reverse happened. Over the next six turns or so one squad after another was routed, sustaining upwards of 75% causalties, luckly, nobody has been dispersed or eliminated. The saving grace came when I moved the T-34/57 platoon up the terreced hills to support HILL N. The tank company HQ was the first to be able to spot the assailents on HILL S and after two turns of lobbing shells at one of the tanks, took it out (>1300m with ~30% chance to hit!). Two turns later, a T-34/57 was able to spot the other tank and after three turns of lobbing shells, destoyed it with no survivers (>1400m and ~18% chance to hit!) Never say persistance gets you nowhere. Now I just have to rally one of the squads and get them to take back the objectives.

To the West of HILL S, misfourtian fell on my Kv-1 platoon. A second wave of Pz IIIhs appeared and was able to penitrate furter into the line. Two tanks sliped throught the gap between the Ski pioneers screen and began to move into the trees. In an attempt to destory them, I had a ski unit fire on both tanks multiple times in an effort to button them so a Kv-1 could slip behind and deliver two rear shots. The ski trooper was unsuccessful and both Pzs fired as soon as my tank came into view. The Pz IIIh only has a 50mm gun which at medium and long range is fairly useless against the Kv-1 1941's hull armour. However at 50m and 100m respectivly, armour is nearly irrelavent. The first two shots blew all the guns off of the Kv, also causing it to button up and freeze. One their next turn, they smoked the tank (no survivers), pinned the ski troops and faded into the trees. I had dispatched the scouts in the konsomolets a turn or so earlier in case there were able to slip trough and the turn after they smoked my tank, I located one and was able to dispatach it with one of the remaining Kvs. The other has yet to be found. We've also determined that Infantry in strength is moving against the troops in the south. The ACs have been redeployed and are helping to suppress the offending squads with their MMGs, but plans are being made to retreat in the face of the enemy and plot artillary in their path.

Overall, I am not too displeased with the way the battle is going. I am confident that I have destoryed the majority of the enemy's armour and will be able to fight the German infantry to a standstill, if not an outright win. In comparision, all but one of my AFVs are fit and able to do battle with the incoming infantry (the one being the dead Kv). I am still worried about the trees and the close quarters that it will mean for my infantry, but I'm pretty sure that the enemy artillary is running out of ammo where as mine are currently being re supplied and should be able to provide deceant covering fire.

I'll try to get back to this as soon as I can, but as I'll be out of town untill next week and Gila and I are trying to kill each other in Sicily, it might be slow going for the Russian War Machine.

[Lt. Ketch]

I just got back from a wedding in Tulsa OK and my family and I are glad to be home. Why do I mention this? For the simple reason that because of this trip, my alarm clock was set an hour early, which meant that I not only got to play my PBEM game against Gila (who is down one tank now) but that I also got to play nine or so turns of this campaign.

As it turns out, I was mistaken when I last reported on what turn I was on. I only got to turn 22 not 28 "or so." In any event. The battle came to a rather sudden end on turn 29. But let me give you a run down.

In the south, I was able to rally units of the rifle platoon gaurding HILL S and retake the objectives there, and even get a couple of them back into the trenches. The search for the missing PZ IIIh ended when a Ski squad was attacked by a german infantry squad behind my lines. In an attempt to locate and destroy this vagrent, another Ski squad stummbled on the missing Pz. It turns out that he never moved after routing the ski troop and destroying my Kv-1. Units were moved against him and he was destoryed in short order. The ACs and Ski platoons hanging out by the Pz graveyard were able to route multiple squads that tried to come around and trough the wreckage. Two 76mm on board guns assisted in pinning the enemy, so the tin cans and cruchies could send them packing. My ACs (BA-6s) showed themselves to be exellent fighters and will be rewarded for their efforts. (I.e. I may up grade them into something with more armour).

The counterattack on ROAD W was a success, but had the battle gone longer, its questionable how well we would have held out. As my troops moved north and took the objectives, a platoon of infnatry and two Pz (1 38b(t), 1 IIIh) were discovered. The tanks were dispatached in short order. The first routed by a flamethrower close assualt and destroyed at long range by a Kv-1. the other taken out by a rear shot (it was running from the carnage around HILL N) by a T-34/57. Artillary was called in (107 mortar and 122 howitzer) by the HQ of the Tank Company to break up the enemy line. My squads stacked up and popped smoke to make the enemy come to them. All known squads were routed by concentrated fire. One thing I can say about my troops. They may not be able to shoot the straightest, but they can throw a lot of ammunition down range.

The action around HILL N was both interesting and somewhat perdicatable. The only AFVs left in the north from the last post were a pair of ACs (222s I think.) I was able to damage both of them to some extent with my Zis-30s, and then close assaulted one with my mountain scouts, first immobilizing then destorying it. The scout took the consiqence of his actions and spend the rest of the battle running for cover (by the end with only one man left.) The other was dispatched by fire from the Zis-30s on the following turn. The infantry became heavier, but barible. Due to the wreckage and smoke, they have to get close to me before they can fire and close is about the only way my guys can hit anything. The GBUNK to the Northwest of HILL N did draw fire from a platoons worth of enemy soldiers, but was able to pin most of them down with the help of the Mountain sniper and ski troops also in the NW. Again, the success of these actions is due to the fact that the battle ended so suddenly. Had it continued for another 5-10 turns, it is probable that we would have been overrun.

A brief report on my para scouts and AOP behind enemy lines. They were able to destory two of the three mortars located near their position. Overall, I am please with their actions. Had I been figting a human, I think they might have drawn off a portion, however small of the assualt division that was approaching my troops. As it is, they got back there + blew stuff up + lived to return to me = mission accomplished!

Other than these conflicts, there was little of subtlty. The enemy's CB fire destoryed two of my ammo trucks, but didn't damage anything else. Now, let me tell you of the resaults of the battle, what was waiting for me, and some thoughts about the whole mess.

Results USSR Germany
Men 94 450
AFV 1 86
Artillary 0 2
Soft 2 0
Score ~4000 ~200

Decisive Victory!

One of my favoriate parts is to look at the map and enemy roster after a battle. The center of the map, not 300 meters from my most western troops gaurding HILL N was covered in at least two to three companyies worth of infantry and tank destoryers. It turns out the AI formations ran into the BC0 formation. The only way I would have stood a chance is if I nuked the crap out of their ranks before they ever got to me. They would have run me out of ammo faster then I would care to think. The only way I understand that the game ended 30 turns early is that the points they had in their AFVs that I had destoryed so vastly out weighed the points they had in their battle ready units that point wise it was statisticly "too difficult" to continue. I know the AI pulls out when the ratio of destroyed/routed to healthy gets to a certain point. (Or at least it considers pulling out when it gets to that point.) I've just never had it pull out 30 turns early. I'm not complaining at this point though.

Thoughts. My defence was flawed, as I mentioned in my last post. If I had to do it again, I would have been a more supported defence. When it came time for some units to fall back, they could not because they were on their own and consiquently wiped out for my error. Adapting a "protect the objective" stance, as oppoed to a "which way is the enemy going to come so I can kill him" stance, helped in many ways, but I forgot that goal half way through deployment, so I had some units sitting out on the edges of thinks that I could have used in a other locations and would have needed had the battle not ended early. The terrain made things interesting and it was kind of fun to try to track down the enemy in some spots. Overall, my troops performed better this battle then the ones previous (something that every general hopes for) and I was pleased with their successes. Special recognition must be given to the valient tankers and troops who stood against the onslaught of german armour, destorying over 60 AFVs with very little help. If you were to look closely at the kill to killers ratio each unit in the T-34/76 and marine platoons killed an average over 10 AFVs each in the space of only about 5 turns. The support troops (Ski troops and bunkers) did well for their service and I will look forward to serving with such troop again.

What the future holds is unseen. I'm having thoughts of reducing my force size by a platoon or two, but at the same time, I am pleased with their progress and use. I still need to be better at using my entire force as there were units that never moved, who's help would have been usefull. I feel good about the majority of this action and tenitivly look forward to another defend action. Upgrades after this will most likely be limited to the ACs and possibly Off Board CB 1, but I am unsure. Time and need will tell.

Ketch out.

[Lt. Ketch]

Commrades! Our division has been called on break the line of the German Army that is encroaching on the sacred soil around our beloved capital! We will assaile fascit's position with every man, every tank, every gun that could be pulled together for this assualt. Beyond our own forces, division has allocated us:

2 of the toughened Siberian ski companyies,(3 platoons of 2 SMG, 1 Heavy and 1 Poineer Ski troops along with sniper and HQ escort)

4 platoons of ski poineers,(3 squads each)

It is fitting that shortly after the Americans finaily enter this war that we are using the first full company of their equipment. Let us up this "Ctyapt" (Stuart) can fight and is not just capatalist crap! (10 Stuart AFVs)

1 Heavy tank company that has been cobbled together. It should be able to funtion despite being all different models. (4 Kv-1 Efamelas[or whatever they're called - the ones with lots of armour], 3 Kv-1 1940s [I can't remember, the one with the 152mm cannon], 3 T-28 [this is to offset the other tanks, slow and not very good - limited attempt at realism])

1 Motorcycle company for recon purposes has also been attached to our forces.

Our artillary support is mighty! Not only has regimental given us 8 batteries of heavy artillary (4 122mm+ [with 140 ammo], 4 152mm] but we aslo have a battery of heavy mortars (5 120mm), but a whole battery of Stalin's Organs! (25 Katuysha rocket launchers).

We have also been given 6 ammo suppliers to assist in the barrage as well as a B20-m FO vichael to help in cordinating the incoming carrnage.

Lastly, we have procured 3 platoons (4 each) of sleds for our regular troops.


As visabilty is only just over a KM (29 hexes), we don't anticipate enemy air assets. We will be shipping out soon to take up our assault positions. Long live the Russian War Machine!

[Imp]

Good luck plotting that lot you should just have to kill them as they run.

[Lt. Ketch]

Originally Posted by Imp

Good luck plotting that lot you should just have to kill them as they run.

What can I say? I'm a believer in the Russian Doctrine (not communism) that dictates that you bombard the ever-loving-tar out of them before starting the advance. I'm looking forward to the BBQ What else am I going to do with 111 individual guns/tubes of artillary.

Although this tactic has been known to backfire. At one point during the advance to Berlin, the Germans held a group of trenches to the east of a swampy area which in turn was overlooked by a series of hills. The Russian planned one of the biggest bombardments up to that point, targeting the trenches. Afterwards they planned to shine anti-aircraft search lights into the trenches to blind the defenders. The Germans, not wanting to play their game deserted the trenches the night before the attack, leaving only a skeleton force, and retreated through the swamp to the hills where there were dug-in tanks and artillary. The next morning, the bombardment started before dawn. But when it came time to charge, the spotlights relected off of all the dust in the air, effectively blinding the Russians. The German defenders that survived the bombing by hiding out in strong points were able to do a fair amount of damage before retreating through the swamp. When the Russians followed, they fell under the guns of the dug-in tanks and artillary on the hills. Needless to say, it took a lot longer than planned to remove the Germans from the area.

Moral of the story - Make sure you know where the enemy is before you waste all of your ammo on nothing.

Or

- Make sure you have enough ammo to nuke every square inch of ground you enemy could possibly ever occupy during the course of the battle.

Or

- Don't mess up!

Take your pick.

[gila]

Ketch,
Ahem,, i'm still waiting on your next turn files

[Lt. Ketch]

Originally Posted by gila

Ketch,
Ahem,, i'm still waiting on your next turn files

Did you remember to attach the files on the last E-mail you sent me?

I got an E-mail, but no attachment. I understand if you are hesitant to send it seeing as my Tigers are going to chew a big hole in your Stuarts. Heck with the dogs of war, the Germans had it right - Let slip the cats!


I cannont confirm or deney that presense of misinformation in this message. If I could, it would be pointless wouldn't it.