Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II) [COMPLETE]

[Olorin4]

We begun a new DNO game with Fungwu, this time we switched sides, me playing the Soviets and Fungwu the Germans. So...

Despite initial setbacks, I ordered my subordinates in the STAVKA Headquarters to plan a double pincer attack to utterly destroy Army Group Center and then march to Berlin!

The orders were sent out, but none received them. The result was a stunning German advance. Panzergroups 2,3 and 4 shattered my "front" and then advanced deep behind Soviet lines. The West Front has most of its formations in reorganization Panzergroups 2 and 3 are 250Km behind my front, in Baranovichi and Lida respectively. Panzergroup 4 in the north marched half the distance from the Dvina bridges.

From north to south, 8A, 11A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and 26A are cut to pieces, what remains are routed formations waiting destruction in the next turn.

NORTHWEST FRONT:

Not only the two infantry Armies were destroyed, but also its 3 of its 5 Mech Corps' are trapped. Some divisions still have a chance of escaping encirclement. 27A, near Pskov, will withdraw to the northeast and occupy a line behind the Luga river, near Kingissep. The two Mech Corps' near Pskov will also withdraw, near Novgorod.

WEST FRONT:

I have 3 Mech Corps' remaining intact. I am trying to save what I can from the Bialystok Pocket, moving every available formation eastwards, to Slonim. They encountered some German units blocking their path. Most formations are either destroyed or static.

SOUTHWEST FRONT:

Similar situation. This is the strongest front I have, with the most tanks, T-34's included. 5A, 6A and 26A were destroyed. 12A escaped death and it looks like it will be saved. I am moving it away from the Germans. Historically, 19A and 16A were transferred to the West Front. I will do that only for 19A.


Overall Strategy:

In the overview you can see where I intend to build my new line.
(north to south):
Kingissep - Luga river - Novgorod - Lake Ilmen - Lovat river - Kholm
Velikiye Luki - Dvina river - Smolensk - Sozh river - Gomel - Sozh river
Korosten - Stalin Line - Dnestr river - Odessa

The line is marked with dark red dots.
I know it's too much to the west, especially in the center and south. It's a big gamble. I hope I can be strong where it matters, on the German axis of advance. The line won't be ready in time, but I intend to delay the German spearheads enough, giving me time to bring reinforcements and plug the gaps, in case Fungwu switches directions or makes a breakthrough. A mobile defense, so to speak. I could build a super strong Maginot Line further back, but I think it won't be as interesting as it will be now (I hope). I want to be defending actively, with local counterattacks when possible and cause attrition to the Germans.

Of course it could all end by turn 25, if my line is destroyed and I can't react.

I chose to defend every inch of Ukraine, making a stand on the Stalin Line. I am not expecting it will last forever, but I hope it will keep the battle away from crucial industrial centers for as long as possible. Even if the Stalin Line is utterly destroyed I think I will be able to build a new line soon after.


Luftwaffe vs VVS:

Fungwu destroyed 2200 Soviet airplanes in the first turn. I will withdraw my airforce, when it becomes available, to Siberia until shock is restored. Until then, the Germans will be enjoying total air supremacy.


P.S. Any comments are welcome.

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

Turn 3:

I used the last two turns, bringing reinforcements to the front and maneuvering in the Bialystok pocket, something that will keep Fungwu's infantry busy for quite some time. I still have 3 Mech corps inside the pocket. Two armored divisions escaped to the west (!) and the road to Warsaw is open. I want to keep the pocket alive for as long as possible. Another Mech Corps that escaped from the pocket was in position to counterattack and retake Minsk from an undug rifle regiment of SS Das Reich! This will cause the EEV to rise only to 8, instead of 12.

Turn 4:

I am puzzled about a number of things. First of all, I am now a hostage of my own strategy of forward defense. There is no turning back. A big question mark is 4.Panzergruppe. I saw one of its Panzerkorps' suddenly turning back (!). the other one is near Velikiye Luki and threatens 22A. I don't know if it will attack. It can suddenly move north to Dno. In any case, I will reinforce 22A asap with other armies, as they become available. The line near Leningrad is already manned (albeit by weak units).

As I was expecting in the beginning, my line is not nearly finished around Smolensk, but it's enough to force a battle. If Fungwu avoids it by changing direction, it will give me more time to expand my front, connecting it with the other two neighboring Fronts. 19A was transferred from the South (it's still entrained). It will take positions on the Sozh river. Its north neighbor, 24A is still not where it should be.

I am using a buffer zone in front of Smolensk, to blunt the two German Panzergroups. I have a few motorcycle units extending their ZOCS and 5-6 divisions blocking the road (some of them are weak tank divisions).

In Ukraine, 14.PzD attacked 36.sk (rifle corps) taking a hex with its panzer regiment. I used my reserves, 35td, to counterattack and retake the hex, while killing a lot of panzers!

A big surprise came from the most unlikely sector. The Romanians crossed the Dniestr! I withdrew from the southernmost edge of the Stalin Line to link with the Dniestr defenses and I rushed two reserve Mech Corps' there. I was unable to eliminate the bridgehead. If the Romanians gain more ground my position in Ukraine is compromised. I hope the bridgehead can be contained, to give me time to withdraw even more.

I had a few local successes, but overall...I am worried. :upset:

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

Turn 5:

As expected, my strategy forces me to constantly face local crisis everywhere. For now, only in Ukraine, as the other fronts are more or less not yet active.

Southwest Front:

My biggest worry is still the bridgehead over the Dniestr. Since I was unable to eliminate it in the previous turn, it has now expanded and reinforced by most of 11.Armee. I withdrew from the southern part of the Stalin Line and linked with the Dniestr defenses. I sacrificed 4 divisions and 2 arti regiments to do so, but it enabled me to have something that resembles a defense line again. Fungwu attacked 6 entrained divisions with his airforce and got them all! They are now immobilized and I couldn't use them. It also meant that my rail capacity dropped to 6500 (it was still enough to cover my basic needs). I managed to destroy a German infantry regiment that advanced too daringly!

The other parts of the Stalin Line hold. An attack in the center by 13.PzD was successful though.

So far, the battle progresses as I envisioned it: initial German successes and then mobile defense from my part. I still have two strong uncommitted tank divisions in reserve. Reinforcements are constantly coming from the east using trains. Strategically, if I can hold firm for another 5-10 turns, the Stalin Line will have paid off its money. I want the battle away from my industrial centers for as long as possible.


West Front:

The Battle for Smolensk is about to begin. The German spearheads have not made contact with my line yet. I have now relatively strong defenses around Smolensk. Most units are fortified and have arti support. The line is extended turn by turn to the north and south.

I had to endure two German attacks, one by 10.PzD in Kritchev, which attacked the entrained 19th Army and the other near Velikiye Luki by 4.Panzergroup, which attacked and almost destroyed 22th Army. I am building a new line further east by units of 31st army and the rest of 22th Army.

The Bialystok Pocket is almost cleared I still have a few units there, but most units are taken captive.


Northwest front:

Nothing special to report here. My defenses are getting stronger and stronger. Seeing that 4.Panzergroup is attacking towards Moscow, I dispatched two Mech Corps to reinforce the West front. The other Mech Corps was reorganizing and it will follow its brothers soon.

6 divisions have escaped from Riga (which btw fell to I.AK) and will be transported via sea to Narva.


All in all, it was an encouraging turn, but the main battle has not started yet.

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

Turn 6:

Things don't look so well for the Soviets. Tactically and operationally I am outclassed at the moment, but I have reasons to be hopeful, considering the strategic situation:

- My plan already yields results in terms of the shape of the front in the center. Fungwu's panzers drive forward destroying everything on their path, but his infantry still lags behind them. Currently I have two Armies, the 21st and the 19th sitting on 2.PzGroup's right flank. I expect its advance will continue, forming a narrow bulge around Moscow, which can be exploited in late turns. Currently I am unable to launch any offensives anywhere, as I have to react to local crisis'.

- Despite setbacks, I think the battle on the Stalin Line will prove beneficial in the long run, as it keeps German forces away from vital cities.


Southwest front:

11.Armee and the Romanian formations were reinforced by panzer divisions and infantry from 17.Armee. My weak new line was broken and 15 routed Soviet divisions now sit helpless, waiting destruction. Hopefully they will keep the Germans busy long enough, so I can plug the gap by defending on the Bug river.

Further north, I fared better. I just pulled back a hex to straighten my line. This is the strongest part of the Stalin Line and it proves too hard to crack. Losing 15 divisions may seem too much (and it is), but I can rail in enough reinforcements to plug the holes.


West Front:

24th Army's left flank was successfully attacked by 2.Pzgr. Fungwu may have a chance to further his success here. 3.Pzgr took Smolensk, but I am not in danger here yet. 4.Pzgr was delayed by remnants of 22nd Army and some expendable small units. This gave me time to build new defenses around Zepadnay Dvina, using what's left of 22nd Army and the newly arrived 31st Army, including a tank division. 29th Army is assembling behind them.

The three mech corps marching from the north will arrive in this area in the next turn, to threaten the north flank of 4.Pzgr. I am willing to sacrifice them to buy some time.


Northwest and North Fronts:

The strong 23rd Army, defending Karelia, withdrew and will be sent south of Lake Ilmen to form a front on the Lovat river. Karelia is empty for the Finns. I left two immobile brigades to defend Viipuri.

The escaped route of 5 divisions in Estonia was blocked by Kriegsmarine, so they begun marching north.

There are several expendable Soviet regiments threatening the rear areas of 4.Pzgr.


Kriegsmarine vs Soviet Baltic Fleet:

Fungwu elected the option of early Kriegsmarine release giving him a lot of naval assets and giving me 100 VPs. He boldly attacked my Baltic Fleet, sitting near Leningrad (!), causing serious damage. I was left with only 12 destroyers. However, he failed to pull his ships back and they were inside the range of two coastal batteries around Kronstadt. I gladly took the opportunity to bomb the hell out of his warships, sinking everything on sight. I must have sunk 3 battleships, several cruisers and all of his destroyer force. I am not sure if Tirpitz was among them.

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

Turn 7:

60% of Fungwu's turn was used in the first round and the Germans begin to lose momentum. The shape that the front is taking is as I expected. A bulge is slowly being created in front of Moscow. If 4.Panzergroup hadn't attacked towards Moscow too, the wedge would be narrower. After turn 10, the Germans will suffer from periodic supply disorganization, giving them 80% shock. This will give me more time to blunt Fungwu's offensive. I am waiting for that to happen, so I can pull back my mobile forces and use them for local counterattacks. Right now, they have to defend the front.


Southwest Front:

I withdrew with order behind the river Bug. My units are only "defending", but the line is continuous except in one place: 6th Army's section, between the Bug and the Dniestr. Fungwu sent a panzer division down there to cooperate with 11.Armee and the Romanians and his attack looks strong. Two Mexh Corps' were static and I couldn't pull them back, but there is still room for them to retreat back to safety.

I also expect another attack near Korosten by 60.MtzD. As you can see, 1.Panzergroups' effort are dispersed. Panzers work in conjunction with the infantry.


West Front:

24th Army was beaten back, several divisions are routed., but I managed to close the gap with units of the 3rd and 28th Armies.

My defenses in front of 4.Panzergroup are now very strong: 3 hexes deep and with adequate artillery support. I am hoping that the three Mech Corps' I brought from the north will give Fungwu something to think about.


Northwest Front:

I lack some artillery here. I am bringing 23rd Army from the North Front. It will take positions in front of Novgorod, relieving the weak 42nd Army, which will move south of Lake Ilmen.

The Vipuri garrison has escaped via sea.

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

Turn 10:

The last 3 turns were pretty depressing. I lost over12 divisions, many of them tank divisions. My lines east of Smolensk and on the Bug are shattered. I still have many divisions there, but they are either routed or disorganized and they will surely be destroyed in the next few turns. With them, the number of divisions I lost or am about to lose rises to 20-25. A disaster!


SOUTHWEST FRONT:

My Bug line is no more. I withdrew 37 and 38 Armies to Kiev. I intend to build a new position, starting from Kiev, Cherkassy, Kirovgrad, Ingul river and ending in Nikolaev, at the Black sea coast. Withdrawing will be difficult, but the doomed 16th Army can buy me some time.


WEST FRONT:

Same story. Whatever remains of the 20th Army is routed or flanked. 31st and 24th Armies are destroyed. I brought 43rd Army with its 3 tank divisions against Guderian's 2.Panzergruppe. I used it to counterattack the German spearhead near Roslavl and I encircled and destroyed two panzer regiments (350 panzers are destroyed). The highlight of my turn! I hope this tactical victory has consequencies on the strategic level as well.

I will rescue what I can from my forward divisions and pull them behind the Vyasma Line, which is only defended by militia divisions and construction battalions. I desperately need reinforcements. I will receive 22 divisions next turn.

4.Panzergruppe made some progress as well, attacking hard against my 31st and 29th Armies. I will try to pull them back in the next few turns, to Rzef.


NORTHWEST FRONT:

The Germans are not quite engaged yet, they will need some turns to reach the Luga Line.


Overall, despite my tactical voctory near Roslavl, my defenses are very weak at the moment.

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

Turn 14:

Tough times for Stalin. The last too turns were depressing: the Vyasma line is no more. I have very few forces, mainly roadblocks between the German spearheads and Moscow's garrison. In the beginning of the turn, I had nothing between Bryansk and Moscow and the road to Tula was open. I brought 8 divisions by rail, but they are still not enough. Adding insult to injury, Fungwu's 4.Panzergruppe turned north to Rzef, shattering my position there too; 17 divisions are routed. This move was unexpected, it will take some pressure off Moscow, but I now have another gap in my line, which needs reinforcements.

In the south, my withdrawal proceeded very well indeed. My new line is developing quite well as well, with units retreating from the west and units coming from the east by train. AGS is still a few turns away from my forces, I still have time to close the remaining gaps. I left 5 divisions and 4 construction brigades in Kiev, which is now out of supply. Odessa's garrison is 18th Army (13 divisions and 5 brigades, including 200 tanks).

My feeling so far is that of desperation, but looking at our previous DnO game, I can take some comfort. By turn 14, I had taken more territory than Fungwu has taken in this game. In front of Moscow, our progress is roughly the same, but Fungwu employed 4.Panzergruppe here, depriving his attack on Leningrad of its armor element. In the south, I was far deeper in Ukraine. The big difference is that I am taking 2 times the casualties he had taken as the soviet player!

Conclusion: my forward defense worked as expected in the south, but in the center it was a disaster.

P.S. I forgot to say that I conducted two withdrawlas in this turn. a) I withdrew 42A, 11A, 8A, and 34A from the marshes south of Lake Ilmen to a more straight line. I intend to link with the line extending from Moscow to Kalinin. b) I withdrew from Bryansk, because my position was being flanked from the north. I pulled back 19A and 3A to link with Orel's defenses.

Loss penalty: 225 german to 1650 soviet

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

Turn 16:

A look at the map will tell you that I now have a continuous line from the Baltic to the Black Sea with some minor gaps. My positions in front of Moscow are complete. They have a depth of 2 hexes in most places, plenty of artillery support and AT assets. The flanks are still being built up, however, around Klin and Tula. These two towns have to face 4th and 2nd panzergroups respectively and they will likely fall with ease (almost no artillery and AT).

The gap between Tula and Orel was also sealed in time, just before 2.Armee makes contact. I need artillery here.

Further south, 13th, 19th, 21st, 52nd and 51st Armies are sitting idle. This is a strong point of my battle line. With 1.Panzergruppe breaking through north of Kremenchug, these armies create a bulge between AGS and AGC, from Romny to Karachev, which will probably be exploited when the Soviet counteroffensive is due.

1.Panzergruppe dushed back 5 divisions north of Kremenchug creating a gap. I pulled back 38th and 37th armies from the Sula river and I left a few weak divisions to defend the Psel bridges, hopefully delaying Fungwu enough to allow me to build a new line on the Voskla river. This breakthrough will also force a withdrawal of my forces south of Kremenchug in the next turn.

My line south of there is not engaged yet.

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

Turn 22:

The last few turns were catastrophic. Moscow is still in my hands, following some fierce battles around its central hex. I still hold Kiev and Odessa and Leningrad.

However...

- 4 Armies connecting the Orel Front with the west Front (24A, 43A, 16A and 33A) are in full rout and soon there will be no trace of their existence.

- The Southwest Front has also lost 37A and 26A, opening the way to 1.Panzergruppe to Kharkov. Kleist has gained total freedom of movement and is chasing many objectives: Dneprpetrovsk (I still 56A defending it), Stalino (he still has to cover much ground to get there and I will send reinforcements), Kharkov (it is defended by thE recently arrived 57A) and Kursk (I have nothing here!)

These two breakthroughs by Guderian and Kleist put the Orel Front in a difficult position. My decision is to NOT retreat. I will try to exploit the fact that the two German panzergroups have almost no infantry support and as they continue racing behind me their flanks will be more and more vulnerable.

Steps to rectify the situation and save the Orel Front:

- Defend Kursk. The main rail line supplying the Front must remain in my hands.
- 40A has no enemies in front of it, since the German 6th Army is still occupied in Kiev. I will pull it back and place it on the left flank of 1.PzGruppe.
- This same gap will be exploited by light units. I've already sent 1 cavalry div to raid AGS rear areas.
- I will set up a new line. 1st priority is Kursk, then Stalino. I will leave some of his spearheads free to act, mainly those which race to my inland (Stary Oscol, Belgorod, Ryansk), until I plug the gaps that really matters first, Kursk, Stalino, Yelets.
-I will leave the Orel Front fortified. I want to keep his infantry occupied and the front's length as big as possible. A retreat now would accomplish very little.

My airforce was inactive for many turns. It bacame available again in turn 21, which lessened the interdiction from the German airforce.

Loss penalty is 286 vs 2236.

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

Turn 23:

-A pocket is starting to form between Orel and Kursk. I gave the Orel front a halt order, as I think there are more advantages to it than ordering a retreat that could become Napoleonic. It will keep Fungwu infantry occupied and his panzergroups without much infantry support and it will give me time to setup a new defence line.

-I withdrew the flanks of the Orel front with the intention to form a circle.

-I hurried reinforcements to to the empty sector between the West and Souwest Fronts.

-Kharkov is almost surrounded as well, but I am more interested in keeping as much of my forces alive as possible.

-Right now my top priority has sadly become to protect the hexes where my fresh reinforcements appear on the map, like Yelets, Lipetsk, Voronez etc.

.............

P.S. Oh...and Moscow has fallen to the fascist pigs. A minor setback. :smoke:

 

[Olorin4]

Re: Fungwu vs Olorin (DNO-Round II)

I can't see a point in continuing the fight. I was not too upset for losing Moscow. What did me was that my line was broken several times and Fungwu captured some crucial reinforcements centers too early.