Korsun '44 - Campaign Game

[Arnhem]

Campaign Game Alt #2 - German units in the pocket are fixed, 24th Pz arrives earlier.

Following rules ON : Artillery Setup, Recon Spotting, Virtual Supply Trucks, Low Visibility Air Effects, Locking Zones of Control, Counterbattery Fire, Night Fatigue, Programmed Weather

Allied player : baelfiin
Axis player : Arnhem

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It was cold, biting, bone chilling cold, about usual for this time of the year. His breath came out in clouds of vapour as his boots crunched through the snow that had fallen during the night. Dew was forming on the window panes of the school hall that served as the headquarters of Armee Group Sud. The Field Marshal would be arriving from his quarters soon. His thoughts drifted to the lazy summer days of not so long ago. Time spent lazing under the sun in the park, watching his children roll on the grass. The hurried approach of a messenger signaled the end of his reveille.



“Herr Oberst, urgent message from 8th Armee. They request an immediate reply.â€



FORWARD UNITS UNDER INTENSE ARTILLERY ATTACK. OVERWHELMING NUMBERS OF ENEMY INFANTRY CLOSING ON FORWARD POSITIONS ACROSS ENTIRE FRONT.

 

[Arnhem]

Having never played past turn 2 of any scenario for K44, I’m going to do something a little different for this AAR. Instead of just reporting turns, I’m going to let you guys have a peek into how I approach the scenario, of course, without giving too much away to my erstwhile opponent! This might cause me to ramble on so my apologies in advance.

Ok, so what we got here in this CG is a classic salient bulging out into enemy lines. Russian forces have been placed on either side of the base of the salient with the objective of punching through my lines and pocketing whatever is so unfortunate to get caught in the net.

Unlike some other PzC CGs, I haven’t actually gotten a good feel of either side’s ORBAT so this is about as FOW as it gets for me. Having tried to play a CG from the Russkie POV a while back and never getting past turn 2, all I remember is a horde of red infantry, mountains of artillery and a herd of tanks so I’ll be playing a little blind in the sense I don’t really know what’s going to be coming up the road except that they’ll be too many of them and they swig vodka. To make it more interesting, German units in the north end of the salient are fixed to simulate Hitler’s hold at all costs orders, I’ll try not to give in to the temptation of running at the first sign of formation release.

Good news is, man for man, I’ve got the better morale and firepower, especially the panzergrenadiers, who have crazy assault and soft attack ratings, but there isn’t enough to go around, some infantry battalions are little more than half their TOE and what armour I’ve got would have trouble frightening a group of six-year olds. Also, the majority of my on-map reinforcements have relatively late release times.

Weather is a key factor here, playing havoc with movement rates as snow has a 130-200% movement rate modifier depending on whether you’re walking or riding. What roads there are will be key to ensuring timely arrival of reinforcements for either side. As the scenario progresses, the onset of rasputitsa will be even more debilitating for vehicular movement. However, what hurts me ought to hurt my opponent as well, I hope.

In summary, I’ve got a mainly infantry force in the way of some overwhelming opposition, the calvary is good quality but there may not be enough of them and they may get to the party a little late. Do I play it historically, with my forces contracting as they try to make it back to friendly lines? Do I make a stand around a supply point? Do I fight hard at the initial breach points or pull back to fight another day? Do I gather my panzers at the base of my opponent’s attack in an attempt to encircle him? Do I have the necessary numbers of men to get the job done either way? Decisions, decisions.

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Turn 2 has seen the first of what I’m sure will be many close-in assaults on front-line units. Russian artillery is particularly devastating, I wonder how many tubes he has in his attacking formations. The stacks of infantry piled up in regimental strength assaulting my forward companies are not a pretty sight and the results are predictable. I’m letting relatively fresh companies stay on the line in order to absorb that one more assault before pulling them back while making sure no individual units are left overtly exposed, by doing this I hope to delay the Russian advance for as long as I can while preserving my formations.

 

[baelfiin]

Arnhem:

Run away as fast as you can until you get a line organized in depth. You dont have enough guys to go around and if you let me at them in close assualts .....

My recommendation for the german player is to run early and often and get line organized in depth. Get some terrain and get dug in behind it in depth. Once the 5th guards tanks get realeased you can get in trouble very quickly as the russian tanks have a crapload of movement points and there are hordes of them. Did i say defend in depth? 8)

--- Also check your infantry .. a lot of them have a 2 hex range soft attack... can be a big advantage .. also a alot of your guys will have enough movement to drop back a hex and then shoot.

 

[Arnhem]

Well, I am trying to play as close to historical as I can, ie. the loony in Berlin is telling me to stand my ground. Playing with the benefit of hindsight affects my decision making quite a bit, I'm trying to play it from the POV of an army commander who knows what assets he has and is reacting to a threat from an enemy of unknown strength without giving up too much hard won ground.

Then again, I might just do what you said and to hell with Hitler eh?

 

[Paulinski]

Awesome AAR guys. Can't wait for more updates.
Question for Arnhem how is the axis artillery situation? In my opinion I would go for as many disruptions as possible.

 

[Arnhem]

Hiya Paulinski,

Glad to hear you like the AAR. I don't have that many tubes to go around, apart from divisional assets there are a few corps and army level tubes spread out along the line. Most of them are full strength and I'm doing the disruption dance and getting my licks in but there's just too many of them to be really effective. To make it worse, I estimate I'm outgunned at least 3 tubes to 1 at the schwerpunkts on both sides of the base of the bulge so while I'm disrupting him he's doing the same and then some to me.

Last chance Scott, give up?

 

[baelfiin]

Hiya Paulinski,

Glad to hear you like the AAR. I don't have that many tubes to go around, apart from divisional assets there are a few corps and army level tubes spread out along the line. Most of them are full strength and I'm doing the disruption dance and getting my licks in but there's just too many of them to be really effective. To make it worse, I estimate I'm outgunned at least 3 tubes to 1 at the schwerpunkts on both sides of the base of the bulge so while I'm disrupting him he's doing the same and then some to me.

Last chance Scott, give up?

Hehe :laugh: :laugh:

Seriously, tell hitler that you are regrouping for a counterattack at the decisive moment