Dog Fight - Ostkreig Tournament Round 1

[von Nev]

Before I go to turn 6 I wanted to comment on what Dog Soldier said about knowing the status of the Russian fixed units. Honestly, I did not look at all at the setup of the Russian army prior to playing Dog Soldier. So, I really had no clue as to Russian setup or status or what was fixed and when. For all I knew they were not fixed. This is just a decision of mine when I play PBEM. I like really not knowing what I am up against. It seems more "real" to me. To compensate for this lack of knowledge about the enemy, I really use a lot of recon spotting and recon units. In fact, I try to always have recon spotting on as an option.

Back to the AAR . . . :stir:

The 10th PzD is plowing its way forward through the suburbs east of Mogilev. They destoyed the two arty batteries in the city and took the 100 VP hex. In the assaults on the arty batteries upwards of 60 guns were eliminated. The less Russian guns the better! The 10th PzD also pinned two battalions up against the Dnepr river to the east of the city. I was initially worried that they could retreat to a bridge but there was none. German engineers are busy clearing the rest of the minefields north of Mogilev. I am continuing to do this because often I forget exactly where they are and sometimes have reinforcements drive into them unknowingly. I was not able to advance to the railroad bridge this turn. As a result, the Russians may be able to withdraw a couple of units from the encirclement this turn. Dog did a good job holding a path open to the bridge. Also, as Dog pointed out, my tanks are starting to gain fatigue too rapidly. I will start to look for opportunities the next couple of turns to rest them. But now is not that time . . . they have a bridge to capture!

Down south the 10th Motorized has surged forward and taken most of the marsh areas and highground east of the crossing point. This is good and bad. The good news is that I now have the whole 10th Motorized over the river, but the bad news is that I concentrated on the wrong hex. I failed to disrupt the Russian battalion highlighted in the picture. As a result, the Russians have maintained a path to freedom through the town. If this unit was disrupted I could have easily assaulted it and pocketed a vast majority of the 172nd division. This was a lost opportunity that I will pay for the next few turns. I did not noticed this oversight until the end of the turn. On the west side of the Dnepr I moved one of my blocking units south to isolate a Russian unit next turn. I am still keeping units here to make sure the Russians do not escape westward.

On the map the red circles are assaults and the pink lines are where I called in artillery. No Stukas were available this turn.