Fire in the East - 1941-1945.

[Pegasus]

Introduction.

FitE is an ambitious scenario, and trying to write a DAR for a 400 turn game with such a huge map will be just as ambitious!
Rather than trying to cover everything, I will inform generally on the overall situation, and comment in detail on some selected features or incidents in the campaign. Each post will retrospectively cover many turns and will be posted at a point where doing so won’t give too much away about my future plans to my opponent. As a consequence there may be significant gaps between posts, so keep checking every once and a while for updates.

Playing a simulation of events passed, I have the education of hindsight and the 60 years worth of debate over the mistakes and successes of my historical counterparts, but then again, so does my opponent. Some obvious advantages are apparent, I know that a large and powerful force will attack and exactly when. I know that trying to hold a forward line will result in the encirclement and destruction of many of my armies, but what else do I know, and what do I need to consider in “game terms”?

I will use METTT (There is an article on this in the INTEL section)

Mission: To start with I have to slow my enemy down while I build sufficient strength to firstly resist and hold, and then counter attack. There are many locations on the map that penalize my supply and replacements when lost. I need to deny these to the enemy as long as possible without detriment to my overall mission.

Enemy. I know my enemy is strong, with well organized, proficient forces. Hindsight tells me – along with the certain events programmed into the scenario – that supply becomes a weakness as he advances and at certain time of year. Also, if you look at the map, the frontage he has to cover will grow the further east he moves.

Troops. My forces are – at the start of the game and for some time to come, poor quality, poorly organized, and not very proficient. The shock penalties against me at the start make any attacking more or less pointless, and the Air shock is so low air units won’t even defend themselves if attacked. Most of my line formations are Internal Support, which means they cooperate poorly with others. This handicap is multiplied many-fold by the fact that individual formations are spread across the map at the start of the game. As well as moving units to defend and delay, I need to try and reunite individual formations together with their HQ’s
My troops are also concentrated with a southerly bias. Towards the North, and in particular, North of Moscow and in the vicinity of Leningrad I am particularly weak. This poses a problem as I need to try and save Leningrad if at all possible.
Also worth noting is the Recon levels. I start with 5%, going up to 25% in Autumn 41. I will see virtually nothing that’s not in contact! The Axis start with 75% - not bad.

Terrain: If my opponent takes Leningrad and links up with the Finns it anchors his Northern Flank handsomely. If you look to the east of Leningrad, there is nothing but forests and Hills. By capturing Leningrad the Axis can secure and defend a line from Ladoga to Moscow with a relatively small force, releasing more of his troops for campaigns in the centre and south, where there are plenty more objectives worth taking.
In the south the terrain is generally wide and open, if my opponent achieves a breakthrough he will be able to exploit it very well with his highly mobile forces. I need to be very careful with the pace of my retreat. Maintaining reserves behind any “lines of resistance” to plug any gaps will be essential.

TIME: In absolute terms I have 5 years to complete my mission, this is a long haul, but must bear in mind that the pace and success of the enemy advance effectively modifies this. The further east he goes, and the more major cites he captures will increase the time I need to reverse the situation and tale back enough for a victory. I will be “playing for time” in every sense!

Objectives for 1941 - TURNS 1-60.


-Prevent a breakthrough
-Re-unite formations with parent HQ’s
-Try and hold Leningrad, Moscow, and a line south through, Kharkov, Tula, Dneprpetrovsk and Kherson until the end of the year.
-For the 1st 20 turns, any air units (that survive the first turn!) that are able to move will fly east until the shock is reduced.

I also decided to reinforce Murmansk right from the start. Psychology is a well known force multiplier, and there is always the Psychology of the “edge of the map”! Holding Murmansk protects supply, and if my opponent makes any tactical mistakes, having a large enough force up there could cause him a few headaches. I will “reunite” units of the 10th Army whose HQ and about 50% of the formations units are already there, and I will send another complete Army and some miscellaneous assets. If I send the second army as they turn up as reconstituted units, they will use less precious rail points to get to Archangelsk, and they can re-supply quickly when they get to Murmansk.

Strategy.

Operation Volvoski – The Crumple Zone.

HQ’s near the front will attempt to retreat in good order with any units of their formation to the first holding line.

The units then left in the Crumple zone that are some distance from their HQ’s will dig in and fight to the death in the most favorable terrain on or adjacent to key hexes such as crossroads, towns, bridges etc. in order to frustrate the enemy, slow advances and deny access to the road/rail networks.

Units to the near east of the 1st Holding lines will form the lines. I don’t expect these holding lines to hold for long, but by using terrain - especially the rivers - to buy enough time for retreating units to regroup behind them. Where possible, these units will move to their HQ and defend as a formation.

Units from further east will form up at “depots” further behind the holding lines. These will either form the next holding lines, or act as emergency reserves to prevent breakthrough. Again, where possible units will move to depots close to their HQ. Units with no HQ’s on the map will form to a Front HQ which can support them. Forming up like this rather than sending every unit directly to a defensive line or position will be essential. A line without a reserve invites disaster as soon as the line is penetrated. It is very difficult to disengage units from a defensive line especially once in contact so it is hard to plug gaps. A reserve behind the line at a good spot on the road/rail network can react more flexibly, and even if can’t plug the gap, it will prevent the breakthrough forces enjoying any freedom of strategic movement. (also being on the road/rail net and adjacent to their HQ, units in depot locations will recover readiness and supply quicker than in if thrown into a defensive line.)


Map 1 below shows an example from the southern front, with its crumple-zone, 1st holding line(Red), Strongholds (Purple), Retreat Points,(R.) Depots.(D),

North of the Pripet, the first holding line is the Dvinr – Berezina River, with strongholds in places like Wilno, Siauliai and Minsk.






Turns 1-10 June 21st to July 23rd 1941

As anticipated, the Axis brushed my forces aside with some ease. My opponent has certainly taken the sledgehammer approach – advancing all along the front and destroying every unit he encounters.

On the whole I have by now managed to reunite most formations, with only a few straggling units, mostly those that cannot disengage from the FEBA.
Needless to say, my air force was wiped out over the first two turns!

Note:
In the maps to come, with a recon factor of 5%, I can only really see enemy units that are in contact or in favorable terrain a few hexes away)

The Formation labels have a figure in () which gives a rough estimate of how many of the formations units are present. It does not indicate supply, combat factors, proficiency etc. A figure of 1 would indicate all units of the formation are present. 0.5 would be half and so on.

My first line of resistance in the North Dvinr – Berezina River was easily overcome and I had to make another hasty holding line on the Velikaya from Riga to Velikiye Luka.



The remains of the 27th Army which had pulled back and is reasonably well supplied will hold where it is at the road junctions whilst forces further north form on the Luga river.
The 11th Army will Move towards Kholm and defend at the river. The 29th Army will move west and defend between the marshes and the lakes near Toropets. These latter 2 have been forming at a Depot for a good few turns now and are fully supplied. However, The only thing between them and the Moscow Militia is a few Divisions of the 4th Army.

Further North things look a bit better.



I need to resist the temptation to pull back any of the 31st Army from the Finnish border – turn 40 will arrive before I know it!. The 54 and 43 Armies have been redeployed by rail from the southern theatres. More of their constituent units are due to arrive this and over the next 5 Turns so I will try and hold these in Depot as a reserve for as long as I can. The 32, 31 and 48 Armies will hold the “Luga Line”. I will pull back the NKVD Div to assist, and maybe move some of the Lenningrad Miliia up to the river. There are a few other Front Assets to help such as artillery, Engineers, AT , 3rd Tk Division and a RD of the 5th Shock Army. On the positive side, most of these formations are rested and well supplied.

The Smolensk front is holding up quite well.



The 20th Army is in good shape in terms of supply. AS far as I can tell it is facing up against the 18th PzG and the 19th Pz but all those I have intel on seem quite depleted – all showing red square. I hold good defensive terrain behind the super river and marshes. I reckon I can hold here for a while.
I am going to start pulling back as much of the 22nd ,13th Armies and WF Abn in good order to the rear of the 24th Army - which is well placed and in good shape east of the Dnepr. Further to the rear I have the 49th and 50th Army Depot’d and in reserve.


The Situation is mixed further South.



My first line of resistance was brushed aside. Some stragglers are just about holding Zhitomir, the holding force at Berdichev has just been wiped out, and the 16th Mech Cps + a few mixed assets is clinging on in the vicinity of Vinitsa
Behind them The 6th and 12th Armies - that pulled back early in the game - are now in good shape but quite exposed. I will pull the 6th Back towards Kiev in as controlled a manner as possible. The 12t I will pull back South East, pivoting around the 18th which will try and anchor and hold as long as possible. Directly east of the 12th behind the Dnepr is the 19th which is close to 100% in terms of units and in good supply. Forces to the south of 18th are holding quite well and will pull back towards the South Bug in good time. I might bring the 38th up to Kirovgrad in support, but will see how things go.

Map 6 shows the situation just east of the Pipryt Marshes.


This in the most interesting situation at the moment. Recon (watching playback!) observed a lot of movement through the marshes over the last couple of turns, at least a couple of Pz Divs, A PzG Dic and several Inf Divisions. This is a tactical mistake I need to try and exploit. The terrain as he approaches Chernigov is greatly to my advantage and equally greatly to his disadvantage. He has 2 super rivers to cross, and off the roads he has forest and marshes that will greatly restrict his movement and supply. My shock penalties have reduced if not vanished so I am going to hold an counter here for as long as Kiev holds to the south and the 21st can hold Gomel. I will move the 5th Mech, SW Ft Abn, and tentatively the very strong 28th Army in to support this action. I will focus on this engagement in my next post.

But Finally. Murmansk


I have the Karelian Ft successfully holding the “Archangelsk Corridor against the SS Geb Div – benefitting from being on the defensive and on well supplied rail hexes with good art support.
The enemy has approached Murmansk from the West and South with all his forces in the theatre. My position has stabilized around Murmansk, The 10th and 14th Armies along with some useful Art and Eng assets are being constantly reinforced by sea as units of their formations arrive on the map. Murmansk has a Supply point so these units recover well if I rotate them in an out of combat regularly.
At this point in the game, I am receiving a good number of reinforcements and reconstituted units every turn- most of these appearing in Gorky. My practice of reuniting units with their parent HQ’s - and at Depot locations if possible - is paying off. When deploying to defensive positions or committing forces to battle, I am now doing so with cohesive formations with their HQ’s that are mostly fully supplied. My rail capacity is up to the maximum value now and I can shift an army or two each turn!