Spring Awakening Axis AAR - historical campaign (settled for a Draw turn 93)

[ComradeP]

Turn 30, 04:00 March 9th 1945, Mud conditions.

10% chance of Mud, and we get Mud. In every campaign game with Elxaime, we get unlikely weather.

No moving and assaulting, but that's not too bad. Soft conditions on the 11th are more important. The offensive in the north can't start until the Panzers arrive/are released on March 9th and March 10th anyway.



Slow progress in the north, as expected.

Surprisingly, my opponent didn't move forces up to stay in contact with "LSSAH" and other formations during the day. The Soviet unit in contact acting as a spotter would've been hit hard, but Soviet artillery fire would've prevented replacement/recovery.

The fortified farm was cleared through repeated assaults, eventually being taken by two battalions from "LSSAH" as the losses the 44. Reichsgrenadier Division "H.u.D." inflicted weren't cutting it. I didn't use artillery against the hex to prevent turning the hex into a RUBBLE hex. The primary road south-west needs to be open and unblocked.

The Soviet 5th Guards Cavalry Corps moved up to relieve the 93th and 151st Rifle Divisions in front of I. Kavalleriekorps. Soviet cavalry units consists of 4 component units and are "regiments" (battalions) of 600 men. The corps consists of the 11th, 12th Guards Cavalry and 63rd Cavalry Divisions. The formation is B quality, including the non-Guards units.

Both Guards and non-Guards units being B or C quality is unlike other PzC games, which tend to be standardized with Guards at C quality and non-Guards units at D quality. It does make sense for the timeframe. Soviet formations are mostly depleted and consist of whoever survived the advance west starting in 1943.

Volks Werfer Brigades 17 and 19 make quite an impression on the Soviets in the I. Kavalleriekorps sector. Soft attack values of 25 to 41 hurt. A taste of their own medicine, after the brutal losses from Katyusha's.

Hungarian infantry units can't move further south without moving out of command range as their divisional HQ is still Fixed and will be released on March 10th.



Axis forces are still better at mobile warfare than the Soviets in 1945, and I plan to start several small fires all along the frontline to keep the enemy off balance. It's the best way to use my edge in mobile unit quality and stats.

"Hohenstaufen" is attacking the 10th Guards Airborne Division along the Sári Canal. A Panther stack (35 Panthers) used the forced bridge crossing mechanic to move ZOC-to-ZOC during the night. The reason I did it during the night was because Soviet movement to counter it might result in Disrupted Soviet units from the nighttime movement disruption mechanic and because the Soviets get some PO-2 light bomber support during the night. The Luftwaffe has Ju 87 D units that can fly night-time support missions.

The Soviet AT gun unit in the stack north of the Panthers was caught in rail mode. My opponent hoped to move it to safety probably and may have not expected the ZOC-to-ZOC crossing.

The other half of "Hohenstaufen" is moving to the southern end of the Sári Canal. I don't expect to trap any units, but it will prevent Soviet unit concentrations from forming as a counter to my moves both here and further south. The Soviets now have too much ground to cover. As the Soviet player, I would be inclined to pull back towards the east on the first day, beyond the 2nd or 4th canal. The Soviets don't really gain anything from holding the position where the 10th Guards Airborne Division starts.



"Das Reich" and assorted units from other SS divisions (with their battalion/regimental HQ) will assault Nagybajom. I haven't decided if I will send the 1. Volks Gebirgs Division to Vracsik now that the Soviet Guards formations have been pushed north.

"Hitlerjugend" will move to Barcs (see the southern turn 1 overview screenshot) where it will be joined by the non-Fixed elements of the 1. Kosaken Kavallerie Division to attack the Bulgarian 3rd Army Corps. The move will take at least an additional day and a half, with the Mud conditions limiting secondary road movement to 2-3 hexes per turn.



After giving it plenty of thought, I decided to pull back from the Drava bridgeheads. The odds of chewing through Bulgarian and Yugoslavian forces to make much long-term progress are not in my favour. The 3 Yugoslavian assault divisions have 16 infantry battalions each as well as some partisan units (which cause units in T-mode to become Disrupted). That's just too much to chew through with just 2 C quality divisions (with 6 infantry battalions) and a D quality Luftwaffen Feld Division with poor stats.

The units will rest and will cross the Drava again in a few days, at a place of my choosing instead of in front of the bulk of the enemy forces in the area.

As elsewhere, the best chance at making some progress in the south is through turning the fighting into a more mobile battle where the D quality Bulgarian and Yugoslavian units have a big disadvantage. They can only move 1 Clear hex per turn in Mud conditions and 2 in Soft conditions (the latter also applies to my non-Jaeger units).

The Soviets lost some Su-76M's that were at the frontline, which is not the place to be for a unit with a Defence value of 5 at a time where infantry units have range 1 hard attacks with an HA value of at least 3. A PO-2 was shot down by "Hohenstaufen" during the night.

With visibility improved to 3 hexes, the air units of both sides will come into play. The Soviet units are mostly IL-2M3's with an HA value of 8 and an SA value of 12. Not too bad. Many are also D. The Soviets do get some A-20's with an HA value of 6 and an SA value of 21. Those things are likely to knock out a few guns.

During the day, I get FW-190 F/G8's with an HA value of 10 and an SA value of 28 and a single Ju 87 D5 unit with an HA value of 16 and an SA value of 18.

The Soviets have 24 non-recon, non-night flying air units and I have 10 non-recon, non-night flying air units.