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

[ComradeP]

Turn 40, 04:00 March 10th 1945, Mud conditions.

More murder in the mud. A number of Soviet infantry battalions were destroyed through assaults and (in)direct fire.



The Nebelwerfers inflicted frightening losses on the Soviet cavalry units in the area. This should help with any future advance, as cavalry is more mobile than other units with these ground conditions.

I let my own cavalry units rest for most of the day, the Hungarians were moved to the frontline. The Hungarian infantry is now in serious need of R&R, but someone has to hold the line when other units take replacements.

"LSSAH" and the 44th Reichsgrenadier Division "H.u.D." haven't moved, they're recovering nicely from the initial fighting. I did rotate two units from the "H.u.D." in Soviet LOS to keep up appearances. They're now at 40%-50% strength.

I think I'll launch a feint towards Enying from the north, which would ideally mean there are less Soviet units positioned along the primary road leading south-west.

I'll keep the units from 3rd, 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions out of sight for now, they're forming up/will form up after arrival in the rear of the I. Kavalleriekorps.



As expected, the Soviets moved a Rifle division up by rail to block the advance east by "Hohenstaufen." 

That's fine, and as intended. That division is now not available in the parts of the front where the next blows will fall.

The 10th Guards Airborne Division is pulling back towards Csömend. I don't expect I'll be able to trap anything, aside from the HQ and artillery possibly. The divisional Sapper unit can ferry the airborne infantry units across the canal to the east even if they haven't moved there through Csömend yet.



Nagybajom was captured by SS units. I took care to outflank the Soviet defences without shelling the village/town hexes with a primary road or moving my own units in there in Soviet LOS. No RUBBLE hexes were created, the road is open.

SS armoured units are still regaining strength in the rear to recover breakdown losses.

In total, there are now 52 Panther G's, 51 Panzer IV J's and 21 Tiger II's there from "LSSAH" , "Hohenstaufen" and "Das Reich." Barely a full Panzer regiment. The Panzers from "Hitlerjugend" are moving south with the rest of the formation, but "Hitlerjugend" only has about 14 Panzers in total at the moment. They start with about 20 in a composite Panther G/Panzer IV J unit.

The direction of the offensive will now shift to Jákó and Csakoly in order to threaten the Bulgarian positions further south.

A Soviet supply hex near Kaposvár, the nearest objective to the east, will eventually be outflanked from the south. There are 4 canals between my current position and Kaposvár. Some only a few hexes wide,but they're there to block a direct approach. The Kapos river blocks an approach from the south, but I'll bypass the objective and attack the town from the rear. Hopefully with help from "LSSAH" and 3 Panzer Divisions if their breakthrough in the north succeeds.



Not much happening along the Drava. The 104. Jaeger Division and the 297. ID are slowly moving west to the rail bridge across the Drava.

This time, the increase in Soviet gun losses comes mostly from actual artillery units and not AT guns.

Also note the (finally) increasing Soviet losses in men.

As many Axis units are B quality, my losses cost more VP's per 10 men lost, but Soviet strength in the north and center is slowly decreasing.

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A note on aircraft losses: one of the oddities of PzC is that it's difficult to use air units in a cost-effective manner. You're likely to only gain a fairly small number of points based on points from losses inflicted compared to points for losses suffered as aircraft losses are costly. Due to the air unit limitation combined with weather conditions, most units are likely to fly about 2 missions each day. That means they're likely to recover/replace losses in between missions. Even in long games like a Japan '46 game, I could keep my air units at or very close to full strength, provided I didn't send air units on suicide missions against large stacks. With careful use, air units retain their combat capabilities during a campaign game.