Dog Fight - Ostkreig Tournament Round 1

[Dog Soldier]

Russian turn 2.
08:00 AM July 9, 1941
Normal Conditions
Visibility 4km.


Victory points after the Russian turn two.

German movements suggest a direct assault on Mogilev. Only two Russian infantry units were released from fixed status by careful German moves. This is despite two armored cars and other German units which came into view during the turn. Fixed status is only changed by viewing enemy units at the end of a turn. Thus the entire 10th motorized division could parade up the main road from the south to be spotted in hex (17,37) without releasing any of the Russian units along the river as long as the Germans end their turn out of sight.
In the turn two graphic I have circled where the Germans appear to have moved to concentrate for a direct assault on Mogilev. The Russian artillery in range of these areas will discontinue digging in and be prepared to fire in turn three. I will hold my fire to prevent artillery from going unavailable in the next turn. I hope thus to concentrate the Russian artillery fire in turn three to slow the German attack.
There is an advantage to this plan of attack for the Germans.
• They will have three victory point hexes along their path to exit on the southern most exit victory point hex.
• Three of the four Russian infantry divisions will be out of the battle until the second day as they are fixed far from where the attack will be made.
• Dense terrain combined with careful placements along a narrow axis will allow the Germans to release a minimum of Russian troops to cope with the attack until the general release of 13th Army.
There is an excellent two hex wide area to cross the Dnepr along the route illustrated. This is a good choice because the Russians have very few troops along the indicated route to delay the advance. I hope the 10th motorized is in the southern concentration area and not further north to assist the 10th panzer.

To counter this move, I will need to take as many troops as I can and get them intact across the river to delay the Germans. If I can prevent a breakout, then my slower infantry will be able to move to block the exit hexes. The Germans can only win by exiting. I would think the 10th panzer and 10th motorized divisions would form a corridor and exit the full victory point total of the SS regiment to win. The SS regiment enters too late to be able to change the battle outcome, so stopping the first day German troops from creating a route to the exit hexes will be the key to winning.



Dog Soldier

[von Nev]

German Turn 3

Before I close with the Russians I ran a couple recon flights over Mogilev to confirm where the Russian guns are as well as ran a flight over the area to the southeast of the bridges to try an see how deep the Russian defense is. The flight over the city confirms that at least the medium enemy battery is still setup in the center of the city. I did not uncover the heavy battery. I hope it is still there. The flight southeast of the town uncovered another heavy arty battery in the woods. I will remember these places.

The 10th Panzer's II panzer battalion consisting of 53 PzIII's and 11 PzIV's charge into the minefield in the forest due north of the town. Just on the other side of the minefield they uncover dug in Russians in the villiages and city. Worse yet, the panzer battalion I (one) which moved into the minefields just east of the II battalion runs into dug in infantry in a bunker! This is not what I wanted to see, but not unexpected either. Hopefully the firepower of the panzer battalions plus Stuka attacks should dislodge them soon enough. An A morale engineer runs into the minefield in the forest to begin clearing them. Since it is a 2 minefield I expect him to clear one and then to be pounded by arty so next turn I have others moving up behind him. Due to timing I had little arty support this turn but I expect a lot next turn.

Full infantry battalions (750 men) of the 10th Motorized Division charge up to the river and immediately start engaging the two Russian infantry units on the eastern side of the river. Hopefully, with the firepower of a whole division concentrated on a couple of units I should be able to break them in a couple of turns. This will make crossing much easier. As my infantry fire on the Russian units they are bombarded by a Russian artillery unit that is on the highground overlooking the river. From where they are at I can see them, so I respond by hitting them with a Stuka strike to good effect. Once all the infantry fire is exhausted engineers move up to clear mines and will begin building a bridge next turn.

Well, the plan is in motion and we will see if it survives the first Russian arty fire. This turn I expect I will feel the weight of the Russian arty that will be concentrated on engineers almost exclusively. It is going to get ugly and quick.

[Dog Soldier]

Russian turn 3.
10:00 AM July 9, 1941
Normal Conditions
Visibility 4km.

Victory points after the Russian turn three.

Russian turn three positions.


The Germans have split their divisions. While I will be pressed by them attacking north and south of the city in a pincers movement, if I can hold out until my units release, I can then form a defense. Right now, I have positioned my troops to help me do maximum damage to the 10th Pz engineers clearing the northern minefields. The Germans are in a hurry. They took losses on the minefields in the north and south without waiting for the mines to be cleared. My artillery caused the rest of the damage. I have destroyed close to 200 engineers, most from the 10th Pz unit clearing mines north of the city. They did not disrupt. Axis high morale will allow them to do what they will this first game day. A German air strike destroyed three more Russian guns this turn. von Nev is taking advantage of the Russian poor command and control situations simulated by the fixed status of the army. I will just have to hold tight and fight for time.

[von Nev]

Hmmm. I seemed to have misplaced my screen shot from turn 4. :hissy: However, I do have a couple notes.

As expected, the German engineers were on the receiving end of a fearsome artillery barrage. The 10th PzD engineer was in bad shape at the beginning of the turn. He was C rated and at 40% strength. He did clear one of the two minefields from the hex but I withdrew him to the north to recover for fear that the next turn he would be eliminated completely. I pulled several another engineers down by they did not get to deploy this turn in the minefield so I still will not clear the mines by turn 5. My panzers are pummelling the Russians in the villages of north Mogilev and are slowing inching their way forward.

Down south the 10th Motorized is really beating up the Russian infantry on the eastern side of the Dnepr. In order that I have max attacks on those units I rotated infantry battalions next to the Russians then pulled them out before their last points were used up to make room for another battalion.

The VP hexes are starting to be negative which is something I need to improve and hopeful will once I get across the river.

[Dog Soldier]

Russian turn 4.
12:00 PM July 9, 1941
Normal Conditions
Visibility 4km.


Victory points after the Russian turn four.

Positions end of Russian turn four


The 10th pz assaulted with armor. Disrupted Russian infantry try to maintain blocking positions. Many infantry from 10th pz seen moving up just behind the mine fields to follow the panzers. I must have hurt those engineers good. They moved off from trying to clear more mines. I will try to move my few released infantry to block a quick flanking move along the west side of the river.

The Axis 10th Mot continues to try and bridge the river in the south. The Russian AT guns were destroyed by an air attack as they fled. Released Russians move in the marshes to blocking positions.
Only need to hold out for three more turns, then my army will be released.

Retrospective....
My comments above were written at the time of the turn being played. I now can add further commentary knowing how things played out.

With the majority of the Russian army fixed, there is little I can do but stall for time. While I could pull back from the murderous fire of the 10th motorized rotating infantry battalions, having my units ZOC on the river will possibly prevent a direct assault on the Russians when the bridge is built. It will all depend on which bridge is built first there. I am putting direct fire on the middle of the three hexes where the Axis engineers are trying to bridge. Artillery in the south is attacking the same engineer unit. This will increase the fatigue and slow the bridge building. The middle hex has the best chance of building a bridge that can then be used in a direct assault across the river to dislodge my defending unit. I have rotated my defending infantry in an attempt to get more fire on the engineers and reduce the fatigue / disruption of my infantry. An added bonus is German engineers are worth more VP than the German infantry. Later I will not get any shots on them as the German infantry will be doing all the damage to my Russians.

The Russian infantry directly in the path of the Axis advance will be doomed anyway once the Germans cross the river. The idea is to delay as long as possible the bridging attempt so my other units in the south will release and have a chance to withdraw to defensible positions. Once across the river the Germans could simply pin most of the 187th RD by advancing south. The elimination of the 187RD would leave the Russian southern flank hanging in thin air. At the time I thought 10th panzer could easily push east of Mogilev along the river and surround the 172nd RD before it releases from fixed status. The Russians need the bridges south of the city more than the Germans do to evacuate the 172nd RD.

Note the Axis vehicle losses. These are all due to mines, defensive fire and assaults. Fatigue will increase as the panzers assault without infantry assistance into villages and woods hexes to root out the Russian infantry. I will try to keep my Russian infantry from being surrounded as long as I can and out of clear terrain so the panzer assaults will be less effective. This is a relative issue as the panzers are very strong and can take any hexes they want early in this game. This use of the panzers early in the game will give me some respite as the German mobility is reduced by mid day.

I think von Nev missed a good chance by withdrawing his battered 10th PD engineers from the mines. The panzers on turn five, with artillery and air support, should have been able to clear an area where the 10th PD infantry could cross the minefield in transport mode with the assitance of the good order engineer unit without loss. (The engineer unit starting the turn undisrupted clears lanes in the remaining mines for units in "T" mode to cross without losses.) They would then deploy to assist the panzers in driving to the southern bridges before the Russian units are released on the west side of the city. Hindsight is 20/20. I was lucky von Nev missed this opportunity.

Dog Soldier

[Kharkov]

Thanks guys !

This is a great AAR.

[von Nev]

Here is the German turn 5.

At the start of the turn I made a mental note that the units in the city are from the 172nd Rifle Division and down south they are from the 187th Rifle Division. This is good news as two very strong German divisions should be able to deal with two rifle divisions. The challenge will be how deeply are the Russian defenses? I am sure I will find out.

Up north the 10th PzD split its Panzer III battalion into companies in order to assault the disrupted Russian units to the east of where I am trying to push through. If at all possible by the end of the turn I want to get the Russians far enough away that they cannot see my engineers as they clear the rest of the minefields at the start of next turn. Once the minefields are clear I have a whole division's worth of mobile German infantry that can rapidly assault through the whole town. With the close proximity of the town to the cross point I should be able to assault in travel mode and have enough points to get deep into the Russian rear areas in one turn. Hopefully with this rapid assualt I can pin Russian units either east of the town or in the town proper. In order for this to happen I must focus on getting to the bridges to prevent the Russians from escaping.

Once the battalion split I used one company to capture the critical bunker to the east and a second to assault the now disrupted (thanks to a stuka strike and a whole lot of arty) trench just to the west. Both assaults were successful. Luckily the Russians to the west both retreated to the same hex and opened a door to move through the forest to the edge. Unfortunately I ran into a Russian mobile infantry unit in the clear. He will be in trouble next turn if he stays there. I also saw the heavy Russian arty battery still in place in central Mogilev. This may present an opportunity next turn as if I can disrupt it quickly (and it is not reinforced) that I will easily capture the hex and eliminate an arty unit for good and take a jumping off point to assault the bridge hexes.

I rush several engineers into the mines to ensure by next turn I can push the whole division through a cleared lane. I am pretty pleased that by the end of the turn the 10th PzD is firmly in control of the entire forest area to the south, east and west of the minefield breach site.

Down south the 10th Motortized has had still not built a bridge on turn 5 despite the fact that two bridging units were trying at the end of turn 4. I can't blame the engineers I suppose as they are trying to build under direct fire from two battalions of Russians and being clobbered by arty. That said, not all was lost as I pummelled the now three Russian units that are at or near my crossing point.

The yellow arrows are a rough estimate of the route that I will take to once the 10th Motorized builds a bridge. Luckily the 10th Motorized is stacked right next to the bridge so I will have a lot of units to assault to clear the Russians from the bridgehead. I am a little concerned that the Russians can defend in the marsh and swamp areas, but I will put my motorized infantry in "on foot" mode to get them through. Plus, I have a couple motorcycle infantry that can enter marshes even in travel mode. Needless to say I will have options. I just need to get across the darn river!

[Dog Soldier]

Russian turn 5.
14:00 PM July 9, 1941
Normal Conditions
Visibility 4km.

Victory points after the Russian turn five.

Victory points look good so far. Expensive Axis armor and engineers are being traded for Russian infantry. That will all change quickly if the Germans breach my lines. Russian infantry will have a hard time evading capture and destruction this first game day. I will position my units as well as I can to prevent such losses, but they are in inevitable.


The battle intensifies. German armor expands the breach on the northern side of the city. They are still driving the direction I think they would. I continue to attack with artillery, attempting to rubble a hex to slow the Germans. This does not work. I saw an engineer move into the hex with only one mine left during the German turn. It should take two turns for his infantry to cross through this gap in the mines and deploy. I hope I can get some rubble next turn to slow them.
On turn four, I moved a brave recon battalion in the clear to stop the German 10th PD advance. I calculated that the Germans would use their artillery and air strikes against the front line units. The recon unit took a few loses from the frustrated panzers direct fire. The panzers ran out of MP when they discovered the recon unit. They only got one shot each. It appears the panzers are breaking down into companies before assaulting. This should drive up their fatigue even more as a trade off for this flexibility.
My recon unit did not disrupt. That will make it easy to move into the forest hex to the south and make a stand to delay the 10th PD once more. Another recon unit will retreat into the village east of Mogilev to establish another blocking position. I know these units will be lost eventually, but delay is more precious now than Russian troops. Such is the thinking of a Russian commander in 1941. Slow the Axis at all costs until orders can be given from higher HQ. This is what the fixed unit status represents.

If I am wrong about that, then it is just pure nastiness from Foul and RickyB who made the changes to this scenario. ;) :whis:

von Nev is doing a good job of preventing excess Russian units from being released. My sole engineer unit in the city is still fixed. I think they will have very little chances of reaching the bridges south of Mogilev and destroying one of them.

I shuffle units in the south against 10th mot. I want try and slow any crossing for two turns when it comes. I spend my infantry fire there against the engineers only. Hope that continues to slow the bridges being built. The Axis has four engineers now engaged in bridge building. I am rolling the dice he does not get a bridge in turn six.
Only two more turns and I gain freedom of movement for the rest of thirteenth army that have not been engaged.

All other units are entrenching where they are in case the Axis storm arrives before they can move out of the way.

Dog Soldier

[von Nev]

German turn 6.

The 10th PzD has finally cleared a hex through the minefields. Additionally, down south the 10th Motorized Division has finally built a bridge over the Dnepr. Since both divisions will have plenty of movement this turn I first look over the map and really study where I am going to attack. As I mentioned in turn 5, since both divisions are very close to the river and the minefields I will have a lot of options and I want to maximize my turn.

After running a couple of recon flights over the bridge crossing areas and the heavy arty position, I started with the 10th Motorized division. I immediately took an infantry company and assaulted over the bridge successfully taking the bridge area. The Russian retreated southeast. This was not what I wanted. I needed them to retreat northeast so I could continue my assaults without going on foot. Since I desperately need to expand the bridgehead I will take some risks and therefore a motorized infantry units changes into travel mode, crosses the bridge, goes into "on foot" mode and then assaults in travel mode southeast. This assault is successful. It is about now that I notice a very important assault is coming up. The Russians vacated the entrenched position on Dnepr. This is a key position as an enemy in this hex would have stopped my attack only three hexes into the bridgehead. With this hex open, the only thing that is preventing me from getting a large part of the division very close to Mogilev this turn is a Russian engineer unit that is defending from the marsh. I pound that engineer with every arty unit I have to disrupt them and then rush a motorcycle infantry company in travel mode up the road next to the Russian. If the assault is successful I REALLY would like the Russian to retreat to the southeast. If he does that the road to Mogilev is wide open. I call for the assault and then with my mouse ready to "click" the assault button I give the motorcyclists some choice words of encouragement and then assault. The assault succeeded and the Russian retreated southeast! Unfortunately the motorcycle unit has no more movement points to get out of travel mode and will probably get pounded this turn by arty, but he did his job. Iron Crosses for everyone! A vast majority of the 10th Motorized Division then rushs towards Mogilev. They are stopped just three hexes south, south-west of a bridge and I make sure everyone is out of travel mode.

Up north the 10th PzD uses the panzer assaults to expand the bridgehead. Since the city has a lot of dugin Russians I am going to try to focus the main effort to the open areas east of the city. The Russian motorized infantry that was in the clear is pounded by arty and then assaulted several times. The German motorized infantry rapidly move through the minefield breach. With the 10th Motorized closing in on the left Mogilev bridge the 10th PzD will focus on the right. It I can get to these two bridges the next turn I have bagged a lot of the 172nd Rifle Division. This includes most of their arty as of the end of this turn strong units are adjacent to their artillery batteries. I really would like to eliminate these arty batteries as they are a wealth of VP's and the less Russian arty the better!

Overall this was a good turn (I think). I have set myself up to capture some VP hexes and to destroy some Russian units. From a VP perspective I really need to start getting some points. I am still far, far, FAR away from even a minor defeat.

On the map I put red circles where assaults took place.

[Dog Soldier]

Russian turn 6.
16:00 PM July 9, 1941
Normal Conditions
Visibility 3km.

Victory points after the Russian turn six



While 90% of the Russian army is still fixed, the Germans are moving fast toward chopping up the one Russian division inside Mogilev. This hurts more than it looks since this is the best Russian division. All I can do is blast the Germans with a few artillery shots. Only four batteries have ammo. I have moved my few troops released by the German attacks to block his next moves. His tanks are taking losses due to using them in assaults. That will be small comfort as the 10th Pz and 10th mot have large infantry units in good positions to assault the Russians next turn. The 10th Motorized is the biggest worry as I could not get troops into position to stop the surge when he crossed river. My attempt at an up front defense there was over whelmed. This may cost the game as I could have retreated away from the river to sit in the marshes. My weakened units were easily pushed aside by Germans on foot in transport mode.
Now it will be a fight to slow the German advance of the 10th mot enough to allow some of the city defenders to escape when they release next turn.

Retrospective....
My comments above were written at the time of the turn being played. I now can add further commentary knowing how things played out.

von Nev is right about my decision to move out of the trench position in the marshes. It was a calculation on my part to bring this unit forward in the rotation of Russian infantry that were firing on the Axis bridge engineers. If the 10th MD did not get a bridge this turn I would look brilliant. Since they did I am in deep trouble. Such is the nature of taking a risk. The risk would have been far less if all my units were not fixed for the first seven Axis turns. It was the fact that the Russian 13th army is fixed for seven turns that I took the risk.

The Axis attacks have been very good so far. The surge of the 10th MD was made in a very careful manner in regards to the ending positions. These units are going to be a bigger threat in the next few turns turns the 10th PD.

When reading Marty's comments I can not help but wonder. e did not seem to know the Russians were to remain fixed until each unit could spot a German unit for itself. the fixed flag in this scenario is probably set at the level of 13th Army. This simulates the paralysis in the Russian command at this time period.
In any case, much of the Russian losses in the coming turns will be due to surrounded units that get pinned behind Axis lines while waiting for orders (fixed). The best I can do is try to move them to a good blocking position (like stones in a stream) so they die well.

Dog Soldier