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

[ComradeP]

I posted this AAR on the WDS forum, but I'll post it here as well for those who don't read the WDS forums.

The thread can be found at: https://forum.wargameds.com/viewtopic.php?t=1937

I will only copy my own AAR posts and the comments by my opponent Elxaime. The other comments can be found over at WDS.

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After taking a break from PzC for 9 months or so, the release of Spring Awakening was a good moment to start playing PzC again.

Instead of continuing with the Minsk '44 campaign we had started in late 2022, we decided to start a campaign game of Spring Awakening.

We're playing the full 98 turn campaign with the "historical" PDT settings. The main difference between those settings and the "dynamic" settings is that movement during mud turns is much slower with the "historical" settings due to higher weather-related MP (movement point) cost multipliers.

This make progress slow, like it should be considering the weather.

No units can move and assault when not in T(ravel)-mode.



The weather, from left to right: the date, percentage chance for Normal conditions, percentage chance for Soft conditions, percentage chance for Mud conditions, percentage chance for Snow conditions, percentage chance for Frozen conditions, min and max visibility in hexes, percentage chance that a storm occurs.

Days 1-3 are very likely to be muddy.

As maximum visibility is 1, no air missions can be launched on the first two days.

Days 4-8 alternate between Soft and Mud.

Days 9-10 are likely to be Normal or Soft.

2 days of Normal weather would play out very differently from 2 days of Soft weather due to the weather-related MP cost modifiers.

[ComradeP]

Overview screenshots from north to south.



The bulk of both the Axis and Soviet forces are concentrated in the north.

Only the offensive is the north is technically "Frühlingserwachen" or Spring Awakening.

The offensive is conducted by units belonging to Heeresgruppe Süd's Armeegruppe Balck and 6. Panzerarmee commanded by Dietrich.

The offensive is opposed by elements of Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front and elements of 2nd Ukrainian Front that arrive as reinforcements.

The initial Soviet frontline is held by 26th Army, with 27th Army in reserve.



The offensive in the western/central part of the map was called "Eisbrecher" or Icebreaker.

This offensive is conducted by 2. Panzerarmee commanded by De Angelis.

The offensive is opposed by units from 3rd Ukrainian Front's 57th Army.



The offensive in the southern part of the map was called "Waldteufel" or "Forest Devil"

This offensive is conducted by units from Heeresgruppe E attacking across the Drava river at the border between Hungary and Yugoslavia.

The offensive is opposed by the 1st Bulgarian Army and 3rd Yugoslavian Army.

[ComradeP]

The initial Axis dispositions in more detail.

The majority of the German formations are (seriously) understrength.



The 6. (March 10th) and 23. (March 9th) Panzer Divisions arrive through a strategy choice around Székesfehérvár.

Going from Lake Velence to Lake Balaton.

AG Balck's III. Panzerkorps consists of the B quality 3. Panzer Division which starts Fixed, the B quality 1. Panzer Division and the C quality 356. Infanterie Division.

How these formations made any kind of progress is unclear to me. 356. ID consists of just 4 infantry battalions and most of 1. Pz's battalions are company-sized at 200 men or less.

Initial opposition consists of the C quality 1st Guards Fortified Region and the C quality 155th Rifle Division.

Next to III. Panzerkorps is the II. SS Panzerkorps consisting of the 2. "Das Reich" and 9. "Hohenstaufen" SS Panzer Divisions and the 44. "Hoch- und Deutschmeister" Reichsgrenadier Division. They're all B quality formations and start Fixed.

Initial opposition consists of part of the C quality 155th Rifle Division and the C quality 36th Guards Rifle Division.

Next to II. SS Panzerkorps is I. SS Panzerkorps consisting of the B quality 1. "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" and B quality 12. "Hitlerjugend" SS Panzer Divisions.

Initial opposition consists of the C quality 233rd Rifle Division and the C quality 68th Guards Rifle Division.

Next to I. SS Panzerkorps is the 1. Kavalleriekorps consisting of the B quality 3. and 4. Kavallerie Divisions and the C/D quality 25th Hadosztály (Hungarian Infantry Division).

Initial opposition consists of the D quality 74th and C quality 93rd Rifle Divisions.



South of Lake Balaton, the XXII Gebirgskorps consists of the B quality 1. Volks Gebirgs Division and the D quality 118. Jaeger Division.

Initial opposition consists of the C quality 61st and 73rd Guards Rifle Divisions.

The LXVIII Armeekorps consists of the C quality 16. SS Panzergrenadier Division "Reichsführer SS" and the C quality 71. Infantry Division.

Initial opposition consists of parts of the C quality 73rd Guards Rifle Division and the C quality 299th Rifle Division.




At the Drava crossings, the offensive is carried out by LXXXXI Korps z.b.V. consisting of the C quality 104. Jaeger Division, the C quality 297. Infanterie Division and the D quality 11. Luftwaffen Feld Division. Elements of the D quality 1. Kosaken Kavallerie Division arrive as reinforcements.

Initial opposition consists of the Bulgarian D quality 3rd and 11th Infantry Divisions and the Yugoslav D quality 16th Assault Division.




The initial Axis strength dialog.

As you can see, most divisions are seriously understrength, with the initial strength in men being roughly the size of an early war regiment.

Soviet Rifle battalions are mostly company-sized as well, with roughly 200 men each.

I'd argue that the main issue both sides face isn't the weather, but how to deal with attrition. Small units can't withstand a sustained beating.

As both the replacement and recovery mechanics depend on either a percentage of unit size or a percentage of total losses, loss recovery is slow. 1% of 200 or 1% of 600 is the same as a relative value, but very different as an absolute value.

Late war losses from artillery fire are also considerably higher than in early/mid war scenarios due to the sheer number of artillery units and the lethality of Katyusha and Nebelwerfer projectiles in particular.

[ComradeP]

Though I'm sceptical about my chances to even get a Draw, not to mention a victory, I'm enjoying the scenario thus far.

The objectives are mostly concentrated in the area where the historical "Frühlingserwachen"/Spring Awakening took place, with a few objectives in the areas where the other offensives took place. There are also some high value objectives along the Danube.

A point of criticism regarding objective placement would be that it's too focused on Spring Awakening and not on operational threats to 3rd Ukrainian Front.

If you capture all objectives west of a line from Donji Miholjac to Lake Balaton, you gain 650 points. A single objective along the Sio Canal is worth more, even though an advance along that line could blow a 130 kilometre wide hole in 3rd Ukrainian Front's flank. A few more high value objectives in the central part of the map in particular would be appreciated. If "Eisbrecher" would've been a decisive success, that would also have forced 3rd Ukrainian Front to commit additional forces to the area.

Given the success of the Vienna Offensive, it's unlikely the Axis could've held on to any gains, but neither side knew how successful the Vienna Offensive would be in the days after these operations were halted.

I'll post Dawn (04:00) screenshots for days with Mud conditions and perhaps a noon screenshot if the fighting becomes more mobile. Progress is slow enough that a single screenshot for each day with Mud conditions should be enough to follow the action.

Turn 10, 04:00 March 7th 1945, Mud Conditions.



In the north, the III. Panzerkorps offensive stalled pretty much immediately as expected.

Further south, initial progress has been decent.

I. Kavalleriekorps will try to nudge the Soviets away from Lake Balaton.

I. SS Panzerkorps will try to clear the primary road in the area with the fortified farm (the 100 point objective). The 3rd, 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions will use that road to move south-west after they arrive/are released.

II. SS Panzerkorps was released at the end of March 6th and "Das Reich" and "Hohenstaufen" are redeploying to the 2. Panzerarmee area to support "Eisbrecher". "Hitlerjugend" will soon join them.

The 44. Reichsgrenadier Division "H.u.D." will move to the I. SS Panzerkorps sector to help "LSSAH" clear the road.



Fixed units highlighted.

"Eisbrecher" also had a solid start, as the initial Axis forces outnumber the initial Soviet forces. After second echelon Soviet forces were released, progress was limited. Attrition works in my favour in this sector, so I'm fine with slow but methodical progress here.



As both the Bulgarians and Yugoslavian forces are Fixed for most of the first day, "Waldteufel" made good progress on March 6th. At this point, I was still debating whether to withdraw the 11. LW Feld Division to move it to the other bridgehead. I ended up doing so during the day.

Note that for a day with limited action, losses are already stiff. Most Soviet gun losses consists of AT gun units at the initial frontline, which couldn't escape due to the weather conditions and stationary flamethrower units.

[ComradeP]

Turn 20, 04:00 March 8th 1945, Mud conditions.



"LSSAH" and the 44. Reichsgrenadier Division "H.u.D." pushed the Soviets away from the fortified farm in a brutal slugging match. Some battalions have already lost half their strength after about a day at the frontline.

The fortified farm itself is still held by the Soviets. There's just an AT gun and stationary flamethrower unit there, in a bunker. The hex has a supply source, so the units are not isolated. There's a river on the hexsides to the north-west, north and north-east of the fortified farm, so that's why a direct assault wasn't possible.

I. Kavalleriekorps is slowly wearing down Soviet forces in its sector. The two Rifle Divisions there have already taken some significant losses, with a number of battalions below 100 Men. My own losses are sustainable for the moment, though I did need to give some 4. Kavallerie Division units time to rest as that division did most of the fighting thus far.



2. Panzerarmee made limited progress, which is fine. The 1. Volks Gebirgs Division is slowly moving towards Vracsik. I'll ignore Nagybajom for the moment, until it can be attacked in a favourable manner. The canals and marshes in the area make a frontal assault difficult.



"Waldteufel" made limited progress, as expected. The first Yugoslavian units appeared at the frontline. I suspect they were moved there by rail, as they couldn't have reached their current hexes when they did otherwise.

The Soviets have a pretty significant rail capacity of 13, which makes it easy for them to respond to threats.

My gun losses increased from all the Soviet counter-battery fire, but it's mostly a handful of units that took big hits. Soviet gun losses continue to increase as well. If you compare the losses overview to the strength overview I posted earlier, it should be clear why operating in front of the bulk of the Soviet artillery for the entire scenario is impossible. Heeresgruppe Süd has lost about 10% of its initial strength in men in the opening 20 turns.

[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.

[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.

[ComradeP]

Turn 50, 04:00 March 11th 1945, Soft conditions.

A day of decent weather.

Movement for infantry units is still limited to 2 hexes, but B quality and Jaeger units can move and assault. 

Vehicles can also move around more easily. That should help with sorting out the various rear area car parks and moving units to the front.



Minor progress in the north. The 3 Panzer divisions and "LSSAH" will move to the front. The cavalry divisions and Hungarians will get a day of rest.

The 1st Guards Mechanized Corps moved to the frontline during the day. It's a tempting target to attack.

Only 2 Tank Corps and 1 Guards Mechanized Corps are present in the scenario. If they can be weakened, that should make advances in the final days much easier. The other mobile formation, the 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, has already been weakened substantially through Nebelwerfer barrages.



The 10th Guards Airborne Division is slowly being pushed back into a smaller pocket.

What I assume was an SU-100 stack fired at the Panthers from 2 hexes away and knocked out 4 vehicles. Unfortunate, but not a problem. Several battalions from the 84th Rifle Division took serious losses and withdrew from the frontline. At the moment, I have no intention of moving east until the 10th Guards Airborne Division has been dealt with.



Resistance east of Nagybajom stiffened during the day, as the advance was funnelled into a smaller area between the canals. There is at least 1 Katyusha unit in the area as well. Two Soviet 152mm artillery units were destroyed, which is good news. Another Soviet artillery unit was destroyed earlier.

The 118. Jaeger Division captured Vracsik. It has been reduced to RUBBLE and for the moment I don't intend to cross the canal in that area.

I'll advance south-east for most of the day. The Jaegers will continue sitting in position opposite the 61st Guards Rifle Division.



"Hitlerjugend" and the 1. Kosaken Kavallerie Division are in position to advance east from Barcs. We'll see how far they get before running into serious resistance.

LXXXXI Korps z.b.V. is enjoying some R&R close to the rail bridge across the Drava. Engineers with boats from "Hitlerjugend" are moving towards them to move them across the Drava on the next day.

As to losses: my gun losses during the day were fairly stiff, but about half of the losses were suffered by 3 units. I lost a 105mm artillery battalion to counter-battery fire, an armoured train in the south and another 105mm artillery battalion was mauled. Gun losses were fairly high during the day. I took a risk by moving an artillery battalion in T-mode into a hex with other artillery units that had already fired. The random target selection for counter-battery eventually "picked" the battalion in T-mode and it lost most of its guns.



The game is now 2 turns beyond the halfway point. The above is a strength comparison between the starting strength (left) and the current T50 strength (right) of the various Axis formations.

The current total strength values can't simply be subtracted from the original values, as most of the 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions arrived through Strategies and are not included in the original total.

Only a handful of units have yellow Fatigue and only one unit has red Fatigue. The majority of my units have below 50 Fatigue.

The vast majority of the difference between initial and current strength in vehicles comes from breakdowns.

Taking the formations that arrive through strategy choices into account, full initial strength in men would be about 79.250. I have 68.781 men. The difference is 10.469 men. The number is not exact, some men in the two Panzer divisions were lost through counter-battery fire into their hex and interdiction.

I have lost 14.562 men. About 4000 men have been replaced/recovered, about 28% or a bit more than a quarter of total losses in men suffered. That's not too bad.

In the north, the 356. ID is at about 60% strength and still slowly recovering from the beating it received from Soviet artillery. Note that the formation has been resting for over 20 turns.

1. Panzer Division has nearly recovered. I'll use it again in the future.

"LSSAH" has nearly recovered from the fighting in the opening days and is at nearly 90% strength.

"Hitlerjugend" had also only seen limited action before moving south and is also near full strength.

"Das Reich" and "Hohenstaufen" had not seen any action before moving south and have lost about 350 men thus far.

The 44. Reichs grenadier Division "H.u.D." took a beating in the opening days and is still recovering, it's still nearly 700 men short. Most of the formation has been resting for over 20 turns as well.

Of the two cavalry divisions, the 3. Kavallerie Division faced the worst of the fighting and is about 850 men short of full strength. The 4. Kavallerie Division is about 450 men short. 

The Hungarians of the 25th Hadosztály did take a serious beating, as they're about 1.750 men below full strength. They held the frontline during the nights and were repeatedly targeted by Katyusha and heavy artillery units. The bulk of the division consists of 500 men infantry battalions. As Hungarian infantry units can't be broken down, it's difficult to allow part of the formation to rest by breaking the battalions down into companies.

The 1. Volks Gebirgs Division is nearly 900 men short of full strength. Due to the Gebirgsjaeger battalion size of 450 men, the individual battalions are still combat capable.

The 118. Jaeger Division has only seen limited action in the last few days, but is still about 600 men short of full strength due to the initial fighting.

The 71. ID is a bit over 750 men below full strength. It has only seen limited action in the last few days, both because it needed some rest and because I didn't want to push the Soviet units facing them to the east before the weather improved. The intention is still to outflank the Soviet and Bulgarian forces facing the 71. ID.

"Reichsführer SS" is about 600 men short. About half the formation has been resting for several days, the other half is east of Nagybajom.

The 11. Luftwaffen Feld Division is nearly at full strength, it didn't face any serious fighting before it pulled back across the Drava.

The 104. Jaeger Division is about 600 men short of full strength, but will be able to recover some of their losses in the upcoming day.

The 297. ID is about 200 men short of its starting strength and in good shape. Three of its infantry battalions started at 75% strength.

The 1. Kosaken Kavallerie Division has only taken a handful of interdiction losses.

Two of the four aircraft losses have been replaced/recovered. Note the high VP cost for aircraft losses.

The formations I didn't mention are either still Fixed or were only recently released and only lost small number of men (if any).

Aside from 356. ID, the 3. Kavallerie Division, the 4. Kavallerie Division and about half of 71. ID and "Reichsführer SS" my formations can continue operations at the current pace without too much difficulty.

Distribution of gun losses has been fairly even, aside from a three units that were hit hard and the two that were eliminated. I don't really notice much of a difference in the ability to inflict losses through artillery fire. Artillery fire from guns with a calibre of 105mm or less is fairly weak in general against entrenched opponents. Inflicting a 1-2 men loss instead of 2-3 men loss hardly influences the battle.

The weather has been much more of a limiting factor than losses thus far.

[ComradeP]

After returning from vacation, I decided it might be best to wrap up the in-game day before posting an update.

Compared to the poor weather days, territorial gains and losses inflicted on the Soviets were impressive.

I'll post the T54 and T60 screenshots for the northern and center-south sector in sequence, which should make it easier to follow what happened during the day.

Turn 54, 12:00 March 11th 1945, Soft conditions.

Turn 60, 04:00 March 12th 1945, Mud conditions

Supply levels changed by -5 on March 12th.

Reduced supply levels mostly has an effect on artillery units. They don't get a second supply roll like other units (provided their HQ is not Out of Command) if they fail the supply roll for their local supply level. I've kept the bulk of my artillery close to a primary road for that reason.

In the north, the local supply level is 60 or so at the bridgeheads of Ádands and Nagyberény.

In the center, the local supply level is 80 at Nagybajom and about 65 at Csakoly.

Local supply levels for "Hiterjugend" are fairly low at 40-50 as there's no primary road to Barcs from the map edge.

Supply levels for the assault across the Drava are similar, though the supply levels for the units on the other side are 1. They can only trace a convoluted supply path as long as the Bulgarian units guarding the railway bridge are still there.

The heroes of March 11th are without doubt the Hungarian Jagdpanzer 38(t)'s that made several attacks across bridges in the north. As the Panzers were occupied elsewhere, those units were my only armoured units in the area. Considering that there were only 24 of them at the start of the day in 4 units, the results are even more impressive.





Hoping to catch as many Soviet units as possible before they could retreat behind a river, two different attacks were launched.

As my opponent likes a forward defense, it seemed likely that a number of units could be destroyed or mauled this way.

The Panzers made an uninspired, but effective, dash south-east.

The Shermans of the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps wisely got out of dodge instead of taking on stacks of (Jagd)Panthers and Tiger II's. Several Sherman battalions are now at Som and will have some difficulty with getting across the river towards Nagyberény with the current Mud conditions.

In the end, many Soviet units escaped, but the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps was weakened further and a number of infantry battalions from various divisions were destroyed.

As in our Scheldt '44 Market Garden game, one unit in a stack not becoming Disrupted at various times preserved the integrity of his line in the end.

Overall, I'm happy with the results. Panzer losses were light and my units are now a lot closer to the two 500 point objectives at Nagyberény and Szabadhidbeg.

To the south-west, the advance also went well. Unexpectedly so, I might add. I really didn't expect I could get across two rivers in one day.

Maybe my opponent was caught by surprise by the speed of the advance, or momentarily forgot that some railway bridges are Heavy bridges in this title. Out of 4 bridges my units crossed, only one was temporarily ZOC blocked and my units were already on the other side of the river at the point.

The railway bridge north-east of Balatonkiliti was defended by an AA unit on the "enemy" end of the bridge. It was assaulted several times in several hexes and a path was opened for the numerous infantry units with half-tracks in the area.

The presence of numerous mechanized infantry units was partially a coincidence. I wasn't sure where the offensive would be most successful, so the infantry units were concentrated along the primary road.

After bumping some (Guards) Cavalry units out of the way, encircling them, mechanized units stormed across the bridges and managed to force a crossing at Ádánd and the railway bridge south-west of the town. Arand was reduced to RUBBLE by Nebelwerfer and Soviet artillery fire.

As my foothold was initially precarious, I'm guessing there simply were no Soviet units around to attack my bridgehead at Arand as all my units encountered were some weakened Cavalry units.

As progress was good, I decided to keep my mobile formations in the area aside from LSSAH. I have another surprise in mind for the Soviets, but I'm not really sure when I'll launch that attack.

Hopefully, sufficient progress can be made towards Nagyberény and Szabadhidbeg so that my mobile units are no longer needed after 2 days or so.

Though I suspect I might make it to the 750 point objective town of Ozora in the 3 days of decent to good weather in the final days, that will be tricky. At the moment, I don't intend to advance more than a handful of hexes beyond Nagyberény and Szabadhidbeg.

As the 2 Soviet Tank Corps remain unaccounted for, I don't like the idea of having lengthy exposed flanks.



"Hohenstaufen" destroyed most of the 10th Guards Airborne Division. As expected 1 or 2 Soviet infantry battalions were ferried to safety across the canal by the divisional Sapper unit, albeit in a weakened state. "Hohenstaufen" then shifted its attention south.

The 118. Jaeger Division and the PzG units of "Das Reich" from the south and "Hohenstaufen" from the north managed to pocket most of the 20th and 61st Guards Rifle Divisions.

Making the most of the last turns with Soft conditions, "Das Reich" moved back to Nagybajom at Dusk and will get some R&R during this day.

Panzer and Panzerjaeger units of "Hohenstaufen" are probing Soviet positions on the other side of the canal. As there's a rail line over there, moving reinforcements into the area is trivial for the Soviets, so we'll see how far my units get before running into something they can't dislodge.



The road to Kaposvár was more heavily defended than expected. After attacking with Panzers towards the east for a few turns, I decided that wasn't going to accomplish much aside from mauling some Soviet infantry battalions.

In the second half of the day, the Schwerpunkt shifted to Jákó and Csakoly. At that time, it was already clear that "Hitlerjugend" wouldn't be able to meet the units at Csakoly.





The advance by "Hitlerjugend" went well, but there was a limit to how much could be accomplished in one day with these late war formations.

As in the north, delays caused by AT and artillery units stubbornly refusing to become Disrupted gave 2 Bulgarian infantry battalions room to retreat. Most of the Bulgarian 16th ID is west of my forces or dead, however.



The first units of the 104. Jaeger Division are being ferried across the Drava by Pioniere with boats belonging to "Hitlerjugend".

My losses increased compared to the previous days with Mud conditions, but not all that much. Considering the gains that were made, 3579 losses in men are quite modest.

I think most Katyusha units in the north were around Enying, as I didn't see any 20 Men or so losses per volley in the breakthrough area.

The sharp increase in Soviet losses shows the losses to encirclement, as well as more effective counter-battery fire now that additional artillery from 3 Panzer divisions is available in the north.

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At turn 67, 18:00 of March 12th, we went back to the Soviet turn 59 (00:00 March 12th) to fix an issue with 2 Soviet formations that were not released. The losses and initial positions on the 04:00 turn will be slightly different, I'll change the screenshots for the areas where the positions don't match the previous ones.

[ComradeP]

Turn 70, 04:00 March 13th 1945, Soft conditions.

Now that the weather has improved, mobile offensive operations will resume.



Various Pioniere units are clearing mines. LSSAH, 1st Panzer Division and 356. ID together with most Heer Panzer regiments will attempt to reach Aba before before the limited objective is removed on turn 90. After that, I'll attempt to capture Sárkeresztur. Volks Werfer Brigade 17 was moved back north to support the push.

Though I think reaching the objectives is possible, I'm sceptical whether I can hold them.

As in nearly all sectors, the excellent Hungarian railroad network will make it easy for the Soviets to move reinforcements into the area.

At worst, this will require the Soviets to move some units towards this sector, which should make things easier for I. Kavalleriekorps.



44. ID "HuD" will attempt to capture Enying before turn 80, when the limited objective disappears. Panzer Regiment 201 and two PzG battalions from 6. Panzer Division will support the push.

The formations south of the Sio and its canals will continue their push towards Nagyberény and Szabadhidbeg. Soviet defences in the area are likely quite strong, but I have 28 turns to capture those objectives.



"Hohenstaufen" will move east of the canal, but not where the Panzers are in the screenshot. They'll use an engineer bridge a bit to the south.

There's at least one SU-100 brigade in the area, which knocked out a few vehicles from a mixed Jagdpanther/Jagdpanzer IV unit. As the area has limited strategic significance, I'm happy with keeping the SU's around even if it means losing more vehicles. It might've been the same SU-100 brigade that knocked out a few Panthers along the banks of Lake Balaton earlier.

The other units in the area are still mopping up the remaining Guards. As they're entrenched in difficult terrain, disrupting them is difficult. Still, I have plenty of time left.



Bulgarian and Soviet forces between "Hitlerjugend" and Nagykorpád were Isolated at the end of the previous day. Most of the mopping up will be done by 71. ID and KG Böttcher, assisted by some StuG and Jagdpanzer 38(t) units that can move and assault. As the infantry units in the area are C quality, they can't move and assault with Soft conditions.

"Reichsführer SS" and KG Von Rudno will attack Kaposvár from the south-west.

"Das Reich" will move towards the sector currently held by "Hitlerjugend" in an attempt to pocked more Bulgarian and Yugoslav forces and perhaps reach Pécs, though that is unlikely.

The Gebirgsjaeger will move east from Kadarkut, with the aim of cutting north/south raillines and lengthening the Soviet frontline.



"Hitlerjugend" secured a heavy bridge at the end of March 12th. Part of the division will move across it, other units will threaten the rear of Bulgarian units currently facing LXXXXI Korps Z.b.V.

I haven't decided where the cossacks will go yet. They'll initially move towards the LXXXXI Korps z.b.V. bridgehead, but could end up moving north or east at that point.

One problem in this sector is the presence of Yugoslav partisan units which can cause units in T-mode to become Disrupted when within 3 hexes of the partisan unit. A powerful tool.



The units from LXXXXI Korps z.b.V. made limited progress, which is fine. They've already knocked out two Bulgarian battalions.

The 11. Luftwaffen Feld Division and KG Fischer will be ferried across the Drava near Donji Miholjac. Hopefully, some additional Bulgarian units can be pocketed that way.

The victory level improved purely from losses, a good sign. A draw might be possible, but a minor victory is still highly unlikely.