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Posted on Nov 26, 2004 in Armchair Reading

Braunschweig – An After Action Report Part VI

By Zachary Hutchinson

Figure 26-2

Farther down the river, this is a shot of a hole I’ve kicked in. I doubt it’ll be there next turn. He has more reserves than I first assumed, even if they are broken down units and AT battalions. But this will draw off support from his attempt to crash the western flank I previously showed. These units are still mostly from the 6th Army and 17th Tank Corp. The push toward Surovinko is moving but a constant feed of reinforcements seems to plug every hole I make. They aren’t strong enough to stop the oncoming tank brigades, but they do slow progress to one or two hexes per turn.

Stalingrad is still unchanged. I’ve started to send a few limited attacks at the Rumanians guarding the immediate southern flank of the thrust to Stalingrad. Like I’ve stated before – anything to keep him from concentrating all his units in one place.

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The Southern Offensive is stabilizing and I think I’ll dig in and resupply in a turn or two. I still haven’t managed to contain the German division further south. But I’ve salvaged what I could from his attempted encirclement and pulled back to several choke points. It should hold until I can peel off something to send down there.

Operation Braunschweig’s Heel finally achieved success this turn taking Astrakhan. Hopefully now the 28th Army scheduled to appear here will manifest itself. I still have no real clue where to go with them. South takes me eventually to the Terek. I have no idea what German units are there, but I’d wager he could scrounge up enough RR & MP units to keep me from doing much harm. I would have to make it to Gudermes before I would cut off any rail supply to his Baku assault. I doubt the BSCD is going anywhere over the next 10 turns so that is an option. North takes me to the Southern Stalingrad Front Offensive. Dunno. West takes me into a swath of no-man’s land. And of course – I could send them all by sea or land to Baku.

T’bilisi is going to fall in a turn or two. The Marines are holding a tenuous line west of Kutaisi, having lost it last turn. The BSCD is pulling back to its original line. The Allistrachu and Klukor Passes are still holding even though several HQ units tried to slip down the mountains between them. And the Turks are still silent. Hope they stay that way.

Figure 26-3

Here’s a wide shot of Baku and its approaches. I’m going to let you in on an idea I’m having, an idea so bold, it’s scaring even me. So far what I see of Foggy’s advance down the Caspian is that it is not too broad, and by that I mean, it’s hugging the coast. Most of the punch is along the road, which makes sense given the lack of good roads and the necessity of supplies.

You can probably tell by the lines what I have in store. It’s a simple trap, but it would cost me the secure defense I have now. I would hope to allow the Germans to approach the blue line before springing the trap. The green Xs mark where I would concentrate holding forces, which would trap them along the coast. The destructive thrust would come from the peninsula itself. Ideally the Germans would be wrapped within the yellow boundary. Most of what you see guarding the rail line coming into Baku from the south would go toward creating the holding forces.

This plan would leave open the southern flank of the peninsula. And it would require sufficient time to evolve, leaving more than enough turns for the German forces around T’bilisi to make their way down to relieve their trapped comrades.  There is also the possibility that my forces in the mountains are discovered before the main German raiding party is far enough south to fall into my trap.  I’ll spend some of next turn evaluating the idea.

(To read the conclusion of the series, click here).

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