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Posted on Nov 29, 2004 in Armchair Reading

Braunschweig – An After Action Report Part VII

By Zachary Hutchinson

The second and third will be launched along the Rumanian held sector of the Don front. The second, which will constitute the majority of the reinforcements I receive until the offensive begins, will cut out from the Sovetskaya area and head south by southwest to the airfield around Morozovsk and Tatsinskaya, cutting the remaining bit of rail supplying the Don Front. The third will head off from the point at which I manage to cut the rail line around Surovinko. It will head southeast toward the Don River around Nizhny Chirskaya. This will hopefully link up with a fourth offensive heading west from Tinguta, pocketing the Germans in their historical plot of land.

If I do not have enough reinforcements for all, I might consolidate everything into one main attack aiming to quickly capture a bridge over the Donetz south of Tatsinskaya.

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TURN 28

I believe I gave you a picture of the offensive to cut the rail line at Sorovinko last turn. Here is a shot of the situation a turn later.

Figure 28-1

The line is significantly shattered. The two stubborn grenadier battalions toward the right side are a pain in the ass, but the motorized regiment along the road heading south into Surovinko was retreated this turn. Near the bottom middle you can see a host of reconstitutes he railed up from Rostov this turn, but they’ll have a hard time covering all the front having to pay a movement penalty for disengaging with the Soviet brigade to the northeast. Most of my units are not dug in, because I pushed them for all three combat rounds this turn. I really needed to take advantage of a desperate situation. Just off the northern edge of the picture, I’m setting up a holding area for reinforcements for the shock turns.

Don Front (western sector):

His punch across the river hasn’t made much progress, but the strength of the German force has doubled. More reinforcements are being diverted to hold against an intrusion into the Soviet rear area. Those units could have easily stopped my advance on the Surovinko. We’ll see.

Stalingrad Front:

I managed to retreat the 160th Pz. Reg at Orlovko and an AT battalion to its northwest thus encircling two units – one of which is the 124th Pz Reg. On the final round of combat the other unit which I think was either an AT battalion or a German infantry regiment evaporated leaving the panzers to themselves. He should be able to break them out next turn. I wasn’t able to take out many panzers due to a lack of armor north of the city.

Stalingrad Front (southern sector):

The Southern Offensive is cleaning itself up – straightening the line. Fifty percent of the Soviet reconstituted units are being sent here. I need to bottle up the German infantry division swinging south around my defenses.

South (central/mountain sector):

Tbilisi fell.

I missed it in the replay, but he apparently attacked a division from the 45th army along the Turkish border causing them to come out of garrison status. These fully manned, fully supplied divisions had fun kicking the crap out of two advance infantry regiments. I have never had any real plan for the 45th army. I’d assumed it would be accompanied by the Turkish intervention. However, I’m moving them toward Erevan to challenge the host of Germans, which just captured Tbilisi. An entire army ought to keep them occupied for a while.

South (BSCD):

Two units still north of the river, supported by massive naval barrages, punished the German invaders yet again. And the two or three western-most passes are still holding, keeping the flank of the BSCD secure for another turn. I’d say all in all, this little thorn in Foggy’s side is holding up 6 or 7 infantry divisions with a smattering of artillery, panzer recon and at least one PzGr regiment.

Baku Front:

German recon has penetrated to within four hexes north of Siaznyy, which is itself about 10 hexes from Fortress Baku. They moved much faster this turn than expected. If they arrive piecemeal, I may send out a welcoming party to maul the advance units. I don’t want to sound cocky, as there are more than 30 turns left to play, but it will be a long time before he grinds down the sheer manpower stationed around Baku. It may be impossible given the German situation.

Thoughts:

In thinking about how I’d play the Germans, I’d take all extra units except for the 11th army and send them barreling toward Erevan. There are enough Turkish EEV cities on the west side of the map to get it over the limit. I would send almost everything down the Black Sea and through the central and eastern passes. I’d attempt, with a crack force, to take the Terek and hopefully push on to Makhackhala – but not much more. Erevan is harder to reinforce than Baku and it isn’t as far for the Germans. Just an idea. Foggy and I do have planned to flip roles and play again once this is over and done. We’ll see.

TURN 29

Foggy’s foray across the Don’s western end brought on the Don Reserves this turn. The Don staging area, which is southeast of Serafimovich, has risen to over a corps in size with significant tank and artillery additions. The German Surovinko reinforcements railed in last turn took up the defense just north of the tracks themselves. I held off attacking these reserves this turn and instead I concentrated all immediate Soviet reserves against the Rumanians. With no new reinforcements to the area, he’ll have to scratch up something to give those poor boys some relief. I do see several entrained units bound for the late Fall German offensive over the Don. Most of the rest of the Don front dug in this turn, taking a rest from the 10 turns of continuous fighting.

Figure 29-1

Here you have an interesting little battle, which has developed practically overnight. The Southern Offensive, finally having broken around the lakes, is pushing toward the rear of the German-Rumanian line of the southern Stalingrad Front. The 129th Pz Battalion is in dire straights – and while I do not have the firepower to easily destroy it, I am whittling it down. Last turn I managed to knock out half a dozen panzers from its ranks. No major victory, I assure you, and wicked losses were taken by my troops in the course of that action, but it will fall unless he takes some drastic action to save it.

The German swing around the left flank of the Southern offensive should find itself contained next turn. Unless, that is, it decides to move even farther south, and thus, further out of play.

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