(https://i.imgur.com/OWwmtFy.jpg)
This is my AAR for the Battle for Kharkov 1942 scenario in Gary Grigby's War in the East. Here is the historical overview:
"After a succesful winter counter-offensive that drove German troops back from Moscow, the Soviets launched an offensive in the south to seize the city of Kharkov. In reponse, the Axis launched a counter-offensive with the objective of eliminating the Barvenkovo bulge which was one of the Soviet offensive's staging areas."
And the scenario overview:
"The Soviets are the first player and must capture Kharkov if the opportunity present itself. The second player is the Axis who must defeat any Soviet offensive efforts by maintaining control of Kharkov and eliminating the Barvenkovo bulge."
I'll show you how I managed to get a major victory with the Axis forces.
(https://i.imgur.com/a0JNvsS.png)
One of the first things I do is look at the victory points and terrain. Red flags net the Soviets points, blue flags net the Axis points, and mixed color flags mean they give points to both factions. Mixed ones are especially great since they both get us points and deny the enemy of them. The Donets river separates most objectives for each faction. Attacking across a river can halve your units combat effectiveness, so it will be difficult for either side to take objectives.
In addition to destroying the Barenkovo bulge, I'll try to keep the Soviets on the other side of the river and try to take what victory locations I can.
(https://i.imgur.com/1ncf89R.png)
Let's look at the victory points screen. The scenario starts with the Soviet kicking Axis butt the first turn. That means I've already got some losses and retreated/routed units.
No big deal, I'll turn this around soon enough.
(https://i.imgur.com/dUMABwS.png)
Let's check out enemy strength at a glance. For the Soviets, the left number on the counter is their combat value (an estimate on how well they can attack) and the right is their defense value. They're in a good position. You can see the "Barvenkovo bulge" I'm going to destroy southwest of the Donets river. They already have 3 objectives.
(https://i.imgur.com/R1xBcLu.png)
Pressing ctrl+3 highlights all mechanized and motorized units on the map in red. Here I see I have some panzers near Kharkov and some near the Soviets in the south. I'll use these later to encircle the bulge.
(https://i.imgur.com/6lhrUKN.png)
Now I'll look at my forces in detail in the order of battle screen. On the right next to the flags, you can see what ready units each faction has in parentheses (the left number includes damaged/unready units). Soviets have an infantry advantage (as usual) and an advantage in guns too (typically any gun greater than 20mm, so AT or arty).
Now I'll browse through the left panel to see what units are under what headquarters. Things are a bit messy administrative-wise and will require some reorganization. For example, there are a bunch of units assigned to the 6th Army.
This is inefficient; generally you want combat units under corps HQ. Corps HQ are meant to support combat units while Army HQ are more of a logistical role.
(https://i.imgur.com/M46vcbk.png)
I'll solve this problem by assigning the 23rd and 3rd panzer divisions to the VII corps HQ, which is part of the 6th Army.
(https://i.imgur.com/QSvmlr2.png)
Since I attached the panzer divisions to the VII corps, I want to make sure their leader is skilled in leading mechanized units. The current leader, General Walter Heitz, has a pretty crappy rating of 3 (out of 9).
Good leaders are critical. A good leader can double your combat value in combat while a poor one can reduce it by half.
Generally I consider 1 - 4 poor, 7 - 9 great, and everything in between mediocre.
Heitz needs to go.
(https://i.imgur.com/l8shXee.png)
In his place I'll have SS-Gruppenfuehrer Felix Steiner take command. He has excellent values in morale, initiative, and mechanized combat. These values are important for a panzer division leader.
(https://i.imgur.com/Fy0BLfl.png)
You can get an overview of all your leaders in the commanders report. Above you can see the German corps commanders and their values.
I swap leaders in the III Panzer corps for Manstein and for Model in the XXXXIV Corps.
I'll do some similar work with the 1st Army that I did with the 6th Army, moving units from the army HQ to subordinate corps HQ.
A couple more things before I start discussing my strategy. Check out the top right where it says "Vehicle Pool." The first number is the number of "generic supply trucks" I have.
(https://i.imgur.com/L19ouuU.jpg)
Basically these Opel Blitz trucks. They are the lifeblood of the Wehrmacht. They are what bring food and ammunition to your exhausted infantry and fuel to your overstretched panzers.
The number to the right in parentheses is how many trucks you need. So in the beginning of this scenario I have 10,000 supply trucks but I need 12,000. I expect a small reduction in supplies and fuel delivered to our units due to this shortage.
(https://i.imgur.com/yRbvdt6.png)
Now look at the weather forecast in the Logistics Phase Event Log. Mud... this is bad news.
(https://i.imgur.com/EWznPSr.jpg)
"Rasputista" is Russian for the season where travel becomes difficult due to muddy roads. It happens biannually; in the spring due to thaw and in the autumn due to rain.
(https://i.imgur.com/eJU5M97.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/FiFII09.png)
It was a problem for both the Werhmacht and the Red Army. I can expect my supply truck shortage to worsen as well. There's not much I can do about it.
Moreover, all units have a combat level of 1 and reduced movement during muddy weather. Air missions are more likely to be scrapped. Not much will happen under these conditions.
(https://i.imgur.com/7ba4P9B.png)
I play with the historical weather setting on. You can see the game historically simulates the spring rasputista by having mud on even days and clear days on odd days from May 1st to June 19th.
My current turn is on May 19th. Since one turn = 1 week, I can predict this:
Turn 2, May 19th - Clear
Turn 3, May 26th - Mud
Turn 4, June 2nd - Mud
Turn 5, June 9th - Clear
Turn 6 - June 16th - Mud
I basically have two turns do anything significant. I always try to go for a decisive victory, but if I can manage a major victory in those two turns then I'll be happy.
(https://i.imgur.com/Ijc80EQ.png)
Here's the plan.
1) The 23rd and 3rd Panzer Divisions from Kharkov and the 14th and 16th Panzer Divisions from the south will encircle the Barenkovo bulge and link up. I punch a hole in the bulge with the infantry in the south, and just use my panzers in the north due to a lack of infantry.
2) Attack and take the victory point location Izyum with the 60th Motorized Division, with the help of some infantry from the 1st Panzer Army. I'll also assign some pioneer battalions to this unit, which will help in attacking across rivers and fortified positions.
3) Move most of the units in the 17th Army (brown counters) in the southeast to the west to help the infantry push the Soviets back across the Donets. There are no victory point locations in the southeast so a weak front there is permissible.
4) Consolidate some of my infantry in the 6th army from regiments into divisions. If you look at the purple counters with X's on them, you'll see some of them have three vertical lines at the top. These are regiments part of a greater division. Divisions are designed by two X's. Consolidating regiments will increase their overall strength and also allow them to project a zone of control, which makes it harder for the enemy to pass through. Add in the fact that the enemy must cross a river and it's a working defense.
5) Break the security division into units in 454th Security Division into regiments and garrison them in Sumy, Poltava, and Dnepropetrovsk. It won't be enough to fully garrison the cities, but it should damper partisan activity.
6) Keep the VIII Corps and III Panzer Corps close to the subordinate encircling panzer divisions. Once muddy weather starts, they'll need to be close to HQs to properly refuel.
Before I execute this plan, I have the AI auto recon with my airforce. Although I play with the default setting of fog of war off, recon helps ensure the combat values of enemy forces are accurate so I attack with the appropriate amount of force. This is more important for enemy units behind the front lines, where my adjacent units cannot auto-recon them during the logistics phase.
Next I auto-bomb the enemy airfields. I also use the Luftwaffe to bomb what enemy units I can before attacking them, usually in situations where I think a successful attack may be close.
Finally I execute my plan and end the turn.
(https://i.imgur.com/p8ia6qx.png)
The Soviets have their turn, and then turn 3 begins. You can see above the Soviets took a lot of losses, in large part due to attrition from encirclement.
(https://i.imgur.com/byKSUj8.png)
The Luftwaffe is holding up well.
(https://i.imgur.com/zJZvuCP.png)
You probably just noticed two things: the different colored terrain and the red-outlined counters. The brown terrain means mud, just like I predicted. You can also see in the top-right of the UI it says "Mud."
The red-outlined counters means the enemy units are isolated from supply due to our encirclement. They will take a severe penalty in combat and will be forced to surrender or be destroyed if my attacks are successful enough (the alternative being a retreat to another hex).
I won't lie that I had to play this scenario a couple times because I had issues knowing where to encircle the enemy. Doing some history research paid off.
(https://i.imgur.com/zuPKlse.png)
I read the Wikipedia entry for the battle and found this map. In the yellow circle, you can see blue arrows (the Axis) pushing into the Barenkovo bulge southwest of the Donets, which encouraged me to try the same strategy. Pretty amazing how a game can evoke history like this. Typically games are historical thematically; War in the East goes beyond that.
(https://i.imgur.com/hto0Kxg.png)
Pressing F11 will show all the previous battles from the last Soviet turn.
(https://i.imgur.com/R5SUtdg.png)
One notable battle took place in Lodan, the northern-most tank icon. The Soviets attacked me with great odds and dislodged my regiment from the city.
(https://i.imgur.com/K3Nkj8N.png)
The 3rd Panzer Division encircling the bulge was also attacked. They barely held on. If the Soviets attacked with a 2.0 to 1 ratio, my panzer division would've retreated and the Soviets would've escaped the pocket.
(https://i.imgur.com/QVARLdU.png)
The 60th Motorized Division was attacked twice with overwhelming odds, but managed to hold the city. This is likely in part due to my assignment of Erich von Manstein to their corps HQ; an excellent mechanized leader.
(https://i.imgur.com/1lLCbwO.png)
Earlier I said you can't do much during muddy weather, but I'll be doing a couple of small maneuvers that will make a big difference. In the north I'll be moving the 1st regiment of the 79th Infantry Division back into Lopan, where it retreated from a Soviet attack in the last turn.
In the center I'll move the 257th and 384th Infantry Divisions into Izyum to support the 60th Motorized Division. Now that I threaten their flank I can expect some opposition and I'll need my forces strong there.
Finally, I'll move the Italian Motorized Division that unfroze this turn to help support the attacks on the bulge in the next turn.
I do recon, bomb air-fields, execute and end my turn.
(https://i.imgur.com/nz2rYJd.png)
No battles happen during the Soviet turn. Everything is the same, and I don't have any plans to change anything either.
In the above screen you can see the Soviets lost about 15,000 men while I just lost 4,000. If I click on the Soviet logistics button, I can see all these losses came from just attrition.
I do recon, bomb-airfields again, then end my turn.
(https://i.imgur.com/mRZ5JoQ.png)
The beginning of turn 5. The Soviets are still taking lots of attrition losses.
(https://i.imgur.com/JbfVdSo.png)
It looks like the Soviets dislodged my regiment defending Lopan again.
(https://i.imgur.com/RxJSt7b.png)
This is the second and final turn with clear weather. I will finally destroy the encircled Soviets forces. I'll take out the weaker stacks with my infantry and the stronger ones with my panzer divisions. I'll also bomb the enemy units if I think my attacks on them are a little risky.
I'll take back Lopan again with my regiment and push a couple more infantry across the Donets west of Izyum. I try to see if I can make the enemy units around Izyum retreat so I can take another victory point location with my motorized division, but I don't have enough forces.
I do recon, bomb enemy airfields and units, then execute my plan and end my turn.
(https://i.imgur.com/YfE1z48.png)
Here's the victory point situation at the beginning of turn 6. I'm really close to a 2.0 to 1 Axis major victory.
(https://i.imgur.com/4YP7j0y.png)
You can see here I've completely eliminated the pocket and the mud is back. The Soviets have also taken Lopan again. This is a mistake on my part; I should have reinforced the city with the 168th Infantry Division in the north. I try to take the city back but it's just too difficult in the mud.
No attacks are made on my forces in Izyum. Not much can be done in this weather except hold what I have. I end my turn.
(https://i.imgur.com/9mTCETn.png)
Mission success! I'm greeted with the Axis Major Victory screen.
(https://i.imgur.com/s6tei4p.png)
The final score. The points I get for holding Kharkov and Izyum at the end of the game netted enough points for a major victory. While I wish I didn't lose Lopan, holding it wouldn't have been enough for me to get a decisive victory.
(https://i.imgur.com/aYyedzJ.png)
And here's the final map. This is a fun but hard scenario. You need to be mindful of the weather, terrain, your outstretched forces, and some administrative disorganization as well.
I hope you learned something about history and this game. Hopefully it piqued your interest in this title, or if you're playing I hope it helped improve your gameplay.
Thanks for checking it out!
Great AAR! Enjoyed reading it. How would you rate the AI opponent?
Thank you! I think the AI is pretty good, definitely on the better side of most wargames.
:coolsmiley: :clap: