Red Star - A WitE PBEM AAR

[Raptor1]

Originally Posted by Oberon

better off retreating

Go directly to Gulag. Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 rubles.

The situation on the Southwestern Front's sector is pretty dire, admittedly. If they manage to encircle and destroy the armies around Proskurov it'll be an even greater disaster than the Bialystok pocket. I considered pulling back to a new position but that looks pretty unfeasible. Most of my units don't have much mobility at the moment and functional rail lines are in short supply, so assembling a new defensive line will take a while. Meanwhile, the Germans could go on the offensive again almost immediately, and when they break through I'll just have to pull back again. They'll be all over Kiev before the month is out.

For now, I decided to bet on the Germans not being able to follow through on this operation. They've suffered pretty serious losses and they've been in constant combat for quite a while now, so I'm hoping that lack of reserves and lack of fuel will stop them in their tracks long enough for me to bring up some proper reinforcements. If I can hold on for a few more weeks then the mud season should effectively end the German offensive.

Originally Posted by Oberon

The other fronts look good though, particularly the center, that seems to be going much better than in history, from what I recall of Barbarossa.
I'm not entirely surprised though, I still have nightmares from facing you in Western Russia/Eastern Poland...watching my lovely defensive line get shredded before the concrete was even dry.

Hopefully I can start the counteroffensive sooner than 1943 this time, though.

Originally Posted by Oberon

Be interesting to see how you can exploit the offensive into Romania, does WITE model the whole area as one long front or do you switch between individual fronts? If the forces in Romania do well enough they could turn north and threaten the German push to Kiev.

As Hunter says, everything's on one map; it's just too big to fit in one screenshot. I have sent some parts of the Southern Front to roll up the Axis right flank, but whether that can do enough damage quickly enough to save the situation at Proskurov remains to be seen. Right now I'm more interested in the possibility of knocking Romania out of the war, or at least threaten it enough that the Axis will have to cancel the offensive somewhere and rush in reinforcements to save it.

Originally Posted by HunterICX

Seems Raptor has enough strenght to squeeze off some small portions from their lines of communications. Something you really wish to avoid as the Germans when Autumn/Winter hits. Also that gap in the North Western front...ouch!. or it could be bait is there any intel or idea of the Germans forces if you would advance through that gap?

Trying to dig into their supply lines has been my primary strategy throughout this campaign. It seems to be working for now; it got the Germans into the mess they're currently in at Pskov and stalled them in the southwest for quite a while, so hopefully it'll work again now.

As for the gap in the German lines, reconnaissance indicated there's not much there, but most of that information is a bit outdated, since I haven't flown many reconnaissance flights in the area in the last turn. There might be a few infantry divisions scattered around, but I doubt there's anything significant. If they had anything there they'd have already thrown it at Pskov so they could resume their advance on Leningrad. If it is some kind of bait then they'll have to be disappointed because I don't have any reserves in place to take it at the moment.