Greetings! Today we bring you a peak into the Soviet Northwestern Front (NWF) as it stood in June/July 1941! The Northwestern Front (or Baltic Special Military District until June 24) is symbolic of the 1941 Red Army in general. It has great potential, on paper, but severely underperforms in actual combat. If properly employed, NWF can bring to bear an astonishing volume of barrage fire to hammer their opponents, negate their zones of control, and inflict terrible casualties However, the frontline protecting the Front’s heavy artillery is dreadfully prone to shattering. Likewise, the armored units responsible for breaching enemy lines or providing mobile reserves are inundated with obsolete equipment and inconsistent motorization. NWF can be an incredibly satisfying OB in the hands of an experienced player, but make no mistake, there is far less room for error here than in most Soviet OBs.

Type: Historical OB
Preferred Playstyle: Artillery-Centric Attrition
NWF is a defense-focused order of battle boasting strong artillery and air capabilities, but middling armor and a large selection of expendable infantry. If you are playing a custom scenario where training levels can be changed, NWF is a solid B-grade OB, but playing strictly historically requires getting creative. Your artillery is the key to victory. Most Soviet heavy artillery cannot conduct fire support, but their barrage capabilities are potent. Use your big guns to relentlessly harass hostile concentrations, pin enemy artillery that might provide fire support to key battles, or negate enemy ZoC to enable your own units to move through hostile lines. Likewise, NWF has vast quantities of cheap fighter and bomber cover. NWF will never command a qualitative advantage in the sky, but its sheer numbers alone present a challenge to any opponent.

NWF’s Achilles heel lies in its armor/motorized forces. Without the support of your tanks, the frontline will swiftly collapse in the face of concentrated enemy armor. But your obsolete tanks will struggle to take the Germans in particular on head-to-head. Proper employment of combined arms, and keen judgement to know when to fight and when to run are essential as NWF has less room for error than most Soviet OBs. NWF also suffers from a shortage of recon aircraft, and what is available are obsolete R-5 biplanes that will quickly be neutralized by halfway decent enemy fighter cover. NWF must conduct a delicate balancing act that requires: 1) Skillful maneuver to preserve its armor. 2) Good situational awareness to spot for its arty. 3) Do both of these while being chronically blind.

Let’s take a closer look at the assets at NWF’s disposal.
NWF’s armor suffers from dreadfully obsolete equipment, poor readiness levels, and generally slow movement speed compared to their German adversaries. Of the Front’s 4 tank divisions, only 1 (2nd TD) has any meaningful number of modern T-34s and KVs. T-26s and BTs of various types make up the bulk of its armor, and many units are simply understrength. Even in units blessed with modern equipment, insufficient time on type among crews, inadequate unit training, and skilled personnel shortages created by the purges catastrophically degrade morale and cohesion. Inconsistent mobility hammers the final nail in the coffin of NWF’s mechanized forces as many of their tanks are slow, their truck-borne infantry easily outrun them, many artillery units are pulled by civilian tractors, and some “motorized” units lack motorization of any kind! NWF’s armored forces can be effective if properly employed, but they should not be expected to endure sustained combat.

The 202nd Motorized Division endures all the curse's of the front's mechanized forces. (De)Motorization, poor training, and obsolete equipment.

NWF’s infantry runs the full gambit from good (16th Rifle Division), to speedbump (67th Rifle Division). Most of the Front’s rifle divisions are at their peacetime establishment of roughly 80% ToE strength…if they are lucky. We have also modeled small arms allocations, including SMGs, SVTs, and LMGs, per unit as closely as possible. The result is a wild degree of variation between divisions in both strength and combat power. Among this colorful cast of infantry divisions, none are so unique, or so doomed, as those formed from the former Baltic militaries. Not only do the Baltic rifle divisions suffer from the lowest morale, considering they are largely unwilling soldiers of the Red Army in the first place, many also retain their old weapons, large and small. Expect to see German PaK-36s, British light tanks and WW1 field guns, and the occasional indigenous armored car you have never heard of. On the upside, even poor infantry can put up effective resistance with proper support and advantageous terrain. Use terrain wisely, build minefields liberally, avoid letting your infantry fight armor unsupported, and if a division gets destroyed…don’t sweat it….you have more.

Artillery is the saving grace that can swing a battle in NWF’s favor. Historically, none of this mattered as poor communication and coordination between Soviet forces in summer 1941, combined with the speed of the German advance, swiftly neutralized this crucial force multiplier. But in a more favorable situation, NWF’s heavy artillery enjoys a range and concentration advantage over virtually any adversary. The 110th and 402nd Howitzer Regiments (High Power), each commanding x48 203mm M1931s, are individually 2 of the most dangerous artillery units of the entire war. Likewise, the “lighter” 152mm ML-20s and 122mm A-19s either outgun or outrange most adversaries that do not happen to be American. Your opponent will swiftly deduce that your artillery is your greatest asset and they will stop at nothing to silence it. Unfortunately, the anti-aircraft assets at your disposal are generally lacking, so you can expect the bombs to arrive on your most treasured assets early and often.

Artillery Composition (Battalions):
*Includes units operating foreign guns from the former Baltic militaries.

Update 1.0.8.2 is in its final internal testing stages now and we expect to release it this week. It will not be long before you get a chance to take NWF and HGN out for a spin yourself! We thoroughly enjoy building self-contained historical OBs like these, as they allow us to explore playstyles, or historical oddities, that the “standard” OBs that reflect a nation’s general combat style across an entire year simply do not allow us to touch on. They also serve as an excellent basis for custom scenarios as, in addition to being beautifully detailed snapshots of organizational history, they also come with fully pre-assembled command chains. You will see more updates like this in the future, as general research for longer-term projects tends to surface many fascinating OBs that we will otherwise never find a use for.

Before we go, we will leave you with one final glimpse into a new mechanic we are cooking up for Update 1.0.8.2 to dynamically visualize Command/Control networks whenever you select a unit.
Blue borders indicate subordinates to whatever unit you have selected, green are "sisters" that share the same higher HQ. In this example the same corps command. More to follow soon!

Greetings! Let's take a deep-dive into one of the 2 new OBs coming in update 1.0.8.2: Heersgruppe Nord as it stood at the start of Operation Barbarossa! Heeresgruppe Nord (HGN) is a robust order of battle that lacks raw armored might, and suffers from inadequate air support, but enjoys deep reserves, great engineering potential, and strong artillery support. Next week we will explore their Soviet adversaries, but for now, let’s dive into one of the most unique German OBs yet included in CAOS!

Type: Historical OB
Preferred Playstyle: Attrition Warfare
Heersgruppe Nord has a few very powerful hammers, and a whole bunch of anvils. If you just want to hold an enemy in place and bludgeon them to death, this is your OB. HGN has enough panzers to make a breach, enough infantry to outlast virtually any opponent, a high concentration of engineers, and excellent artillery support. If you have a problem, HGN has a 15cm howitzer, or a Czech siege mortar, or a random French 155 long-gun, waiting to solve it. This is one of, if not the, most formidable defensive OB currently in CAOS, but its still imminently capable of offensive action, as its Soviet opponents can attest.

HGN has 2 key weaknesses: 1) limited armored reserves, and 2) inadequate air support. Skilled opponents will know that you only have 3 panzer regiments, and of those 2 are strong, and 1 is mediocre. Expect your armor to be relentlessly bombarded the moment they’re spotted. Moreover, you do not have solid options to create your own alternative armored battlegroups. The Sturmgeschutz units at your disposal lack numbers, and the 559. Panzerjager Abteilung is secretly awful because it uses an R-35 based panzerjager that is both slower than every other motorized unit on the OB, and has an extremely prone to breakdown.

HGN’s dedicated air cover from Luftflotte I is insufficient to support the army group, and historically Luftflotte II assets supporting Heersgruppe Mitte were diverted to ameliorate this deficiency. The air cover available to HGN consists of 6 fighter groups, of which 2 are reserve/training units. No Stukas. 8 bomber groups, and an impressive 13 recon squadrons. However, this relatively high concentration of bombers and recon aircraft will swiftly be slaughtered if you lose air superiority. Experienced opponents will go all-in in the air war because it is your greatest weakness and the quickest way to endanger your precious artillery and armored units. Do not trouble yourself with struggling for air supremacy, this OB is not built for it, instead preserve your aerial might so it can be activated at the decisive moment. Play this air game like late-war Germany, not early-war Germany.

Let’s take a closer look at the capabilities of the panzer/motorized, infantry, and artillery assets at HGN’s disposal.

The 1st and 6th Panzer Divisions are both formidable, but for different reasons. 1st Panzer Division has the fewest tanks on hand of the army group’s PzDs, but it boasts both a high allotment of modern Panzer III F/Js and 2 mechanized infantry battalions, compared to the single mechanized company of 6th and 8th PzD. It also possesses a Sturmpanzer company, but you are only ever 1-unlucky battle away from losing them, so don’t get too excited. 6th PzD draws its strength from sheer numbers of borderline obsolete Pz 35(t)s. It’s a perfectly fine division so long as your opponent lacks heavy armor or high anti-tank concentrations. 8th PzD is a fairly standard Panzer Division, albeit one using Pz 38(t)s. 8th PzD has better, but fewer, tanks than 6th, and more tanks of lower quality than 1st.

As for motorized divisions, 3rd and 36th Infantry Divisions are well trained and highly mobile, but otherwise unremarkable. The SS-Totenkopf Division on the other hand is incredibly robust, owing to its sheer size. After your panzers make the initial breakthrough, SS-TD will often be the first division committed into the breach to absorb the inevitable counterattack.

HGN commands a robust infantry lineup, primarily composed of mobilization wave 1-4 divisions. Virtually all of them are at, or near, establishment ToE. Infantry training levels are high, even among units that were initially raised as reserve units in spring 1940. Summer 1941 is the height of the German infantry arm in CAOS and arguably of the war in general. The meat grinder of the Eastern Front has not yet induced reductions in infantry force structure or degraded the quality of their replacements. Equipment shortages exist, but effective replacements (typically foreign gear) are readily available, and critical supporting corps/army artillery and AT units are generally motorized. Moreover, Germany’s adversaries, namely the Soviets, are only just beginning to embrace mass SMG-warfare that will prove so hazardous to the average German rifleman as the war proceeds. HGN stands at a fleeting pinnacle of German infantry power, enjoy it while it lasts.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the reserve and security divisions held at army group are the weakest units on the OB. The 206. Infanterie Division is barely suitable for frontline combat and the 3 Sicherungs Divisions will collapse if threatened with anything heavier than an armored car. A substantial chunk of the personnel of the Sicherungs divisions are militia, use them for positional defense within fortifications or as mere speed bumps, as nothing useful should be expected of them.

HGN’s artillery arm provides excellent fire support, but it is slightly deficient in counter-battery capability compared to its Soviet adversaries. HGN’s artillery overwhelmingly has a range of 2 hexes. Longer ranged guns are rare, and in some cases concentrated in the hands of 2nd-line coastal artillery battalions operating captured equipment. Historically, this potential weakness did manifest as ineffective communications, supply shortages, and limited cooperation between air recon and artillery units rendered Soviet counter-battery fire largely ineffective during 1941. Despite limited range, HGN’s sheer volume of artillery, the high motorization levels of its army/corps assets, and the incredible power of its heaviest weapons remain potent force multipliers.

Artillery Composition:

*Includes mixed 15cm/10cm units.

One of the interesting oddities of building Heersgruppe Nord was the frequency with which units we previously modeled for Operation Sealion re-appeared. Primarily because 18th Army was slated to participate in Sealion, and later transferred east for Barbarossa. Several infantry divisions, Sturmgeschutz batteries, artillery battalions, and even the commandos of II/800 Lehr Regiment Brandenburg appear on both OBs. But of these units the most curious was the Marine Stoßtrupp Abteilung, a relatively obscure German marine battalion whose organizational details eluded us for a while during Sealion development until we found the excellent Deutsche Marineinfanterie 1938-1945 by Jörg Benz. Now, the Marine Stoßtrupp Abteilung makes its public debut not on the beaches of England, but rather being fed into the woodchipper of an Eastern Front OB.

That will be it for HGN! Next week we will return to explore their Soviet adversaries in the Northwestern Front. An OB that will include many oddities, seized from the Baltic states and incorporated into the Red Army, including British artillery, locally produced armored cars, and even the occasional German AT gun. Both of these OB updates will release alongside a general Germany 1941 update and our first pass at improving turn resolution in late April.