Drive on Voronezh - AAR

[Monster Fart]

HUGE SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THIS OPERATION
settings:
game difficulty: normal
realism: optimal
always show the enemy: off
use of artillery: maximum
command level recovery: normal
fog of war: enabled
direct control: enabled
only historical units
Nato counters
platoon and BG codename: number battalion/company/platoon
fire spread: no spread
night battles enabled
battle radius: medium
tactical battle time: 3 hours

Operation:
Drive on Voronezh, Shilovo, July 4-6, 1942

Historical Background:
Forward elements of German 24 Tank Division reach the Don River overrunning forward covering forces of Soviet 232 Rifle Division. A German infantry battalion crossed the eastern bank of the Don, both flanks being supported by the 16th Motorised Infantry Divsion and Gr.D Division. Line of advance is towards Voronezh.
Combat mission: eliminate Soviet encircled troops north-west of Shilovo; provide crossing for 24TD tanks across the Don by securing Shilovo village and vicinity west of, establish a covering force in Shilovo facing east towards Tavrovo, while capturing objectives along the road north of Shilovo

German Forces, (1) deployed and (2) on the way:

*24th Tank Division, (HC reserves, 1x 21cm Mrs18 artillery spotter, 2x sWG 40 artillery spotters):

+24th Tank Regiment, 309 total personnel, 44 Panzers (2) (HQ eta turn 3, subordinate Coy eta turns 1-6): 17 support squads/teams consisting of 3x PzIIc, 3x PzIIf, 2x PzIIIj, 1x PzIIIj kz, 1x PzIVf, 1x sK.18 artillery spotter, 3x Opel Blitz trucks
->1st Tank Battalion,
-Battalion Comander (2), consists of recon platoon, repair platoon, engineer platoon and 3x PzII
-->1 light Coy (2), command platoon PzIIIj + 2 platoons of PzIIIj
-->2 light Coy (2), command platoon PzIIIj + 2 platoons of PzIIIj
-->3 medium Coy (2), 1 platoon of PzIV variants, 9 tanks total

+26th Infantry Regiment, 579 personnel, (HQ deployed): 22 support squads/teams consisting of 2x 105mm artillery spotters, 3x Pak-38, 4x towed mortar, 6x mg-34, 2x battalion 8cm mortar, 2x Squad AT rifles
-1st Infantry Battalion,
->Battalion Commander (1), 2x artillery spotters
-->1 Coy, Mech (2)
-->2 Coy, Mech (2)
-->3 Coy, Moto (1)
-->4 Hvy Gun Coy, Moto (1)

+21st Infantry Regiment, 1,111 personnel (HQ deployed): 19 squads/teams consisting of 3x Pak-38, 6x mg-34, 6x battalion 8cm mortar, 1x ATR Squad
-1st Infantry Battalion,
->Battalion Comander (1), 2x artillery spotters
-->1 Coy, Moto (1)
-->2 Coy, Moto (1)
-->3 Coy, in reserve
-->4 Hvy Gun Coy, Moto (1)
-2nd Infantry Battalion,
->Battalion Commander (1), 2x artillery spotters
-->5 Coy, Moto, (1)
-->6 Coy, Moto, (1)
-->7 Coy, Moto, in reserve
-->8 Hvy Gun Coy, Moto

+21IR and 26IR Companies are composed of 1 platoon commander squad + 2 squads

*all inf are PzGrenadiers

Air Support:
-turn 1
-in 2 turns
-in 7 turns
-in 8 turns
-in 12 turns

Soviet forces are composed of 232 Rifle Division's 425 Artillery Regiment, 498 Rifle Regiment and 141 Rifle Division's 687 Rifle Regiment. Unknown troop count.

Current positions as deployed by the game and seen on the operational map:

From top to bottom:
-26IR, 3Coy setup west of encircled Soviet forces
-26IR, 4Hvy Gun Coy setup east of encircled forces
-21IR, 1Coy, setup south of encircled forces
-21IR, 4Hvy Gun Coy, on the road heading north-east
-21IR, 5Coy, west of Trushkino objective, in forest, first contact potential
-21IR, 6Coy, west of lake, no contact
-21IR, 8Hvy Gun Coy, on the river, south of 6Coy
-21IR, 1st Bn Command identified as 5(1)
-21IR, 2nd Bn Command identified as 6(1)


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2482574752

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2482574947

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2482575186

[Monster Fart]

This is my first attempt at an AAR in any game so any feed back, vagueness in my explanations etc is greatly appreciated.

My goal is to get critiques by fellow players on anything related to game play, mechanics that I may not be fully grasping or using and/or strategies I used during this operation. And if it helps any new people out there that are trying to get their heads around the game then all for the better.

On the operational side, I'll be focusing on attachments/reinforcements, movements and reading the operational map. On the tactical battle side of things, I'll explain my movements, ie attacks, defenses, any modifiers used and any adjustments I make on the unit data bar on the left and artillery placements (on and off map).

I'll be taking screenshots of the operational map, tactical maps (top down) and battle shots.

This is just for fun and I, in no way, do I claim to know what I am doing or saying!

[Ozark Rebel]

Thanks for doing this. I know it takes a ton of work. I look forward to see how things play out.

[fluidwill]

Pleased and following

[Monster Fart]

Turn 1 (of 13), July 4, 1942, 1000hrs, Fog

My simple plan:

I have no idea what to expect from the Soviet side as this operation is not one i have yet fully completed and my silly bad habit of moving between operations has me losing my memory on what i'm expecting on the other side in relation to force strength and composition. I'm assuming tanks and infantry and towed a-t. ha!

+26IR secures the road north of Shilovo while completing the objectives of destroying the encircled Soviet forces and capturing the "road" objectives; secondary objective is to push east through the path located at 8,2 (x,y) and capturing the river objective crossing at grid 9,2, currently neutral (expecting it won't stay neutral for long).


+21IR pushes through to Shilovo objective (grid 5,6) through Trushinko objective (grid 5,5). Once secure, 1 of 2 battalions will move and provide support to 26IR to push on towards river objective for 26IR located at grid 9,2. The second battalion regroups, resupplies and digs in and waits at Shilovo objective for 24TR arrival (expected turn 5).

+24TR once it arrives in turn 5 enters at grid 7,1 and 8,1. 24TR will push towards Yakolevka objective (grid 7,7) and on to outskirts of Tavrovo objective grid 8,6. Ideally, the route 24TR takes is dependent on being able to traverse the river with out a bridge needed. A bridge is located at grid 6,6 and if I cant move through grid 4,7 all the way to grid 7,7 (south of the river route) then I will have to use that bridge. Which means my jump off point for 24TR is at 6,6. I can't remember from a previous play attempt if that river is shallow enough to cross. If the bridge is my only crossing the battalion waiting for 24TR will have to push foward at least to grid 7,5 to give space for 24TR to jump without being invovled in any battles. Hopefully.

Operational Phase:

Attachments (i tend to micro manage the attachments):
All Moto Inf Coys have a truck attached to them by default, except for platoons for 2Coy, 1Bn, 21IR (don't know why). I've made some changes to the following Coy:

*5Coy, 2Bn, 21IR (loc 4,5), being that the location of this Coy makes the trucks redundant for now, 5Coy (which is PzGren made up of a Command platoon + 2 squads) requested arty/mortars spotters for command platoon and 2x mg-34 squads for each platoon

For now, I've left everything else as is because either there are roads they will need to use during the operational movements or I will need to move them to the front if I need to rotate. Also, I'm looking to utilize the Bn Commanders during the tactical battles as they have arty spotters attached to them.

I'll make the initial movements and any adjusted attachments (MF direct control allows you to make adjustments like this if the unit is not set up for a battle after the movement has been completed) and play a tactical battle or two for the next post.

Thoughts? Mistakes? Assuming too much?

[Nokton]

Enjoy, this is a fun campaign, and will be following along. Looks good so far.

I personally love the opening turn, going through all the forces, getting familiar with the OOB and what reinforcements are on the way, and then like you going through and figuring out all the reinforcement attachment options. One thing I'm trying to get better at is not being too eager and straight away attaching all the best options to all my troops in the first turn, before any battles or enemy intel has been gathered. I now try to wait until turn 2 or 3 when I get a better idea of the enemy forces and locations, and can then give out the attachments accordingly (for example more artillery on the left flank where the enemy is dug in, more support weapons on the right where they have mostly infantry etc etc)

[Monster Fart]

Originally posted by Jamxo:

Enjoy, this is a fun campaign, and will be following along. Looks good so far.

I personally love the opening turn, going through all the forces, getting familiar with the OOB and what reinforcements are on the way, and then like you going through and figuring out all the reinforcement attachment options. One thing I'm trying to get better at is not being too eager and straight away attaching all the best options to all my troops in the first turn, before any battles or enemy intel has been gathered. I now try to wait until turn 2 or 3 when I get a better idea of the enemy forces and locations, and can then give out the attachments accordingly (for example more artillery on the left flank where the enemy is dug in, more support weapons on the right where they have mostly infantry etc etc)

Yea, I played the winter version of this on OpStar so I'm hoping the small familiarity of the terrain might help. I did however play one or two turns of this like 4 or 5 months ago? Can't even remember that. Not enough for me to remember the force strength of the Soviets. But this should be interesting to see how it plays through.

Any thoughts on the broken english, grammar, incomplete sentences or do you think it's understandable? Hopefully what I wrote makes sense.

[Good Elgin]

This is excellent - thank you. Will really help me with my play throughs. Out of interest, as a noob, what are the numbers actually on the Topo map?

[Monster Fart]

Originally posted by Good Elgin:

This is excellent - thank you. Will really help me with my play throughs. Out of interest, as a noob, what are the numbers actually on the Topo map?

Glad you're enjoying it. We're all noobs to be honest, its a piece of complicated software, beautiful, but complicated.

The numbers are elevation.

[Nokton]

Originally posted by Monster Fart:

Any thoughts on the broken english, grammar, incomplete sentences or do you think it's understandable? Hopefully what I wrote makes sense.

100% understandable!

Btw one more piece of advice for any beginners reading this thread:

Most of us coming from wargame backgrounds straight away go for the NATO counter option, but I would actually suggest keeping them on the default unit icons. There are specific drawings for pretty much every unit in the game (not just generic infantry/tank etc) so I find this helpful for two reasons:

1) For the player, it speeds things up and makes things quicker - rather than opening a campaign and being visually overloaded with 100 nato counters you can quite easily see "okay my SMG infantry are on the left, AT rifles behind, T-60s there, T-34s over there etc etc.

2) It also helps with recon and intel on the campaign map - for example after the first round of engagements rather than more general nato counters you have a visual record of exactly where and what they enemy battlegroups are, which again makes things more manageable especially in the bigger campaigns.

[Monster Fart]

Turn 1 Op Movements (in the order I moved the units)

3Coy, 1Bn, 26IR is moved to attack the encircled Soviet troops at 3,3.

1Coy, 1Bn, 21IR moves along the road northwest of Shilovo at grid 4,4 and 5,4.

6Coy, 2Bn, 21IR moves east reaching southern outskirts of Trushinko.

2nd Platoon, 5Coy, 2Bn, 21IR enters Trushinko village and captures the objective. Objective was unoccupied.

The rest of the Battalions and their Coys were moved along to support the movement.

I've decided not to attack at any other locations

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483714795

Doesn't seem like the AI moved much. Only 1 battle active and that is 3 Coy, 1Bn and parent 1Bn command, 26IR.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483714918

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483714994

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483715181

Deployed units:

+1Bn Command, 26IR
+3Coy:
-Coy Command Platoon
-2nd Platoon
-3rd Platoon

Plan:

Drop artillery on locations expecting resistance. Attack from 2 different axis points. 3rd platoon attacks from the south. Command platoon attacks from the west. 2nd platoon is on reserve for possible flank maneuver or to reinforce another platoon.

All units have the 'Act with Caution' and AI maneuver control tab on.

My default modifiers for this battle are:

Recon: line, column, fast, cancel order, manuever, normal spacing
Attack: double line, normal spacing, maneuver, (smoke on if open space)
Defence: double line, normal spacing, fast
Move: double line, normal spacing

Off map artillery call ins:
I usually set them up 5 per gun, immediate action, no delays, all HE. My approach for the artillery use, is to saturate an anticpated defensive location and then move in with units. The axis of attack arrows (blue) from the operation map usually help me out to find where the enemy is set up along with the red round dotted circle; not entirely reliable but it helps sometimes.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483715283

Squad from command platoon was sent to recon and made contact.

I moved 3rd platoon in after sending a squad out to recon the way towards helping out the command platoon, thus pushing in according to the plan:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483715460

I send in the rest of Command platoon to support the recon squad I sent out, they reach the dug-in positions and proceed to battle it out:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483719996

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483722155

3rd platoon makes contact with another entrenched position; soldiers from 3rd platoon engage the new contact:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483723178

Fog is lifting, command platoon and 3rd platoon are now moving together:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483723746

[Monster Fart]

cont'd (had to make another post, not all screenshots were showing)


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483724289

At 10:29, a Soviet squad somehow slipped behind 2nd platoon and proceeded to attack 1Bn command, here is the map:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483725238

Ground view:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483725691
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483726835

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483726444

2nd platoon ordered back to engage the Soviets:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483727203

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483728051

After eliminating this squad, it was more about searching out the rest of the units left on the map. I ordered to platoons around until the Soviets retreated. There weren't any other engagements.

Overall it was a 52 minute battle and the results were a lot more damaging for me than I would have liked. If the win/loss system was still in place, this would probably be a loss.

Here are the results:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483729717

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483729838

[Old School Internet Warlord]

Very interesting to read.
What does act with caution for infantry on attack do? Doesn`t it make them much simply slower? Also they`ll lay down under fire anyways?

[Monster Fart]

Act with caution is the new name for that eye ball thing on the unit data menu on the left. Can't believe i forgot what it was called before.

This is one of those tabs + another modifier creates an action. I can't remember what but I did have to deactivate the 'act with caution' for a squad.

My modifiers are never the same though, so I always switch them around depending on the situation.

I could be wrong, but this tab plus a modifier makes them crawl. For engineers it removes mines if you come across a minefield.

For this particular battle, because I was on the offensive and had to search for them in thick forest, I had to click more than normal.

[Old School Internet Warlord]

Yes. Lol, can`t tremember the old name too. But what`s the point in using it for an attack? I mostly use it for vehicles now, so they`ll target dangerous enemies first. Or generally on defense.

[Monster Fart]

I think it makes them crawl and remove mines. I use it as a subsitute for assault, since the crawling towards trenches in a forest makes a bit more sense.