Meanwhile, second echelon Divisions started entering the battlefield, and there's A LOT of them.
The Hand of God Hits Again
Warsaw Pact land operations were heavily disrupted by the continuation of NATO's "Operation Hand of God".Dozens of F-111 and Mirage air strikes, supported by Wild Weasel SEAD missions, almost completely devastated the supply lines and infrastructures in Central East Germany.
Operation Hand of God, Phase 2 |
F-4 Wild Weasel SEAD strike
Air-Ground Strike
Front Supply Head Displacement
Warsaw Pacts air defenses were able to shot down or damage a good amount of the attackers, but not enough to avoid the collapse of the supply system. During the last 48 hours, only South Front (Munich - Nuremberg area) and 2nd Guards Tank Army (Hamburg area) received enough fuel and ammunition to continue the offensive at the desired pace.
As a consequence of the current unsatisfactory situation, Vice Commander of Group of Soviet Forces in Germany Colonel General Alexei Lizichev has been recalled to Moscow to report. His role has been assigned to the Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergey Sokolov, who previously served as Commander in Chief of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan.
Under Marshal Sokolov directives, WP air defenses deployment was completely revised in the last 24 hours, emphasizing the concept of key areas defense and dropping the "multiple supply lines" strategy that proved so ineffective.
WP Land Phase, NORTHAG
In Denmark, 106th Guards Airmobile Division attack against Copenhagen was held off by Danish defenders, primarily thanks to the support of a West German attack helicopters squadron that was subsequently forced to land at Vaerlose airfield, just North of the city.
Denmark Situation |
In 2nd Guards Tank Army area, 6th Motorized Rifle Division continued the mopping up operations in Hamburg, destroying a West German Mechanized Reserve Regiment. Only small areas of resistance in the Northwest remains under NATO control.
5th Armored Division advanced North, freeing Kiel and crossing the Canal.
Hamburg Area |
In the Bremen / Oldenburg region, 20th Guards and 3rd Shock Army completed encircling the remnants of German I Corps. A couple of reconnaissance attacks against NATO defensive positions were repulsed due to a WG artillery regiment supporting the defenders and supply problems.
Bremen Area |
In the 1st Guards Tank Army area, the encircled British 1/2 Armored Brigade was destroyed. Moreover, a concentric attack against Dutch 1st Division, conducted by 5 divisions and 3 artillery regiments, caused heavy losses among the defenders.
WP Land Phase, CENTAG
As usual, nothing new on the CENTAG Front.
WP Land Phase, SOUTHAG
In Munich, Hungarian Army destroyed French 2/11 Paratroops Brigade, with the support of the newly arrived 6th Soviet Army.
West of Nuremberg, 1st Czech Army took advantage of the now depleted II German Corps defense line, attacking and destroying French 4/8 Mech Brigade and advancing 45 km toward Stuttgart.
Munich and Nuremberg Area |
Overall Situation at D+10, 22:00 Zulu Time
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Excellent AAR, as usual. Glad you guys are sticking with this.
ReplyDeleteBe interesting to see if the degradation of the Pact supply system is enough to stop them, combined with other NATO actions as may be possible.
Unless I'm able to restore the supply lines at least partially, it will be enough to force me to make only local attacks to consolidate / secure the occupied territory - not enough fuel for a real exploitation of a breakthrough.
DeleteSoon we'll see if WP revised air defense strategy is enough to ensure a decent flow of supply; even so, I'll need at least 2 turns to bring forward the displaced FSH.
The whole FSH infrastructure is very brittle. Your organic supply will only get you so far. I was lucky in my game that my opponent botched his airstrikes so that I was able to keep the offensive going.
ReplyDeleteHe mixed too many dissimilar units and sent them on too many different kinds of missions.
It's an error NATO is not making here.....practically every single air unit has been committed to supply interdiction and FSH strike.
DeleteHeh, yeah, I told him after the war (NORTHAG collapsed) that he really had to pay attention to his strike packages. Mixing F-4s with F-104s and G-91s really weakens the overall capabilities of a mission.
ReplyDelete