Part 82: Turn 82: January 7, 1943
Happy 1943! A couple changes come in with the new year, including the Guards rifle cap rising from 17% to 25%. Instead of stitching together a bunch of pictures I'm just going to copy-paste the log entry, much cleaner.
code:
67th Rifle Division renamed to 95th Guards Rifle Division (6th Guards Rifle Corps)
137th Rifle Division is renamed 96th Guards Rifle Division
187th Rifle Division is renamed 97th Guards Rifle Division
178th Rifle Division is renamed 98th Guards Rifle Division
113th Rifle Division is renamed 99th Guards Rifle Division
134th Rifle Division is renamed 100th Guards Rifle Division
162nd Rifle Division is renamed 101st Guards Rifle Division
86th Rifle Division is renamed 102nd Guards Rifle Division
18th Rifle Division is renamed 103rd Guards Rifle Division
172nd Rifle Division is renamed 104th Guards Rifle Division
233rd Rifle Division is renamed 105th Guards Rifle Division
62nd Rifle Division is renamed 106th Guards Rifle Division
61st Rifle Division is renamed 107th Guards Rifle Division
204th Rifle Division is renamed 108th Guards Rifle Division
48th Rifle Division renamed to 109th Guards Rifle Division (3rd Guards Rifle Corps)
118th Rifle Division is renamed 110th Guards Rifle Division
157th Rifle Division is renamed 111th Guards Rifle Division
21st Sapper Regiment is renamed 49th Gds Sapper Regiment
4th Sapper Regiment is renamed 50th Gds Sapper Regiment
128th Rifle Division is renamed 112th Guards Rifle Division
547th Howitzer Regiment is renamed 6th Gds Howitzer Regiment
647th Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 45th Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
136th BM Howitzer Regiment is renamed 7th Gds BM Howitzer Regiment
350th BM Howitzer Regiment is renamed 8th Gds BM Howitzer Regiment
4th Rifle Division is renamed 113th Guards Rifle Division
20th Mountain Division is renamed 5th Gds Mountain Division
236th Rifle Division is renamed 114th Guards Rifle Division
106th Sapper Regiment is renamed 51st Gds Sapper Regiment
244th Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 46th Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
515th BM Howitzer Regiment is renamed 9th Gds BM Howitzer Regiment
272nd Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 47th Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
247th Rifle Division is renamed 115th Guards Rifle Division
196th Rifle Division is renamed 116th Guards Rifle Division
317th Heavy Gun Regiment is renamed 2nd Gds Heavy Gun Regiment
265th Army Artillery Regiment is renamed 4th Gds Army Artillery Regiment
374th Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 48th Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
648th Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 49th Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
266th Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 50th Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
150th Rifle Division is renamed 117th Guards Rifle Division
25th Rifle Division is renamed 118th Guards Rifle Division
51st Rifle Division is renamed 119th Guards Rifle Division
95th Rifle Division is renamed 120th Guards Rifle Division
176th Rifle Division is renamed 121st Guards Rifle Division
435th Rifle Division renamed to 122nd Guards Rifle Division (6th Rifle Corps)
74th Rifle Division renamed to 123rd Guards Rifle Division (6th Rifle Corps)
3rd Rifle Division renamed to 124th Guards Rifle Division (6th Rifle Corps)
6th Rifle Corps is renamed 10th Guards Rifle Corps
72nd Rifle Division is renamed 125th Guards Rifle Division
118th Sapper Regiment is renamed 52nd Gds Sapper Regiment
305th Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 51st Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
555th Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 52nd Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
168th BM Howitzer Regiment is renamed 10th Gds BM Howitzer Regiment
526th BM Howitzer Regiment is renamed 11th Gds BM Howitzer Regiment
331st Howitzer Regiment is renamed 7th Gds Howitzer Regiment
376th Howitzer Regiment is renamed 8th Gds Howitzer Regiment
529th Howitzer Regiment is renamed 9th Gds Howitzer Regiment
589th Howitzer Regiment is renamed 10th Gds Howitzer Regiment
205th Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 53rd Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
207th Army Artillery Regiment is renamed 5th Gds Army Artillery Regiment
543rd Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 54th Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
144th Artillery Regiment RVGK is renamed 55th Gds Artillery Regiment RVGK
195th Rifle Division is renamed 126th Guards Rifle Division
200th Rifle Division is renamed 127th Guards Rifle Division
140th Rifle Division is renamed 128th Guards Rifle Division
190th Rifle Division is renamed 129th Guards Rifle Division
114th Sapper Regiment is renamed 53rd Gds Sapper Regiment
257th Rifle Division is renamed 130th Guards Rifle Division
216th Rifle Division is renamed 131st Guards Rifle Division
21st Army Artillery Regiment is renamed 6th Gds Army Artillery Regiment
9th Sapper Regiment is renamed 54th Gds Sapper Regiment
80th Rifle Division is renamed 132nd Guards Rifle Division
139th Rifle Division is renamed 133rd Guards Rifle Division
141st Rifle Division is renamed 134th Guards Rifle Division
240th Rifle Division is renamed 135th Guards Rifle Division
99th Rifle Division is renamed 136th Guards Rifle Division
128th Sapper Regiment is renamed 55th Gds Sapper Regiment
165th Sapper Regiment is renamed 56th Gds Sapper Regiment
145th Sapper Regiment is renamed 57th Gds Sapper Regiment
154th Sapper Regiment is renamed 58th Gds Sapper Regiment
156th Sapper Regiment is renamed 59th Gds Sapper Regiment
159th Sapper Regiment is renamed 60th Gds Sapper Regiment
162nd Sapper Regiment is renamed 61st Gds Sapper Regiment
277th AT Artillery Regiment is renamed 12th Gds AT Artillery Regiment
170th Sapper Regiment is renamed 62nd Gds Sapper Regiment
291st AT Artillery Regiment is renamed 13th Gds AT Artillery Regiment
225th Sapper Regiment is renamed 63rd Gds Sapper Regiment
297th AT Artillery Regiment is renamed 14th Gds AT Artillery Regiment
198th Sapper Regiment is renamed 64th Gds Sapper Regiment
228th Sapper Regiment is renamed 65th Gds Sapper Regiment
201st Sapper Regiment is renamed 66th Gds Sapper Regiment
203rd Sapper Regiment is renamed 67th Gds Sapper Regiment
205th Sapper Regiment is renamed 68th Gds Sapper Regiment
208th Sapper Regiment is renamed 69th Gds Sapper Regiment
New unit for the month is Guards Airborne Divisions. These are made by fusing 3 airborne brigades together and are always guards. I'm not really sure what I want to do with these yet, their current ToE isn't great and they don't upgrade to their best ToE until November. I guess I'll fuse them all together and move on from there.
I could actually make these last month but I forgot to show them off. Rocket launcher divisions are neat but they don't pack much more of a punch than 2 rocket launcher brigades and 2 brigades take less men. I'll probably be making a handful of these in the spring but I'm in no rush for now.
The final big change this turn is the cost of fusing Rifle corps. From 1943 onwards the cost of fusing drops from 20 to 10, meaning I can now make 3-4 rifle corps a turn instead of 1-2. This brings the total cost of a Rifle corps from scratch down to just 41 AP, a large number but the chances of me making any rifle corps from scratch this game are pretty low. The Germans inability to surround my armies has left me with far more counters than I need so I don't have to waste AP on building new rifle formations to hold the line.
Two fronts get renamed this turn. The Stalingrad front is changed back to the Southern front and the Crimean front becomes the North Caucasus front once again. Nice to change back to the old names as they retake the land they lost last time they held them.
The Germans appear determined to slow me down here if not halt my advance completely.
The Leningrad front fuses most of its divisions into corps and then pushes out, trapping 2 infantry divisions along the coast. Not a whole lot of progress this turn but next turn I should be able to break the line barring some serious reinforcements from the Germans.
Rest of the front takes a little ground, it's nice having supplies for once. With the Leningrad front mostly in shape these guys are going to start converting en masse next turn to keep up momentum.
Looks like I'm coming up on the main German line here, the plan now is to move up on it now to see what I'm up against and then begin applying pressure again next turn or the turn after.
Up near the Volkhov front I'm in good supply and able to push a few German regiments around.
The rest of the front isn't in such great shape. I move up and get in contact with the Germans but I can't launch any attacks just yet. The German line doesn't look too strong here and I should be able to begin making progress as soon as the rails catch up a little more.
Holy crap we're getting close to Germany, just need to do something about this enormous Panzer army that's materialized out of nowhere.
In the swamp I cut off an entrenched infantry division and start pushing around some regiments that I'm not really interested in attacking in this shit terrain.
The panzers are too strong to attack but their accompanying infantry isn't so lucky. I push back about 4 divisions and add some depth to the previously weak line to ensure the Germans are unable to break through. The question now is are they going to bother trying.
Hmm, I'm skeptical of the strength of that line the Germans have formed. It's much longer than the old one so unless they had more reserves than I think they did it shouldn't hold.
On the southern front Stanislav is retaken and 2 infantry divisions encircled, barely.
With the Germans pulling out of the mountains I'm finally able to mount an attack. With luck I'll be able to get out of here and into the lowlands within the next few weeks. The mountains are not the place to spend a blizzard and these troops are suffering for it.
Looks like a light line with some mobile units in reserve behind it to give it some strength. Not a whole lot of progress made this turn but the western front does brutalize some Germans and tear down their forts. Next turn the armor is coming off the line to rest at Arad, 2 weeks of fighting is a lot for my poor tanks.
Yeah not great. No fuel and everyone is exausted. My armored forces just aren't fit for prolonged fighting right now and have to be babied a little. Oh well, 50 miles in 2 weeks is good progress and I want the tanks gassed up if I get a real break in the line.
The two trapped infantry divisions in the north are rescued before the Germans begin to pull back in attempt to salvage their position up here.
The rest of the north follows suite with the entire German line falling back 20-30 miles.
South of the marsh it's the same with the Germans falling back after freeing the trapped divisions. The panzer force also withdraws, perhaps just to regroup or perhaps to reinforce the armies in Hungary.
Speaking of which, the Germans pull back and straighten out their lines. The chances of a large breakout here are fading fast, I'm instead going to concentrate on taking Budapest and trying to push this force back into Germany. Another huge encirclement would be nice but I'm not in any rush.
Here's something interesting, my OoB is dropping and the German one is recovering. These weeks of retreating seem to be paying off for them.
