seowhq.net

Hi everyone,

Now is the time to get serious about this campaign. I have spent the day putting together an order of battle that gives us a reasonable (but scaled down) approximation of what forces were in action around Korosten' in late December 1943.

Here is what I have come up with (Excel spreadsheet).

Allied Forces - First Ukrainian Front
At this location we will use 13th Army (with 25 Tank Corps attached) and 60th Army.

Each army is represented by two Rifle Corps, each Rifle Corps has one Rifle Division. That makes four Rifle Divisions in total. Each Rifle Division has one Infantry Regiment, one Armoured Battalion and one Artillery Battalion.

Here are the FUF compositions I propose:

111 Tank Bgd, 25 Tank Corps, 13th Army
1 Inf Regt, 140 Rifle Div, 24 Rifle Corps, 13th Army
Ind Arty Btn, 140 Rifle Div, 24 Rifle Corps, 13th Army

162 Tank Bgd, 25 Tank Corps, 13th Army
1 Inf Regt, 143 Rifle Div, 77 Rifle Corps, 13th Army
Ind Arty Btn, 143 Rifle Div, 77 Rifle Corps, 13th Army

1 Tank Btn, 148 Rifle Div, 18 Guards Rifle Corps, 60th Army
1 Inf Regt, 148 Rifle Div, 18 Guards Rifle Corps, 60th Army
Ind Arty Btn, 148 Rifle Div, 18 Guards Rifle Corps, 60th Army

1 Tank Btn, 121 Rifle Div, 30 Rifle Corps, 60th Army
1 Inf Regt, 121 Rifle Div, 30 Rifle Corps, 60th Army
Ind Arty Btn, 121 Rifle Div, 30 Rifle Corps, 60th Army

People's Commissariat of Railways

Each grouping of three above (a scaled-down Rifle Division) includes the following materiel:



Thus, the four Rifle Divisions together total 196 tanks and SPGs, 108 artillery/AAA pieces and 200 full-strength infantry platoons, plus miscellaneous support units.

The KfSSSR is represented by:

Freight Trains (Cargo Train AA) 8
Command Trains (MBV-2 Armoured Train AA) 8

Finally the 2nd Air Army is represented by:




Axis Forces - 4 Panzerarmeeoberkommando
At this location we will use LIX Armeekorps and elements of the XXXXVIII Armeekorps.

Here are the 4.PzAOK compositions I propose:



Because of the fragmented nature of 4.PzAOK after the recapture of KZBK stations in Nov-Dec 1943, a simple OOB template will not apply as it did above for the FUF Rifle Divisions. It is more complex for the 4.PzAOK units:



Thus, the various 4.PzAOK units together total 150 tanks and SPGs, 97 artillery/AAA pieces and 52 full-strength infantry platoons, plus miscellaneous support units.

Finally Luftflotte 4 is represented by:


oops - found an error. Lipniki is not held by Germans at campaign start. Therefore the Lipniki recon airframes will start OffMap, and the other Lipniki airframes will start at Zhitomir. Since Zhitomir is not in scope for the Korosten scenario, all Kalinovka airframes will also use Zhitomir instead.

Overall Notes

• Zwiahel is the Polish name for Volodarsk-Volinskiy
  Air forces have approximate parity
  No air missions to suppress enemy air bases are allowed
  Soviet forces have a significant numerical armour and especially infantry advantage
  This OOB is very roughly 25% of historical strength on the ground, but some balancing has been done using my SEOW-fu.

Next task: commanders to take on leadership of a unit of their choice and prepare their templates.

Please post here with your selection of unit (roughly 1 Division per person) or other comments.

Cheers,
4S

I can take Sicherungs 375 and the Reserve Grenadier 212. It looks like from the maps and other posts they are in the Korosten area.

I know we have defined a front line and a smaller zone for this first go. Do we want to deploy them to the same "area" approximate to their historical locations?

Also, have we thought about a day/time of week?

Atm I'll put my hand up for Kampfgruppe Zwiahel.

OK Armwaar and Ikey, you've got it.

I'll take 77 Rifle Corps with the attached 162 Tank Bgd.

I will release a set of FMB files that will show deployment zones for each unit.

Yes, we need to settle on real life timing for the missions.

Cheers,
4S

I think I will be part of 30 Rifle Corps.

As I was German commander in Serata I am happy to take a dice roll on command. If Russian I'll take the 111 Tank Bgd plus the 24 rifle corps, if German I'll take 1 SS Panzer Division.

Excellent presentation 4Shades....

If 1 SS Panzer LSSAH is available I would accept command, but if it is already accounted for I will gladly accept a role with 7 Panzer... if held at gunpoint I would command a red unit as well....


Scannon

Hi

18 Guards Rifle Corps for me.

Nice work with these sheets. TY


Luny

I used the Random Team Selector tool for Hawk_5, and it came up red.

BTW, I have made the starting template files for each formation (just outlining the deployment zone with rail wagons). I will release them for download shortly.

Cheers,
4S

I am ok switching units if it makes it easier for others. I figure after the templates are built we will do some task management and trade off every now and then.

Can also plan air unit moves too.

Lipniki is not held by the Germans? Hmm...first objective....get new map from printer...second objective...capture Lipniki field...third objective...hold off Luny's tanks....

The work is piling up already.

I´ll gladly plot 1.Panzerdivision.

Here's a PM from Luny. These are all good questions so I thought I'd post it here and answer questions for everyone to see (please forgive me Luny)

Hi 4S

Some questions:

- The numbers [3:1] or [1:1:1:3] what does it mean? For example, Medium Tanks (T34-76, T70M) [3:1] Number says 30; 10 platoons each of 3 tanks.
As I thought [3:1] means three T34 platoons(9xtanks) per one T-70 platoon (3xtanks) makes 12 tanks of both types. Doing it twice makes 24 tanks. The remaining 6 tanks can be formed with two platoons of 3xT34.
Is this OK or am I doing way complicated?

What type of infantry, Russian or Guards? How should I set a 40 strength infantry platoon? Will this be automatically created by SEOW or is there any I still haven't seen?

However it is, can the template be buillt using just one single stationary tank, gun or infantry even in the cases they are formed up by more than one unit?

Before placing any unit in the map, would be good to know the main strategy, appart of running forward. We do not have too much time to capture the targets and spending it re-arranging the troops for the assault or whatever will give less time for real operations.

Would also good to know how many ground units will be allowed and how many for each sector.

Thanks for your patience

My notation [3:1] is meant to indicate 3 T-34 for every 1 T-70. So if there are 30 tanks in total that would mean approximately 22.5 T-34 and 7.5 T-70. Since we will be using platoon strengths of 3 tanks, we can round these numbers either to 21 T-34 and 9 T-70, or 24 T-34 and 6 T-70.

How to make the choice? Well this is where the "SEOW HQ" approach comes in. I am not going to go through and makes these choices for everyone. You are all here because you are experienced and sensible people and there are no competitions or prizes to be won. You all need to design your forces in a sensible and historical way, give a little and take little. Maybe you choose the armour mix to be a little too strong, but maybe artillery is a little too weak. In the end, you are responsible for your OOB within the general limits posted earlier, and you are answerable to all of your friends in the campaign. If there are real problems of interpretation, post it here for all to see and discuss.

Back to the notation. Let's consider a harder example. How about Soviet trucks (GAZ_55, GAZ_AA, DiamondT, HorseCart) [1:1:1:3]? Well the notation means that for every 6 objects, 3 will be horse+cart and the other 3 will be singles of GAZ_55, GAZ_AA and DiamondT. If we need 20 objects 10 will be horse+cart, and the other 10 will be divided approximately equally between the trucks (another choice to be made, roll a die even!).

Luny asks about infantry mix (regular : Guards). Not sure, but I'd guess something like 2:1 or 3:1. Maybe the ratio should be a little more Guards in the 18 Guards Rifle Corps. Someone might find some supporting info on Google and post it here. Similar question for Axis infantry formations.

Luny also asks about placing objects in the template anbd maximum strength expansion. I will use maximum strength expansion by default, with the platoon strengths listed. For infantry the "40" actually refers to the way HSFX represents infantry objects, it really means "4" objects for our purposes. Therefore a single infantry object placed in the template will be expanded to a single platoon of 4 objects during initialization.

I was still considering playability settings, e.g. movement limits. Maybe 80 per mission for Soviets and 60 per mission for Germans. We should discuss this.

Finally, strategy. Yes, this needs to be discussed. I have set up the command rooms now, so each team needs to get organized. Go to it!

Cheers,
4S

Thank you, Shades.

I noticed that we are now at a point where the Mission Planner objects are probably more current than this post.

One thing to point out, the Mission Planner lists the PaK 40 and the PaK43/41...

The post here has the PaK 40 and the PaK 35.

Can you guess which one I'd rather have?

Ah, ok I´m going to revise the korosten technics.ini again and send it to you tomorrow with the rockets.ini
Noticed that I still had forgotten about some guns.