German Guide to WitE 1.0

[Pelton]

German Guide to WitE 1.0


If you would like the PDF copy send me a PM with your email.

WitE has had many up-dates over the years. Basically as the German player the game is all about the early turns if you are playing a veteran Russian player. This is not the only way to play the game, but one of many. This is for new players that are trying to figure out this massively complex game.

I hope this helps those new to the game.

Strategic Objectives before the 1941 Campaign begins.

House rules;

41-45 Campaign The Bitter End
 
 Server game
 Locked HQ Support
 Full FOW

 House Rules:
 No Para drops
 No bombing of HQ's unless stacked with a ground unit
 No naval invasions before November 1941, none outside the 1939 Soviet borders before January 1943
 In addition if Sevastopol is either isolated, or in German hands, none west of the Crimea,
 This reflects the scope for air/naval interdiction not really reflected in the game.
 30 day rule = no turns in 30 days by one player the other wins by default.
 New Patches will be used as soon as possible.

 Additional Auto VC:
 If the Axis player holds
 Leningrad, Moscow, Voronezh and Rostov concurrently at any time in 1941 he wins
 An Auto Victory. No need to waste any ones time as we all know the end results based on past games if these cities fall in 1941.

Optional Rules Setup:

 Mild Blizzard Rules
 Random Weather
 No 1:1 = 2:1
 Or
 Mild Blizzard Rules
 Non- Random Weather
 Yes 1:1 = 2:1

The key is to push hard enough so that you will have the chance to overrun enough industry to slow down the building of Red Army 2.0.  As a German player if you can get the Russian player under these numbers it is a win 90% of the time with 10% draws in that mix.

HVY: 236 Need to get under: 200 or destroy 36+
AP: 370 Need to get under: 300 or destroy 70+

Looking at the map below remember that the Soviet choke point is manpower, not industry. Industry will slow the building of Russian Army, but manpower production is the choke point. There is far more manpower centers south of the Oka then north of the Oka. Come 42 manpower centers and pocketing units are the main objective in 42.

Also truck destruction is very important by 43, so the more units you can pocket and the more mobile Russian units you can route the slower The Red Armies march west will be.

[Pelton]

I break the game down into Phases.

Phase 1: Turns 1-7 the land grab.

Phase 2: Turns 8-17 Destruction of the Red Army

Phase 3: Turns 18-24 Preparing for the Blizzard

Phase 4: Turns 25-37 The Blizzard

Phase 5 Turns 38-53 Spring

Phase 6 1942 Offensive.

Phase 7 Defending 43-45




Phase 1 Turn 1

Turn 1 is by far the most important turn of the game and turns 1-7 the most important phase of the war. As Germany if these turns are not near perfect the war is lost. You want to push as hard as you can all along the front driving towards Leningrad in the north, around the land bridge in the center and towards industrial centers in the south. The key is to push hard enough so that you will have the chance to overrun enough industry to slow down the building of Red Army 2.0

Ok first you will need to assign some SU’s to 1st and 6th PDs AFTER they reach Riga and guns to 41st PC so make sure you don’t assign these SU’s to other units. The 68, 24 and 1 MT Divisions will also need SU’s before attacking. Set all infantry units to READY and 93% ToE and all panzer units to ready and 93% ToE, pioneers to 95% and all other Su’s to 71%.
Assign 10th MoT to 46th Corp, 11th PD to 3rd Corp, 4th PD and 16th to 48th Corp, and 3rd PD to 46th Corp. You can assign Kluge to OKH, but I find that it is better to wait until spring of 42.
Move 290 and 269 into X Corp and 57th to 29th Corp. Put the 2 FDB’s on trains but don’t move them to front yet.

Some people will set all fighters to setting 2 in the commander’s report so they fly at night and during day. I do it based on what the Russian player is doing. Generally there is no need until 42.

Air Doctrine for turn 1 as follows:

[Pelton]

I find that you can turn Ground Support on starting in late 42, but we get to that later.


There at two tactics to use during air phase of turn 1.
You can recon Russian AB’s then bomb from north to south or you can do Keta’s strategy.
I have done both, but I do one or the other based on whatever the current ruleset is. 

1) Turn ground support off and do your ground attacks until you can't move anymore without displacing an enemy airbase. Your ground troops don't need the help, but your bombers save flown miles. More important, the enemy air force which is not yet destroyed shows up and is easy prey for your fighters (ensure they are in range) which gain cheap experience on this way. Turn fighter intercept up, to around 150% or
2) The miles flown limit for airbase bombing is 1/3 of the maximum miles. So bomb airbases closer to the front first. Once the air group reaches 29-32%, bomb the bases far away. On this way you can reach up to 40% flown after the last mission.
3) Air group transfer is cheaper in miles than airbase moving. Therefore you should use the following tactic: Bomb with the forward located air groups until they have flown more than 33%. Than move the airbase to the front. After this, transfer the rear area air groups to this base, so the way to the enemy is not that far. Air transfer will only use 1% or so.
4) Manually select the staging base (you know how to do this?). On this way you can select the closest base and save miles. The AI sometimes sends bombers from the Lvov Area to Odessa when Romanian Airbases are only a few hexes away!!!
5) make sure you do not concentrate your air groups too much, because the supply of a single airbase is limited. If no fuel or ammunition is left, the air groups don't fly anymore, even though they have flown less than 33% of their miles.
6) From my experience, bombers are more juicy targets for ground bombing than fighters.

Russian players like to bomb your front line units ALLOT. One way to help lower loses is to put AA units in every Corps HQ then put the extra into panzer divisions.



Below is my basic opening I have used for 5+ years. There are better openings that can pocket more units turn one, but my opening is about turns 2-7 not just turn 1. Despite all the logistics nerfs over the last 5 years they have had no effect on this opening from turns 1-7 because I chain HQBU’s.
From turns 1-7 only Luftflotte 1 + 1st FK’s in the north and 4th Fliegerkorps in the south should move. 1st and 4th PG Army HQs/AB’s + 11th   Army AB. Remember logistics is the key, only move what needs to be moved nothing more and only attack what you have to. Units that are surrounded die much easier and cost less German WIA/KIA.

[Pelton]

After combat this is basically how the front should look in the north and center. You could do air drops at this point, but I wait no need to waste planes you have more than enough fuel to cross Pskov by turn 3.

[Pelton]

The south should look like this. At this point transfer the JU-52’s from AGC to the 19th or 20th AB in south. All the pockets are 100% closed.

[Pelton]

Rail Repair:

FDB-1 turn one gets on rail and heads for Romania.
Turn 2 it can RR starting in hex 67,102 or hex  if Russia is blocking 60,95 then head for 67,98 then to 74,101 then to D-town 100,94 from there to Stalino area.

FBD-3 turn 1 rails to 47,46 gets of rails and repairs hex 47,45 then FBD-4 RR up that line 51,44. Turn 2 FDB-4 RR the next 3 hexes and then FBD-3 RR the swamp then FDB-4 RR the line headed for Riga then to Pskov then hex 80,30 It then heads south to link up with FBD-2. Once they link up its free to go where needed generally towards Moscow.

Then FBD-3 RR the line headed for 65, 43 then on to Smolensk then 96, 54 and turns south to link up with southern front.

FBD-2 heads for Vilnius then turns north to hex 65, 43. At this pt. it assists FBD-3 then turns north and links up with FBD-4. Once it has linked with FBD-4 it is railed to the south on FDB-1 line. Then starts RR starting at hex 91, 92 and heads for Kharkov then to Orel to link up with FBD-3.

Why the loops? It’s next to impossible for partisans to cut lines because there is 2 ways or more to get supplies to the front. I also put 8-10 con units in OKH and AGN,AGS,AGC and move units to areas I want linked up like Kiev,
Nikolayev and hex 71, 35. You will need to do this by turn 10ish. Start with AGS-10 then AGN-8 then AGC-8 then OKH-8

You will want to move Richthofen into the 1st Fliegerkorps by turn 4.






Turn 2 - 7 The Land Grab.

Ok there are some things you will need to do from turns 2-7. Turn all Panzer Divisions in the south to 71% ToE move out as many guns as possible, you need the gas/supplies for tanks.  You need to move all ground units and then do a HQBU in the south. With left over AP’s over the next 6 turns you will have to move Model into I Corp, 2 other great infantry commanders, move most of your 200mm + guns into 18th Army, 18 pioneers and the 3 high morale infantry divisions from 16th Army, fill out 16th then 2nd Army with the new infantry divisions they arrive. Also move all the JU-87’s and more ME-109s into Luftflotte 1 + 1st Fliegerkorps they will be used to break the defenses of Leningrad. Richthofen should be in command of 1st Fliegerkorps. Transfer all the fighters and bombers out of AB’s 19+20 to reserve. Transfer all the ME-110’s into AB’s 19+20. Transfer all planes from the other AB’s into reserves. On turn 7 you should have the min number of AB’s from the V Fliegerkorps that can hold 1 JG of ME-109’s, all the ME-110 fighters and all the HE-111’s. This will be all that is needed in the south. The fighters and bombers should never be more than 10 hexes from the railhead. The 110’s and 111’s will have the range needed to bomb the enemy. Turn 5 all JU-52s will transfer to IV Fliegerkorp which will stay within 4 MP’s of the southern railhead. By turn 7 you might have to add more AB’s to 1st Fliegerkorps to hold all the fighters and bombers needed to bomb the lines in the north. 1 JG and 2 JG of JU-88’s can stay in AGC.

Again do not move any AB’s or Army HQ’s other than the min.

OK back to turn 2:

Do 3 AI recon runs and then more manual.
 
In the north you should be able to cross the Pskov even vs a major defensive line. I have only been stopped once in 50+ games. Basically use your lowest MP PD’s that is the farthest from the front to start clearing the flanks. You have a bunch of PD’s to use to do this.

[Pelton]

AGC you’re just basically flipping hexes so the infantry can move quickly to the front lines. Leave then min infantry divisions to clear the pockets in the center. I try to clear these by the end of turn 3.

[Pelton]

Put L.A.H into XIV Panzer Corp and rail to Romanian border, this is basically a free HQBU as the units have max fuel in them. You’re going to be doing a HQBU each of the next 4-5 turns so think ahead about the rotation you will be using. The XXIV PC should be all infantry and the 1 Cav division. This will be used to move just south of the march then turn north and link up with units from AGC.

[Pelton]

Turn 3 Ok do not forget the things you need to do between turns 2-7 listed under turn 2.
Rule 1 you will need to be flexible now. Take what the enemy gives you, but you should be ready with this set-up to handle anything he does.
I will be doing two examples per turn from 2 different games, one of a player running and another fighting forward so you have the tactics needed to figure things out. In this case he is running. OK you will be doing HQBU’s next turn, but you’re at the end of the logistics chain and your panzers will have low MP’s so what we need to do is use 1 PC to flip hexes and drop fuel to the other PD’s. Make sure all Corp HQ’s end the turn as close as possible to the railhead.  Move your infantry forward and make sure to screen your flanks with 9th to the south and whatever infantry divisions from 16th and 18th that are lagging behind.

[Pelton]

In this case the enemy is fighting forward so you need to fight with 2 PC’s and let 1 sit. Move your infantry up and do attacks if possible then the panzers. Turn all the panzer divisions ToE to 100% and on refit in this area and whatever your 2 best Corp are in 18th Army to same settings. Move 1st Fliegerkorps to within 5 hexes of the front lines other than your AB with the JU-52’s in it stay within 4 MP’s of rail heads. In this screen shoot you can see where the Railheads will be next turn make sure your PD’s that will be doing HQBU’s next turn are within range by the end of your moves this turn. Do air drop to the panzers this turn that will be doing HQBU next turn to max MP’s for the HQBU.

[Pelton]

In the center you’re again flipping hexes, but looking to out flank the land bridge or drive through it or push north to help with AGN.

[Pelton]

In the south most everyone runs or loses another Front and it saves them zero time as you have allot of extra panzers that are close to the rail links out of Romania. You can take your time dropping the pocket here. I generally use my mountain divisions to slowly close the pocket then transfer them into OKH to be transferred to the center for the blizzard. I split them into regiments and line them up from the Oka north. So in this case I did a HQBU with the 48th Panzer Corp.

[Pelton]

Turn 4 Ok do not forget the things you need to do between turns 2-7 listed under turn 2.
Rule 1 you will need to be flexible now. Take what the enemy gives you, but you should be ready with this set-up to handle anything he does.
1st Finnish moves.
The 7th must have 15 MP’s if it does it is possible to cut off the northern most Russian division and make crossing then northern bottleneck easier.
2/2,1/2 to 77,3 HA east / 3/2 78,3 HA east / Add SU to VI Corp /  11+5 78,1 DA southeast / 1st Jag 79,3 if needed HA east / 19th 80,3 HA east or 80,2 / 7th 81,1 The Fin commanders are very good so you can punch through north of pond by using HQBU and reserve reactions (RR).
This is the runner game. As you can see 2 PC stayed back and do a HQBU while the 3rd pushes towards Leningrad and flips some hexes to the east. The infantry move forward. I have not moved up the AB’s because I don’t need them yet which saves fuel etc.

[Pelton]

The stand and fight game, 2 PC attack and one does a HQBU.
Also transfer all but 1 of the JU-52s to the south. You can see I moved up the LW as it is needed and the RH is close.

[Pelton]

This is the runner game.
The center is kind of boring, but you can see both IC pushing east now just starting to move to close Marsh.