Dev Blog 16: Northwestern Front OB Deep Dive

Greetings! Today we bring you a peak into the Soviet Northwestern Front (NWF) as it stood in June/July 1941! The Northwestern Front (or Baltic Special Military District until June 24) is symbolic of the 1941 Red Army in general. It has great potential, on paper, but severely underperforms in actual combat. If properly employed, NWF can bring to bear an astonishing volume of barrage fire to hammer their opponents, negate their zones of control, and inflict terrible casualties However, the frontline protecting the Front’s heavy artillery is dreadfully prone to shattering. Likewise, the armored units responsible for breaching enemy lines or providing mobile reserves are inundated with obsolete equipment and inconsistent motorization. NWF can be an incredibly satisfying OB in the hands of an experienced player, but make no mistake, there is far less room for error here than in most Soviet OBs.

Northwestern Front: June/July, 1941:

Type: Historical OB
Preferred Playstyle: Artillery-Centric Attrition

Basic Composition:

Strengths:

NWF is a defense-focused order of battle boasting strong artillery and air capabilities, but middling armor and a large selection of expendable infantry. If you are playing a custom scenario where training levels can be changed, NWF is a solid B-grade OB, but playing strictly historically requires getting creative. Your artillery is the key to victory. Most Soviet heavy artillery cannot conduct fire support, but their barrage capabilities are potent. Use your big guns to relentlessly harass hostile concentrations, pin enemy artillery that might provide fire support to key battles, or negate enemy ZoC to enable your own units to move through hostile lines. Likewise, NWF has vast quantities of cheap fighter and bomber cover. NWF will never command a qualitative advantage in the sky, but its sheer numbers alone present a challenge to any opponent.

Weaknesses:

NWF’s Achilles heel lies in its armor/motorized forces. Without the support of your tanks, the frontline will swiftly collapse in the face of concentrated enemy armor. But your obsolete tanks will struggle to take the Germans in particular on head-to-head. Proper employment of combined arms, and keen judgement to know when to fight and when to run are essential as NWF has less room for error than most Soviet OBs. NWF also suffers from a shortage of recon aircraft, and what is available are obsolete R-5 biplanes that will quickly be neutralized by halfway decent enemy fighter cover. NWF must conduct a delicate balancing act that requires: 1) Skillful maneuver to preserve its armor. 2) Good situational awareness to spot for its arty. 3) Do both of these while being chronically blind.

Diving Into Details:

Let’s take a closer look at the assets at NWF’s disposal.

Tank/Motorized Divisions:

NWF’s armor suffers from dreadfully obsolete equipment, poor readiness levels, and generally slow movement speed compared to their German adversaries. Of the Front’s 4 tank divisions, only 1 (2nd TD) has any meaningful number of modern T-34s and KVs. T-26s and BTs of various types make up the bulk of its armor, and many units are simply understrength. Even in units blessed with modern equipment, insufficient time on type among crews, inadequate unit training, and skilled personnel shortages created by the purges catastrophically degrade morale and cohesion. Inconsistent mobility hammers the final nail in the coffin of NWF’s mechanized forces as many of their tanks are slow, their truck-borne infantry easily outrun them, many artillery units are pulled by civilian tractors, and some “motorized” units lack motorization of any kind! NWF’s armored forces can be effective if properly employed, but they should not be expected to endure sustained combat.

The 202nd Motorized Division endures all the curse's of the front's mechanized forces. (De)Motorization, poor training, and obsolete equipment.

Infantry Divisions:

NWF’s infantry runs the full gambit from good (16th Rifle Division), to speedbump (67th Rifle Division). Most of the Front’s rifle divisions are at their peacetime establishment of roughly 80% ToE strength…if they are lucky. We have also modeled small arms allocations, including SMGs, SVTs, and LMGs, per unit as closely as possible. The result is a wild degree of variation between divisions in both strength and combat power. Among this colorful cast of infantry divisions, none are so unique, or so doomed, as those formed from the former Baltic militaries. Not only do the Baltic rifle divisions suffer from the lowest morale, considering they are largely unwilling soldiers of the Red Army in the first place, many also retain their old weapons, large and small. Expect to see German PaK-36s, British light tanks and WW1 field guns, and the occasional indigenous armored car you have never heard of. On the upside, even poor infantry can put up effective resistance with proper support and advantageous terrain. Use terrain wisely, build minefields liberally, avoid letting your infantry fight armor unsupported, and if a division gets destroyed…don’t sweat it….you have more.

Artillery:

Artillery is the saving grace that can swing a battle in NWF’s favor. Historically, none of this mattered as poor communication and coordination between Soviet forces in summer 1941, combined with the speed of the German advance, swiftly neutralized this crucial force multiplier. But in a more favorable situation, NWF’s heavy artillery enjoys a range and concentration advantage over virtually any adversary. The 110th and 402nd Howitzer Regiments (High Power), each commanding x48 203mm M1931s, are individually 2 of the most dangerous artillery units of the entire war. Likewise, the “lighter” 152mm ML-20s and 122mm A-19s either outgun or outrange most adversaries that do not happen to be American. Your opponent will swiftly deduce that your artillery is your greatest asset and they will stop at nothing to silence it. Unfortunately, the anti-aircraft assets at your disposal are generally lacking, so you can expect the bombs to arrive on your most treasured assets early and often.

Artillery Composition (Battalions):

*Includes units operating foreign guns from the former Baltic militaries.

Marching Onwards:

Update 1.0.8.2 is in its final internal testing stages now and we expect to release it this week. It will not be long before you get a chance to take NWF and HGN out for a spin yourself! We thoroughly enjoy building self-contained historical OBs like these, as they allow us to explore playstyles, or historical oddities, that the “standard” OBs that reflect a nation’s general combat style across an entire year simply do not allow us to touch on. They also serve as an excellent basis for custom scenarios as, in addition to being beautifully detailed snapshots of organizational history, they also come with fully pre-assembled command chains. You will see more updates like this in the future, as general research for longer-term projects tends to surface many fascinating OBs that we will otherwise never find a use for.

Before we go, we will leave you with one final glimpse into a new mechanic we are cooking up for Update 1.0.8.2 to dynamically visualize Command/Control networks whenever you select a unit.

Blue borders indicate subordinates to whatever unit you have selected, green are "sisters" that share the same higher HQ. In this example the same corps command. More to follow soon!