seathom
Colonel
Posts: 312
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:51 pm

Naval Invasion of Petrograd?

Tue Sep 22, 2015 5:11 pm

Is a naval invasion of Petrograd a wise decision? It is April '17 in my game and I have been dithering with Russia far too long. Their NM is 37 and their PWR is 21/16. Although they have few forces, I feel to take a land route through Moscow and Petrograd is too late in my game -- I need a knockout blow, or at least something close to it - fast. I am pretty sure the garrison in Petrograd is not huge (not like Paris, where the WE can move troops in and out pretty easily). Rebel alignment is only 68 so I don't want to pin my hopes of eliminating Russia this way.

I know it is a risk, but is it advisable to attack Petrograd immediately from the sea with naval bombardment and distant unload with a strong army and risk elimination of my entire force if they don't get at least a beachhead? I am a little reluctant to invade an empty adjacent territory for fear that a bunch of reinforcements will make its way into the capitol the next turn, making a surprise invasion more difficult.

seathom
Colonel
Posts: 312
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:51 pm

Thu Sep 24, 2015 2:29 am

I went ahead with the direct naval invasion of Petrograd, fortunately, my naval force arrived on day 13 so the invasion force landed the next turn, but I was able to have better intelligence as to what forces were where and I decided it was worth the risk.

My forces landed and was able to get a foothold and a breech in Petrograd so an assault will happen the next turn (a capture of a supply wagon didn't hurt either). The enemy force wasn't crushed, but retreated to a nearby province. I will bring in more reinforcements just to be sure, but this strategy does seem to be working.

The Revolution occurred during the invasion so with the soon to be played Kornikov decision, the Russians will hopefully be out of the war within a month or two. It is now May '17. It can't happen fast enough for me as the WE had a rare successful assault on my besieging forces in Compeigne (next to Paris). I can definitely start bringing more troops to the Western Front, as gaining more strategic cities in Russia should no longer be necessary. On the plus side, Belfort and Epinal now look less well-defended as the WE has moved some troops away to help protect Lyons and their recruiting grounds and a city next to it which has an armory and munitions plants (or something like that) thanks to successive captures of two cities that are on the rail to these important cities. Or I may just use most of these forces to reinforce my cities near Paris. The options look pretty good on the Western Front. In Egypt, the Brits were routed in Cairo and Damietta, so the rail to Alexandria is now free of enemy troops! Hopefully, the war can end before the presumably large American forces enter the scene (as of yet, the American entry in Dec '16 has had almost no effect on the WE PWR rating; in fact, it is now down to 67/188 from their pre-entry PWR of 70/175 and that is with Romanian entry into the WE)!

Doctor Haider
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Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:47 am

Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:22 pm

From the historical point of view any naval assault on Petrograd shold be impossible if sothern Finland and Northern Estonia still in Russian hands. There were a lot of very powerful shore battareis on both shores of the Finland gulf (which could overlap the whole gulf with the 305mm guns) plus extensive minefields. I would better use it as a house rule when playing as CP.

Central position:
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