SCARZ (Axis) vs. AURELIAN (Soviet)

[Scarz]

Grp Anton – In the far south, the Rumanians and 11 Army will continue to pursue the retreating Russians as they close in on Odessa.

[Scarz]

Air War - I lost quite a few fighters this turn. I believe it was from using lots of ground support in aid of 4 Pz Grp’s ill-fated offensive… I also transferred Flieger Fuehrer Ostee south to prepare for the siege of Odessa.

The Russians took a turn off from the interdiction attacks on the panzer spearheads.

[Scarz]

TURN 6

AGN - Things are looking rough in the north, I am not sure AGN will be able to make much progress, especially with most of 16 Army still fighting around Idritsa. I will pause this turn, making only a few clearing attacks as XXVI Corps (18 A) is just now arriving south of Pskov and to give the 16 A units around Idritsa time to finish off the pocket and move north. XXXXI Mot Corps pulled back closer to Pskov with the idea of attacking up the main rail line to Leningrad next turn, with a possible link up with LVI Mot Corps attacking out of the Shimsk area.

[Scarz]

AGC – Things look a little better in the center, but the Russians have a solid line from Usvyat to Smolensk and then south to Pochinok. Looks like I will miss the VP bonus for Smolensk.

I had planned to use VI Corps (9 A) to attack from the north toward Smolensk, but elected to use the corps to hold Velikie Luki and screen the left flank of 3 Pz Grp and the rest of 9 Army as they move into the land bridge and south of Smolensk. All of 3 Pz Grp rested this turn.

[Scarz]

After clearing a few outlying divisions, XXXXIII Corps (4 A) made two assaults on Mogilev and failed to dislodge the defenders. XXXXVII Mot Corps advanced on Bryansk, but fuel shortages are affecting its mobility. XXXXVI Mot Corps moved up in support to the south west of XXXXVII Mot Corps and XII Corps moves up behind the two panzer corps.

Finally 2 Army is just now beginning to cross the Dnepr at Zhlobin. Everything feels slow in the center this turn, the supply system is stretched thin with Minsk still acting as the main supply hub, and the advance feels like a crawl now.

[Scarz]

AGS – In the south the Russians are pulling out of Kiev toward the east, most likely worried about the panzers of XIV Mot Corps on their left at Cherkassy. 6 Army continues its approach toward Kiev, as 17 Army assists in some clearing of a few isolated Russian divisions and moves directly east in support of 1 Pz Grp.

It feels like a real decision point in the south. The majority of the Russian forces in the south appear to be in or around Kiev. This grouping is clearly attempting to move back eastward while screening the Cherkassy bridgehead. There seem to be no forces to speak of in the Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye operation direction. My first thought is to drive directly for Kharkov, thus cutting the units in Kiev off from the east. However, the two infantry corps attached to 1 Pz Grp has just arrived south of Cherkassy, so I would have no infantry support, and would be need to drop off panzer or motorized infantry regiments along the route to protect from the Russian forces leaving Kiev. In addition, 2 Pz Grp’s supply issues will prevent help from the north in trying to make a huge pocket of the troops around Kiev.

Thus I am going to try to trick the Russians with a little deception. I have moved up several motorized infantry units, attached directly to 1 Pz Grp (G.D. Mot. Rgt, LAH SS, SL Mobile Grp and RFSS), and taken up positions south of the Russian units north of Cherkassy. My hope is that the Russians will believe this is my intended crossing point, and bring up even more forces in opposition. In the meantime, 1 Pz Grp has concentrated at Kirovograd and I have brought III Mot Corps up from its positions south of Kiev. Next turn, I will make a dash for Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye with the option of crossing the Dnepr further east of Cherkassy if necessary and move on Kharkov.

If the Russians fail to respond to my deception, I can always make the lunge toward Kharkov next turn, and have some supporting infantry.

[Scarz]

Grp Anton – Odessa is isolated this turn as 3 and 4 Rum Armies continue to head east with no opposition. Odessa does not seem well garrisoned, so I only moved one corps from 11 Army down to storm the city. I have attached the siege artillery to LIV Corps and they will assault the city next turn. II Rum Corps will also participate in the assault.

[Scarz]

Air War – I flew several recon missions in each sector with limited results. The Russian air forced stayed home.

[Scarz]

Losses - Since this turn really felt like a pause, here are the losses to date for each side…

[Scarz]

Different losses chart:

[Jango32]

You need to run naval patrol around Odessa to fully isolate it.

[Scarz]

ORIGINAL: Jango32

You need to run naval patrol around Odessa to fully isolate it.

Thanks for the reminder. I transferred Flieger Fuehrer Ostee south for that purpose last turn. Although, I feel like the Romanian AF could have done it on its own.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Scarz

ORIGINAL: Jango32

You need to run naval patrol around Odessa to fully isolate it.

Thanks for the reminder. I transferred Flieger Fuehrer Ostee south for that purpose last turn. Although, I feel like the Romanian AF could have done it on its own.

I'd say not, naval interdiction is best done using either a mine or torpedo load out ... don't think these are available to the Rumanians but all the German LB have this option.

Just don't forget to return them to bombs when you redeploy - in WiTW I once forgot and wondered why my Wellingtons were having such little effect till I realised they were dropping mines on railyards [8D]

[Scarz]

TURN 7

AGN – The Russians pulled back to a line basically running from Gdov to Shimsk. 16 and 18 Army moved north and made contact with the Russian line, but no attacks were made. I could rest Hoepner’s panzers another turn, but I suspect the Russians will just pull back again, so I will attempt to breach the line north of Shimsk toward Novgorod and along the main rail line.

The attack was a poor choice in retrospect, as neither motorized corps of 4 Pz Grp made its objective. I will have to let the infantry continue the advance next turn.

[Scarz]

AGC – The Russians have pulled back their main line of defense from Smolensk, while leaving a strong garrison in the city. There is no rush to take the city, so 9 Army units move up to the city this turn, and I will look to isolate it before any assault.

Orsha is now a depot and connected to the rail line. I will try to make it a super depot and have left FBD 3 in the city.

[Scarz]

XXXXIII Corps was able to capture Mogilev this turn, although one of its defending divisions retreated across the river rather than surrender. Finally, 3 Pz Grp has moved up on both flanks of the city in preparation of attacks to the north and south of Smolensk if the Russians attempt to hold the line next turn.

To the south of Smolensk, 4 Army reduced the final two small pockets and is moving east and the Russians have moved new units in to defend Bryansk. Unfortunately, 2 Pz Grp is still low on supply, and after what happened up in AGN sector with 4 Pz Grp, they will not try to force their way into Bryansk. Instead XII Corps (2 PG) will be tasked with taking the city. The XXXXVI Mot Corps advanced directly east with no opposition and will be within striking distance of Kursk if the supply situation improves. XXIV Mot Corps needed to rest this turn, but with developments in the south, they moved in behind XXXXVI Mot Corps in case the big Kiev encirclement operation becomes a reality.

2 Army is continuing to move east behind 2 Pz Grp, and hopefully will come as a surprise to the Russians when it is finally committed.

At the far south flank of AGC, the Russians snuck a division through VII Corps (4 A) lines and captured Gomel.

[Scarz]

AGS – The Russians still have a strong defense at Kiev and along the Dnepr south of Kiev to the 1 Pz Gp positions at Cherkassy. While 6 Army is still clearing scattered Russian division to the west of Kiev, LV and XXXXIV Corps have finally reached the main Russian line to the south of the city.

[Scarz]

I am not sure if the Russians were fooled by the deception operation north of Cherkassy, but 1 SL Mobile Bde was attacked three times and suffered significant losses. LI Corps (1 PG) moved up and relieved the 1 Pz Grp mobile units, and XXIX Corps (1 PG) crossed the Dnepr west of Kremenchug in preparation to support any thrust northeast toward Kharkov. 1 Pz Grp is still short on supplies, but a thrust north to meet 2 Pz Grp around Sumy is becoming more and more tempting.

III Mot Corps advanced up the minor rail line to Poltava with LAH Mot Bde and the Mobile HU Corps providing flank security. At the same time, XXXXVIII Mot Corps advanced to the outskirts of Dnepropetrovsk.

The real decision point for 1 Pz Grp this turn is where to send XIV Mot Corps. They can move to Kremenchug, thus being able to either swing north in support of the push toward Kharkov or east in the attack on Dnepropetrovsk. This seems the safest idea. Or they could support one or the other of these advances to the exclusion of the other. Finally, XIV Mot Corps could push east and then hook right to isolate three or four Russian divisions around Aleksanddriya. The benefits to this move are twofold, to isolate several Russian divisions and to push the defenders along the Ingul River southward as they flee rather than directly east into the Zaporozhye area.

It feels like I am trying to do too much with 1 Pz Grp, as each panzer corps is off doing its own thing, but trapping a few more divisions is just too tempting, so XIV Mot Corps is sent down to pocket the Russian divisions around Aleksanddriya. The only consolation is they should be able to support XXXXVIII Mot Corps from the south. Sadly, there were two Russian cavalry divisions in reserve which had to be cleared, so the southern swing didn’t actually isolate the Russians this turn.

[Scarz]

AG Anton – The Russians have formed a new defensive line along the Ingul River north from Nikolaev to Novy Bug. The 4 Rum Army advanced up to this new line, while 3 Rum Army will attempt to skirt the line to the north of Novy Bug. The Rum Cav Corps attempted to push around the line, but ran into a strong defensive position at Krivoi Rog. 11 Army moved up in support of the 4 Rum Army units and will force the river line if necessary.

[Scarz]

The assault on Odessa by LIV Corps and II Rum Corps was successful, but losses were high. However, this should help with the supply situation as the Rum Railroad Cmd was close to Odessa and connected the rail line this turn.