The Voronezh Front is activated and Comrade Stalin requests that Chief of the General Staff Vatutin take command of this new organization. He says he prefers to see his top leaders at the front rather than the halls of the STAVKA. In fact, Comrade Stalin is highly suspicious and distrusts successful generals. They might get too comfortable in their position and make powerful friends in Moscow, becoming potential troublemakers later. General Armii Tolbukhin gives up his command of 10th Army to assume the role of Chief of Staff. The following week Nikolai Vatutin will be elevated to the rank of Marshal. (Game note: this is a complete waste of APs, but I can afford it under the current circumstances as the fastest way to get certain generals to marshal which has no importance in the game. But I like the historical marshals in the game where possible, so why not?
A last week of mud slows our efforts to re-position rifle forces, but the more mobile corps are on trains headed for the Kursk sector. The ground crews of the Luftwaffe perform miracles in restoring hundreds of damaged aircraft into operational condition. They manage to put almost 600 more planes into service.
The area of the Kursk sector sees some minor re-positioning of forces while we await the return of the needed cavalry-mechanized groups.
