[center]Army Group North[/center]
This week I launch Operation "Hotzenplotz" in the general area of AG North. Its goal is to break through any remaining Soviet defenses in the Leningrad area. So after heavy bombardment, Ernst Hell's I. Corps boldly throws itself at the enemy. Heavy fighting ensues but fate smiles and all hostile formations around the Pskov area shatter and flee.
4th Panzer Army is able to insert itself into the gap and deal with any remaining rear echelon formations. So we break free of the enemy Hauptkampflinie and rip into its "soft underbelly". Air bases, routed formations, panicked soldiers all flee before the onslaught.
Von Manstein's 56th Panzer Corps acts as the spearhead. Elements of the 56th P.C. - valiantly lead from the front by Von Manstein - reach the outskirts of Leningrad and start shelling the city. Unfortunately, they are not quite capable of severing Leningrad's rail links just yet.
[center]Army Group Center[/center]
Last week's offensives are finished off and the panzers enjoy a well-deserved rest. Panzer Armies 2 and 3 prepare for subsequent operations and our hold on the landbridge is secured. From this point, it is a mere 180 miles to Moscow. Potentially, I can simply ignore the Soviet elements to the South and drive on Moscow. Or alternately I can wheel right and envelop that sizable chunk of red army troops massed in the Smolensk area, assuming the enemy doesn't withdraw.
I will have to find a way to cross the Dniepr in a timely fashion with infantry from the 9th and 2nd Army. We shall have to see how things develop further. It's nice to have some options.
[center]Army Group South[/center]
AG South is relatively quiet this week. I finish off all remaining trapped enemy formations and set all forces in motion for crossing the Dniepr as soon as possible. I sent one Panzer Corps of Panzer Group 1 southeastwards, probing enemy defenses in the Donbas region.
Logistics are starting to become a painful constraint, however. I cannot afford to maintain the current pace for much longer as getting fuel to the Panzers is simply becoming more and more tricky. For now, at least....space is a far more lethal foe to the Wehrmacht than any Bolshevik.
