Stjeand (Axis) vs Nirosi (Allies) Stjeand may look

[Nirosi]

Even Budyonny could see how dangerous the gambling of trying to open the pockets was, and said so! So now Stalin is slowly realising how everything was probably his fault!

[Nirosi]

Allied turn of August 15th, 1941

In Finland, the dangerous “I cut our supply, you cut my supply” game continued in the North of the country, but the big surprise was the arrival of a mechanized Corps at the Svir frontline. Every week it seems that another sector of the front is stretched even more…

In the Baltic and in Kroonstad, units of the Baltic fleet were mauled but are for now still operational. Stavka is not naïve enough to expect them to last much longer however in the face of total Axis air superiority.

[Nirosi]

In the Soviet Union proper, the Axis pushed toward Kharkov and almost encircled the city. Stavka, reluctantly, ordered the city, an important rail hub, to be evacuated. It was not realistic to expect the city to hold very long in face of the forces surrounding it and the front had to be shortened to reduce the chances (still quite there!) of a pocket East of the city. It also seems that the Southern approaches to Moscow might also be in the Axis plans. It can only be speculated that for now the enemy keeps all its options open. Not to far to the West, Dnepropetrovsk was again taken.

Further North, most operations constituted of pocket reductions and some advances in the area of the former Baltic States.

It can now be confirmed that on the Eastern Front the Axis has committed an astonishing 18 mobile corps plowing through Soviet defenses.

[Nirosi]

In the Mediterranean sector, part of the German fleet in Safi went out to raid, and part moved to Casablanca, either for better air cover and/or to have a larger port to service the ships. The fleet at sea is now followed by a French and a British fleet. The enemy was spotted, but not engaged yet.

A British fleet sailing to Gibraltar for refueling was intercepted by Axis aircraft and the Malaya groups was severely damaged. The RAF is inquiring why the fighters reserved for air cover, and in perfect shape to do so, did not intervene to protect the ships. In Malta, the cat and mouse game between British fighters and Italian submarines is continuing, and in Egypt, British forces advanced to the Libyan border but did not cross it. The War Bureau is still unsure on how to proceed in the sector.

In other news, the United Kingdom invaded Norway after the small kingdom refused transit right to British troops. In Washington, President Roosevelt was asked by a journalist how the US government will react now that the United Kingdom has declared war on four neutral entities such as France, Persia, Iceland and Norway. President Roosevelt answered briefly something about war been a messy thing and context to be important, and then took more questions on the crop expectations in the Midwest.

[Nirosi]

Allied turn of August 29th, 1941

Stavka was baffled at how easily Germany panzers just drove directly through some scattered defenses and entered Novgorod, taking the old city, and forcing the evacuation in disorder of a whole fighter division based there. Luckily, German forces in the vicinity are not too numerous and Leningrad is not immediately in danger, but a reorganisation of the defense of the city is in order and urgently so.

At least all was not gloom and doom as both Riga and Kagula managed to hold off the Germans. The central panzer group is slowly positioning itself to drive East to Moscow while the Southern bi-national tank group seems to try the Southern approaches to Moscow. In the Center, the panzers will have to deal with either Kagula or Tula first, unless they try to corridor just South of Kalinin, but that will require some reorganisation before the attempts and the supply line would be stretched much more. In the South, although Kursk could be by-passed, Orel will need to be taken first to ensure a steady flow of supply for the Southern route. In this perspective, some Soviet troops left the safety of the Miur just South of Kharkov to occupy the rail junction here, slightly complicating the supply of the Southern tank group.

[Nirosi]

In Finland, the usual “supply dance with knives”, as one local commander put it, continues, with no clear winner yet, but things seem to be improving for the Soviets in the Northern part of the country.

[Nirosi]

In Norway, much to the surprise of the War Office, Romanian troops assaulted the South-Western part of the country and rumor has it that some locals even welcomed them as liberators. Once again, the Romanians seems to be used as an elite fire-brigade by the Reich in a deal whose terms are still unknown. Norwegian nationalists formed an impromptu infantry corps just north of Oslo to resist British aggression. Normally the War Office would not be too worried, but they could cause some problems if they link with the Romanians and get more supply from Germany.

In Africa, a German panzer corps was identified on the flank of the Italian mechanized corps. This mean that the Axis is fielding at least 20 mobile corps!

In other news, the German fleet went out to raid again and maybe even try to go back home to help with the situation in Norway. The decoy squadron that had left earlier and was trying to join with the main fleet was found and sunk by the main British battleship fleet. A whole squadron of light cruisers and destroyers as well as the group centered on the Schlesien, and the Schleswig-Holstein were annihilated.

[Nirosi]

Major General Lizyukov commanding the 2nd Tank Corps in Persia was shot!

Major General Lizyukov was still in Persia 4 or 6 weeks after he was ordered to bring the corps back to the motherland, the motherland been fighting for its life! He replied he did not get any order to do so, which is, of course, impossible.

He was therefore sentenced to death on the charges of:
• Lying about not receiving the orders.
• Not following the orders blindly as expected from an officer and bring the tank corps home.
• Refusing to take initiative in its own hands, when he did not receive the orders, and still bring the tank corps home, using leadership like an officer is supposed to do instead of blindly following orders.

Lieutenant General of Aviation Gromov of the 3rd bomber division stationed also in the vicinity was arrested as well for the same reasons but he stated that he was ordered to blindly follow Major General Lizyukov’s orders. An investigation was ordered. The investigation found Lieutenant General of Aviation Gromov not guilty of the charges. However, during the investigation, he shot himself! This can only be interpreted as admitting guilt. The result of the investigation was therefore changed to guilty on all charges. Of course, he was not shot since he was already dead, that would be absurd, however the commissar in charge of the investigation was shot for obvious sabotage and Trotskyist conspiracy.

[Nirosi]

Allied turn of September 12th, 1941

The battle for Moscow has begun. The Northern army group took Kagula to open the East-West rail line toward the Soviet Capital, while the Southern army group isolated Kursk and obviously have their eyes on Orel, the hub for the North-South rail link to the Soviet capital. Stavka is not naïve enough to think that Kursk and Orel can be saved, but the longer they hold, especially Orel, the harder it will be for the Axis to take Moscow. A counterattack on the LXXVI Panzer, which was believed to be overextended and in low operational readiness, was ordered but failed to achieve any meaningful results, most Soviet units been now organised for defense at the expense of offensive capacities.

In the Baltic Sea, the Red Navy is no more. The last ship of the Baltic fleet went down under the bombs of Axis aircrafts. However, Riga stills holds against German attacks even after four weeks. The Germans even brough in some naval support to try to break the defenders. The new Axis naval squadron in the Baltic came as a surprise to the Allies who have pretty much identified all sea going German ships as been outside the Baltic. However, it was soon deduced that it must be the Norwegian navy that escaped to Germany after the British invasion.

Further North, another rare, but welcomed, victory for the Red Army who forced the surrender of a Finish division.

[Nirosi]

In and near Norway, the German fleet was found by pursuing British Carriers and planes from the Glorious destroyed the Scharnhorst squadron. The other nearby carrier fleet off Norway, blockading the Romanians, dispatched its carrier groups (with some minimal escort) to try to finish the job but did not find the enemy. The rest of the fleet stayed where it was patrolling the Norwegian shores to continue the blockade. London also sent a little less than two divisions to land East of Bergen to separate the Romanians from the Norwegian resistance corps trying to link with them.

(Please note that the two divisions still in Oslo were sent in pursuit of the Norwegian resistance corps, while the Albion Mechanized Group took defensive positions in Oslo).

[Nirosi]

Kursk defenders are isolated but their courage and determination are unbroken!

[Nirosi]

Morale in Moscow is high, as reported by Pravda. The digging of anti-tank trenches has been ordered, just in case...

[Nirosi]

Scouting battalion of the Albion Mechanized Group near Oslo.

[Nirosi]

Scharnhorst sinking (artist conception).

[Nirosi]

In the Atlantic, German U-boats are still causing havoc and lots of pain!

[Nirosi]

Allied turn of September 26th, 1941

Once again Stavka underestimated German Panzers capacity to punch holes through… well.. everything! 12 Mobile corps created the huge Tula-Orel pocket, while 4 more are moving toward Rzhev-Kalinin (although it is not clear if their target is Moscow or a push North to attempt a Vitebsk pocket). To be able to do what the Axis did, Khakov seem to have been abandoned due to a shortage of Axis infantry at the front. Soviet troops therefore liberated the city and were mostly well received by its mostly Ukrainian inhabitants. Two more armies left their defensive stance East of Kharkov and moved north to try to divert the panzer’s attention away from Moscow.

Vatutin ordered two counter attacks on two German Panzer corps. Soviet troops managed to make the first one retreat, but the second one, the VI XSS, held its ground. The overall result is that the German spearhead of three panzer corps was not cut off from the rest of the front, and they have the VII SS to thank for; but at least the Tula-Orel pocket was opened for now.
Further North Germans keep pushing toward Leningrad. However, they left Novgorod undefended, just like they did for Kharkov. Soviet troops entered the city and were received as heroes by its mostly Russian inhabitants. However, the 1st Latvian Army in Riga finally succumbed to yet another German assault.

One mobile corps is unaccounted for. It is feared by the British and hopped by the Soviet that it might have been diverted to Norway, however unlikely that may be.

[Nirosi]

In Norway, the Germans sent reinforcement and even parachuted supply to the Norwegian resistance corps. Obviously they have decided not to give Norway to the British without a fight.

At sea, in a surface action near Stavanger, the Royal Canadian Navy lost its destroyer squadron but in exchange, and thanks to their gallant sacrifice, the Royal Navy sank both the Deutschland group and the Bismarck group. The Hipper squadron was sunk in a follow up action by British carriers about 3 days latter.

[Nirosi]

The Tula and Novomoskovsk tank battles left their marks on the land...

[Nirosi]

Allied turn of October 10th, 1941

The Tula-Orel pocket was closed once again despite the arrival of the Rasputista. The pocket is probably closed for good unless a miracle happens, but the Soviet air force managed to send some supplies to two corps in the pocket. The arrival of the Rasputista did slow down most operations in central USSR for now. A relief force consisting of a little more than three armies is slowly closing on Kursk from the South-East, still besieged and isolated. They can probably not do much to help Kursk, but they might divert the German attention away from the city. Moscow remains still in grave danger, only a few miles from the front.

[Nirosi]

In Finland things remain stable, but two Soviet corps advanced North of Lake Onega to make contact with the Fins. Stavka intentions are to possibly cut off the Axis troops between Lake Onega and Lagoda, or if not, force them to retreat from their positions.