At the request of Herr Oberst

[cpdeyoung]

April 16, 1940 : Still wet across eastern Europe. The KM is keeping up with the U-Boat war and we must be doing some harm to the British.

The Finns won the seige at Kiem which gives them a supply point in the center. With the coming of Spring everyone expects the Soviets to bring crushing power to bear, but I wonder if the logistics will allow it. Losing Murmansk and Kiem does not help a thing here. On the Mannerheim Line nothing has happened all Winter. Don't the Soviets have to bite the bullet and do the assault work necessary to break this position. What are the Soviets doing? On our whole front we see but one unit.

The Italians prosper in Yugoslavia.

[cpdeyoung]

April 24, 1940 : Still very, very muddy in the East. We see another Soviet unit, a full infantry corps with a commander, next to Brest-on-Bug. The Finns report no new Soviet activity visible.

In Yugoslavia these are the end days.

[cpdeyoung]

May 1, 1940 : Still mud everywhere, but more Soviet units are showing up to enjoy the slop. The presence of a unit right at the border with Germany and Lithuania is interesting. Is it there to observe?

The situation in Yugoslavia progresses.

[cpdeyoung]

May 9, 1940 : At last some dry ground. We do not miss a chance, and rush forces into Lithuania, after an ultimatum which the Lithuanians refused. We have no idea what the Soviets will do, but feel we are ready for anything, up to, and including full scale warfare. The Oberst says the government has never trusted the Soviets, and if they will go to war over the Baltic states then they are nearly using that as an excuse and would have made war on us anyway.

The Italians move ahead in Yugoslavia, and the Finns are scouting for the presence of Red Army advanced forces in the center.

[axisandallies]

This is a good read, thank you.

[cpdeyoung]

(Thank you Brad, now the excitement starts)

May 16, 1940 : War with the Reds! The Oberst says we absolutely knew it would be war to enter Lithuania, and we as much declared war on the Soviets. I think the world will see it differently since both peoples have had interests there. In any case the Soviets are now at war with Germany, Finland and Slovakia. There were plenty of surprises for us as we moved on the Soviets. I was surprised to hear of how much strength there was behind Brest, and how little near Lviv. Of course the Soviets knew we were present before Brest, but had never run recon in the South. The Oberst, and two other officers were discussing what we know of Soviet strength and I was surprised at how widely the estimates ranged. They concluded it is too hard to guess now, and we will know much more in a few weeks.

Italy won both seiges and their units are advancing on Sarajevo. The Finns now are our de facto allies, but they have not joined the Axis.

[cpdeyoung]

May 24, 1940 : We push hard again in the South especially. Now that we have an overland connection with Romania we have started staff talks with the intention of coordination if they join the Axis. This will be a very interesting development, but the Oberst pointed out we will be able to screen the whole Romanian border soon anyway if we continue at this rate.

The Italians, who might have been our allies here, are attacking near Sarajevo, and are close to completing their campaign. The Finns are attacking in the center and pushing out drom the mannerheim line near Leningrad.

[cpdeyoung]

June 1, 1940 : We have pushed forward again and have encountered Soviet forces near two cities in the South (see map). In the center and North we also are seeing signs of Soviet forces, and the Finns have found a fair number of Red Army divisions in their center front, as well as destrying one of the units in front of Leningrad. We believe the Finns are proving a significant distraction to the Soviets. We are very, very close to bringing in the Romanians at our wish. They are moving their troops slowly east, and show readiness to join us.

Just now we are in an oportunistic phase, but the Oberst says the High Command has not attacked Latvia which probably means we are not interested in a Northern thrust right now. I think we will stay with a Southern strategy, but he suspects we will head for Moscow, by way of Minsk, and Smolensk. I wonder if we have enough units for any push. We seem thin on the ground.

The Italians have taken Sarajevo, and Yugoslavia should fall next week. The Italians are sending units towards Greece, but no one believes they will attack there because the British have made it clear they will declare war on Italy if she attacks Greece.

[cpdeyoung]

June 9, 1940 : Romania has joined the Axis, and made her first attack on the Soviets. They are weak yet, but we see potential in this ally. We have made progress but need to capture a more advanced city base for the next stage. Italy has gone back to peacetime supply, and may have to do something unusual soon.

[Tomokatu]

Italy has gone back to peacetime supply, and may have to do something unusual soon.

 A seafood risotto would be a nice change from all that damn pasta.[8D]

[cpdeyoung]

That would be nice.

It is hard to get Italy in the big war if you turn them down when they offer. It is easy to get them in the war with Britain, just attack Greece, but it is harder to get them as an Axis power. The latest 1.6 makes you pass up the 100 alliance points offered, and to add injury they take 20 away.

Chuck

[cpdeyoung]

June 16, 1940 : We have made progress, and have bases for our next stage forward. Herr Oberst worries that we have not engaged the enemy in any numbers, which is a wonderful thing if it reflects Soviet weakness, but not so good a thing if it means they are holding back till the shock of meeting our more advanced forces wears off. Our forces are very expensive to maintain, and we need to be causing many casualities as we advance.

The Italians are no longer showing much interest in Greece, and we suspect they do not want war with Great Britain. The Finns are causing Soviet losses, and I think we should hurry to link up with them, but the High Command must have other plans. The Romanians have drawn their first blood, and are still hurrying forward.

[cpdeyoung]

June 24, 1940 : The Soviets slapped at the Romanians, who are quite weak at this point. We continued to push ahead. The Finns have decided to make hay while the Sun shines, and are attcking where they can.

The Oberst says he is glad to see some combat going on and hopes the Soviets get invested in land for a while, allowing us to have our infantry catch up.

[cpdeyoung]

July 1, 1940 : It is a swelteing day, and I heard the Oberst speaking with another officer about where we should be for the Winter halt. I guess when campaigning in Russia this is always a good thing to think about. I present detailed maps for exposition of the state of our northern and southern drives.

The Finns report they can see five tank divisions in front of them. They are drawing off significant Soviet resources from our path.

[cpdeyoung]

July 9, 1940 : All the talk is of how difficult it will be to force the Soviets to stop the war. They certainly have not made us give way on Lithuania, which was the causus belli after all, but it is hard to imagine us forcing them to halt either. Most oficers seem to want the front line as far east as possible, and then we can go over to the defensive. We have hurt the Soviets, and we have gained some production from the captured territory, but it is such a huge country.

[cpdeyoung]

July 16, 1940 : We made significant progress this turn, but the Soviets seem to fill in behind our most daring gains, and we have to battle them all over again. It is like punching a hole in water. If we have infantry we can prevent the "refilling" but then we cannot have those spectacular gains. The Soviet technique is rather sophisticated. The Oberst says it is the dctrine "1.6AI" that we saw in western Europe. Whatever it is it works against us.

[cpdeyoung]

July 24, 1940 : As July ends all talk is of the coming winter and what the Soviets will be like when Spring comes. There is a certain desperation in the air. The Oberst says the probes we drive deep into Russia will not yield much and that we will be grinding ahead for the rest of the year. We are hurting the Red Army, but a very long way from defeating them. The talk among the officers is that we have tasks uncompleted and we need to allocate resources to finish them off. An example is the other Baltic States which the USSR might claim at any time.

[cpdeyoung]

August 1, 1940 : We pushed hard this turn, and the Soviets pushed back. We captured V. Luki and the Soviets bombed it the same week. These are not weak willed enemies. The Oberst says he is not surprised the Soviets seem to have a special hatred for the Romanians, and attack them each turn. I tend to explain it as a factor of the Romanians relative weakness.

The Soviets are over their shock at meeting us. Nothing will be as easy from now on. We are in for a fight, and have just made big investments in artillery research for the long term. We also have been fighting Great Britain vigorously on the seas, and keeping up with the U-Boat war. Time will tell if we have hurt the Soviets enough to get a stable Eastern front.

[cpdeyoung]

August 9, 1940 : The Luftwaffe helped the Romanians to capture Odessa. The British must have increased the tech level of their aircraft because we are taking more losses in interception missions.

In the East the Soviets are noticeably stronger, and more active.

[cpdeyoung]

August 16, 1940 : We have been pushing everywhere, and everywhere there are Red Army troops resisting us. We are not too far from Moscow, a very valuable prize, and if we do not take it before Winter it may elude us throughout the war. Is there something we can do that we have not yet done to win this prize? Should we pull panzers from other areas to drive on Moscow? The Oberst says it is too early to do that yet, and we will know more as we continue to recon the Moscow area.