Directive 21 ( mod of FITE )

[larryfulkerson]

And the southernmost sector

[larryfulkerson]

I know it's early in the game yet and my strategy might change depending on what happens on the map but I've put together a tenative game plan to follow with the estimated time of completion for the objectives and so on. The green line represents the extent of my adventures pushing northward. Instead of Leningrad and the nasty terrain to the north I think I'll just try to capture everything from about Moscow and southward.

[Karri]

How far north are you pushing? There are some nice defensive features there that are of use.

[larryfulkerson]

I don't want to sound amorphus or something but I really don't plan that far ahead and it really depends on the conditions of the troops and the opposition there and the status of the push going on at the time. I do want to take advantage of the defensive possibilities aforded by the terrain if at all possible and do intend to push north of the Smolensk - Moscow axis just so I can have some fall-back terrain to use when defending but I have no idea now far north just off the top of my head at the moment. Nice to hear from you again.

[larryfulkerson]

Okay, turn 3 is finished. Here's the losses so far for both sides

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the moves mini-movie for turns 1 throu 3

[larryfulkerson]

And now a series of four images for close-ups of the moves by the Axis during turn 3. First the northernmost sector:

[larryfulkerson]

And the next sector to the south:

[larryfulkerson]

And the next sector to the south

[larryfulkerson]

And the southmost sector:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a situation that's too cool not to take advantage of. Here briefly I'm guessing that there's more Axis units than there are Soviet units and that implies that the longer the front lines the better since I might be able to outflank them easier when I have more units. It just depends on what kinds of units are counted since forts and coastal artillery and garrisons can't move and aren't of much use except locally. I did an analysis of the Axis side one time long ago and I can't remember the numbers now. It's a chore to figure out the actual number of combat units so I don't relish doing it again however it seems to me that 60% of the numbers are combat units for both sides so I'm guessing that the Axis is still in the majority.

The Soviets have lost their shock disadvantage in the air so I'm guessing that the PO will start moving aircraft toward the front reguardless of their condition. That could be to my advantage since the PO doesn't consider the health of the unit when assigning missions. The Soviet units tend to get used until they're killed. So if I keep my units in relative good health then perhaps the combats will tend to eventuate to my favor.

[larryfulkerson]

Turn 4 is over and I gained some hexes in Riga and opened the road to Minsk. Here's the north one third of the front lines:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the middle one third of the front lines in turn 5 round 1:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the south third of the front lines:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the losses so far for both sides in an abbrev version:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the turn 4 moves minimovie. By the way, my careful calculations indicate that 36 Soviet units were destroyed in turn 4. Again I have no idea what kind and how many of each were destroyed. Note to self: really now...keep track of what gets destroyed so you can report it in your AAR.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the losses for both sides as of turn 5 ( note the listing of two 'Rifle Squads' in the Soviet side )

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the turn 5 moves minimovie

[larryfulkerson]

And now starts a series of five images that depict the moves in more detail starting at the northernmost sector:

[larryfulkerson]

And the next sector to the south: ( note the capture of Minsk )