1/1/42 STAVKA
The last month has been hectic here as we try and keep track of what is going on at the front through rather un-reliable radio's, nearly non-existent land lines and mainly motorcycle courier. Oddly enough some of the radio's only seem to function when the commander of the formation wants extra and are unavailable at other times.
The deep cold hit more or less on schedule in the start of December and our troops were gladdened to see the invaders struggling to start their vehicles not to mention standing about in knee deep snow with steel caped boots. Seeing the invaders in distress our men surged forward driving them back while here we planned for the operations of 4 Shock Armies. Unfortunately the weather warmed up the week after and the enemy was able to reverse those losses and our forces had to stand on the defensive. The next week the deep cold was back and the enemy again froze. However, our lack of operational mobility has made our advances glacial. Still we have developed a sound tactical doctrine to apply to the enemy. Our forces focus on the weak links between enemy forces be they security regiments, battle hurt formations, or his weaker allies. These units are smashed back and then our forces advance into the gap if possible further attacks allow us to infiltrate small forces further around the enemy units. Like water into cracks into a rock our troops move slowly in. The enemy is forced to pull back or risk encirclement.
This has produced heart wrenching situations where the enemy was all but cut off and no unit could advance to close the gap, but by 25/12/41 we had our first units surrendering. The lack of tank divisions has put a lot of stress on our tank brigades to advance often in dangerous ways and to develop a doctrine of attack. Our losses in men has when fighting Hitlerite forces been on par, which is considerably better then we accomplished before. Against the Rumanian Infantry we have inflicted casualty levels often approaching 20:1 and several formations have been routed.
Our doctrines for the shock army's have undergone revision as well. The forces now rely on other units to make their initial break through. A gap in the enemy line of at least 30 km must be made to allow any reasonable sort of exploitation. Best results are achieved when paratroopers drop in close cooperation with the lead troops with the primary drop zone target primary rail junctions to isolate the enemy from easy re-supply. It has been found that without a 30 km gap the initial penetration of our forces is insufficient to stop the enemy from re-deploying backwards. Additionally artillery brigades are being raised to give each Shock Army a Hwz Bde and Light Gun Bde. Tank losses this last week were extremely high, with nearly 500 tanks lost, though the bulk of the losses were in our older obsolete models still attached to formations, but this was due to the intensity of the operations that pushed our tank Bde's hard.
All in all the enemy has been forced backwards on most fronts and STAVKA is reviewing the state of combat formations to begin switching out depleted units for rest and refit. In addition the new High Commissar for the Internal Security Forces (NKVD Regiments) has decided to withdraw them from the front's control and concentrate them under his own supervision. This will free up command space for newly raised brigades. Command burden is still an issue with the Western, Southwestern and Southern Fronts. The newly arrived Moscow Defense Command has freed up the Moscow Military district to take over planning authority for active operations.
The High Commissar for Fortified Region's and Public Works has been busy and a list of possible sites for defensive construction has been sent to Comrade Stalin for his approval. The Fortified Region line in the Crimea has been completed stretching from Yalta to the other coast. The sites of last years battles before Moscow are being reviewed and key points will be fortified. The construction battalions and rail brigades have been busy the last weeks repairing our rail network and undoing the Hitlerite's gauge changes.
Partisan Forces have been busy disrupting the enemies rail networks and the enemy has troops out actively hunting them. Around a dozen partisan battalions are operational and several are well equipped, most have been supplied with proper military small arms and NKVD advisers.
On the production front there is only good news. Hundreds of T-34's stand ready to replace losses and the production facility in Kharkov was moved without incident last week and is again in production. KV-1 production is running strong, and combined with the new T-60 and the newly arriving American Stuart (the western's habit of giving names rather than numbers to tanks and planes is peculiar) our forces are looking to be in a good situation. Losses in T60's this week were around 90, but interestingly this is still below production levels. Also the T-60 suffers fewer losses then any of our T-26, or BT series tanks. Due to our supply of T-34s the British Matilda's they ship us are sitting in Arkangel still.
The Mig 3 production run is finished, some 700 planes remain in our reserve but with 63 units equipped with the plane and losses of up to 80 a week in combat operations this will not last very long. A further 100 IAP regiments (mostly on the front line) are still equipped with either I-153 or some form of I-16. Our supply of modern fighters, a good fraction of which are being used to form new IAP's is insufficient at 1400 air frames to modernize these forces except in a piecemeal fashion. Our supply of spare I-153 is around 300 while the I-16's are about 400 spares. The Yak-7 has entered production, and the American's are now flying over P39's as opposed to the P40's, 195 of which yet remain in reserve.
Artillery remains an issue, but some of the new TOE changes will help especially with regards to Katashuka rocket trucks whose production remains low. Heavy artillery will likely be in shorter supply as the new Artillery bde's fill out but it is an acceptable trade off in the long run. Anti-tank guns are as always in short supply and it is a rare unit that has even half their authorized allotment.
The recent changes to the Tank Bde TOE is detested by the field commanders who complain they have barely a battalion of infantry left to screen their tanks.
Comrade Stalin's person touch with the VVS high command has born fruit it seems as reports have been coming in all week of actual ground support for our combat operations. In other news there have been the following changes of command:
Western Air Command commander Nikolai Naumenko is dismissed (something that we are expecting to happen to a large fraction of the land staff soon) and Nikolai Papivin takes over. Comrade Stalin continues his purge of the Air General staff with the 3 BAK Air Command commander Nikolai Skripko being replaced by Stepan Rybalchenko who takes command of the Kalinin's Front heavy bombers.
Additionally, the following officers performance has warranted promotion and Comrade Stalin has graciously accepted the staff's recommendations to promote the following officers:
7th Airborne Corps commander Ivan Fedyuninsky is promoted to General-Leytenant.
12th Army commander Pavel Ponedelin is promoted to General-Leytenant.
20th Army commander Arseny Borzikov is promoted to General-Leytenant. He is looking to survive the expected purge of the Western Front officers we all here anticipate will happen sooner or later.
51st Army commander Andrei Eremenko is promoted to General-Polkovnik.
18th Army commander Andrei Smirnov is promoted to General-Armii.
Leningrad/Northwestern Fronts
The situation in the north has been quiet, with the Finn's withdrawing and our forces pushing patrols forward to regain the territory. A new Fortified Region completes the line of the 7th Army (Ind) and they are scheduled to replace their three NKVD regiments with 3 brigades, bringing their forces to 4 Rifle divisions, a light rifle brigade, a naval infantry brigade and 3 regular Rifle brigades plus 3 Fortified Regions each reinforced with Mortars and a Mg-Art Bn. The 23rd and 55th Armies are equally in good shape with the 23rd looking to gain at least one infantry brigade reinforcement. The 55th Army continues to dig in at Leningrad.
The Northwestern front has also been relatively quiet. The enemy pulled back to the Narva river and they were able to recapture the critical rail crossing there. It is planned to re-establish a Fortified Region there. The 27th Army and 8th Army though face strong dug in enemy positions. A few probes have been launched one which just this broke the enemy line in the middle but a 10 km gap in his line is not likely to be very exploitable. Still Marshal Buddoney is looking to see what he can do to push the enemy backwards from the banks of the Luga river.
Volkhov Front/2nd Shock Army (STAVKA)/22nd Army (STAVKA)
The 28th Army pushed the enemy out of the much contested woods west of Novogrod for what seems like the tenth time but is facing strong enemy forces and little opportunity to apply our standard infiltration doctrine. It awaits advances from the 31st and 48th Armies to force the enemy to voluntarily withdraw. The 31st and 48th Armies have done an exceptional job in pushing the enemy back and have on a few occasions achieved near pockets. They hope to surround the enemy forces currently holding at Lake Imamen's shoreline including one of his Geburger divisions. They have additionally cooperated with the 2nd Shock and on occasion the 22nd Army to drive the enemy backwards some 50 km in bad terrain.
The 2nd Shock army conducted its first full scale combat operation this week and managed to in conjunction with attacks by the 31st and 22nd Armies and Mountain Cavalry support from the 48th to demolish his front line and isolate but not pocket 2 infantry divisions. In this region the enemies once indomitable 12 Infantrie divisions have been battered down to sizes more akin to brigades in a few cases. The 28th Jäger in the last assault could not keep our troops from their rear area troops. Though it is likely the enemy will break through the pickets to re-establish supplies to the two currently isolated divisions they will suffer from a week out of supply. Still the enemies line is now looking like Ementaller cheese and given the available resources is unlikely to reform and there is a good chance to pocket up to 5 enemy divisions.
The 22nd has regained its honor with several significant assaults driving the enemy westward, including a key attack this week by the 194th Mnt Rifle and 17th and 32nd Rifle divisons on the 95th Infantrie supported by the I/203rd Sec Rgt. The exploiting 27th Cav division of the 2nd Shock now threatens the flanks of the 167th and 206th Infantrie divisions. Its other forces stand ready to assist the 1st Shock in screening attacks to pin down enemy reserves.
