Mehring (Rus) vs Cpt Flam (Axis) - no Cpt Flam

[Mehring]

Northwest
Two out of three attacks in this sector were repulsed. The third was not followed through and the Pola-Valdai Hills line is re-established. The front’s two mountain divisions which contributed so little to the defence of Leningrad, are now at above 60% ToOE.

[Mehring]

Reserve Front
Vyazma has fallen and along the length of the front, in spite of numerous defensive successes, the fortified line is being eroded.

24th Army successfully defends the Volga river line north of Rzhev but is forced to give ground to LVII Pz Corps south of the river.

German XX Corps has been busy north of Vyazma. Its 162nd Division pushes 33rd Army out of Sytschewka. Losses are light on both sides. Twenty miles south, and with 140+ bombers in support, 256th Infantry Division attacks 34th Army twice north of Vyazma, but is held. A third attack by 87th Infantry Division gets the desired result. Losses are even until our retreat, which costs us several thousand men, but six enemy planes are downed in the protracted fighting, for our three. A single counterattack by 34th Army retreats 162nd Infantry division and recovers all the previously lost ground. But our first line of forts is gone and weak units are sent to dig further east.

The loss of Vyazma forces 34th Army to abandon forts north of the city. Our earthworks are now thin east of the city and 50th and 54th Armies may well have to defend against tanks out in the open.

Elements of 20th Army pull back a little from Ugra town and swamps to the north. In the reserve line of forts they cover for the army's other divisions, mixed with those of Reserve Front’s 50th Army, digging behind the Ugra river.

[Mehring]

Western
As in Leningrad, the Germans have attacked here along the length of the front, from 20th Army near Vyazma, to 4th Airborne Corps near Trubchevsk.

Only 13th Army, from Zhizdra to B. Lgovsky, holds a decent line of forts to buy time for defences to be established behind the Oka.

The new 40th Army digs behind the Oka, from south of Kaluga to Belev. Next in line are two divisions of 3rd Army, then 10th Army and 4th Airborne Corps, in more sturdy position around Orel. It’s all looking a bit ugly though, and I fear for industrial capacity at Kaluga, Kursk, and even Tula.

[Mehring]

Bryansk Front North
43rd Army shifts east and turns to face north behind the Nerussa. 21st Army shifts north to occupy 43rds old positions. These two armies must now anchor a withdrawal of Southwestern Front from the Kiev Area.

[Mehring]

Southwestern Front
With the Dnepr line sprouting leaks along its entire length, this Front goes into full retreat. Where it will stop, nobody knows! The Donets is my first choice, but the Oskol looks more likely.

Several leaks are plugged by counterattacks in 12th and 5th Army sectors, before the withdrawal begins.

[Mehring]

Bryansk Front South
Between the Sula and Psel, 19th Army clears away pickets in front of the Kremenchug bridgehead but completely fails in its counterattacks this week. 239th Infantry and Rumanian 6th Infantry Divisions cannot be budged from Kremenchug in three attacks, while 257th Infantry Division holds the north of the bridgehead resolutely. Padded out slightly by 2nd Airborne Corps, the Army prepares a defence.

Next door, between the Psel and Vorskla, the German IV Corps establishes a 20 mile wide bridgehead. The defending 32nd Army is too weak even to attempt a counterattack. It instead offers a meagre defence against next week’s attacks.

III and XXXXVIII Pz Corps are attacking in 16th Army’s sector, between the Vorskla and Orel and over the Dnepr. They meet with mixed success and more stubborn resistance than the formations facing Bryansk Front. While they were able to advance a little between the two rivers, broadening the bridgehead across the Orel met with less success. 57th Infantry Division attacked across the Dnepr, opening the way for 13th Pz, which took 16th Army’s line on the Orel in the flank. The enemy tanks were unable to make progress, however, and were subsequently thrown back across the Dnepr. This keeps a squeeze on the Germans, hopefully enough to buy time to evacuate Kharkov.

18th and 38th Armies were also subjected to attacks but held in both cases.

[Mehring]

The mixed, German/Rumanian 11th Army has broadened its bridgehead between Bolshaya Lepetikha and Kakhovka. 9th Army is now preparing to abandon the Dnepr west of Zaporozhye and dig in on the Molochna.

[Mehring]

Air
Fighter reinforcements are sent to Southwestern Front to cover the withdrawal.
Flam continues raiding airfields but at this level it will have no effect.

[Mehring]

Production
Kramatorskaya is evacuated, five vehicle and remaining five armaments factories in Karkhov moved out, five Armaments from Stalino also move.

The destroyed sapper regiments were mostly, if not entirely, fresh units sent to defend Leningrad. If you can, train your new units up before sending them in to the meat grinder.

[Mehring]

Turn 12

This week is marked by wholesale withdrawals across half the length of the front as current positions become untenable.

Factory evacuations are still a step ahead of Flam’s advance.

Depleted and withdrawn to STAVKA to refit, 24th Corps Artillery Regiment is the first unit to gain guards status!

Leningrad
Cpt Flam has negotiated with me till T14 to plug holes in the Finnish defences caused by the beta patch disbanding NKVD units. After that, he walks through them. Fair enough.

The Svir line is still a brigade short.

German tanks and motorised infantry have worked their way south east of Leningrad and captured the port of Kobona, displacing the shell of 359th Rifle Divison into the Leningrad cauldron. This leaves just two ports through which to channel men, equipment and supplies to Leningrad- and to evacuate depleted units. The port of Novaya Ladoga is vulnerable immediately and will fall next week. On the frontline with Finnish Armies, Sviritsa will shortly be the only link for the besieged city.

Evacuation of weak units and their replacement is of particular concern to me given the low strength of 30th Army’s mechanised units and the scarcity of replacement tanks. Their fatigue is also high, even without doing anything much. If at all possible, I will ship some new infantry units into the city and some armour out. This week, one rifle division arrives and three leave including the 359th Rifle Division shell, plus a cavalry division. The 359th Rifle division is reassigned to 52nd Army.

The green sapper regiments assigned to the Leningrad garrison have indeed proved fragile. 29th Army has lost both and 30th Army one of theirs. 29th Army hands over most of its south facing units to 30th Army which will take responsibility for the south facing frontline and in which the two armies’ most powerful units will be concentrated.

8th Army sends its experienced 25th Sapper Regiment to Zhukov. Moscow military District sends its best sappers to Leningrad Front HQ.

On the Volkhov, 52nd Army takes shape on the southern shores of Lake Ladoga. Its 6th Leningrad PM Rifle Division occupies Novaya Ladoga.

In spite of a determined defence, 23rd Army is pushed back along the length of its front west of the Volkhov. Chudovo, held by 2nd Gds Leningrad PM Rifle Division, resists three attacks from three enemy divisions before retreating from the fourth attack. The army is stretched thin but maintains a bridgehead west of the Volkhov in the woods around Posadnikovo.

A breach of the army’s defences will be easy now, so forces must be assembled to ensure the enemy cannot exploit it as far as Sviritsa. Several divisional shells are railed into 52nd Army sector.

8th Army was left in peace this week. It takes on a new division and deepens its defences.

Reconnaissance has discovered a new tank formation at Divenskaya, though not its size. I would imagine it will be joining an attack over the Volkhov.

[Mehring]

Northwest
German infantry continues to probe the front’s defences, from Lake Ilmen, south to Lake Seliger. As many attacks are repulsed as succeed, but Flam is not sending his infantry into the holes he makes. His ten infantry divisions here seem a high investment in a front that isn’t moving anywhere.

5th Airborne Corps gives its rifle division to 27th Army and pulls back from the frontline to refit and dig in the hills.

[Mehring]

Reserve Front
I can’t figure what Flam’s doing here. He’s well within optimum supply range, yet launches only two attacks on the front this week. Clearly he’s planning on skirting this defensive belt but reconnaissance shows he is thinner here than opposite Northwest Front. A little persistence here and I think he would have broken through.

31st Army is now deployed two divisions deep and I’m now brooding a local counter stroke against the powerful 28th Infantry division, currently thirty miles north of Molodoy Tud. With a couple of cavalry divisions, I should be able to cut it off then route it with the 31st and Tolbukhin’s 22nd Army to the north. To this end, 33rd Army sends a cavalry division north to Tolbukhin.

24th Army is spreading a line eastwards from Rzhev in anticipation of an enemy drive on Moscow from the southwest. A fortified line here will protect reserve Front’s defences on the Volga and the troops within it will threaten the German flank. 28th Army moves a division forward and the link is complete.

Otherwise the front’s armies dig fortification to replace those destroyed in recent fighting. On the left flank, 50th Army disentangles itself from Western Front’s 20th Army as both withdraw behind the Ugra.

[Mehring]

Western Front
Attacked along its entire length, the Front withdraws. 20th Army withdraws to defend Kaluga, now with its industry evacuated. 3rd and 13th Armies are badly mauled, having borne the brunt of attacks by V, VI, IX and XXIV Pz Corps. They are still able, in places, to push back the German scouts before retreating themselves.

Behind the Zhidra, the nearly new 40th Army finds itself in the frontline. Also under command are a couple of divisions around Tula and four more digging a second line of defence behind the Nara, the last river line before Moscow’s southwest approach.

XXXXVII Pz and XXXXIII Corps are attacking from the south of Bryansk towards Orel. Nowhere along the broad, 60 mile front they attack, do defending 13th , 10th and 4th Armies inflict the slightest reverse. Nobody is as yet cut off, however.

All armies shift all the units they can to new positions behind the Oka. Well within enemy supply range, fresh attacks can be expected next week.

[Mehring]

Bryansk Front North
All three armies fall back to the Oka-Tuskar-Seym line.

Southwestern Front.
6th and 26th Armies block the gap between the Seym and Sula rivers. 5th Army and 1st Airborne Corps cover the southwest facing gap between the Sula and Psel rivers while 12th Army forms up defensive lines behind both. N. Vatutin’s 37th Army gains men and divisions around Kharkov. The T34 and remaining ten vehicle factories are priority for evacuation next week.

[Mehring]

Bryansk Front South
The 19th, 32nd and 16th Armies, the latter of Southern Front, have borne the brunt of fighting against Flam’s Dnepr crossing. All three are close to breaking point. The 19th looks set to lose three divisions on the river near Globino. Resistance is decreasing as the enemy’s supply situation improves and more units cross the river. Nevertheless, both armies managed to organise local counterattacks, some successful. Once the industrial situation at Kharkov is decided one way or the other, these three armies, what’s left of them, will scatter to the east.

[Mehring]

Southern Front
Collapse is imminent on the Dnepr north of Dnepropetrovsk and south of Zaporozhye. Given the entrances to the Crimea are now well fortified and defended, this Front can redeploy. Coastal and 9th Armies head for a new line behind the Molochna. 18th Army swings its left back to cover the gap between its own positions on the Dnepr and the Molochna line. Other units shunt 38th Army north a little as the latter moves three divisions behind the Samara in anticipation of a German breakthrough to the north.

Only 3rd Airborne Corps moves into the Crimea, to occupy the western ports.

North Caucasus
Two armies dig from behind the Mius north west to Stalino and further, behond the Oskol to near Izium. A third army, the 49th, holds the entrances to the Crimea.

[Mehring]

Air
Enemy airfields raided in Southern and Reserve Front sectors. The results are more credible than those you’d get before the patch, but its sad to lose a good wheeze, all the same.

Air to air kills stand at 326.

Bombers fly out in their hundreds from reserve to the forward airfields. In addition to lesser allocations across the map, 81 DB-3Bs arrive at 4 BAK air command near Rostov while 141 IL-4s head for 3 BAK airfields east of Moscow.

150 SB-2s fly to Leningrad Air Command at Bugodoshch. 161 more fly to Western Air command’s 13 BAD Air base. Baltic Fleet Air Command receives IL-4s and SB-2s. 19 BAD Air Base of Southwest Air Command receives 84 Pe-2s.

There are now about 3600 aircraft in the forward airfields.

[Mehring]

Production
Kaluga and Kursk are evacuated. Tula ships out five armaments factories.
KV1 factories at Sverdlovsk are now at 81 damage.
STAVKA forms its first light rocket regiment.

[Mehring]

Turn 13
There has been heavy fighting at Leningrad and many enemy attacks on the right bank Dnepr. Surprisingly little activity in front of Moscow. I notice in Cpt Flam's advance a tactical preference which must eventually yield strategic results in my favour. The most immediate are the three Guards artillery regiments and one guards AT artillery created this week.

Leningrad
Flam crossing the Neva on the banks of Lake Ladoga this week threatens Leningrad's lifeline, Osinovets port. This is not just unwelcome but also a surprise. I thought the defences were strong enough yet they gave way in one attack from six divisions and the combined support of XXXXI Pz, I, XXVI and L Corps. No less than eleven artillery battalions joined the attack along with two pionier battalions and other support. Clearly this mass of firepower outweighed the coordination penalties of so many HQs which ranged from 6% to, in the case of the Pz corps, 16%.

The end’s in sight here. Worse, the Volkhov is crossed, though not in force, on 8th Army’s sector, near Novgorod.

Numerous depleted divisions from 29th and 30th Armies evacuate across Lake Ladoga. They are reassigned to 52nd Army, except the 1st Tank Division, which, with its 8 victories, is assigned to STAVKA. This division lost more than 1100 men and several tanks and guns to interdiction on Lake Ladoga.

Inside the Leningrad pocket, 29th Army becomes virtually redundant transferring out its remaining divisions to 30th Army and its support to STAVKA and the armies on the Volkhov. Only a stretch of north front facing the Finns remains under command.

Zhukov pulls out of Pushkin, there are not enough divisions to go round.

Three air raids are carried out against the two SS divisions north of the Neva.

[Mehring]

Northwest
German X Corps makes a hole in 27th Army’s Pola line and II Corps 12th Infantry Division exploits. It is thrown back across the Pola by the combined might of 27th and 11th Armies. Losses are about 5500 Russians for 1500 Germans. Not a good ratio, but on this scale it won’t lose the war.

Four tank brigades reinforce the Front, 3 of them assigned to Tolbukhin’s 22nd Army.

Reserve Front
Between the 31st Army and Northwest Front’s 22nd, there isn’t sufficient strength to attack the 28th German infantry, as I’d hoped. Instead, 24th Army attacks the 106th Infantry Division south of Rzhev. Losses are heavy, 3600 to 1000, but the Germans retreat. An attack or two may distract Flam from his attacks on Western front but make too many and I’ll just degrade my own forces.

The Germans have had a little nibble out of my line east of Vyazma, but troops are arriving much faster than the Germans are destroying them.

54th Army taken over by V. Yushkevich.

Western Front
Flam’s done little other than clear my troops from the left of the Oka. And rather than encircling divisions to destroy them next week, he’s just bounced them eastwards with a succession of light attacks. These ultimately deliver me a not too unfavourable loss/win ratio. I can’t think that this is fast or aggressive enough in what seemed to be his main axis of attack. If he’s shifting his assault troops around to keep me guessing where the next attack’s coming from, he’s using up time he can’t afford to waste.