To run or not to run... Toidi (Sov) - Mike29 (Axis)

[Toidi]

So what happened then?

Well... it started to rain and roads in central Russia become muddy... For me, well, it was just a mere break, but does not appear anything major. Even though he did not relieve all the forces, I could not attack in mud anyway...

It seems to me that it was a major problem for my opponent... Mike29 reported that his generals become totally unhappy...

Situation before my moves:

[Toidi]

What did you do?

I tried to use the rain as well as I could... Got the units in the south properly encircled... Reinforce the north... Rail some factories (not much as movement of units took a lot of capacity, they move poorly in mud).

Worries?

Mostly worried for the north... Hope Mike does not have too much interest in Leningrad... He should have little fuel after mud... We will see... If Pskov will fall, I may have a front encircled there... Hope Pskov will hold...

Also, I tried to reinforce Gomel as I could... In Smolensk, things should be fine - I doubt he will be able to cross the river and attack... Crossing the river is inevitable, but I do not expect much happening there. In a week time, yes, but not now...

My moves below, with some more comments on the map:

[Toidi]

How big is your army?

[Toidi]

And production is below...

[Toidi]

Production:

[Toidi]

And then came the 24th of July...

Yes... I got very, very disappointed by my commanders... Apparently inf rating of 6 (Pskov) and 5 (Smolensk) allows for absolutely, totally horrible tactical mistakes. There were battles which should have been won, and were not.

In result, I my forces were surrounded both around Pskov and Smolensk...

Situation before my moves below

[Toidi]

So, what have you done?

Well, first, I hope I will remember that those leaders are not up to the task. And will correct my ways - I will not expect anyhow decent performance from them...

Well, but the troops...

Certainly. Thus all the pockets were relieved, TOE set to 50%, support withdrawn. I even managed to open the pocket in the south, with the crucial fight given below... (before the fight the unit has been bombed with all southern air force available; other -lost- battles did not have such support)

In the north, I decided to gamble a bit and give the guys from Pskov some fighting chance to get out from Smolensk. Those guys, after all, fulfilled their duty and the enemy did not breach through Pskov. The failure is not their fault thus they deserved all the forces that could be spared to be used in their rescue. The real issue was the breach west of Pskov by the tank - out positions calculated for falling back were already taken... Still, most likely all the pockets will be closed next turn...

Position in the south attached...

[Toidi]

And the final position below...

[Toidi]

The week of 31st July... It started to rain again?

Yes... But this time, it hindered our operations, maybe with the exception of Finland... Because of rain, the encirclement around Smolensk must hold... All my attack forces were stuck in mud...

Situation before any movement below

[Toidi]

In the north operation bridge was launched to allow evacuation of brave folk from Pskov. Some more divisions may be encircled, but maybe, maybe, he will not be able to break the bridge. This was the least we should do to save the Pskov troops... All the units in the north line are in reserve mode...

[Toidi]

Rest of the lines are not that nice... Smolensk encirclement held:

[Toidi]

The only bright thing in the south is that next turn (fingers crossed) I should evacuate the rest of the troops from the marshes... I could not do anything with the encirclement, so I decided not to commit troops... Hope Dnepr will hold for few turns, though most armaments from the region are already evacuated...

[Toidi]

I forgot to take screens at the end of the turn, so I only have the initial position... Some comments added though...

In the north, I decided to stop the advance to the east, so I put a strong defensive stacks there, hoping for difficulties with freeing the tank... West of Leningrad, just moved to the Luga line...

[Toidi]

Around Smolensk, I pulled a bit... And reinforced defences to the south...

Again, situation before any of my moves below:

[Toidi]

And in the south I managed to evacuate almost all units from the marshes... will pull back from Kiev area in next 2 turns...

Again, situation before any of my moves below...

Next week, already known as a prelude to grand mistake of '41 summer will come shortly...

[Toidi]

Before opening the turn, I got a message directly from OKH: I'm sorry but Kharkov is taken... And indeed it was... Alongside with the factory of T34; Armaments were evacuated beforehand...

The final battle was a bit unlucky, but probably guys just did not have enough ammo with them... The attack was very brave though.

The situation before any of my moves below:

[Toidi]

So, what were your moves?

Well, I wanted to make sure that tanks around Kharkov will not move too far, so I chocked the supply... And I started evacuating the Kiev salient; I could not evacuate it fully as the units on the other side of the river got stuck...

Besides, I evacuated Leningrad KV (just 1 tank) and some armaments in Stalino and Leningrad.

Concerns?

Attack on Stalino seems inevitable. OKH must get some ARM points or they are going to have troubles...

Any other issues?

Just want to stall the advance towards Moscow as much as possible, giving away ground slowly. And defend Leningrad as long as possible...

Situation after my moves, with some additional comments, below:

[Toidi]

Stavka meeting this particular August evening will be long remember.

Two front commanders could not attend as they were encircled east of Kiev, alongside with maybe 700000 troops

Than Zhukov... When asked about the situation, he explained:

General_Mayor Georgy Zakharov just told me that those tanks were too quick. Too quick to shot at. They just went past through his forces, guys could not do anything... Just too quick...

And finally Timoshenko (Northwest Front) said that his forces tactically withdrew a little bit , but losses are manageable...

Which was countered by Markian Popov from Northern front, saying that all the rail supplies to Leningrad has been cut and they have to rely on trucks... which we do not have in excess and which cannot supply the whole front... He summed that chances of holding Leningrad for longer than few turns may be not that high.

It was a very remarkable meeting indeed...

[Toidi]

The turn as I got it, with some crucial battles indicated

[Toidi]

North... I just isolated the tanks and consolidated defense... One thing is sure, I cannot afford to have another front surrounded...