Za Rodinu Axis AAR (no Soviets)

[timmyab]

Turn 14, AGC
Mainly consolidation this turn.Just one minor action in the North where 24th panzer corps snipped off another morsel.


In the South, three panzer corps are deployed around Kursk to prevent any chance of the pocket being broken North of the Psel river.
39th pz corps is tasked with holding the perimeter NW of Orel.

[fiva55]

END OF TURN 15 OVERVIEW
9/25/1941
ARMY GROUP NORTH

Commander: Duality

Leningrad has fallen, and the Fins are crossing the border.

[fiva55]

END OF TURN 15 OVERVIEW
9/25/1941
ARMY GROUP CENTER

Commander: timmyab

Timmyab should be a fortuneteller, for the Kursk pocket held, and is currently in the process of being eliminated.

[fiva55]

END OF TURN 15 OVERVIEW
9/25/1941
ARMY GROUP SOUTH

Commander: fiva55

Most the the Soviet forces in the southern sector have been temporarily isolated, and the fresh XXXX PzCrps breaks through the Soviet lines with ease and captures Sevastopol

[timmyab]

Turn 15, AGC
In the North, attacks are made aimed at undermining the defence of Bryansk and Vyasma.
18th motorised division penetrates 20 miles into the Soviet position, threatening the defenders of Bryansk with encirclement.


In the South, shortage of supply and lack of infantry plus the need to reduce the pocket means that the three panzer corps here are still immobile.57th panzer corps does manage to surround Kursk though.

[fiva55]

END OF TURN 16 OVERVIEW
10/02/1941
ARMY GROUP NORTH

Commander: Duality

After a long fight, LVI PzCrps reaches Lake Ladoga.

[fiva55]

END OF TURN 16 OVERVIEW
10/02/1941
ARMY GROUP CENTER

Commander: timmyab

AGC is slowly steamrolling eastwards, try to get into good winter positions.

[fiva55]

END OF TURN 16 OVERVIEW
10/02/1941
ARMY GROUP SOUTH

Commander: fiva55

AGN seals the D-town pocket permanently and clears out the Crimea

[timmyab]

Turn 16, AGC
AGC is now occupied with the task of establishing a winter defence line, ideally a few hexes to the East of the cities of Vyazma, Bryansk, Orel and Kursk.
In the North, Vyazma is assaulted by two divisions from VIII corps and 24th pz corps rolls through their positions to capture 20 miles of territory to the SE.
XXIII corps and 39th pz corps snip off the Bryansk salient, surrounding four Russian divisions in the process.


In the South, 57th pz corps puts a loose encirclement around Orel and Pzgr 2 slowly trundles to the East of Kursk.The Kursk pocket is now virtually elliminated.

[timmyab]

Turn 17, AGC
AGC continues to prepare itself for the winter with the capture of cities, straightening of lines and building of forts taking top priority.
In the North, LI Corps captures Rzhev while 24th and 39th pz corps snip off the potentially dangerous salient to the South of Vyazma.


Further South, 57th pz corps tightens it's grip on Orel and Pzgr 2 finally regains some mobility to throw a ring of steel around five Soviet divisions North of Belgorod.


Soviet numbers look reassuringly low at the moment, with about 40 more divisions across the entire front looking likely to surrender within the next few weeks.

[kevini1000]

wow that is a weak looking Russian army at the moment. I'll have to go back and read this AAR from the start to see how well you did destroying factories.

I'd even think about moving forward in the snow turns to give yourself even more breathing space. Except for not having Moscow the German position looks very good.

[timmyab]

Just a brief update of the situation at the end of turn 21.
In the north and center it's been a very peaceful autumn with barely a shot fired in anger.
AGS made it as far as Rostov on turn 18, but despite the lack of opposition, had to withdraw in the end because of it's appalling supply situation.
A reasonably heavy toll of Soviet units and industry towards the end of our 41 campaign has put a sizable dent in their OOB.

[timmyab]

Turn 24
Again very little to report during the snow turns.Pelton took over command of AGS on turn 23 and straigtened the bulge to the East of Kharkov.At the end of the summer campaign we had discussed the possibility of launching a major snow offensive in this area with 1st 2nd and 3rd pz groups, but the disastrous autumn supply situation in the South knocked that idea on the head.So we've basically just prepared for the blizzard by digging holes.In the South, where the supply problems were worst, the fort building was painfully slow.
Pelton also decided to evacuate the Crimea.

[timmyab]

The move to 1.05 has made forts degrade much faster than previously which has made it difficult to maintain a three deep belt of forts.The first turn of 1.05 caught me out and quite a few of my 2 level forts became 1 and a bit level overnight.This has meant the need to cover forts with whatever's available as you can see here.

[timmyab]

Situation at the end of Febuary 1942.
The black North-South line marks the front line at the start of December 1941.



No major scares during the blizzard, although the amount of territory lost in the North is disappointing and relieves some of the pressure on Moscow.There was something almost resembling a crisis in 2nd army's front towards the end of January when it showed signs of imminent collapse until it was shored up with reserve infantry divisions and the elite 56th pz corps.
According to Pelton the Soviet OOB was very weak at the beginning of December and still is now.This would account for the relatively easy time we've had of it during the winter.

AGN was stretched at times by a strong Soviet offensive concentrated between Vyshny and Vyasma.One German division was lost in the North with two or three more having narrow escapes.
AGC had fewer attacks to defend against, especially in the first two months of the blizzard, and also had the best dug in positions with 3 or 4 rows of mainly level 2 forts by the beginning of December.This meant that the Bryansk-Orel sector still had some of it's fortified line intact at the end of February and the cities of Bryansk, Orel and Kursk were still in German hands.Vyasma was lost due to heavy Soviet pressure and the danger of being flanked from the North.
AGS did pretty well considering the lack of defensive terrain and fortifications in the area.The bulge to the West of Belgorod is partly due to enemy pressure and partly a deliberate attempt to incourage them to overextend themselves so as to provide AGC and AGS with a target for their Spring offensive.The Crimea was evacuated by Pelton to make it easier to defend in the South.A reargaurd of three Rumanian divisions were surrounded and forced to surrender by a Soviet amphibious landing at Feodosiya.

Overall I'm happy with the situation at the end of the blizzard.The forward positions between Bryansk and Kursk give 2nd and 3rd pz armies good jumping off points for their Spring offensive.The arrows mark the most likely places for these offensives.
In the AGC area I've positioned my two pz armies so that they can either strike NE between Kaluga and Tula or SE to form a pincer with 1st pz army.There's an element of deception here with the enemy encouraged to expect the far more obvious SE option and the NE option disguised as much as possible.Which one I go for (if either) will depend on the enemy deployment.If they try to hold the Belgorod bulge and we can cut it off then it should produce a large number of prisoners, or if I can break out towards Tula it'll give us a very good jumping off point for our Summer offensive with options North, East and SE with mainly good offensive terrain.A bridgehead across the Oka before the thaw would be a bonus