41-45 game called in 9/44

[wurger54]

A hard fought email campaign has been called in 9/44 with the Russians unable to break the German line.

The '41 German advance saw Leningrad fall and German forces close on Moscow but failing to take the city. Kursk, Kharkov, and Stalino remained in Soviet hands. The Crimea and Sevastopol fell to the Germans and Rumanians. The winter campaign pushed the Germans a few hexes away from Moscow, surrounding Rhzev on 3 sides and retook the Crimea.

The '42 German effort was overly ambitious with an attempt to close a bulge into the German lines at Kharkov/Kursk, which would pave the way for further advance to the east. After 3 months of hard fighting and making only limited progress, the two pincers were never closer than 10 hexes from each other, the effort was called off. During the winter the Soviet army pounded the bulges back. The spring of '43 saw the line running more or less N to S east of Leningrad to the mouth of the Dneiper. Orel belonged to the German, but Kursk to the Soviet.

In '43 massive Soviet offensive W of Rhzev pushed S. Scrapping every division available plus the new SS divisions, the German was able to pinch off the spearhead and eliminate about 15 corps in the process.

For the rest of the game the Soviet offensives pushed the German back in limited areas, but failed to break the line. The game being called in 9/44. The line still running from E of Leningrad roughly due S to the mouth of the Dneiper.

This was our third start in the game. We both made errors and learned many things. I'm sure play will be much improved in our next game. This one with me being the Soviets.