Tackling the Russian bear (No Tarhunnas pls)

[glvaca]

OOB

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Losses

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TURN 16
Before moves, after recon.

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NORTH
To my amazement he crosses Volkhov after beating back a security reg.
Once again a Cav division tries to cut the RR leading North. But this time, with the Fins taking over a large part of the front, I have the considerable striking force 4 inf Corps available.

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CENTER LEFT FLANK
The battle for the flank at Pskov reaches fever pitch and some divisions are shifted North, out of the swamps, to form a weak screen to his rear. With several divisions available to cut behind his rear I think have the situation under control.

Further East, he gives up his attempt to cut the RR around VL but pushes several rallied cav divs South to relieve the Rhzev pocket once more and cut-off the 6th Panzer once again!

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CENTER RIGHT FLANK
The pocket holds, but Tarhannus certainly tried.
The weakest part of the line is subjected to seeveral spoiling and bombing attacks before the main assault but stands fast! Iron crosses first class for everyone!

On the flank, several reg. and a panzer div are pushed back, the pz div twice, but overall the storm is weathered without serious problems.

[glvaca]

NORTH
The penetration over the Volkhov is pushed back and cut-off further East with no hope of escape.

East of Pskov, infantry cut's behind the attempt at penetration and again a pocket is formed although it will most likely be broken.

CENTER
The Rhzev pocket is re-established and can't be broken this time.
Kalinin is taken once again.
The Moscow pocket is reduced to less then half after assaults from all sides, including several Pz Divs. from the East.
The remaining Pz Divs attack Eastwards to widen the cordon and increase the distance to the East.

SOUTH
Stalino holds. 2 multi division deliberates are beaten off. This spirited resistance prohibits further attacks to the East in the direction of Rostov.
The Sea of Azov pocket is re-established and will be unbreakable this time. Another 10 divisions are in the Kessel.

Resistance everywhere is collapsing, finally.

[glvaca]

OOB
The Soviets drop below 3 million ready soldiers...

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Losses

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Air Losses

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TURN 17
For the first time this campaign, the Soviets almost everywhere take a voluntary step back...

Only the Pskov swamps pocket is broken. The butchering continues.

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Losses

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Air losses

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Unit losses.

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Forgot the OOB shot. IIRC the Soviets drop to around 2.76 million.

[M60A3TTS]

Outstanding job.  Any plans for the snow turns?  It looks like simply clearing the salient in the vicinity of V.V. would give you a great position to start the blizzard from.  Your opponent will be hard pressed to make significant gains in the weakened state he is in. 

[Flaviusx]

I doubt this game will get to snow. I'd be resigning about now.

[glvaca]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Outstanding job.  Any plans for the snow turns?  It looks like simply clearing the salient in the vicinity of V.V. would give you a great position to start the blizzard from.  Your opponent will be hard pressed to make significant gains in the weakened state he is in. 

Thanks Ed, appreciate it.

For Snow I have the Leningrad pcoket to clear and push on through the Valdai.
Perhaps other limited offensives to cause losses and interupt his Blizzard preparations. We'll have to see.

[glvaca]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

I doubt this game will get to snow. I'd be resigning about now.

Actually, I've been debating whether to offer and accept Tahunnas surrender at this point.
However, you may find this hard to believe with the current score, he really gave me a hard time. The initial Southern battles, the Smolensk battle, the drive on Moscow & Leningrad, the battles for the flanks... They were all very much touch and go afairs. A lot could have gone wrong and he sure tried to make it go wrong.

So on the one hand I had to fight really hard to get this postion for Blizzard. One the other hand he's really weak.
The question is though, did it have to come to this? There are many pockets which could have easily been avoided but he chose to stay regardless of the consequences. Does that now warrent a surrender?

To be fair, I know Tarhunnas will never ask to surrender. He agreed to a battle to the end and he will honor his agreement.

Secondly, he IS a great player, the one chip on his shoulder is his incredible reluctance to give up terrain even when it is past the point of useful and the fixation on secondary/tertiary objectives to the determent of his primary objectives. If he works on those he would be very hard to beat.

[Flaviusx]

Yes, he fights too far forward everywhere and his reluctance to yield ground is fatal. When force levels drop beyond a certain point, you have to fall back. An upfront defense requires a certain density to pull off. You can only reach those densities in 1941 on limited parts of the front. Elsewhere, discretion is the better part of valor.

A lot of the pockets made were indeed avoidable. He also tends to reinforce failure; sometimes it is best to let the remnants die off and work on building a new line in the rear rather than feed more men into a pocket.

Ironically, the one place where it can really pay off to put up a stiff defense is a place he always runs away, namely, the Finnish front north of Lake Ladoga. There is no reason at all to give the Finns a free pass to the Svir.