The Blitz is on!

[carlkay58]

AGN: The infantry is getting in place for the left hook, the Panzers in place for the straight jab, and the general advance is pretty solid looking. I will have to reinforce the area with another army or two to hold Leningrad for long.

[carlkay58]

AGC: The Axis troops continue to drive forward. The lines in the Pripet Marshes seem to be farily stable now, but the advance in the land bridge area is grinding down the Reserve Army.

[carlkay58]

AGS: The combination of AGS with the Romanians has done a good number on my front line along the two fronts. I have been doing a bad job overall but it is really showing in the south. More on this later.

[carlkay58]

Soviet Game Turn 7:

Stalin has continued to keep his hands off of the officers. It is time this turn to start changing leaders to better ones. High admin leaders to command the reserve armies and more aggressive leaders in the front lines. The lines have begun to stabilize in the north and central regions while the south is wide open at the moment.

I have made some serious mistakes because my mind set is still in the 'traditional' method of playing and not switched over all the way to the forward and aggressive defensive stance that is required for these rules. I have kept too many armies back from the front to form the Dnepr defensive line, a line that traditionally only holds for two or three turns at most when the infantry gets there anyways. With the Axis infantry already in the front lines alone the entire length of the line, these lines will go pretty fast once the Axis get to them. But by keeping these armies back too far the situation in the south was able to happen. If the second line of defense had been closer to the front, the large pockets that have been forming in the south would have been much harder to do. Live and learn.

Northern Front: 28A forms a line along the Plyussa River. 23A starts to take over the Leningrad defenses while the 22A starts to shift forces south to the Luga River. The 7A continues to dig in north of Lake Ladoga.

[carlkay58]

Northwestern Front: 27A defends in front of Novgorod. 8A starts to dig in behind the Polist River while maintaining contact with the Axis from Dno to Poddorye. 11A defends the Opochka salient in depth.

[carlkay58]

Reserve Front: 24A defends from Velikie Luki to Vitebsk. 30A continues to counter attack Axis forces and retreats a SEC III and the 161 ID. 16A is tasked with the defense of Smolensk while they counter attack and force back the 10 PD. Three Axis retreats so far!

[carlkay58]

Western Front: 4A defends the Dnepr from Shklov down near Propoisk and counter attacks with heavy air support the Axis Panzer Corps that forced a crossing by Mogilev. It turns out to be closer than I thought, but it ended up with a 1:1.1 odds and the Axis stay. 13A defends the Dnepr to Gomel. 3A defends the northeastern Pripet Marshes based around Parichi. 10A defends the northwestern Pripet Marshes based near Mikashevichi.

[carlkay58]

Southwestern Front: 5A defends the southwestern Pripet Marshes. 26A defends the southeastern Pripet Marshes down to the Zhitomir area. 19A is transferred to the Southwestern Front from the Kharkov MD and counterattacks in the Popelnya area forcing two SEC XXs to retreat. 12A replaces the 19A in defending the Kiev area. 6A is in the Vinnitsa pocket and starts to try and break out with some success as it connects to the Southern Front's 9A which breaks its own pocket.

[carlkay58]

Southern Front: 9A is pocketed but breaks out to the south near Odessa. 49A is formed on the other side of the pocket and it advances as far as possible. Coastal A continues to hold Odessa and sends out a CD to ZOC an Axis ID. Southern Front itself starts to advance its reserves to the Ingulets River line.

I rail out the 20 VEH factories from Kharkov this turn.

I fought ten battles, forcing seven Axis retreats so the BPs drop to 5. The casualties in the battles were (3318/67/29/19) for the Axis and (5929/84/6/61) for the Soviets. (Men/Guns/AFV/Air) The total losses at this point are (220,388/1,972/1,119/944) for the Axis and (1,293,152/19,313/9,688/4,359) for the Soviets. The Axis have lost 40K men in the last turn, so a pretty good turn for me. I am hoping to cause 1M losses by the end of Turn 25 and I really don't care how many Soviets I lose to get there.

I count only two Axis units nonZOCd so I should not lose my BP gain this turn. The lines are beginning to get a bit more stable so the ZOC rule is starting to have a lesser effect on BPs but still forces me to take it into account while forming my front line.

<The official count is five nonZOCd Axis units.>

[carlkay58]

Axis Game Turn 8:

No additional BPs and all clear for the weather.

Finland: The Finns continue their low grade offensive towards Leningrad while digging in north of Lake Ladoga.

[carlkay58]

AGN: Continued pressure towards Leningrad and Novgorod. Pocketing another two RDs and threatening both the left hook and the straight jab. One of the Panzer Corps has gone missing which could be bad news. Something for my Recon to look for.

[carlkay58]

AGC: The Mogilev bridgehead expands and the fighting intensifies in the Vitebsk - Smolensk area. The Axis broke down into IIIs in the Pripet Marshes - probably to free up units to help drive towards Gomel and cut the last rail line into the marshes.

[carlkay58]

AGS: Some clean up of the Vinnitsa pocket forces while forming some smaller and more secure pockets. The southern Pripet Marshes are being freed up by the Axis forces and the Soviets forced to retreat towards the central Marshes. Only the central rail line is left for supply.

[carlkay58]

Romania: Forming up some pockets and securing them better. The Axis continue their slow advance on Odessa behind a thin line of Panzer units.

[carlkay58]

Soviet Game Turn 8:

GENM Khomenko, 30A commander, has a 24-14 record. GENA Zhukov, Reserve Front commander, has a 19-11 record. Both 30A and 16A have a few RDs that are getting good records and could become Guards early. I will be checking each Front commander this turn to make sure they are who I wish to continue with. It is time for many of my troops to start thinking about counter attacking. I got one BP from attacking last turn, I will need more in the future to keep the BPs below 10.

Northern Front: The 23A falls back on Leningrad trying to minimize their losses while building up the Leningrad defenses. The 20A is comitted from STAVKA reserves to start forming a line along the Luga with the left flank anchored at Novgorod.

[carlkay58]

Northwestern Front: Pulling back into the Valdai hills by trying to keep the Axis Panzers bottled up for as long as possible. A line along the Lovat is being prepared to defend the right hook on Leningrad.

[carlkay58]

Reserve Front: Aided by the 21A of the new Bryansk Front, they throw back the Das Reich MD from the outskirts of Smolensk and 12 PD and 258 ID near the Mogilev bridgehead. The 30A continues to hold on to Vitebsk but it is getting harder to do so each turn.

[carlkay58]

Western Front: The Pripet Marshes defense is slowly being pushed back. The front continues to fight to hold on to the Dnepr line, freeing up both the Bryansk and Reserve Fronts to counter attack the Panzer spearheads.

[carlkay58]

Southwestern Front: 5A is pulling back into the southern Pripet Marshes in an effort to keep the northern Kiev defenses working. 6A is attacking westward in attempts to escape the pocket helped by the Southern Front and Kharkov MD armies in the area.

[carlkay58]

Southern Front: The 9A is able to combine with the 6A and force a hole in the Axis line once again. Attacks that have forced back a few of the Axis XXs have helped create a corridor to offer some hope of escape to the trapped troops.

I went six retreats for six attacks this turn - another BP is negated. The battles this turn cost the Axis (6,817/174/24/28) and the Soviets (4,709/81/33/80). Axis totals are (264,469/2,613/1,301/1,107) against the Soviet (1,406,191/21,455/10,514/4,770). Another turn where the Axis lost over 40K (actually about 44K) so another good turn for me. I hope to keep the losses over 40K each turn, more than the Axis replacement rate. Another area of hurt for the Axis is the loss of planes and AFVs. The frontline AFV strength is currently just over 2,000 for all of the Axis nationalities and the Germans are under 1,700. The LW is less than 2,000 deployed, although there are 2,800+ in the OB report.

I rail out the ARMs from Kharkov, Kramatorskaya, and the single ARM from Kaluga. I also rail out the Li-2 and Li-2VP factories from the Moscow area.

I count only three Axis units nonZOCd so I should be safe there.

<The actual count is four, so no additional BPs. The current count is now four.>