The Blitz is on!

[carlkay58]

Axis Game Turn 14:

Gomel and Odessa fall this turn but they are both past awarding BPs.

Finland: The war has settled down to a passive stance on both sides in this area. The Finns do not want to risk more casualties and the Soviets have other worries.

[carlkay58]

AGN: The Axis continue to push back the Soviet defenses and are only 20 miles from the outskirts of Leningrad. The Luga River line is pretty well blown away on the right flank and the Axis continue to do the left hook.

[carlkay58]

AGC: The Axis continue to retake the ground around Smolensk but are able to capture Gomel and are continuing to force the Soviets out of the Pripet Marshes.

[carlkay58]

AGS: The Panzers breakthrough both north and south of Kirovograd, reaching the outskirts of Krivoi Rog and Cherkassy. This has broken the front wide open and the Southern Front will need help from both the Kharkov and Transcaucus MDs to try and form a new line. Two pockets formed in the Kirovograd area trap a full Soviet army.

Romania: Odessa falls and the pocket is almost totally collapsed. Another Soviet army is being threatened with pocketing in the Nikolaev area.

[carlkay58]

Soviet Game Turn 14:

Uncle Joe steps in and executes Ivan Kopets commander of the Western Air Command. Vaily Ermachenko takes over the command. Another Guards RD is created along with a few more SUs.

Leningrad Front: Pulling back the routed units and transferring them to 28A which will become my reserve army in the area. I stiffen my frontal defensives and try to get the rest of the forts dug in fully.

[carlkay58]

Northwestern Front: Reinforcing the front lines with the RDs sent from the STAVKA reserves last turn. The front is fairly stable - because both the Axis and Soviets need this as a quiet front to maintain the fight for Leningrad and Smolensk.

[carlkay58]

Reserve Front: Not much aggression this turn. Some of the reinforcing RDs are being moved into the front lines and several beat up RDs are sent to the reserves.

[carlkay58]

Bryansk Front and Western Front: The Western Front is down to only two active armies, the other two armies have been mauled too badly to be of any use. The Bryansk Front commits its new reserve army to the Gomel area to help relieve the destroyed Western Front armies.

[carlkay58]

Southwestern Front: The Pripet Marshes are now in the Southwestern Front's command. The Kharkov MD is helping with the defense of Cherkassy and Kiev.

[carlkay58]

Southern Front: The Southern Front is almost as bad off as the Western Front. The Kirovograd pocket is broken with help from the Southwestern Front, but the aid from the Kharkov and Transcaucus MDs are essential in trying to salvage the last two effective armies in the Southern Front. A make-shift line is formed protecting D & Z towns at the Dnepr bend.

I rail VEHs from Moscow and N Moscow. and all 22 Lagg-3 factories from Taganrog.

I was very passive this turn. I was more concerned about stopping AGN and AGS so more effort was exerted in making those areas safer. My five attacks resulted in three retreats. The Axis have the initiative again well in hand in both AGN and AGS with AGC being a threat too. The Axis suffered (2,531/60/31/10) vs the Soviets (3,328/48/0/30) this turn. The totals to date are Axis (506,477/6,006/2,101/1,991) vs the Soviets (2,140,864/33,698/13,352/7,816). The Axis still lose their 40K this turn without my counterattacks.

The BP count remains at five.

[carlkay58]

Axis Game Turn 15:

Chernigov has fallen this turn but its BP value has expired. The Axis offensive has gotten its second breath and is beginning to chug forward again.

Finland: This portion of front continues to be quiet. If I recall correctly there are some major withdrawals going to happen in October 41 so the few movements I can notice is probably connected to those.

[carlkay58]

AGN: The major offensive in this theater is the drive on Leningrad. They are driving closer and pushing more Soviet units out of fortified positions. The Luga River line is slowly being rolled up by the Axis.

[carlkay58]

AGC: Pushing closer to Smolensk and advancing strong forces in hope to holding on to the territory. The Panzers in the south have broken out from the Gomel area and headed south. Chernigov falls and they threaten to cut off another Soviet army in the Pripet Marshes.

[carlkay58]

AGS: The offensive continues to expand towards D & Z towns in the Dnepr bend. The 37A pocket is secured.

Romania: The last of the Odessa fortified zone is eliminated and the Romanians with 11A are advancing on Nikolaev next.

[carlkay58]

Soviet Game Turn 15:

Four new Guards RDs are created this turn. GENM Konstantin Golubev, commander of 10A in the Western Front, has his armor rating improve to 4. Uncle Joe is leaving the command structure alone although the Air commanders have been served notice. My first new airbase HQ is now unfrozen and a second is generated.

Leningrad Front: Continue to dig in as fast as possible. Mid October is when MUD has a chance to hit, so I have to hold on for at least two more turns.

[carlkay58]

Northwestern Front: Also spending the time to dig deeper. There is some efforts by the Axis to take Velikie Luki, but it is a low tempo attack.

[carlkay58]

Reserve Front: Another turn of rotating the troops to rebuild strength.

[carlkay58]

Bryansk & Western Fronts: Attacks force back the GD Regt. Mostly consolidating the defense and trying to rebuild the two decimated Western Front armies.

[carlkay58]

Southwestern Front: The 29A from the Moscow MD is sent to help hold the area between Southwestern and Bryansk fronts. Axis troops are at the outskirts of Kiev and threatening to capture it in the next turn or two. The Panzer thrust that cut off the Pripet Marshes was itself cut off in the counter attack from the east by 29A.

[carlkay58]

Southern Front: The 37A is the only Southern Front army still in the front line and most of that army is pocketed. The Kharkov MD is holding the northern portion of the front with the 40A and the Transcaucus MD has the 24A holding the southern portion. In the meantime, three armies are being rebuilt behind the Dnepr and in the D & Z Town area.

I rail out the IL-2s, Yak-7, IL-4, U-2VS, Pe-2, Pe-2R, IL-10, and the Pe-3s from Moscow.

Soviet forces force five retreats in five combats. The ten retreat threshold looks like a good one. The Axis lose (5,003/110/32/24) vs the Soviet (3,562/29/111/58) this turn. The totals to date are Axis (543,167/6,491/2,241/2,123) vs the Soviet (2,275,874/35,610/13,597/8,269). The Axis only lose about 35K this turn. I will have to try and step up the pressure, but it will be hard with the new RD TOE pretty much across the board now.

The BP count remains at five. I recaptured Chernigov which would invalidate it's BPs but none had been awarded.