Russia! Why not? (Morvael welcome)

[loki100]

Great victory at Zhitomir, seems as if the Axis lines in the Ukraine are crumbling

ORIGINAL: morvael

Wehrmacht withdraws from the swamps of Polesia without offering resistance. The Grossdeutschland division causes a lot of grief in Konev's HQ, by turning sure defeats into victories for the Axis defenders. The division is finally located and a task force of three tank armies and a number of tank and cavalry corps from several other armies assembled to hunt for it:

sounds reasonable, that unit has caused you too many defeats, ... actually stomping on elite units like the GD are all part of the fun of the final stages of a Soviet campaign [:)]

[morvael]

The line had too much hungarian-ness in it, and too little german-ness in it In other words it was too green... It's Stalingrad and the Rumanians in '42, except it's Zhytomir and the Hungarians in '44. Those guys were ok when defending the swamps and the Dnepr line, but they didn't realize fast enough that I had a lot of mobile units north and south of Zhytomir and the terrain was clear and there was no major river to protect them anymore. Lured by good defensive terrain in the center and probably desiring to wait for those 3 partially encircled divisions by not withdrawing on time they signed their own death warrant.

As you will see later, I was denied the revenge on GD by sudden change of strategy by the OKH.

[morvael]

Turn 157 (June 15th, 1944)

Enemy has fled from Bessarabia, so the Red Army's new target is Rumania proper. Rumanian army is no longer seen on the front lines in significant numbers, probably because their strength and morale dropped dramatically:

[morvael]

Major 50-mile retreat of the Wehrmacht in central Ukraine surprises Soviet command. Logistic problems start to mount quickly:

[morvael]

5th SS Panzer, 16th Panzer, 18th and 25th Panzer Gernadier divisions break into the cauldron, but only a handful of men and select high-ranking officers are able to retreat. Soon, 3rd Ukrainian and 3rd Baltic front close the gap and this time for good:

[morvael]

Germans retreat in the north as well, but slower than in the south. 1st Shock Army breaks through the front and reaches Vilno-Lida rail line in Voronovo:

[morvael]

The enemy withdrew from Riga. Leningrad and 2nd Baltic fronts advance slowly, they don't have to hurry. The Axis will soon have to evacuate Courland in order not to be cut off there by forces advancing on East Prussia:

[morvael]

VVS suffers in the attacks on Axis airfields, though thanks to high production the machines are easily replaced. Pilots are in worse condition and the morale, even with a lot of Guard titles awarded, drops. Still, the Luftwaffe is a shadow of its former self and the number of enemy aircraft drops below 2000 for the first time during the war, so the operation is deemed success.

STAVKA's Chief-of-Staff, Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov, improves his political standing (7). 57th Army commander, General-Armii Maksim Antonyuk, improves his morale skills (7). 63rd Army commander, General-Leytenant Ivan Sovetnikov, improves his morale skills (6). 5 new light SU brigades were formed. 10 light SU regiments were disbanded.

Strength:
men: 10 241 123 vs 4 491 877
guns: 173 719 vs 43 045
AFVs: 14 855 vs 6 090
aircraft: 21 216 vs 1 989

Trucks:
in units: 275 671 / 275 888 (99.92%)
in the pool: 228 279 / 204 360 (111.70%)
in repair: 96 272

Losses:
killed: 22 989 vs 15 070
captured: 113 vs 714
disabled: -2 552 vs 7 544
guns: 380 vs 779
AFVs: 1 204 vs 184
aircraft: 443 vs 226

Including:
in combat: 238 vs 98
from AA: 125 vs 26
on the ground: 0 vs 50
operational: 80 vs 52

[morvael]

Turn 158 (June 22nd, 1944)

10th Airborne Corps and 14th Guards Cavalry Corps are the first units of the Red Army to enter Rumania, through the Danube's delta). 5th Shock Army composed entirely of mountain divisions regrouped to the north, where the Carpathian Mountains loom on the horizon:

[morvael]

Germans fled behind the Zbruch river, and the Red Army's only problem is now the lack of supplies:

[morvael]

The cauldron of Zhitomir was destroyed by the cavalrymen and tankers of 3rd Shock Army (4th, 5th, 7th and 20th Guards Cavalry Corps). The rest of the Soviet forces began moving "na zapad" again, taking Novgorod Volynsky. 133 000 Germans and Hungarians were taken prisoner, which is 3 000 more than for the last two and a half years (since January 1st, 1942)!

[morvael]

Division "Grossdeutschland" once again caused severe losses, this time to 6th Tank Army. The army's corps have now only about 30% of the proscribed number of medium tanks. Younger staff officers in STAVKA propose to assemble all six tank armies to hunt down and destroy the enemy formation. Vilnius, Lida, Novogrudok and Baranovichi were taken. The only problem that remains in the area are some Polish partisans that have to be eradicated:

[morvael]

Wehrmacht began it's retreat from Latvia and northern Lithuania, leaving Germany's Latvian and Lithuanian minions at the mercy of the vengeful Red Army:

[morvael]

Morale of the Red Airforce drops as fast as the number of Luftwaffe aircraft. An unescorted bomber raid on German airbase near Liepaja lost 79 of its 94 Pe-2 bombers. The officer that failed to coordinate bombers with escorts was stripped of rank and sent to penal battalion. It's time to return to the proven methods of 1942. Four airbases were organized under Moscow Air Command, with ground crew and equipment taken from the Fronts' Air Armies. General-Major Vasily Zhdanov was appointed the commander of this formation, and his task will be to train and improve morale of worst battered air regiments.

For heroic achievements of its pilots, 20th Figher Aviation Regiment was renamed to 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. The regiment is flying La-5FN fighter-bombers and is part of 19th Bomber Aviation Division in the 14th Air Army (3rd Baltic Front).

46th Army commander, Ilya Smirnov, was promoted to General-Armii. 13th Air Army commander, Vasily Ermachenko, was promoted to General-Polkovnik. 1 breakthrough artillery division, 1 guards rocket launcher division and 5 light SU brigades were formed.

Strength:
men: 10 335 707 vs 4 478 141
guns: 175 819 vs 42 865
AFVs: 14 778 vs 6 081
aircraft: 21 252 vs 1 828

Trucks:
in units: 276 184 / 276 393 (99.92%)
in the pool: 233 731 / 203 676 (114.76%)
in repair: 95 448

Losses:
killed: 18 848 vs 17 019
captured: 142 vs 133 631
disabled: -6747 vs 13 299
guns: 339 vs 2 458
AFVs: 1 108 vs 175
aircraft: 526 vs 222

Including:
in combat: 323 vs 98
from AA: 92 vs 4
on the ground: 0 vs 61
operational: 111 vs 59

[morvael]

Turn 159 (June 29th, 1944)

German army withdraws in haste on the entire front, no doubt stunned by the recent defeat. There is no choice but to follow them, riding on Soviet-made tanks and US-made trucks. Secret talks between Rumania and USSR begin. Rumanians know that to stay in the Axis camp is no longer a wise choice:

[morvael]

It's easy to march and capture ground, but it's hard to repair rail lines quickly enough. In a moment the distance between railheads and advancing troops doubles:

[morvael]

Red Army units regroup after the battle of Zhytomir. Rovne is the next target:

[morvael]

Just as the attack on Grossdeutschland was about to launch, bad weather and German withdrawal foiled the plan:

[morvael]

The weather is good in Lithuania and Latvia, but the Wehrmacht retreated so far that contact was not restored during the entire week:

[morvael]

Production changes from July:
- IS-2 (heavy tank) upgrades from M1943 to M1944, the new version has better armour and AA HMG, production remains at 54 per week
- SU-85 (tank destroyer) upgrades to SU-85M, the new version has better armour, production remains at 39 per week
- OT-34 (flame tank) upgrades to OT-34/85, production down from 12 to 8 per week
- production of 57 Yak-7B (fighter-bomber) per week ceases

Soviet agents report that the Germans will start producing Panzer IVj (medium tank) and Jagdtiger (heavy tank destroyer) with night-vision systems. To counter that, STAVKA requested the volume and speed of training of new tank crews to increase.

6th Tank Army commander, Michail Katukov, improved his infantry skills (6). 15th Air Army commander, Nikolai Papivin, improved his morale skills (7). 59th Army commander, Fyodor Remezov, improved his political standing (7). Five new light SU brigades were formed.

Strength:
men: 10 394 878 vs 4 309 861
guns: 176 775 vs 41 142
AFVs: 14 875 vs 6 092
aircraft: 21 214 vs 1 817

Trucks:
in units: 272 009 / 272 220 (99.92%)
in the pool: 234 535 / 212 233 (110.51%)
in repair: 101 908

Losses:
killed: 204 vs 1 299
captured: 0 vs 114
disabled: -15 195 vs -6 844
guns: 3 vs 38
AFVs: 107 vs 17
aircraft: 113 vs 67

Including:
in combat: 42 vs 40
from AA: 14 vs 3
on the ground: 0 vs 7
operational: 57 vs 17