Russia! Why not? (Morvael welcome)

[charlie0311]

You two are the greatest thing since "sliced bread", well almost.

[morvael]

Turn 173 (October 5th, 1944)

1st Rumanian Army fords Danube, to take vast and undefended areas south of Lake Balaton. Even though supply will be limited, moving slowly over pontoon bridges it's worth taking the ground without combat. What's a bit of rumbling in an empty stomach (from hunger), compared to a stomach full of lead (from enemy bullets)? 15th Guards Tank Corps reaches the outskirts of Budapest, and several enemy divisions are in danger of encirclement near Cegled:

[morvael]

Kassa and Presov in Slovakia are taken by armies of 2nd Ukrainian Front. Meanwhile 1st and 3rd Belarussian Fronts are inching ever closer to Cracow and Nowy Sacz, breaking the will to fight of an entire Hungarian corps. No wonder that the Magyars do not want to fight in Poland, on the land of their friends from 1848, while their own homeland is under assault now:

[morvael]

Heavy combat in central Poland, German lines are up to 50 miles deep here. Without tank support, the infantry of the Red Army is able to bend them only, but not break them:

[morvael]

Plock and Sierpc are captured. 4th Shock Army reaches mouth of the Vistula (which, by the way, is incorrectly placed on the map, the river should head north, directly to the Bay of Danzig):

[morvael]

7th Independent Army commander, Vasily Badanov, improves his initiative (6). 7th Tank Army commander, Semyon Krivoshein, improves his morale skill (6). 8th Air Army commander, Sergei Rudenko, improves his initiative (6). 2nd Belorussian Fronty commander, Vladimir Kurdyumov, is dismissed and replaced by Semyon Budyonny. 49th Army commander, Lev Dovator, is dismissed and replaced by Konstantin Baronov. 5 guards rifle corps are formed.

Strength:
men: 11 150 652 vs 3 831 765
guns: 196 832 vs 38 629
AFVs: 13 324 vs 6 429
aircraft: 21 590 vs 1 669

Trucks:
in units: 292 833 / 292 833 (100.00%)
in the pool: 291 650 / 211 533 (137.87%)
in repair: 96 956

Losses:
killed: 35 343 vs 22 175
captured: 107 vs 577
disabled: 2 463 vs 7 505
guns: 720 vs 1 227
AFVs: 1 155 vs 255
aircraft: 358 vs 128

Including:
in combat: 182 vs 60
from AA: 96 vs 6
on the ground: 0 vs 23
operational: 80 vs 39

[morvael]

This AAR entry marks an important boundary.
1) This is where the Polish version for my friends ends, and since now I no longer have a luxury of taking ready text and just translating it to English, but I have to write it from scratch (first in Polish), also having to examine the saves for units built/disbanded/destroyed/leader changes. This doubles the amount of work required to produce one entry.
2) Mud starts soon and there are a few boring months of pushing the enemy back slowly, while reorganizing armored and cavalry forces for the last push. I assume the next 10 diaries to be a bit boring.
3) There is exactly 20 turns to the end of the game left.

[morvael]

Turn 174 (October 12th, 1944)

Hungary lost the will to fight completely and surrendered, even though their capital is still in Axis hands! West of Danube the ground is wet now, but east of it, it is still possible to fight. 66th Army enters the suburbs of Budapest, while the tank armies are used to encircle two German divisions near Cegled, one regular and one Volksgrenadier:

[morvael]

Nowy Sacz is captured without problems, as the Germans withdraw, now that their allies have disappeared and the front was gravely weakened:

[morvael]

Grind in central Poland is underway, Lodz will be soon captured:

[morvael]

Eastern Prussia is now entirely conquered, even as Luftwaffe makes a rare appearance. 2 FW 190F escorted by 10 Bf 109G-14 try to interdict 64th Rifle Corps, but are chased off by 4 Yak-9T, losing both bombers in the process. Perhaps over 400 anti-aircraft weapons present in the area of attack are the culprit. Oh, how the mighty have fallen:

[morvael]

49th Army commander Konstantin Baronov is dismissed and replaced by Zigmunt Berling. 10th and 11th Tank Army HQ is formed.

Strength:
men: 11 150 675 vs 3 411 869
guns: 196 981 vs 35 546
AFVs: 13 134 vs 5 976
aircraft: 21 492 vs 1 411

Trucks:
in units: 292 822 / 292 821 (100.00%)
in the pool: 298 460 / 206 977 (144.20%)
in repair: 95 041

Losses:
killed: 22 935 vs 17 764
captured: 86 vs 45
disabled: -1 675 vs 845
guns: 475 vs 875
AFVs: 510 vs 154
aircraft: 188 vs 63

Including:
in combat: 86 vs 41
from AA: 42 vs 2
on the ground: 0 vs 2
operational: 60 vs 18

[loki100]

overall feeling in that update that your offensive is starting to accelerate again, even if you are on the verge of winter mud for a few turns

[morvael]

Half of the ground taken is given freely... my own exploits are medicore.

[morvael]

Turn 175 (October 19th, 1944)

1st Rumanian Army takes Kaposvar. Tank armies strike north, trying to make an opening for the infantry to towards Ersekujvar. Battles will be difficult there, as the terrain is really friendly to the defenders here, with multiple rivers, mountans and rough terrain (but still it's the easiest way towards Bratislava):

[morvael]

Even the early snow, not mud, is able to slow down the Red Army, which is reorganizing itself to attack Cracow:

[morvael]

It takes 29th, 32nd, 44th, 54th and 61st Armies a full week (and several thousand casualties), but Lodz is captured by tooth-and-nail close quarter fighting:

[morvael]

Germans are slowly pushed behind Vistula, as Soviet armies regroup, consolidate and send their rifle divisions to the rear, with the goal of forming some new rifle corps:

[morvael]

23rd Army commander, Ivan Bagramyan, improves his mech skill (6) and is appointed to lead 10th Tank Army. His previous post is given to Pavel Korzun. 58th Army commander, Ivan Chernyakhovsky, is appointed to lead 11th Tank Army. His previous post is given to Pyotr Shafranov. 11th Army commander, Rodion Malinovsky, is promoted to the rank of General-Armii. 56th Army commander, Mikhail Gerasimov, is promoted to the rank of General-Armii. 52nd Army commander, Mikhail Kovalev, is promoted to the rank of General-Polkovnik. 26th Army commander, Fyodor Kostenko, improves his initiative (5).

Strength:
men: 11 181 293 vs 3 374 128
guns: 197 445 vs 35 310
AFVs: 13 227 vs 5 930
aircraft: 21 549 vs 1 489

Trucks:
in units: 294 700 / 294 700 (100.00%)
in the pool: 298 743 / 214 496 (139.28%)
in repair: 96 038

Losses:
killed: 18 195 vs 12 521
captured: 247 vs 16 695
disabled: 1 727 vs -1 223
guns: 445 vs 865
AFVs: 738 vs 107
aircraft: 251 vs 111

Including:
in combat: 133 vs 69
from AA: 58 vs 1
on the ground: 0 vs 13
operational: 60 vs 28

[jwolf]

Too bad about the map error with the Vistula -- I guess that's one thing you can't fix. The Hungarian surrender happened just as (so it seems) the Wehrmacht is starting to crumble. Good luck in the final push.