Once more into the Breech with D21

[larryfulkerson]

I'm just about to pull the trigger for the last, I hope, combat round and according to the post-battle analysis panel
there's been over 100+ battles so far. The fighting is fierce.

[larryfulkerson]

So I pulled the trigger and the 115th battle was executed and then it was the Soviet turn and now it's turn 2 and I've
just started moving units and here's the situation near Riga. I've got a working rail almost all the way to Riga now
and the supply is working great so it's smooth sailing for a while.

[larryfulkerson]

And meanwhile mop-up continues in the middle sector.

[larryfulkerson]

Up north there are so many recon units completing a surround somewhere that I've pressed the engineers into the recon
job and they are out there looking for Soviets and approaching the first major river. They can ferry units across if
they can't get a crossing. And the advance will continue.

[larryfulkerson]

I've decided to send the 1st Kav Division lengthwise across the marshes because they have the movement points to move
fast long distances and they have pioneers to fix the broken bridges and the follow on forces will provide the
firepower necessary to clear the roads and rails.

[larryfulkerson]

The most important piece of information I get from the situation report this time is that the rail destruction chance is
50% and that means that about every other rail I convert will be broken. That's not as good as the first two turns of
0% but it's better than 100% so I'll take it and do the best I can with the rest.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the T3 front lines before I have moved very much. As you can see the mopping up in the Axis backfield has
concluded and the follow on forces are on the move. Recon units are out racing through the countryside looking for
targets.

[larryfulkerson]

I like to check out the aircraft before I seriously get busy moving people around because I feel the troops deserve the
support. All the planes are in the green which means that I'm not driving them hard enough. I should have at least
half of them in the yellow and maybe a red one or two. I guess I'll have to go one dot higher on their loss tolerance.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the situation in the north right now. The front lines are broken and there's fighting going on in little
groups all the way to Riga. I'm busy surrounding the Soviets and converting the roads and rails.

[larryfulkerson]

One of my recon units arrived at a river crossing with only 5 Movement Points left and captured the crossing. Now I need
to route all the cross-river traffic at this bridge. To get as many units across the river as possible as quickly as
possible. That's the theory;

[larryfulkerson]

It's only T3 and I'm starting to approach Minsk and it's capture means a drop in the Soviet reinforcements so it's
important to do that as early in the game as possible.

[larryfulkerson]

I want to use the Stuka's on the Soviet BB's but I don't want to do it unescorted so I moved some ME-110's up to the
front of the front lines and it looks like we're still a little short of getting the BB's under our fighter
umbrella. So there's a little more advancement of the front that needs to happen. I gave some thought to maybe
capturing an airfield closer to the BB's with the paratroopers and then stage the Stuka's to the new airfield and
make the strike from there but that's gamey I think.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T3 face of the Riga area now. I've been moving units and exploding Soviet units and it looks different now.
Things are going really smoothly and there's been no major upsets.

[larryfulkerson]

Down south I appear to be approaching the Soviet Stalin Line, the fortified line that has entrenchments and is fortified.
It's the first of several hard spots. I'm hoping to be through the Stalin Line in a turn or two in order to stay on
schedule.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines in T4 before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

I finally captured Riga and the river crossing there. Although I already have one further to the southeast, two is
better. More troops can get across the river when you have more than one crossing. I need to get to Pskov before
Elmer can get set up and entrenched because that spot is between a rock and a hard place.

[larryfulkerson]

I've been moving units and I've gotten some units across the river, it's a start, and I've captured another crossing.
Things are going relatively well.

[larryfulkerson]

My units are sneaking up on Minsk. I'd like to surround the entire city before I take it down. It's going to take a
couple or three turns to get everybody around the city but I think it's necessary to prevent the Soviet equipment lost
from going to the Soviet pools.

[larryfulkerson]

And meanwhile, down south I've butted up against the Stalin Line and I'm engaging upon contact with arty following behind
and supporting units following that. I'm starting a timer for how long it takes to take down the Stalin Line because I
feel like I'm on a schedule here.

[larryfulkerson]

WSW of Kiev about 30 hexes over by the mountains, my infantry units have run into a sizeable Soviet tank unit. Not much
progress will be made unless and until I get some armor of my own in there to confront and defeat the Soviet armor. I'll
start looking around for a Panzer unit close.