The Sun Also Rises ( D21 )

[larryfulkerson]

I forced all the Kiev defenders into a single hex, now to pound them some and then
take the hex with an all out assault from both sides of the river. Two or three
rounds ought to do it. One round to bombard and then maybe two rounds to attack.
The RR engineers are in the Kiev surburbs so it's pretty good timing that way.

[larryfulkerson]

I've been moving units and the area around Sevastopol right now looks like this. I've
run a unit down to the bottleneck and drove a unit down toward the city and I flew a
strike on the ships loitering just offcoast and sank a BB and various other ships leaving
just 1 DD and 1 CA left. I'm optimistic that the port will fall.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T25 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on around Novgorod right now. I need to shift forces and turn
to face the threat although I feel like I have local superiority in this local
limited AO. This AO is split by the river and I've been fighting over the crossing
and it looks like I may have a permanent toehold on the east side.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the stuff I'm supposed to get next turn. In some cases I don't own the hex yet.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a quick peek at the Axis aircraft losses right now. Light losses in every
category except the medium bombers, the Ju-88s and He-111s. Those two categories
have high losses and I'm barely keeping up with production. Very few on hand. So
I'm thinking I need to cut back on the INT missions for a couple of turns since most
of that may not happen under my fighter umbrella. I've got the fighters on three-dots
and so far the losses aren't too high. I'll have to monitor that closely.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the front lines in the north right now and the units from adjacent sides
are more evenly matched now and progress is nill in this area. The lines are mostly
stable and there's been artillery duels and light probes but nothing more. The
progress to be made will be somewhere else.

[larryfulkerson]

This is what's happening around location code named "Veli Luki" and is NW of Mowcow
about 30 hexes. I've traced a path around the Soviet positions isolating them from
their LOC and cutting off their supply. That should help the take down process a
little bit. Supply isn't all that low in this area and operations are continuing.

[larryfulkerson]

The supply situation around Kiev has improved a lot...that's probably because the rail
passes through Kiev and Kiev is clear of enemy units now. This will allow the operations
in this area to continue for a while. The supply levels further east of this image
aren't so generous however so I need to get the rail from Kiev to head east for a bit.

[larryfulkerson]

I forced the crossings at D-town and Z-town and now I'm streaming units through them
into the Soviet backfield. They still haven't responded to the insult and I'm wondering
if they ever will. I guess I have to rub salt in the wound to get them to rush to this
area. Supply is low and there are other priorities I guess.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a look at Kiev right now. I thought I had cleared out the enemy from Kiev
but evidently I misremembered it and there's still one more tiny stack of stuff to
snuff. Lots of hard fighting going on in this AO as you can see from all the
pending battles. I'm catching a lot of Soviet stuff up against the river and I'm
slowly making it go away.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on in the Leningrad area right now. I'm trying to squeeze the
Soviets toward the city and keep breaking down the divisions to have enough units
to stand the front lines. The CD guns at Leningrad are a pain in the neck. I wish
there was a way to target the bombers on a specific unit or a specific kind of
equipment instead of just s specific hex.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a spot in the front line about 30 hexes westnorthwest from Moscow where I am
lanching Operation Banana Pamarama to clear out all the Soviet units I have
successfully succeeded in surrounding a few Soviet units. As soon as they are gone
there will be more to do next. I'm finding that there's little groups of units that
are having their private wars and then there's sections of the front where there's
not a whole lot going on. It's not a fault, I'm not complaining, just an observation.

[larryfulkerson]

The Soviets have started counter-attacking all up and down the front lines almost
everywhere simultaneously and there's been several setbacks and more than one
breakthrough and holes I'm going to have to fix. I'm thinking I'd better start my
winter preparations. Break the units down to stand on the front lines with full
division units backing them up on "T" status to help restore the front lines when
they get threatened seriously. Move up the arty to backup the defenders and clear
the LOC's to facilitate the flow of supply. Build more than one MLR if possible.
Get the recon and spare units to start the MLR entrenchments where possible and
straighten out the lines to make them contiguous and use the best terrain defensively
where possible. Stuff like that.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T26 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[Jukipo]

Break the units down to stand on the front lines with full
division units backing them up on "T" status to help restore the front lines when
they get threatened seriously.

You should use full divisions on the front lines during the winter. Divided units can't hold the line. If you lose your fortifications you are in trouble.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Jukipo

Break the units down to stand on the front lines with full
division units backing them up on "T" status to help restore the front lines when
they get threatened seriously.

You should use full divisions on the front lines during the winter. Divided units can't hold the line. If you lose your fortifications you are in trouble.

That makes sense to me and you would know having experience with it recently. I'll so it.

[larryfulkerson]

Operation Banana Panarama is proceeding NW of Moscow and here's another similiar
situation where the Soviets are surrounded and are being mopped up in what I'm
calling Operation Rooster Booster which is SW of Moscow. I expect the operation
to conclude shortly.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm sneaking up on Stalino slowly. The supply levels are low in this area but
operations are continuing as we can. I've run into some stout resistance and
I'm in the process of defeating it to get possession of the city.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's Sevastopol right now. I'm slowly reducing the footprint of the S. defenders
so as to make the arty bombardment more efficient. I've sank all the S. ships and
I'm using the Stukas to bombard from the sky. Most of the CD guns have a lot of AA
equipment in the unit and that makes it tough to strike from the air because of the
losses. I've started using the high-altitude bombers instead. I'm estimating S.
will fall in about 10 turns or less.