D21 version 4.5

[larryfulkerson]

I've finally gotten serious about moving units into the area on the east side of Kiev.
Several divisions are there now and several more are heading this way. I'm starting
to pin Soviet units against the river and I want to trap as many of thm as I can before
they get away Scott free.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a shot of D-town and Z-town down south. We're still battling over the river
crossings and I'm slowly making headway. I'm trying to kill the Soviets that haven't
escaped yet and I've moved some engineers into a spot that will deny them supply
now the engineers just have to survive long enough for me to wipe out all the Soviet
defenders.

[larryfulkerson]

Near Smolensk there's a section of the Soviet front lines that's empty of people and
I've been driving people through there to see how far I can go. I'm hoping I can roll
up his front lines in both directions and cause him to displace toward Moscow.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's from Leningrad down to Pskov right now. Sharp battles are going on and I've
marked them with a faint yellow star. I've finally gotten a solid front line built
up here in the north but there's still Panzers in the line and I would rather use
them for the reserve so there/s more rearrangemet to do. I'm finding that I'm now
outmanned and sometimes outgunned and there's no reserve anywhere and I really need
to fix that before the winter season starts.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's Smolensk right now. I'm trying to surround the city before I take it down
and the Soviets aren't cooperating. I drove some people into that wide open area and
the Soviets responded by moving a lot of units into the area and now there's
resistance and again the advance is stymied. The supply levels are adequate for once
since the rails are so close. Smolensk itself is garrisoned by a huge stack of Soviet
units until it's glowing cherry red as a target. I've been bombing it and hitting it
with arty to try to trim down the odds a bit. I'd rather not attack that hex from just
two adjacent hexes...I think I need three adjacent hexes to have enough attacking power
to dislodge the Soviet stack. That and some massive air raids. For several rounds.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's happening at Bryansk right now. I'm getting closer to the city
itself and the supply point there. If the supply level were higher I would have
already done it. The yellow arrows depict the flow of the units as they were
moving to the engagement. Lots of Soviet units moved in and disrupted my carefully
laid plans. I'm having to ad lib most of this.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T22 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

The yellow arrow was the plan for the 6th Panzer Division and when it was laid out
it was deemed doable but the Soviets had other plans and put some resistance in their
way so I grabbed the Polizei Division and threw them in there and the Soviets brought
some more people and soon we had a small private war going on. The way to Leningrad
is stopped up and I need to replace the 6th Panzer with a couple of leg divisioins
and put the Panzers in reserve but it's really difficult coming up with some spare
divisions at the moment.

[John B.]

Larry, thanks for the very interesting AAR! [&o] When you get a chance can you show us your tank losses thus far? I'm curious to see how your panzer divisions are doing.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on at D-town and Z-town right now. I've forced the crossings
and now I'm fighting to clear the pathway because they both have Soviet roadblocks
that I have to clear. But other than that I'm int the Soviet backfield and I'm
opening a new AO. The number of troops available for exploitation are few but better
than nothing at all.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: John B.
Larry, thanks for the very interesting AAR! When you get a chance can you show us your tank losses thus far? I'm curious to see how your Panzer divisions are doing.

Thanks for the question. I'm curious to know about that topic myself. Here's the tank losses
so far. Not too bad considering what I'm asking them to do. They are getting a workout and
so far so good.

[John B.]

That does not look too bad at all. Just about 10% after two months of heavy fighting. And, the truck losses are very light. To the extent that these are helping in you supply that should be a plus in your favor.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply situation in the Crimea. It's way too low for sustained operations
and I'm fighting to clear the rails leading through the bottleneck. The RR engineers
are not far away and I need the rail cleared so they can repair it.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: John B.
That does not look too bad at all. Just about 10% after two months of heavy fighting.
And, the truck losses are very light. To the extent that these are helping in you supply
that should be a plus in your favor.

I agree. Asset sharing doesn't help much but it's better than no help at all. I'm
moving the supply units from AGC to the center to help supply those folks and I'm
going to get several more supply units soon and when they arrive I'm going to send them
to the center and one to the Gomel area. I need the supply to flow so I can win this thing.

[larryfulkerson]

It took three combat rounds of attacking but I finally captured Smolensk. And there's
no easy way to close the pocket so I'm going to aim for a bigger pocket.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T23 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply situation on the east side of Kiev near Gomel. The rails are getting
closer and the supply levels have risen lately and it's adequate for operations but out
at the fringes the levels are getting too low for sustained combat. I'm going to have
to slow down the advance.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on near Bryansk. I've driven a recon unit around a small group of
Soviet units and have cut them off their LOC and now to destroy them somehow. The
fighting in this area is every turn.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines for T24 before I have moved anybody. It's starting to get
exciting. The one problem I have is with that one Soviet unit floating disembarked
right off the coast of Odessa. I've been bombarding it with arty and I get about 12%
hits on it but it's never gone entirely. I'm wondering if I ought to let the Soviet
side just disband that bad boy and go on with the game without it. Is that cheating?

[larryfulkerson]

This is the status of the supply bubbles in the Crimea and as you can see it's not
adequate at the fringes yet and that's where the combat is taking place. But the
rails are getting closer every turn and it'll soon be here. Maybe a dozen more turns.