FITE v.5.0 try 2 same sides as before

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what Orsha looks like now. I've scopped out the Soviet defenders and I don't think it's possible to push the Soviet units out of the Orsha hex because I can attack from only one hex. I'll have to use the engineers to leap the river and get more attacking hexes on the target. I'm going to have to bring up a lot more arty to support. At least the railhead is close and the supply level is good.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 13....3rd August 1941

Vitebsk holds against determined attacks this turn but will likely fall next but otherwise no significant cities fall to the Germans.

An attempt by Soviet and American long range bombers to blow a bridge in the south, well to the West of Odessa is foiled by large numbers of Luftwaffe ME109's and the Soviets take 17% losses but in the North there is much more success as the US Dauntlesses sink an entire Finnish naval flotilla off Narva that had been bombarding Soviet lines. Five destroyers and two battleships are sunk.

Soviet artillery in Leningrad takes a heavy toll on the Finnish Infantry from 4th and 6th Divisions that have replaced the German troops on the front line and artillery in Odessa and Kiev are also busy.

Two more reserve armies are deployed in the fragile centre and the garrison at Mogilev resists for now an assault across the Dnepr.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 14...6th August 1941

As predicted the garrison at Vitebsk is overrun but attempts by the Germans to force the river crossings at Orsha and Mogilev fail for now.

Over 200 Stukas supported by 130 fighters hit the Leningrad Port and sink four destroyers and a battleship in a revenge attack apparently ordered by Larry after the loss of the Finnish naval flotilla last turn !

The Soviets, undeterred decide to strike at the Kriegsmarine which has now made an appearance off Narva and another battleship is sunk along with a destroyer escort.

The Soviet line in and around Smolensk is reinforced as it is decided to commit the sizeable forces that had been held back for the defence of Moscow further to the West. It remains to be seen how wise a move this is.

Some disruptive manoeuvring begins in the far North of Finland in an attempt to cut German supply lines using small mobile operating behind enemy lines....

[larryfulkerson]

I've gotten my troops across one river only to have to cross another. The Soviets are guarding all the crossings in force and it's going to be a hassle to try to find a weak spot because Ian doesn't do that often. I'm going to have to move the engineers up to the river and try to do an assault in more than one spot simutaneously so that the defense might be swamped and overwhelmed. I don't have nearly enough arty in this image. Something else to bring forward.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 15.... 10th August 1941

A worrying German breakthrough by Panzers and Panzer Grenadiers at Orsha threatens to outflank positions at Smolensk and further south at Kiev and two recently raised Armies are rushed to plug the gap.

Smolensk itself repels a determined German attack with the help of artillery and tanks but Zhlobin falls after repeated assaults.

A further Soviet battleship is sunk in Leningrad but there are heavy losses for the Stukas on this occasion as extra fighter cover has been brought in.

Further south at Cherkassey an NKVD counter attack forces some combat engineers off the blown bridge to try and delay any German assault and there are more concentrated bombardments by Soviet artillery on German forces massing on the west bank of the Dnepr.

The position at Odessa remains strong for now and Soviet partisans are proving useful in the German backfield.

[larryfulkerson]

Somehow I forced my way across the river at Orsha but Ian is blocking the intrusion and it seems that there is no breakthrough yet. Ian has railed a lot of reinforcements into the AO and using them he's going to block things up really tight. This is a hard fight and there's plenty of losses on both sides. I think I need to use the engineers to leap across the river at another spot yet.

[larryfulkerson]

Ian has built a pretty good looking MLR along the river up north and I haven't advanced that far yet. I guess Ian thought the advance would advance faster than it did. The Finns have reached the stop line so there's not much going on up there, just arty duels back and forth. I underestimated the number of troops that would handle the northern front lines and I think there may be a problem unless I rail some more people toward Leningrad. I'm not intending on pushing hard at the bottleneck, where Narva is. I'm heavily outnumbered and if Ian pushes real hard he can cause all kinds of problems and I'm worried about the weakness of my line. It's holding so far but Ian has some really stout units up there, plus armor. And all the arty in the world. He's got some RR guns that can reach a lot further than my arty can so I need to bring up several of my RR guns to counter his.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 16....13th August 1941

The Central Front now has some serious problems as the German breakthrough at Orsha by 4th panzer Division is now joined by that by the 18th Panzer Division a few miles south at Mogilev. The railed in 58th and 50th Armies manage to prevent them linking and cap the breaks across the Dnepr for now, despite heavy air interdiction, but things are still now stable.

To add to the worries a concentrated attack on the south western suburbs of Kiev pushes back the Soviet defenders towards the city centre and even the presence of reserve armoured units fail to help.

A small positive arrives in the shape of the previously distinctly underwhelming Soviet bomber forces finally having success against the Axis airfields in the north with several Swedish squadrons being particularly hard hit. With Larry continuing to employ widespread interdiction Soviet fighters also have some success and this is the first turn the Axis air losses appreciably exceed that of the Soviets.

In Lithuania and Ukraine the partisans are again active and it is to be hoped they can cause some supply issues for the Germans advancing in the centre.

Down south Odessa continues to hold and the Germans have yet to reach the Soviet front lines in the Eastern Crimea.

[larryfulkerson]

Ian left a section of his front lines unoccupied and all I had to do is apply some engineers to the river and walk across. I've gotten a good foothold and expect to expand it a lot larger. Now to clear all the crossings and keep going.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 18...20th August 1941

What had already been moderately concerning has now become extremely serious as at least four German Divisions swarm across the Dnepr just South of Mogilev before swinging North and South in an attempt to cut Soviet lines. The few reserves immediately available are thrown in to try and cap the leak but it is likely this will be little more than an inconvenience to the Germans.

I am now left with a dilemma...do I try and reinforce what is already a creaking Central Front with newly arriving reinforcements East of Moscow or do I write the area off and try and construct a new MLR just West of the capital ?

Smolensk somehow survives another assault as does Pskov with less problem.

In the North a concentrated bombing offensive wipes out several Swedish squadrons West of Narva but progress is tougher in the far South near Odessa where German fighters are more numerous.

Italian Expeditionary Forces have reached the western arm of the Sevastapol isthmus and the Soviet defenders have shelled their lead elements.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 19....23rd August 1941

Soviet commanders on the Central Front order a tactical withdrawal east of the Sozh River in an attempt to save as many of their forces as possible in the face of huge numbers of German troops now pouring across the Dnepr.
More than 10 Divisions have now been identified as being involved in the German drive towards Moscow from Mogilev and Orsha and it is to be seen whether these forces will continue to try and drive east or peel away in an attempt at a grand encirclement north or south. Dangerous times.

The rest of the front is stable but interdiction is very heavy this turn which again impedes attempts to reinforce a new MLR west of Moscow.

Both sides lose around 250 aircraft during the turn and it is to be hoped Soviet factories will step up their production. This is hampered by the fall of Smolensk however but once again the position in Odessa remains stable.

[larryfulkerson]

It's been a long haul but I'm finally approaching D-town and Z-town and the end of the open area. I've got to fight over the crossings again and that's the hard part of this process. The supply levels are low and barely adequate for operations in this area.

[larryfulkerson]

I succeeded in getting across the river using engineers and now I'm getting in and around the Soviet units and I expect to have units across the next river soon. The rails are close to the front here and supply is good. I've been moving the planes forward to support the front and there's been a plethera of Soviet aircraft interfering with my attacks and losses are high on both sides. I notice a shortage of arty however and I need to get some tubes moved forward. I'm using the MP's and AT guns to clear the terrain in the backfield. Partisans are still a problem but I think I have rounded up all of them so far. Odessa is surrounded and has been bombarded every turn for about 5 turns now. The rails are up to the front in the middle to feed the push toward Moscow and I need to give some attention to the south now. Most of the progress has been in the south. I'm using the Axis minors to chase down partisans. There's a lot of Hungarian units so I'm thinking of moving them to the far south to move into the Crimea.

[larryfulkerson]

I've got a few units that have arrived at the two bottlenecks in the Crimea that leads south to Sevastopol and the straits. I've got the Italians guarding one of them and I'm thinking of moving the Hungarians to the other one. The Slavics are chasing down partisans. I can't tell if I'm ahead of shedule or not, I've lost count. Notice all the Soviet planes in and around the Sevastopol Port City. I've got to move a coulple of squadrons of fighters down here to counter them. The supply levels in this area are poor, very poor and I can't conduct operations yet so everybody down here is waiting for the supply levels to rise enough to refit my units. It's in the single digits down here.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a section of the front lines that is hurting for supply and operations are hampered by it. I'm hoping to repair the rails in their direction to fix that and it needs to be done soon. Ian reports that there were heavy losses in aircraft for both sides last turn. I've just about interdicted enough units moving to the front and now I need combat support from the bombers. The character of the game is changing in that the Soviets have plenty of units at the front and there's more toe-to-toe fighting than there used to be. About another 11 turns to the fall mud season.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 21....31at August 1941.

It is clear this is going to be a tougher game for the Soviets than our last one...The line around Gomel, only just patched up, is broken again as elements of the 8th and 50th Armies are pushed aside by the 29th Panzer Grenadiers and 131st infantry Divisions .

The line at Cherkassy on the lower Dnepr just about holds attacks from 14th Panzer Division and 257th Infantry Division with the help of Soviet Artillery.

There is increasing pressure on the Narva area in the North as the Kriegsmarine shows up in force and for now the US Naval bombers need a rest. An attempt by the Germans to bomb the remaining Soviet Fleet in Leningrad however is foiled by Soviet fighters.

This turn sees over 350 German planes lost to around 200 Soviet so at least in the air there is some encouragement.

Going forward I expect the thin lines on the Sozh river and all positions between Kiev and Rhzev to fall very soon. Kiev itself is under intense pressure and is unlikely to last until the ceasefire...not good. The defences around Moscow are being reinforced with some haste as the new better quality troops start to filter through from the East....

[larryfulkerson]

It's 04:55 and I've received some new moves from Ian and I thought I'd do one of those zoomed out views of the front lines to show you the giant bulge I've made. Pushing and shoving has resulted with my units in an area where the supply doesn't flow very well and the advance has halted almost everywhere. There's a little movement still happening in the south but except in the north by Leningrad, the supply isn't up to SOP for operations. Partisans have dropped some bridges in my backfield and it may be effecting the flow of supply. I'll have to put together a TF of RR engineers and some regular engineers to repair the bridges and rail in the backfield. I'll need to do this before the mud season starts and that means 20 turns from now it's got to be repaired. Else the supply levels will fall off a cliff at the front.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 22....3rd September 1941

As we enter September the lines are temporarily stable as a failed proficiency check stops Larry's German advance after a single combat round but only after Soviet troops were pushed out of another suburb of Kiev. They have retaken the ground but it is held very precariously so will no doubt be overrun next turn leaving the Germans adjacent to the city centre.

There is more carnage in the air with over 300 Soviet planes lost and 370 German and other Axis planes as heavy interdiction was desperately fought by Soviet fighters on air superiority roles and Soviet bombers continued to hit German airfields. This is high stakes attrition for the skies as in our last game my ultimate air superiority made a huge difference in helping my defensive lines but this game the Luftwaffe is proving much tougher....

Dnepropetovsk in the South is about to face a serious assault and the Southern Front generally, which has been relatively quiet to date looks to be about to flare up in a big way as the Germans try to force crossings of the lower Dnepr.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm going to try to reduce Kiev even further with an all-out attack with lots of arty firing and CS by the aircraft. Then the hard part starts. I've got units leaping across the river north of Kiev and they should be appearing on the east side of Kiev in a few turns. I'm going to start moving units from the south to just north of Kiev to get into the favorable terrain and move SE toward Kharkov.

[larryfulkerson]

Ian is using the natural terrain defensively to great advantage and this area doesn't have a lot of supply to throw around so I have everybody on a road or a rail and when they turn red I have to move them to a better supply source or closer to the flow of supply. Everybody is having to save up enough supply to move or shoot. I've finished the rail repair task from Berlin to Narva and the line from Riga going east is getting longer, being now just north of Daugavpils headed for Pskov. This image is what it looks like east of Pskov and I've gathered most of the independent arty around Kiev so I'm using the organic HQ units's tubes in this area. Ian is making a valiant effort to gain air superiority as soon as possible and the losses have sky rocketed lately. I'm running low on bombers primarily but numbers of fighters are decreasing too. I can't sustain this operational temp for very much longer. I'm going to have to move the bomber survivors back to Germany for them to refit pretty soon. I need them combat ready for the Soviet Winter Offensive just months from now. I'm going to gather all the RR engineers and dedicate them to extending some supply to these folks to get the advance going again.