Nordlicht 1942 AAR Snefens vs. Telumar

[LLv34_Snefens]

AAR of Operation Nordlicht scenario v1.07.

Start date is August 27th, 1942 with 75 one day turns.
I'm playing the Soviet side, Telumar is the German.

For a quick orientation this is the playable area with notable locations (courtesy of Telumar)

00 Operation Nordlicht - 1942 Map overview.jpg (1.49 MiB) Viewed 866 times

On turn 1 each player selects any objectives they intend to capture during the game. VP bonus if they succeed, and penalty if they fail.

I had set a fairly ambitious plan, to basically opening the Leningrad corridor, flattening out the Kirishi salient (at the same time removing the threat to the Pogost'ye salient), the capture of Kholm and finally severing the Ramushevo corridor, cutting of the Demyansk pocket once and for all.
The full destruction of the Demyansk pocket was not in my initial plan, but could come into play if opportunity rose.

Soviet forces at this stage of the war is not strong enough to do all these at once, so I planned staggered offensives:

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I: The operation to open up the Leningrad corridor. Heavy attacks from the east by 8th Army reinforced with 4th and 6th Guards Rifle Corps and part of 2nd Shock Army. Limited attacks from the west across Neva River by the weaker Neva Operational Group.
II: Instead of helping at I. Majority of 2nd Shock Army diverts to top of Kirishi Pocket to capture this town and widening access into Pogost'ye salient.
III: Pre-requisite to V. this attack is to open up better supply line north of the Ramushevo corridor.

IV: Having rested, forces from I. and II. reinforces and launch operation to flatten (ideally cutting off) the entire Chudovo bulge, with attack out of the Pogost'ye and Volkhov bridgeheads.
V: With supply situation improved after III. a combined attack towards the Ramushevo Corridor will sever it and force the the Germans to continue to rely on air-transport to supply forces in the pocket.
VI: The operation to capture Kholm is a stand-alone operation, planned to mainly used local forces, but delaying it a bit to hopefully have other offensives draw off a few of the defending forces.

Of course I wasn't expecting the Germans to sit idle on their hands during all of this, but for what they had planned I couldn't be sure. An attack to destroy my Oranienbaum Bridgehead was likely, so I would begin to reinforce this with 2-3 brigades right from the start.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 1
August 27th, 1942:
Operation Vega kicks off. The main assault is started by the three guard divisions of the 6th Guards Rifle corps supported by three tank battalions in first wave.
The opening advance on the road to the hill at Sinyavino, while initially successful, is slowed by defenders holding firm south of the road, which takes 3 assaults to clear. On the road itself, the second line of German defense also holds, but north of the road small forces manage to advance 5km this first day to the base of Hill Sinyavino.
Combined with a smaller advance along the shore of Lake Ladoga, this is threatening to cut off part of the defense.
On the axis towards Mga, the advance is slow and meticulous, only gaining 2km this first day.
Smaller diversionary attacks south-east of this by 8th Army have decent success, almost reaching the rail-line after a 5km advance.
West of the Neva river, build up of forces are being moved in, but they won't be able to attempt to cross the Neva for a couple of days. Even then the forces will be of only limited strength, but it should help divert a bit of the German attention.

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At Oranienbaum bridgehead, the transportation of 13th Rifle and 55th and 56th Naval Rifle brigade are being set in motion, but the transport across the Gulf of Finland is slow and they won't all be in position until about a week.

[Cpl GAC]

Nice! Thank you both for this.

[LLv34_Snefens]

TURN 2
August 28th

The Germans pulled back from two most exposed hexes and made minor counter-attacks a couple of places. The tanks on the edge of Sinyavino held firm, but on the 8th Army's southern flank we were pushed back.
The Germans hadn't plugged all gaps in the line, so more ground was taken on the shore of Lake Ladoga, as well in the forests NE of Mga unopposed.
That meant that even though communication failed and attacks halted after only one round of attacks we still have advanced >7km since the start yesterday and now have removed the Germans from three hexes adjacent to Sinyavino.
On the Mga axis the attack failed however, and we still are only 2km into the German lines here.
12.Pz Div and 170.ID were reported in the area south of Mga before the start, so they should be arriving soon.

West of Neva the build up of forces continues and tomorrow we will attempt a crossing of the river. The main axis will lie between Pavlovo and Gorodok consisting of three rifle divisions and a tank brigade, with smaller attacks near Shlisselburg.

Elsewhere, most of our rail capacity have been used to rail elements of 2nd Shock Army to Kirishi for the upcoming offensive here (see II. in first post), but some parts of the 2nd Shock Army (two rifle brigades and three tank battalions) are heading to the Leningrad Corridor, both to make sure we succeed in opening it, but also to "get identified" and hide the fact that the majority of the Army are planning something else.

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Also, I completely forgot to move my partisans in the German rear this turn. This was quite the blunder.
This is actually the second game I had started against Telumar and in the first game he underestimated the havoc they could cause on his rail lines, so I expected him to be much more pro-active against them this time around. This one turn delay could severely hinder their success.

[Telumar]

First of all: I will not do my own AAR, mainly due to time management, but also because I did not take notes while we were going. I will add my perspective and thoughts from time to time here though.

Summer '42. Eastern Front. 2.5 km per hex. Battalion/Regimental sized units. How could I say no? It's not Fall Blau for the 100th time? All the better!

Imho this is a very well researched, detailed and atmospheric scenario and it has been a great match I really enjoyed.

The forces I had under my control was the entirety of Army Group North with 16th Army, 18th Army and 11th Army just arriving from Crimea after the fall of Sevastopol. An infantry heavy force. I had only two Panzer Divisions at my disposal of which one, 8. Panzer Division, was tied up in the defence of Kholm at the very southern end of the map. The Soviets are superior in numbers, both in Infantry and armor, but the Germans are the more proficient force.

As Snefens rightly expected, I selected Operation Bettelstab, the destruction of the Oranienbaum bridgehead. It is an isolated area, can only be reinforced by non-motorized units via ferry from Leningrad/Kronstadt and is not as well supplied as the main Soviet front. Additionally it would free up the two divisions guarding it at scenario start for further operations later in the game. I had given some thoughts about Operation Nordlicht, the attack on Leningrad itself, which is a very hard, well fortified nut to crack, but also comes with the greatest VP reward (besides the fact that it would be epic ). But with Marshall Snefens cooking 'objects-in-space' named operations all along the Volkhov and with the extremely exposed salient/pocket further south, I thought it was unfeasible and opted against it.

Speaking of said southern pocket, I chose Operations Winkelried - the widening of the Ramushevo corridor to the south, which would allow rail supply and transport into the Demyansk pocket, and Operation Schlingpflanze, which would widen the Ramushevo corridor towards the north thus opening a proper road connection into the pocket. Additionally, with the rail link into the pocket established, I would be able to cease air supply of the pocket, which would add one VP / round in my favor. I should note that, in case the rail link should be severed by a Soviet counterattack, I would be able to restart air supply, but this would then also terminate the VP loop.

Like Snefens I could not execute all operations at the same time. The overall plan was to first annihilate the Oranienbaum bridgehead and then execute Winkelried and after that Schlingpflanze. The attack on Oranienbaum also could not happen right at the start of the sceanrio as I would first have to assemble an attacking force. Why Oranienbaum first? Because I expected it to be rather swift, I already had the bulk of the forces earmarked for the operation nearby and it would free up the mentioned two divisions early in the game.

As for Soviet plans, the attack to establish the Leningrad corridor was to be expected. I think Snefens did not mention it, but this would enable a rail link into the city and similar to the Demyansk pocket mechanics, the Soviet player can terminate supply via Lake Ladoga, which activates a 1 VP / turn loop for him. Also i was very sure he would become active against the Demyansk pocket, though in which way I could not tell. An attack around Lychkova to establish a rail link towards the Staraya Russa front first, was the most logical thing for him to do though. After that? Probably squeeze the corridor from the north and the south simultaneously. Everything else i could only guess.

[Telumar]

Bandenbekämpfung

This is a game in itself within the scenario. We have partisan activity in our rear and in regard to rail lines and supplies this has not to be underestimated. Tasked with anti partisan duty are several security divisions, partially equipped with Beute tanks, some estonian border guards, police units, all kinds of rear area security forces and we have three armored trains at our disposal, too. They will have their hands full:

00 Railnet_partisans.jpg (1.59 MiB) Viewed 806 times

Also, I completely forgot to move my partisans in the German rear this turn. This was quite the blunder.
This is actually the second game I had started against Telumar and in the first game he underestimated the havoc they could cause on his rail lines, so I expected him to be much more pro-active against them this time around. This one turn delay could severely hinder their success.

Huh really? I am surprised, I did not notice that at the time. Well, that would make us even then (hex 117, 78 )

Yes this was our second run. We aborted early however due to a bug with one of the event sequences and immediately started this one then. I totally underestimetd them in the first run, so indeed I paid extra attention to "Bandenbekämpfung" this time.

[Telumar]

Turn 1 situation at the 'Leningrad Corridor'

Just a short glimpse from the German side:

On turn 1 the hammer fell on XXVI. Korps' 223rd and 227th Infantry Divisions and both divisions had to cede positions to the Soviets. My plans were to rush in 170th Infantry to stabilize 223rd Division's sector while shifting the 223rd then towards the NW, while 12. Panzer Division should advance into 227th Infantry's sector to stabilize the situation and to execute chirurgical counterstrikes. Note that 12. Panzer is in static mode and will only be released on turn 2 while one of its Panzer battalions has to be railed in from the southern area of the map and will not get into action until at least turn three.

All the while, 6. Gebirgs-Division and additional Korps and Army artillery assets were already on the march into this sector, too (off screenshot still).

I did not expect that I would be able to keep him from linking up with Leningrad with the forces I had at hand, especially as I did not want to risk 12. Panzer getting mauled early in the game (my most precious formation) and therefore wanted to act rather careful with this division. Ideally I would be able to halt the enemy advance, preferably not lose Mga, pull 12th Panzer out of the front, recover and then launch a counterattack to severe the rail line again.

Mga Sector 01.png (1.27 MiB) Viewed 803 times

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 3
August 29th

Our early end last turn had left 9th Gds Rifle Regiment exposed south of Sinyavino, with most units in mobile deployment. Telumar is quick to take advantage of this and uses the arriving 12.Pz.Div to cut it off and swiftly eliminate it, almost restoring the lines as they were on end of first day. Further south-east the 170.Inf.Div is also spotted and with small counterattacks here, it straightens out the line.

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The loss of a full strength rifle regiment is unfortunate, but not disasterous, as the rest of the divisions in 6th Gds Rifle Corps is still at high combat readiness and fortunately didn't go into re-organization due to the loss.
They resume the attack and with support of 122nd Tank Brigade of 2nd Shock Army they retake the lost positions, once again reaching the base of Sinyavino hill.
Towards Mga the going is still slow, but limited success is seen north of Sologubovka.

From the West the Neva Operational Group now also launches its attack. As fording units first need to establish crossings, the actual attacks can't begin until later in the day. South of Gorodok we are repulsed but an attack on the village of Pavlovo sees great success and a battalion from 5.Geb.Div is forced back. Also next to Shlissel'burg a small foothold is established.
265th Rifle Div from 8th Army and two rifle brigades of the 4th Gds Rifle Corps (23rd and 33rd) are committed from the reserves and moves into the front, while 259th Rifle division is moved forward in case it is needed. Preferably the corridor can be opened without its use.

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Elsewhere situation is mostly quiet. A limited German attack against the tip of the Pogost'ye salient pushes us back a little, but this is probably just a small shortening of the front, as well as pushing us a bit away from a potential supply rail into Kusino.
But this gives a opportunity to show the building up of forces opposite the Kirishi salient. As can be seen, our main attack will be coming from the North, while supporting attacks will hit from east and west. The attack is planned to go off in about two turns, as a few units still need to arrive.

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[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 4
August 30th

To our surprise the Germans have begun a withdrawal from the northern part of the Leningrad Corridor, abandoning the strongpoint at Shlissel'burg. The 12.Pz.Div shifts its focus away from Sinyavino and tries to eliminate the bridgehead at Pavlovo, but despite three assaults backed by panzers the heroes of 548th Tank Bn repulse all attacks losing only 6 T-60 light tanks.

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With the Germans pulling back, small elements of Leningrad and Volkhov Front link up SE of Shlissel'burg. The strongpoint at Sinyavino is also captured after a couple of assaults as well as the village of Gorodok on the Neva eastern bank.
A few fortified positions on the coast of Lake Ladoga are holding out, but the full opening of the corridor seems all but secured.
Once it is fully secured, the last objective of operation Vega, the town of Mga, needs capturing.

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Elsewhere there is again small German attacks. SW of Kirishi (not shown) attacks forces us back from the exposed river position on the outskirts of the town, but it happens to late in the turn to allow the Germans to occupy the positions and we can move back in. It's not believed the Germans have yet realized the impending attack in this sector.

Also at the southern edge of the Ramushevo corridor the Germans attack (not shown). It's too soon to tell if this is an general offensive or just an attempt to improve the lines into Demyansk pocked by clearing the crossing by Ramushevo. In any case we hold the line, even though a German Pz.Abt is committed to the attack.

[Telumar]

Turn 3 - Abandoning the corridor

To our surprise the Germans have begun a withdrawal from the northern part of the Leningrad Corridor, abandoning the strongpoint at Shlissel'burg. The 12.Pz.Div shifts its focus away from Sinyavino and tries to eliminate the bridgehead at Pavlovo, but despite three assaults backed by panzers the heroes of 548th Tank Bn repulse all attacks losing only 6 T-60 light tanks.

I defended the corridor in our first run and lost half of 227. Inf.Div. This, and as I did not want to send in 12. Pz.Div. into that salient with its base being only two hexes wide after the capture of Pavlovo by the Soviets, I opted for force preservation and an orderly withdrawal as long as I was still able to. Situation at the end of German turn 3:

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Kirishi [...]. It's not believed the Germans have yet realized the impending attack in this sector.

They indeed had not yet realized.

Also at the southern edge of the Ramushevo corridor the Germans attack (not shown). It's too soon to tell if this is an general offensive or just an attempt to improve the lines into Demyansk pocked by clearing the crossing by Ramushevo. In any case we hold the line, even though a German Pz.Abt is committed to the attack.

Even if I had not selected Operation Winkelried I would have tried to improve LOCs into the corridor. Let me give some context to readers: This is the logistics and infrastructure situation at the end of German turn 3:

Ramushevo t3 Logistics and LOC.png (1.21 MiB) Viewed 646 times

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 5
August 31st

Germans pull further back from the bulge in the Leningrad corridor, but also continues the assault on Pavlovo, this day capturing the village. Despite the german withdrawal we keep the pressure on and widen the corridor to 10km width. One of the isolated gun positions on the shore of lake ladoga surrenders.
Also towards Mga there is a bit of progress as we reach the outskirts of the town. But the losses for minor gains are heavy due to large amounts of heavy German artillery.

At Kirishi the Germans still try to dislodge us from the positions sw of the town, as we start our offensive. Only along the northern front for now, but units of 54th Army are moving into their jumping off positions for tomorrow west of Pasadnikov Ostrov.
Four rifle divisions, one rifle brigade and three tank brigades have assembled in the northern sector, while the western force is a bit smaller with three rifle divisions and a single tank brigade. Also some of these need to cover the flank so in reality it is closer to two rifle divisions ready to attack.
Progress is not spectacular, as half the attacks are halted, but a couple of hexes are captured. Also it is revealed that the second line isn't fully occupied, probably as we caught the Germans in the middle of their own small attack.

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North of Kholm German panzer suddenly appear and cut off part of our exposed units. It's not an area where a penetration would be any threat, but most likely it's simply the Germans trying to shorten the line.
We respond by starting to move the 184th Tank Bde that has so far been in reserve towards the area, as well as moving a few units in to disrupt the german supply lines. It's most likely a suicide mission, but the plan is also in part to let some partisan units reach our own lines, to be able to use their ability to traverse swamps in future offensives elsewhere.

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[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 6
September 1st, 1942

In heavy fighting around Mga the Germans push us back away from the town. One of our tank battalions loses cohesion and evaporates, but it cost the Germans at least 6 destroyed PzIII tanks.

The destruction of the last german position by Lake Ladoga is postponed due to reorganization of the assigned rifle brigade. Despite still not having a working rail into the Leningrad perimeter we order the stop of supply across Lake Ladoga this turn. It will make most units west of the Neva overextended, but we speculate an attack on Leningrad itself is not imminent and a rail line should be up and running in 3-4 days. The early selection of this option lets the running VP bonus kick in a few turns sooner.

We also decide to ease off on pressing the attack towards the last objective of Mga for now, as the presence of 12.Pz Div and heavy artillery are making casualties high. The plan is to come back for this objective in likely october, when we have completed our other objectives.

We would like to have the Germans keep a strong presence here for a while instead of sending them elsewhere, so we continue attacks with (expendable) formations selected for reforming into rifle divisions later. That means mainly attacking with 22nd, 23rd, 32nd and 33rd Rifle Brigades, as well as a few units of 8th Army.

4th Guards Rifle Corps are already being railed away. Instead of as per original plan, that had it being sent to Chudovo/kirishi sector, it instead will be sent to the north of Demyansk, as an extra German division has been observed occupying positions in this sector. Later it will also be followed by the 6th Guards Rifle Corps, as we want to be sure we can open this important rail here. (I'll get map of this area tomorrow)

At the Leningrad corridor, the plan will be to let 55th Army extend its line further east and then let the Neva Operational Group take over for the rest of 8th Army's sector. 8th Army will then pull out and after restocking, it will take part in the offensive against the Chudovo bulge.

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At Kirishi bulge this day our western force enters the battle. We make slow but steady progress and capture 3 hexes and part of 4th Army will begin attack on the town of Kirishi itself tomorrow.

At Oranienbaum bridgehead our forces are beginning to get into position. We still have a couple of rifle brigades arriving along with a few NKVD security regiments planned as reserves. Germans have been shelling our ships in Kronstadt harbor, but otherwise not activity has been spotted.
A few attempts to transport units in from the islands in the Gulf of Finland failed and they were sunk by the Luftwaffe

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[Telumar]

German perspective turn 5 (August, 31st)

Plans for Operation Bettelstab

While all this fighting was going on at the Leningrad corridor and at Kirishi we prepared the upcoming operation to eliminate the Oranienbaum bridgehead. German railroad artillery, among them the infamous 80cm "Dora" gun - started shelling Kronstadt harbour to suppress enemy naval gunfire support while long range 28cm railroad guns have begun shelling Sepelevo airfield to force the VVS to abandon it and thus decrease the effectiveness of enemy fighter cover over the bridgehead. The transfer of Soviet units into the bridghead was not undetected and German high command felt a certain urgency to rush the ground assault before the bulk of these reinforcements could reach the frontline or their designated areas and dig in. The initial strike force consists of 3 Infantry divisions under the command of XXX. Armeekorps. As there is no enemy armor reported it is hoped that this force will suffice to accomplish the success of the operation. However, reinforcements that had not yet reached Army Group North's sector from 11th Army could be fed in later if required. The date for the attack was set for September 1st.

We have identified three key objectives for the success of the operation. Oranienbaum itself, which is the main supply port for the bridgehead, the harbour installations at Bol.Izhora which the Soviets use for reinforcing the bridgehead and Sepelevo airield which is used for air supply by the enemy. The first phase of the offensive will isolate and capture Oranienbaum itself. The isolation (and subsequent capture) of Oranienbaum will greatly diminish supply in the rest of the beachhead, leaving most of the enemy front in 'overextended supply' as the supply point at Sepelevo has only limited 'capacity'. At the same time a strike force will advance towards Bol.Izhera denying the enemy the ability to reinforce (or evacuate) the bridgehead. In the final phase of the operation we will advance to and capture Sepelovo airfield, leaving what will by then be left of the enemy entirely cut off from supplies. By not attacking Oranienbaum along the coast, but from the Gostilitsy sector we can avoid the fortifications in front of the town and at the same time we will have a springboard towards Bol.Izhera.

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Kirishi sector

The Soviet attack was indeed massive and with three divisions earmarked for Bettelstab and 12. Panzer still tied down in the battles around Mga there was little we could do to reinforce the sector at that time. Stug Abt. 185 had been railed in from Army Group reserves, 217. Inf.Div. set one of their infantry battalions on the march while further south (off screenshot) a mobile Kampfgruppe from 20. Inf.Div. (mot.) was assembled which would arrive at the frontline not before Sept. 2nd. It is unlikely that we will be able to keep the enemy from capturing Posadnikov Ostrov and Kirishi, but we must under all circumstances prevent a collapse of that sector as this would then also threaten our position further south at Chudovno. Note that railroad engineers have begun converting/repairing the railline to Kusino to improve logistics in that sector. At the same time we need to keep a strong presence in the Lyuban / Chuskoy Bor sector as an additional Soviet attack to cut the railline to Kusino was expected.

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Reinforcements

There are still two Infantry Divisions on their way to Army Group North's sector: 132. Inf.Div. and 3. Gebirgs Div. Yet Army Command felt it would need additional forces and requested 72. Inf.Div.

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[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 7
September 2nd
A German offensive has begun against the Oranienbaum bridgehead. 2 new enemy divisions has been identified in the sector and on the first day of the attacks they have modest gains north of Gostilitsy. We remain fairly passive and simply commit the arriving reserves of 13th and 55th Naval RB into the line of advance and secondary lines of defense. Unfortunately they are not fully supplied after the tedious crossing of the Gulf of Finland. A few extra days of preparation to dig properly in would have been good.
It's uncertain if we will be able to fend off a determined attack, but we prepare to send an extra engineer brigade and a couple of extra rifle regiments from the Leningrad Reserve to the area.
With the Germans showing his hand we don't expect any other major offensive elsewhere for the time being.

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At the Leningrad corridor we finally defeat the last strongpoints on the coast. Germans counterattack again and take an hex east of Mga, while we pause our attacks. (not shown)

As stated yesterday we open up attacks from the east against Kirishi. We push the Germans from the eastern bank of the town, but the town itself hold against our first assault. On the northwestern sector we press on towards Posadnikov Ostrov but this town also fends off two assaults, but with Germans positions getting exposed north of the town.

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Elsewhere Germans once again methodically attack a single hex south of Ramushevo corridor and take it. It's still not certain if its just local frontline improvements, but some of our units are beginning to risk getting encircled.
North of Demyansk preparations for the coming offensive to open up the rail line into the Pola sector is ongoing. 34th Army is shuffeling around some of its forces to concentrate in the Lychkovo/Luzhno sector. 2 new German divisions has been spotted taking over positions on the rail line west of Lychkovo, so we are planning to reinforce 34th Army with both the 4th and 6th Guards Rifle Corps to lead the attack from the east, while a secondary/holding attack will come from the north with 3 rifle brigades and a tank brigade.

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[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 8
September 3rd

The German attack into the Oranienbaum bridgehead continues. Our main secondary line is penetrated 10 km south of Bol.Izhora, but by comitting the units from the more quiet Gorlovo area south of there, the fortified line is recaptured, without having to move our only armoured formation, the 287th Tank Bn away from it's fortified position.
No armour has been spotted in the enemy offense, and though only two new infantry divisions so far has been identified, a full extra unidentified division is observed in the enemy rear, ready to be sent into action.
Our reinforcement of the bridgehead is progressing slowly. The 104th NKVD Rgt is the only unit expected to arrive in the next few days.

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At the Kirishi salient the Germans withdraw from the exposed potition north of Posadnikov Ostrov into the town itself and we are unable to dislodge his positions this day.
At Kirishi itself we advance into the town, as well as taking ground northwest of it. We now have control of the rail line and bridge crossing the Volkhov River, but it is still in need of repair.
Once operational it will increase our flexibility in transporting units between northern and southern part of our front, although preferably we would push the front line further west from the rail, to avoid all our transport movements being under observation of the enemy.

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At Leningrad Corridor there is still small attacks from the German and they now hold all the rail line east of Mga.

[NightTime977]

You got this comrade drive those fascist back! Not one step back

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 9
September 4th

With renewed attacks the 28.Jg Div once again penetrates into our secondary line of defense. This day we are however unable to dislodge him from the position. He also slowly grind his way towards the coast, now only 5km away.
Numerical we are at a disadvantage in artillery in this sector and it is being felt. We also spot enemy panzers being thrown into the attack now, but so far only a single company.
At the Leningrad corridor we complete the first set of rail tracks and tomorrow should see the arrival of the first supply trains into the city in over a year. This improved situation should allow us to start some attacks out of the city. It's unlikely we will be able to reach the Oranienbaum bridgehead, but maybe we can take off some of the pressure.

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At the Kirishi salient we still are unable to crack the tenacious defense at Posadnikov Ostrov, but we gain more terrain on the eastern side of the town to be able to increase the pressure tomorrow. We also push the Germans further away from Kirishi iteself.
The last major objective in this area is the bridge by Kusino, but instead of grinding our way down to it from the north with the 2nd Shock Army, we have other plans to secure the capture of this town.

Turn9Kir.jpg (300.79 KiB) Viewed 449 times

As stated in our initial plans, we also have chosen the objective to capture the Chudovo bulge. This is yet to be revealed to the Germans, so with the attack at Kirishi having hopefully drawn away some reserves, attacks in this region will hopefully see less resistance.
Eventually we will be sending the 8th Army here for the main assault, but for now we plan some limited offensives. 59th Army will attack from the Volkhov bridgehead and across the Volkhov river along the rail bridge south-west of Gruzino and try to make a small encirclement of the most exposed German position.
Then 1-2 days later 4th Army will cross the Volkhov River between Kusino and Gruzino. This is the primary attack, with the target to reach the edge of Otkhozhiy Swamp. This will leave the enemy units in the Kirishi salient very exposed and with a later attack by the 8th Army out of the Pogost'ye salient and south of Chudovo either force the enemy to withdraw or being encircled.

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[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 10
September 5th

The German penetration into our secondary line widens at Oranienbaum as well as the drive towards the coast, now only a little over 2km from splitting our forces. It comes with a high cost though. Reports of 45+ enemy rifle squads outright destroyed in Oranienbaum sector alone this day, thats more than two full battalions. We also identify the 250.ID as the third division in the attack this day.
Our counterattacks push back both the most exposed parts of the enemy advance, but the situation is looking serious. If our forces are cut in two it is not catastrophic, but it WILL reduce the amount of supply we can bring into the bridgehead.

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At Kirishi we finally capture Posadnikov Ostrov after 4 days of assaults, but else only little gains.

59th Army's small offensive kicks off. Two rifle divisions and a tank brigade set off to cross the Volkhov River along the Leningrad/Moscow rail line, while a single division attacks out from our bridghead on the western bank of the river.
Results are disappointing. We are not able to establish any new bridgeheads across the river this day, but DO manage small gains out from our existing bridgehead. This force is not very strong, so it will be difficult to expand. We also do minor attacks out from the tip of the Pogost'ye salient, just to pin as many Germans forces as possible, so our attack by 4th Army tomorrow will improve their chances.

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New small attacks at Ramushevo corridor by the Germans widens it a bit further this day.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 11
September 6th

The Germans commit 250.ID fully and reaches the coast west of Oranienbaum, as well as driving a deep wedge towards Bol.Izhora. Our tank bn is unfortunately reorganizing, so isn't available for any counterattacks this day. The remaining units in front of Bol.Izhora is also quite exhausted, so they are just given the order to dig in where they stand.
Tomorrow should see the first reinforcements arriving from Kronstadt, but in order to make more forces available we give the order to pull our forces in the western and southern part of the bridgehead back.
These 4 brigades are still at good strength and by pulling back to shorter lines we can maybe free up 2 of the brigades to help at Bol.Izhora. We order a few of their battalions to take up exposed defensive positions in order to cover the withdrawal.
From Leningrad we make some limited relieve attacks. At best we hope to sever the rail line running 5km from the front, that supplies the German forces attacking Oranienbaum.
In the first day of attacks we capture Pushkin, but make no progress towards the rail. (not shown)

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At Chudovo the Germans recapture our small advance in the Volhov Bridgehead. Our forces here and in the Pogost'ye Salient are reorganizing this day, so will temporary hold the attack. We continue our attacks over the Volkhov by the rail though, but once again we are unable to get across, as the Germans deploy some of their armoured reserve here.
Between Gruzino and Kusino 4th Army now begins its attack. As expected this part of the front is only defended by weaker forces amounting to about a battalion's worth, so it is a bit disappointing that we only barely manage to get across to the western shore of the river.

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In the Demyansk pocket our first small attacks begin this day. 3 rifle brigades with a bit of armoured support attacks the rail line on the northern part of the pocket. As noted earlier this attack is mainly a diversion. While the rail line IS the objective, we plan a much larger attack around Luzhno in a few days.
In order to keep our assmbling of troops secret, we refrain from supporting this initial attack with most of the heavy artillery assembled. The result is predictable with no real gains.
A small attack on the southern part of the pocket gains a bit of terrain, but these attacks are again just diversions.

The Germans are also a bit active and push us a bit back deep in the swamps west of the Lovat River.

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[Telumar]

Kirishi - Chudovno sector overview (Sept 4th, start of German turn 9)

When the first Soviet attacks occured SE of Chudovno, with both Kirishi and Posadnikov Ostrov lost and unlikely to be recaptured with local forces against overwhelming enemy numerical superiority, the mobile Kampfgruppe of 20. Inf.Div. (mot) was redirected south to the Chudovno sector. The initial Soviet attacks at Chudovno lacked decisive successfull results, but as can be seen, the lines of I. Korps defending that area are rather thin and in the face of to be expected continued Soviet attacks could falter rather fast. In the Kirishi area the Soviet advance is being slowed down, though not entirely halted, by 3 infantry divisions in good defensible terrain. The railhead had at that time almost reached Kusino.

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Oranienbaum bridgehead overview (Sept 6th, end of German turn 11)

The Soviet withdrawal from the southern and southwest part of the bridgehead defence line came as a welcomed surprise although we were not able to fully exploit this due to the delaying forces the Soviets left behind and due to the restricted and difficult terrain in that area. The push towards Bol. Izhera continued, while Oranienbaum itself had been isolated by the reinforced eastern Kampfgruppe of 58. Inf.Div. Overall, the offensive was going according to plan, albeit, as Snefens stated, at a higher cost in infantry sqauds than expected. In the previous turns we extricated 12. Panzer Div. from the front at the Leningrad corridor where battles had ceased completely in the meantime. The division now acted (again) as a mobile reserve, mainly to protect the important rail line towards Oranienbaum from possible enemy attacks out of Leningrad in support of the Oranienbaum defence.

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Ramushevo corridor and Demyansk pocket ((Sept 6th, end of German turn 11)

At that time, first elements of 3. Gebirgs Div. and 72 Inf.Div. began asembling south of Staraya Russa in preparation for the upcoming offenisve against Soviet positions south of the corridor (Operation Winkelried). To establish the actual rail connection into the pocket we would as a minimum "only" have to take three hexes (red line), but we would also need to take the Operation Winkelried objectives (also marked) to receive the full VP bonus. And of course we would have to push the Soviets as far away from the rail line as possible to create a protective buffer zone. At that time I already had developed an attack plan. However, to keep the suspense and let Snefens tell the story from his side, I will not yet reveal it. I am looking forward to what he will be reporting about this. Did he have suspicions? I don't know...

Also note the inoperable rail running towards the Soviet positions opposite Staraya Russsa which is interrupted by the northern bulge of the Demyansk pocket. Things will indeed heat up here.

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