Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21)

[larryfulkerson]

T10 still: At Kuressaare, the lower left island west of Virtsu, I've cornered, and I intend to destroy a Soviet infantry division. That will give me the entire island with it's ports. At the top center of the image is the city of Tallinn defended by some Soviet CD guns and an LCU. I have only that one paratrooper unit only to hopefully prevent the escape of the enemy LCU. I'm wondering if he can fire those CD guns at my units, and if he can, will he? I don't expect too much trouble from his AA unit at the airfield mostly because I seldom see him shoot with his AA units and even if he does, I would probably suffer very little damage. Same could be said from an attack from his land unit at the port, should he shift those forces to attack my Corps HQ. I have an engineer unit nearby to attack the airfield next turn.

This is the beginning of the second combat phase and I'm going to attempt an attack to the SE of Rakvere as part of my campaign for Leningrad. I have the 1st Inf Div ( the selected unit in the image ) racing westward to help out with the fighting near Parnu, and after that to move northward and do what's appropriate.

I've got a broken road in the south center of the image but I don't plan on ever using it, it's not a crisis, has no priority, and I can take care of it if I have nothing else to do for about four turns with any random engineer unit, if ever.

I'm debating whether or not to try to grab that island at the top left. It has only that single port, is not needed for anything I can thing of so I'm going to just bombard that Soviet unit with my boats. There's no airfield on the island so if I grabbed the port with a paratrooper I'd have to wait until I have some sea cap. ( it's 0/0 right now ) and who knows when that will happen. I could disband it and wait until it respawns sometime in the future. Sounds good.

I need to attempt to drop a paratrooper near Narva and the rail line south of there where the rail crosses the river. That will help isolate Leningrad from parts west of Narva and accelerate my advance.

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[larryfulkerson]

I'm sneaking up on Smolensk slowly but the fight over the river crossings is over and now it's better terrain so my advance should speed up a tiny bit. At Mstivslavl I'm pushing with multiple forces mostly offmap to the south.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T11 at the end of the first combat phase and shows the situation at Smolensk right now. I have repaired the rail all the way to Gorki and Gusino and supply levels are more than adequate and I've moved my aircraft closer to the action. It's 27Jul41 and in the middle of summer the weather is hot and cloudy with scattered storm clouds.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is situation at Kiev right now. I've found some hexes that seem weak and attackable. I'm planning on an attack when it's profitable but I want to avoid huge losses.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is what it looks like around Odessa. I'm just about to start off bombarding Odessa for a couple of turns and then start tackling the port. I'm trying to reduce Kiev with my RR arty at the same time I'm about to reduce Odessa needing some RR arty over here too. I'll keep the arty at Kiev until I get the rail repaired closer to Odessa.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is what it looks like around south of Smolensk. Notice that I have repaired the rail lines almost to the front lines in this area so the supply levels are good. Notice also the large gap in the Soviet lines just south of Smolensk.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is T12 at the beginning of the first combat phase. I'm planning on clearing the road through Narva this turn and I captured an intact bridge south of Narva with an engineer unit. I anticipate capturing Kingisepp next turn and being in the Leningrad surburbs within five turns or so. I've forced the crossing at Pskov and now I'm pushing north along the coastal highway on the east side of Lake Peipus. There's a battle scheduled at Tallinn for the last combat turn because it'll happen so late in the turn, contingent on the arrival of the assaulting Axis Infantry Division to the SW of the city. As you can see the Soviet CD guns are 6/3 and that's more than I'm comfortable with due to possible losses so I'm including my boats in the attack to lend their bombardments. I've been using my fighters to strike the Soviet arty near Chernevo and I managed to damage and/or destroy several tubes from that unit.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is what it looks like south of Pskov and now have pushes going in several directions simultaneously. I've managed to surround a fairly large Soviet group of calvary and infantry and some heavy tanks and I managed to surround it before it could sneak across the Lovat River. Well, most of it. I'm sneaking up on the Soviet crossing at Kholm and I expect to push over the defenders and take it without too much trouble. And you can see the confrontation going on east of Velikiye Luki. My guys are tired and need a break.

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[larryfulkerson]

I'm giving some thought to assaulting Smolensk and what is holding me back is that SS Infantry Division just to the south of Smolensk that is showing yellow instead of ready. I like to attack when my guys are green but will make an exception contingent on the situation. But two of my attacking stacks are standing on a river hex meaning they attack with a lessor strength than they would have attacking from level ground. That tends to lead to high losses. I think I'll wait until it heals.

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[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like from Kiev south to Odessa. I've stopped up several river crossings south of Kiev and I've got a line of troops sweeping to the SW to empty out the flat clear terrain leading to the major river to the south. I've got some RR arty at Kiev and I need them at Odessa already. I guess I'll have to send some to both leaving not enough for either. I've blockaided the groups at Kiev so nobody is getting out to the west any time soon and I expect to soon be able to block the city from the east. Soon means within 20 turns or so.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is T13 just before the first combat phase and shows the front lines from north of Leningrad to Odessa in the south.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is the Bryansk area and shows the front lines as they are right now. I don't see any crisis places and things are going rather well. I don't have the rail repaired far enough forward in this area but the supply levels are still adequate so far.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is the Pskov area. The Soviet units are scattered and I'm pushing them back. Supply levels are adequate and I'm repairing the rails to just offscreen to the left.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is the Smolensk area. The Soviets have arrived at this AO just about the same time I got here and we're having a meeting engagement. I've got recon units forward and my follow-on forces have already arrived so I should be able to push my way through these guys. I finally captured Smolensk and my next local goal is the city of Vyazma for the rail lines; they form a hub with some supply nearby and the terrain is flat. The weather is still hot but doable with multiple scattered storms.

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[larryfulkerson]

Here's the view looking north from Kiev. I've got an intact bridge over the Desna River and another one near Mena to the east and another one near
Novhorod Seversky further east. I intend to push south from all those cities while using my arty on Kiev to reduce that fortress. Also, I need to push east along the north edge of this image to grab Bryansk while I'm in the neighborhood.

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[larryfulkerson]

Here's the view looking south from Kiev. I've stopped up a couple of crossings and I'm simultaneously clearing out the Soviets from the landmass between the rivers as they combine into one river down south. Meanwhile, I labor to repair the rails into this AO to keep the supply levels in the adequate column. I'm still using my fighters to attack his arty to see if I can't reduce the number of tubes I'm facing. I've destroyed about 6 of them this turn so far.

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[larryfulkerson]

I've surrounded Odessa and I'm clearing a path to the Crimea. It only looks like a clear path because I can't see into those hexes yet. My global recon value is too low and the Soviet units that may or may not be there are invisible yet. Although I see that the rail line has been unrepaired. I'll need to see if I can't change that in the scenario so that it's all repaired from the start. Another mod to my mod. I see a single AA unit to the NE of Odessa and now is the time to assault it to grab that hex. I intend on destroying all the Soviet units in Odessa of course but I'd like to grab the port first so none of them get away.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is what it looks like north of Leningrad. The Finns are pushing for the stop line as hard as they can, involving their HQ's in the combat. I've seemingly trapped some Soviet units south of Imatra on the southern coast. I just need to grab that one hex and those units will be cut off. I'm hoping I have a unit that can still move to take it.

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[larryfulkerson]

Early in T14 I decided to land the 5th Brandenburg paratroopers somewhere in the Soviet rear so I chose the city of Nezhin as my LZ. I was hoping there was nobody there defending and as luck would have it, it was completely empty. Instant capture. I ventured out to capture the airfield and a hex that has a rail hub in it. I'm counting on getting some reinforcements to save his ass sometime before the Soviets can surround him and eliminate him. So I need to get there this turn or earlier if possible. I've already moved the 4 other paratroopers to airfields to maximize the movement rate before I lose air cap.

Kiev shows an empty hex and a huge stack adjacent to it showing red so there's possibly three potential attackers for that hex, so I'm planning on sending some armour in there because it might tend to survive before infantry. Actually some recon might mitigate enemy attacks. So a mix of units would be appropriate.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T14 but later in the turn before the first combat phase. I just managed to move an engineer unit ( selected unit in the image ) onto the road crossing bridge NE of Nikolayev trapping all the Soviet units west of there, all are isolated. I'm still in the movement phase so there's plenty that will change in this image.

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