A camp 1941 has begun!!!

[Morphy]

Sept. 21st 1941

Morphy (Ger) vs PYG (Sov)

The great success!!! 5 Soviet cities were captured, among them Moscow!

Heeresgruppe Nord after capture of Tikhvin keeps moving toward Vologda and Kalinin.

Heeresgruppe Mitte performed several armor raids and have captured Moscow which was almost undefended - the garrison was weak and unprepared to fight. It seems Soviets are extremely exhausted... Southern to Moscow infantry corpses have seized Tula, Orel and Kursk (only the first one was defended).

Heeresgruppe Sud surrounded Kharkov one more time and shattered one Soviets HQ destroying approx. 450 planes. Fast armor raid resulted in capture of Rostov. It seems before October rains the front line will stabilize: Rostov, Voronezh, along Don, Moscow, Kalinin, swamps between Tikhvin and Vologda.

Unless Soviets prepare themselves during October rains Gorki will fall before blizzards ending the war in December the latest!

[K62_]

ORIGINAL: Morphy

09/07/41
because of repeated Soviet counterattacks and numerous, successful sorties against German airfields many PanzerKorps were cut off without supply. The Red Air Force managed to weaken many of them and finally 3 of them (including the most powerful unit - 39th Panzerkorps) were destroyed. On Sept. the 7th all German PanzerKorps were besieged and Soviets managed to counterattack recapturing Velikye Luki! It seems blitzkrieg is finished since the Germans have just 1 armored corps which is not besieged.

[X(][X(][X(]

[Morphy]

Sept 28th

PYG (Ger) vs Morphy (Sov)

The battle of Demyansk has almost ended. Another German Panzerkorps surrendered and only one unit - weak Panzerkorps is besieged. The railroad Kalinin - Demyansk is open. Forces attacking northern to Demyansk were forced to withdraw.

Southern to Demyansk 5 German infantry corpses were besieged and one armored corps has surrendered. Velikye Luki were liberated.

The Germans somehow managed to gather 3 Panzerkorpses, brought the front line between Velikye Luki and Vitebsk, performed armored raids and seized Smolensk and Vyazma. They have been quickly cut off and besieged. They are not supposed to live long. A month ago I would call it a disaster. Right now I call it an opportunity to destroy remnants of German armored units...

Southern to Smolensk one German inf. corps was forces to withdraw and the Dneper Line was restored.

Southern to Kiev the Germans managed to surround 2 Soviet shock armies. Soviets counterattacked and as a result one German inf. corps surrendered. But these actions stopped Soviet offensive toward Odessa.

October begins with snow weather...

[Morphy]

Here is the front line on Sept. the 28th.

[Morphy]

The mirror game:

Morphy (Ger) vs PYG (Sov)
Slaughter of Soviet HQs: 7 of them were shattered but no commanders were killed in action. The Red Air Force lost over 1200 planes.

Heeresgruppe Nord: is getting weaker and weaker since there is not much to do. They move slowly toward Vologda, there is no Soviet resistance.

Heeresgruppe Mitte: Kalinin was besieged, many Soviet corpses near Moscow surrendered, some more were encircled. Virtually all corpses are moving forward unopposed. Voronezh and Kharkov (which was besieged) are taken. In the south the Romanians have entered Crimea and move toward Sevastopol.

Soviets seem to be beaten. Their resistance is symbolic.

[Morphy]

Here's the map at the end of Sept. 1941.
The weather at the beginning of October is snowy.

Black dots - positions of Wehrmacht, red dots - cut off German corpses.

[Morphy]

Note: plain map was created by Flankerleader and modified by Silvanski. Front line was marked by me

[Silvanski]

Army Group Center seems to be in a difficult position with so many units cut off.
I am sure it won't be possible to keep all of those supplied by air.

[Morphy]

ORIGINAL: Silvanski
Army Group Center seems to be in a difficult position with so many units cut off.
I am sure it won't be possible to keep all of those supplied by air.

You have to ask PYG wheter it is possible

[pyguinard]

ORIGINAL: Silvanski

Army Group Center seems to be in a difficult position with so many units cut off.
I am sure it won't be possible to keep all of those supplied by air.

Yes, the situation was precarious even if many Group Center units you see on the map were on theVitebsk-Smolensk railroad. Morphy managed to recapture Vitebsk thus germans were cut out of supply. I was able to air supply to an acceptable level even if the Russian had positioned many strong Yak-1 squadrons to intercept. Being able to move was enough to cut the russian units from supply in turn. I then managed to capture close to 4000 squads and 500 afvs in the following turn (which by luck, happened to be snow instead of rain)

Py

[Morphy]

Yup!

At the moment is mid-October 1941 and the weather, luckily for Soviets, is rainy. Nothing much has happened: 5 German corpses, including 2 armored are besieged and get their supply by air. In south the Germans and their allies managed to cut off 2 Soviet corpses, but they cleared up a way to at least one of them by forcing Romanian unit to retreat. In comparison to previous fights it's a lull time. Both sides prepare for better weather conditions. It is getting more and more interesting since it's still the Germans who have the initiative and air superiority but nobody knows how long...

The mirror game is getting boring...
The Germans besieged a solitary Soviet corps defending a raiload Tikhvin - Vologda for the second time and forced it to surrender - over 800 tanks were captured. Impressive.

Near Moscow several besieged Soviet corpses were destroyed and some more cut off. Unless weather worsens Gorki will be taken in less than a month.

German forces southern to Tula haven't noticed any Soviet units and steadily (2 hexes per week) march eastward.

German Luftwaffe has nothing much to do so they bomb Soviet cities. Stalingrad is so close bombers flying over it have even fighter protection. 11th Army after capture of Rostov a few weeks ago is moving toward Caucasus.

Italian and Romanian forces are clearing up Crimea penisula from Soviet forces.

It seems in a few weeks the mirror campaign is going to end.

[pyguinard]

Here is the situation before the german turn at 11/2/41.

Although it seems that many german units are encircled, even more soviet troops have been left without supply for the two last turns and suffered high casualties at the end of this turn, especially in the triangle formed by Velikye Luki - Smolensk - Mogilev. Nevertheless, there seems to be very little hope of capturing Moscow before the Russian Blizzard.

[Morphy]

Indeed. My Soviets have suffered heavy losses - 8000 inf. squads. Undoubtely it was my fault - I overestimated Soviets, while it seems they're unable to withstand any serious attack if they attacked a turn before.

Anyhow, Soviets were given orders to retreat in the centre.

Here is a description by PYG:
Battle Report (11/2/41):
Once again, the snowy weather allowed for some large tactical manoeuvers. This was one of the few last chances the german commander will get before the blizzard comes so he decided to put every possible effort.

In the North, the Wermacht attacked cautiously to avoid loosing entrenchment in key areas before the blizzard but managed to gain some ground anyways. Red Army forces around Leningrad seem to be very well entrenched. They didn't budge even after a 5:1 assault. Casualties were high.

The main battles have been fought in the center. Some forward positions of the 4th Pz Army are starting to see Rhzev 40 Km away. Amazingly, the Kamikaze PzII battalion survived and may make its way out of the trap. In the Gomel area, every sovietic units that tried to cross the Dniepr back were eliminated. The Vitebsk-Smolensk railway has finally been cleared of any Red Army soldiers. Now, many Soviets seem to be trapped in the triangle formed by Vitebsk-Smolensk-Gomel. Again, knowing how the Supreme Chief of the Red Army (you) likes to plan his defense, O.K.H. (me) expect that they will resist to the last man waiting for the moment to counterattack. Didn't it worked before?

The Kiev Sector saw some ferocious fighting one more time. The 4th Shock army was savagely mauled and retreated as far as the Dnepr River. 47th Army looked pretty weak when some small Rumanian Corps almost forced it to retreat. 1st and 5th Shock Armies are on the menu of next week if the weather allows it. Odessa still holds eventhough the defender's casualties seem to rise as compared to those of the offenders.
- End of Battle Report

[Morphy]

PYG (Ger) vs Morphy (Sov)
11/9/1941 (Sov. phase)

North: Front line from Leningrad to Velikye Luki is stable in spite of a few German attacks. In one place, near Novogrod the Germans managed to break through, but they were stopped. No counterattacks since Soviets don't want to leave their well entrenched positions.

Middle: Retreat of Soviet forces from Mogilev- Vitebsk area. Smolensk is one more time cut off. 2 German corpses were destroyed, one of them armored.

Near Gomel 2 more German corpses are besieged, southern to the city Nazis still have 2 corpses wedging into Soviet lines.

South: Dnepr line was restored near Kiev. Forces were reinforced and resupplied - I hope they can stop any further German attacks.

Deeper to the south - a powerful German inf. corps is still besieged (it's been cut off for a month or so...) and a Panzerkorps which was supposed to save it, has been encircled as well.

Odessa garrison was strenghten for the first time since it was cut off. I believe they can withstood all attacks before blizzard comes.

Soviet air force has bombed German Fw-190 factories several times so far, therefore there is almost air parity in multiple places. Probably in January 1941 Soviets will use only Yaks 1, Hurricanes and P-40s.

The mirror game:
Morphy (Ger) vs PYG (Sov)
11/2/1941 (end of Ger phase)
Heeresgruppe Nord: Vologda is taken, most of its units have already been transferred to other armies.

Heeresgruppe Mitte: Moscow area has been cleaned from all remnants of besieged Soviet forces, German armored corpses are now 2 hexes away from Gorki. It seems fall of the city is only a matter of time.

Southern German units move forward unopposed. Saratov is under heavy bombing. Since it is not far away, bombers are protected by fighters.

Heeresgruppe Sud: German corpses move toward Stalingrad - they have reached bridge on Don and there is very little resistance. The city is not even bombed because it should fall soon.

11th Army has breached a railroad to Maikop. Novorosiysk is cut off. Oil fields near Maikop will be seized in 1-2 weeks, what will increase Reich's gasoline reserves.

Crimea is taken except for Kerch.

Soviets for the first time asked for peace talks

[Morphy]

Here are some scans how does the front line on Nov. 2nd look like.

All scans were taken at the beginning of German turn.

Comment:
Due to shortages of supply attack toward Caucasus is slow - 2hex/turn... Anyhow at the end of this week Soviet railroad toward Maikop was cut off. Pay attention almost entire Crimea, including Sevastopol is seized.

[Morphy]

The same date.

Again it's shortages of supply which limit speed of attack. One of the leading Panzerkorpses has supply level 0. Pay attention I can bomb Stalingrad with fighter cover but what for if the city is going to be seized soon?

[Morphy]

The same date.

After capture of Voronezh there has not been noticed any severe resistance. For almost a month Luftwaffe has been unemployed, so they were told to ruin Saratov, which, at the moment, is closer than 14 hexes to front line (range of FW 190). Again - shortages of supply limit speed of attack.

[Morphy]

The same date, Moscow and Gorki area.

There are plenty of German corpses near Moscow because during battle of Moscow many Soviet units had been besieged and later subsequently destroyed. It was prolonged due to rains but finally, as you can see, no organized Soviet corpses are in Moscow area. At the end of this turn communist forces western to the city were destroyed thus railorad to Gorki is clear.

[Morphy]

Heeresgruppe Nord, the same date.

After capture of Vologda there is nothing much to do... The armored corps you can see in the city is composed only of F. Geyer SS Cavarly division. There is no need to keep strong forces in the area thus you can see 2 units being moved to other places.

Northern you can see Finish troops - after fall of both Moscow and Leningrad Lorenzo rule no longer applies so they are supposed to attack toward Arkhangielsk.

[K62_]

Stalingrad won't fall and it looks like Gorki will be at SL 4 on Dec 7. You'll have to endure at least 2 turns of blizzard. If the Soviets recapture Gorki on either Dec 7 or 14 you can't win before summer '42...

The question, of course, is how many Russian divisions are left in a fighting condition.