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May 24th, 1943

Moscow is still under Soviet control but another Red Army tank corps is eliminated and the last severely damaged. We need to hang on to Moscow for as long as possible since it contains a large portion of the Russian weapons industry.

June 1st, 1943

Comrade Stalin is glad to have taken the last train out of Moscow. It is encircled now even though Russian troops can temporarily open the supply lines once more during their turn.

June 9th, 1943

Can the slow progress in Spain make up for the furious and fulminant German attack in Russia? We start to have severe doubts. All major Russian cities are still holding but only at hair's breath.

June 16th, 1943

The Red Army defends Moscow to the last bullet but German superiority will make the attempt futile. In Spain, the occupation of Valencia has brought some small movement into the much too stagnant situation.

June 24th, 1943

My apologies but the local theater commanders in both Russia and Spain where too overwhelmed with other pressing matters to take photographic evidence of the action this turn. But the encirclement of Moscow has been put in place again without the Red Army being able to break through this time. The end of the Russian capital is near.

In Spain, the US forces could advance a small amount towards Barcelona and Zaragosa. The Axis units have taken the main line a few hexes further north. But all of this is not nearly as dramatic as the events unfolding in Russia.

July 1st, 1943

Americans land amphibiously behind the Axis lines in Spain while the christian population of Moscow lights candles and starts praying to the patron saint of the city. St. George is known to have slain a dragon already previously. Luckily comrade Stalin left some friendly political commissars behind to encourage and motivate the remaining units for the last desperate fights.

July 9th, 1943

St. George is of course admired in many Christian cities including Berlin and we hope he does not have a conflict of interest. Moscow is holding out for another week and the Comintern instead of the Axis enjoys its income.

The short encirclement of Axis units in Spain may have gotten things moving again. But even if we are successful in Spain, the Pyrenaean mountains are another formidable obstacle to overcome.

July 16th, 1943

Moscow falls and - despite all enmity - the Soviet High Command sends a message of congratulations to the German commanding General for the fine campaign. Capturing Moscow is quite an achievement for the Axis and has a high reward in VPs and PPs.

(Player note: I have the dubious honor to have for the first time lost Moscow to the Wehrmacht in an unadjusted game of all AARs on record. The early Soviet attack on Germany is probably the main culprit together with stopping all Lend Lease early on and of course further playing mistakes. I have trusted too much on Russia's own vast resources and overestimated the speed with which the Western Allies can compensate the pressure with their own attack. Not all is lost, though and the fight will continue).

July 24th, 1943

Heavy fighting in Spain and the Soviet Union plus some clean-up actions in North Africa.

August 1st, 1943

The Wehrmacht has left Moscow already far behind and continues in overdrive. The ring around Leningrad is just strong enough so that we cannot break out there. However, there is now some mobile action in Spain and France.

August 16th, 1943

Our second amphibious landing takes place in Bordeaux. We are afraid that the nearby German tank corps can retake the city right away. If we hold, it will disable Bordeaux for redeployment of Axis units that have to leave Spanish territory after the countries surrender at the end of this turn. In Russia, we are curious if the Germans will head further east in the north right away or first consolidate southwards.

September 1st, 1943

The war is four years old and Spain is finally freed of Axis occupation. It took almost 1.5 years. Us troops hurry over the Pyrenean mountains while Russia is in a struggle for its life.

September 16th, 1943

Southern France saw more American troops arriving from Spain and getting into position. Russia is in poor shape (what is new) and we hope to have soon some units freed up that are still fighting near Tobruk.

October 1st, 1943

We can destroy an Italian unit near Tobruk and near Bordeaux. But in Russia our once reliable Lvov- Galati front is being threatened from behind as German units from central Russia move south towards the Crimean. We have to extract ourselves slowly and start an orderly retreat. Moving south is probably the correct move for the Wehrmacht at this time since heading further east will further stretch their southern flank.

October 16th, 1943

The main concern is now to save the southern Russian fronts from large scale encirclement and to continue to pressure the Axis in France. We will soon finish the North African campaign.

November 1st, 1943

We are working hard to avoid another catastrophe in the southern part of Russia. Good news come only from the desert. We expect fighting to pick up soon in France where the last turns where occupied with movement and repair only.

December 1st, 1943

The Western Allies conduct a third successful amphibious landing after talking Bilbao and Bordeaux in similar fashion, this time the landing is in Marseilles.

The Axis has more or less halted all activities in northern Russia and continues to focus on the south. The eastward retreat of large numbers of forces from the Romanian border continues.

January 1st, 1944

Again a complete lack of winter in Russia. It must be an early sign of global warming with all those German tank engines running. We suffer heavily in the southern Russia and try to fight back with mini-activities in the north.

In France the Western Allies move as fast as possible to come to the aid of their comrades in arms.

February 1st, 1944

Good progress in France and an ever more hopeless situation in Russia.

February 16th, 1944

We hope that our activities in France and Italy force the Axis high command to withdraw more units from Russia since the Axis has currently no continuous defensive line in Western Europe. The situation in Russia is grim.