"AAR Germany faces East", formerly not an AAR

[freeboy]

Southern Front HQ
SGT Tompkin
I was promoted again!, Another rank and perhaps a posting to Moscow and officers advanced training! I guess the Lt from the Muis crossing, now a Major I hear, has mentioned me? Perhaps the farther away from the Germans the Better!
These guys are ripping through our depleated forces.. yet the Defence of Moscow where the vast majority of the enemies forces remain is paramount we are told. Already we see the troops near Stallingrad digging in behind the rivers...
We moved 10 divisions from Moscow, but rather than face the enemy air force and be bombed they where routed all the way to the Cacasses and then south. Only two are anywhere near the fighting in the South.. and the enemy gained another 150km towards Cherkasy and Miokop! Our troops allong the coast and sout hof Rostov are no longer sending in reports, a bad sign the fighting goes poorly there. I heard rumors of successfull counterattacks near Karkov and North of Rostov, could they be true? The orders we are ready to transmit still sit in my staffs hands, the troops are not mobilized to massively counterattack, and Konev is flying to Moscow.. will he return? I think all the Genreals where surprised the attacks went South and are scrambling to recover! Well, I am many many km away.. thankfully.

[freeboy]

Mid may t95

!st Army HQ asseigned to AGN under the command of Field Marshel Hoth
General Steiner von Bock detached 1st army group HQ commanding general.

" Operation Northstar in in full swing, we actually took The rail station at Kirishi a week early, and the Enemy continues to, per intellegence Hoth just sent over, push troops to the South."
"Yes my friend, we make good with these men we are given.. the new SS troops fight well, SS Politie sent from the center has helped," replied General Weber. The men walk over to the map and view the new lines and reports of enemy troops dissolving before there barrages.
"Having 85% more supplies, has bolstered our attacks, and our moral"the men sip their hot coffee, "Steinner, we have known each other a long time, friends from before the little on took power. Do you think with the successes in the South we will get additional troops?
"Perhaps, the Strategic oil reserves where released on the little ones orders, seems they are confident with the capture of Myokop and Taman, Krasnadoe taken and a general enemy rout south of the Donetz.. at a minimum we will see better supplies, and we are only into our second week of the offensive!"
This map I am preparing to send to Hoth showing the advances we are making...it already has been updated by our counterparts in
3rd Army, they too had a breakout.. they use well those navy bombardment groups.

note Kirishi Rail junction now taken to the Southeast of Lennengrad

[freeboy]

t95

AGS VR overall commander
This is the view I am sending to Berlin showing the lines before the offensive,and now in its second week. Manstien continues to savage the Forces south of the Donetz, below on the second map the dark circle are isolated, the light circled untis in the second map are depleated and probably gone too. the front will be open to attack across into the area closs to Stallingrad. Maykop fell, map three. Model and the Newly assigned Guiderian making such speed... we are transfering even more rail repair units South as they are 5 weeks ahead of the planned schedule!

[freeboy]

95 cont from VR
This is the second depiction that will go to the General Staff in Berlin

[freeboy]

t95

Action group Model
General Guderian commanding Eastern forces armies 8 and 9 driving to the South.
We take Mayokop!, surround Krasnador and take the two rail junction cities on the main line south. Our problem is not the enemy but our supply lines.. we have advance hundreds of km in days and the eng cannot repair that much rail... we get supplies dropped to the forward units and the incressed stockpiles help... rumers are the strategic reserves are being released now that we have captured much of the oil feild near Maykop! Note the lack of enemy in this entire region!

[freeboy]

Sgt Tomkin Southern Front Hq Communications and supply coordination group. Mid May 1942

My new posting is good here in the rear area near Stalingrad, but the bad news that I see is almost worth asking a reassignment to the front line support comm units! All the strategic cities from Taman to Cherkasy are falling to the enemy and he just launched the offensive last week! Our troops in the Area North of Rostov and South of the Donetz are beign savaged, evedentially the artillery barrages that used to last a few hours now go on half a day at times! Huge holes are blown in the lines and strongpoint bypassed, just like when I was at the front in 41... but now I am safe, for now. The ability to sleep, eat every day and even flirt with the female comrades here at HQ are causiong me to live again, I feel a deapth of guilt, strangly odd, that I still live, and have these comforts when so many others are dead, dying or fighting against the enemy with a huge numerical supperiory in our region. the Center area remains quite, but rumer has it the tanks will turn North and drive stright for the Heart of the Motherland. We continue to sit on the counterattack orders, and the trains bringingthe new tank units are being routed well to the East, taking longer to reach the front!
I also heard from another Sgt who coordinates air fuel and the specials given to the pilots, can you believe they even get ham? This Sgt told me US advisors have been seen and there also rumurs the capitalist that last year where denounced in Pravda and today are heralded as our great patriotic allies agianst the Germans may send over fleets of planes!

[freeboy]

Mid May 1942 somewere along the Black Sea
Lt Jerson detached commando recon deep inside enemy territory. Men," Mayokop has fallen! That is only 100km or so!" The men where excstatic wth the news, not at first really believing they would live past this mission.. exceipt maybe in Turkey held there untill the wars end. They beging the reconisence of the nearby rail, even though they know they would have heard the trains the tailtaells they left remain undesturbed... more like spying they now are truly aggitated at being left out of the fight.

"No trains today Lt" The men have learned respect for there Nazi commander from Norway, especially after those first months leading several ambushes that left no enemy alive and all involved thought would be suicide, not unlike in this mission the Lt seemed to have that special quality among elite that set him apart.

The men moved down the series of checks they had left to see if there where any indication of movement, they had discovered a militia "division" help the port. Not a true division and certaianly not one to stop a fully manned German regular army one, let alone a more veteran armored infantryor tank division. As they moved in short burst acroos the terrien in the setting sun.. they looked somewhat like oversized wolves, low to the ground and blending in, silent. This was to end shortly.

Unmistackable sounds. Trucks, but not the earlier ill tuned ones, approached. They dropped and waitign for the ambush signal.. hand tested weopon unused, felt in vain for charges left behind

[freeboy]

Soon the truck where louder and the Lt began a childlike chuckle that sent a chill up the spine of his Sgt.
"Sir?"
'I do believe these may be German trucks.. capture by the enemy ? or else some of the advance gaurd"
The noise dissapated briefly as the winds changed, and the distant dust from the scout cars was seen first, as they raced forward risking enemy attack and headed down the dirt t road just slow enough for the trucks trailing the rear to follow."
"Sir those are our trucks!"
"What do you mean corperal?"
"Look sir at the markiing the bastards are using commando trucks", the lt looked and sure enough, clearly through his Zeiss binoclulars, made specifically for the commando units utilized low weigth and size but great light gathering abilty he easily made out the marking as truck belonging to 1st Brandenburg, their sister organization... there where 5 Brandenbergs, at least before the operation began...

"Well, it does look like the forward elements of either the red army staff running away in captured equipment that works or our own troops racing to resupply us!" The men all began to laugh, still ready to strike the now clear four small scout cars , followed by five trucks. not the Whole 1st but maybe a portion. When the group got to within 300 meters the Lt. gave the enemy recognition signal to the sgt.. the men ran forward all realizing they where linking up with advance scouts.

They hit the ground by instinctive reaction as the bullets whined overhead, the steady popopopop of the light mg42 announcing the enemy? had seen them, but they clearly where wearing Commando uniforms! As if one man the six began terring off the peasant garb they had over the commando camos. the Lt barked out," hit?"
"All ok sir" replied the Sgt.. they each new their responsibility, even commanding only 5 men!

"Out where we can see you", a loud voice in Russian barked.
"Why Colonel Shultz, only if you promiss not to shoot my men " Replied the lt in a mix of German and Russian.

"Jensen?"
"Yes sir.. countersign Big Brother left home while little sister went to the Dance"
"Lower you weapons men. " He began turning toward the now slowly rising group of six, we thought you where all dead, you where the lucky ones, your reports.?"

"A undermaned rear area division and a few Red navy marines in the port you bypassed." The lt handed a small bundle as the men met,
lst page is the most recent, little activity, no air or trains."
"Well done lt, we are a detachment from the 1st, sorry to tell you your group landed on an non observed enemy concentration and was not heard from. that area has been over run now by our troops and some may have escaped. " This grim news was taken in stioc pride as few men in these units had truly hoped for light losses.

Taman is fully secure.. twelve romainaian divisions are ashore alnong with one regular army and the newly formed Grossguetchland.
The lt. smileed not wanting to tell his supperior know whe had been monitoring both radio nets and had surmised most of this. Mayokop taken. the rail nets secure to near Cherkassy, nearly 300 km in 12 days of sometime difficult fighting.
"Our orders sir?
"get some food and fresh water any amo you need" We have not fought once... in this entire breakout, not once! Our radio equipment is close, perhaps we should take a car and run close by that hillside and get it .
"Good, not you lt. Major, a man obviously used to taking orders from the coloenel moved forward. take the Sgt and break down their camp, I need to speak to the Lt."

[freeboy]

t96 97 98
AGN
FM Hoth
This dispatch will include three Maps showing the CAPTURE of Lenningrad before the completion of Op North Star, which was to isolate and cut supplies. OP NS now effectively finished as the overall goal of captuing the strategic city of Lenn has happened. these are the last ten days shots of our advances, unfortunately a succesfull red air and navel raid decimated our fleets.

[freeboy]

This next amp shows the continuing advance

[freeboy]

Note the drives in the North and North From the Rail Jnct at Krishi as Lenn is fallen and the lines crumble, Our foe raced to add troops, but with the focus on the Southern areas and the impending losses of Baku Grosny Cherkasy Stal many of his rested reserves are going there.

[freeboy]

LAte May 1942
OKE Generalspersonal diary

Hoth made his bereakout aginast severely depleated enemy troops, several fresh divisions supported the final breakout, and once he was into the rear the attacks continued(multi per turn.. 4 on 98)
With Lenn taken the enemy industry has again been given a bitter setback. PErhaps ifwe take the remaining southern ciities they red army will fold under the weight of the offensives already being planned for summer of 43.
Yet 42 has not even peaked. We are a 500 Rail KM from Baku, yet we are withing striking distance of both Grasny and Stalingrad with the enemy front line troops that he invested so much in south of the Donetz gone to the man. Or foe then raced to the opisate side of the river Dontz, slowing us but now those troops too are gone or shortly will be. Our greatest issue now if the supply lines streatching far beyond the railheads. Our foe did not account for this, or he would have withdrwn intitally and made our troops move and burn off the initial huge supplies they had stockpiled. In the South we surround Cherckasy and then the Turks may be involved, certainly Berlin is in Negotiotions but my recommendation is caution, as we do not wish US intervention!

[freeboy]

t98
Manstein group , adhoc formations of SS, Minor allies and regular army.
Genrerals briefing
"We are now well outside the full supply radius of our railheads, and a rewquest for the remaining reserve rail eng has made its way to the desk of OKE, he should sign this order and we should get sopme needed help now that we are draiving on Stalingrad. Multiple enemy formations are digging in on the Don outside of Stalingrad, and we seem to have the begginnings of a running fight between two ill supplied group along the southern advances. in our center the enemy caved in, totally advances ordered and the remaining enemy positions will be surrounded by the lesser troops aswe push forward. Greeat new from the north, but I do not think we shall get reinforcements as we are too far ahead of the timetable."

This map shows the over all area taken and the following map a closs up of the units allong the main axis of advance.

[freeboy]

this map shows close up to Kalach, near S Since the enemy has choosen to send troops agains Model and his drive towards Persia.. via the Caspian sea route.. we now are movingthe timetable to attack North and East from the Dontz industrial basin including but not limited to Stalingrad.
Our armies that are occupying KArkov reagion should be ready to join in phase two shortly.. a front wide enemy collapse could happen if Model can release troops and the enemy holds his resereve near Moscow.

[freeboy]

Action group Model
Generals notes
We continue to push our tired troops... although a cadre of well supplied entrained troops follows up near Cherkassy.
Per our intelligence we have a 15 to one advantage in men and material in this area,plus a even greater tank advantage plus numerous A divisions including GD and Viking. Cerkasy is isolated, the drive along the coast south continues and toward Grosny, wher we expect the next pocket of resistance to form.
Below is a close up of Cherkassy area

[freeboy]

98 cont
This map shows the greater area with our greatest concentration along the main rail.

[freeboy]

Early June 1942
t99

From the desk of Major Bruno Steneister

Dear Erma,
Our division advances daily, and we are desperate to see action. we have advanced more in the last two weeks than in the previose two months! The enemy has abandoned much of the areaafter the initial breakout and counterattacks near Rostov, I am sure you have read the Berlin PApers, for once they are nearly accurate. Or new tanks are greatly inproved, although somewhat slower than our older light tanks. I remember your words and attempt to be as safe as I can while doing my duty,
Yours affectionately,
Bruno Steneister
Major 6th Panzer
PS I am using the stationary you sent.. anything from home is a comfort.

__________________________________

From the desk of Major Bruno Steneister
Somewhere near the front
June 1942

Dear Major General Cluase v Pednauct,
It is my sincere regret to send this note concerning the injuries Mark suffered which I am sure you are aware. What you may not know are the circumstances of these injuries he sustained, and his losses cannot be made up by his valor, perhaps a father may find in my meager words some comfort. I looked in on him today as we await the fuel diliveries, he should be stabble enough to evacuate to the rear area hospital near Rostov, and then on toward home. It seems odd to call Rostov the rear area, but I degress. When I visited him he was alert, in some pain and aware of the extent ofthe burns. He may not ever be able to command a tank crew, but his first hand knowledge and skills as a leader make him an excellent candidate for a training possition after his recuperation. He is thankfull for being alive and knows that his days in 6th panzer are over, perhaps that seems a greater loss to him than the scarring... but he is young.

The main reason for my note is to forward the commendation signed off by Model himself for the Knights Cross.
Your son deserves it, many would have abandoned the fight, I was there too!
This is the main commendation;
" For action and galantry in the face of supperior enemy numbers while using a disable vehicle and suffering near life threatening injuries..."
the commendation goes on and has the profuntory dates .. what it does not include is this.

We where near the end of our supplies of fuel, not an uncommon issue advances so quickly. We came upon a group of enemy anti tank guns digging in there truck visable and we hoped to quickly dislodge them and allow the infantry which trailed up by less than 2 km to take over as we waited for the trucks with our petrol. The attack started uneventfully, we easilly shot up the reds, they gave some resistance but where out gunned . I ordered a stop and hold order and we took hull down positions near where the enemy had begun to dig in. Soon all around us artillery rained down, ours theres, we could not tell, and then the smoke that told an enemy tank group was near, the guards groups seem fond of covering the approaches. Then all hell broke lose. we had no fuel to manuver or retreat, so we fought and made the best of our defensive possitions. T34s are still so dangerous up close...My tank was hit and the turret would transverse only to the right, clockwise. three other tanks to my left including your sons where imobilised, but we drove off the first wave killing twenty light tanks, and the enemy lost maybe a dozen 34's to our 6 dissabled and one knocked out. We still we a good fighting force of over twenty tanks, but without fuel and the infantry no where in sight, damn them for this error, we faced another charge.. again the close range fighting was added by enemy support assault troops.
Three infantry sqauds where held off by your sons tank.. using the mg and the main gun effectively, yet still they came. Then the unmistakable shapes of the KV's came into sight... I ordered all tanks to focus on them and 6 where knocked out at under 500 meters. These new 4 series tanks are are great improvement. Suddenly there where no enemy tanks, I do not know what became of the remaining 34's that we drove off and if we had fuel, for we still had a good supply of amunition, we would be attaking! I begain to assess the damages to my overstrength companies, an adhoc action group of around 45 tanks.. although only about 20 participated in this engagment.

Your son had left his tank which now was a wrecked vehicle, main gun dissable and engine knocked out. He followed the enemy troops and gathered the few support troops we had and a squad of Assualt troops to perform a recon of the enemy postions as we where on an upslope and could not see a great deal to one side of the hill. They met a group of enemy tanks with the engines off, perhaps saving fuel? And instead of reporting back per standard procedure they gathered the limited anti tank wepons and assualted. Your son managed to use an enemy anti tank mine type device and kill an enmy kv, several others where damaged but they just buttoned down, turned the motors on and ran down most of these brave men. It is believed the enemy tank blewe up and thus the burns, suffered after he had been injured by some fragmentary schrapnel. Of this group six survived out of 35 to 40. Your son is a hero, I pray for his health and life.
Bruno

[freeboy]

From General HQ Staff Berlin
Major General Cluase v Pednauct
To:
Major Bruno Steneister

Bruno,
Your letter was a great comfort and I have bored my friends here by repeated poignant parts. My son was awarded the KC in Rostov as his prognossive is gaurded,and awarding medels to the dead gets such bad press! The next few weeks will tell, but he did send a note telling me he was greatfull for the assignment to your group and would like another panzer command should he be released from the hospital soon. I agree with your sentiments regarding forming cadres of trained troops as we previously discussed, and my son should he survive would be an ideal candidate, only perhaps not in his eyes! Bruno, our families have always been close and you could come home and be an aide here in Berlin. Please consider after the summer months and things get wet and cold that there are battles here a man of your skills is needed to join in! My daughter sends here love, she visited the home in Dresden with your children in tow, Hans looks great and is proud of his papa and uncle fighting the Bolsheviks. I hope this war end before he is fighting too, the thoughts of every grandfather perhaps?
Best regards for your safety,
Cluase

[freeboy]

t100

OKE
GFenerals staff notes
The Turks declared war without the acknowledgemnt of Berlin, after the fact negotiations brought them into our chain of command( player note... surprised me as I thought this was a theater option!)
Multiple fighter and fighter bombers start patrolling we are told. and the recently released troops in Greace are now getting ready to sail up into the newly captured ports... since we can sail throuth the Bosporous!

In the North Hoth reports enemy pocketed west of the breakout.. and the troops in the Far north are on the doorsteps of Murmansk and Archangel the last through a surpriase navel landing .

In the South the fiercest fighting has erupted and Mansteins heavy mobil infantry supported by troop of the Italian Exp. Corp begin to expand North of the Don topwards Stalingrad and also directly Noorht. The troops advancing on Grosny are strugling to maintain supplies. although no signs of immediate resistance. The Black Sea area saw Two ports taken, on in the far South by the Turks in a surprise attack and one along the rail net opening up further advnces. WE need about 50 more engeneiring battalians!.. All available are working day and night save the few in the North, and they are active!

[SMK-at-work]

IIRC the Turks will join when you capture Cherkessy - a few hexes east of Maikop.