As a change of pace, I'll post an analysis of a Soviet pocket relief operation. Against competent and aggressive Axis players, the Soviet player will be left with many cases of opening their turns to find pockets of various sizes being left out of supply at the start of their turn. Due to the IGO-UGO nature of the game, and the rules concerning units surrendering, rather than routing, it is a general goal of the Axis (and later Soviet) player to first isolate the pocketed units, and then attack them the next turn in order to maximize permanent losses by capture.
Conversely, the player on the receiving end of this needs to be able to relieve these pockets, if only temporarily, since this immediately resets the OOS flag on the pocketed units, and allows this cycle to be perpetuated. Theoretically, of course. Practically, these "moving pocket" battles will generally only go on for a couple of turns, given the proper execution by a competent player. However, should such a player ignore his flanks and drive on, he can often find his own mobile units counterpocketed and left low on supplies, fuel, and replacements, leading to an ever downward spiraling of his units effectiveness. This screenshots shows the positions at the start of my turn, of the Soviet forces pocketed in the Northern Ukraine.
