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Oka South:

Continuously keeping track of where he is prepping force concentrations for blizzard.

Also visible is the fallback line I am preparing for the centre.

Sea of Azov:

The Rumanians on the Crimean entrances have been suffering quite heavily during mud supply difficulties. One Panzer division that was holding the Army in place that is now almost destroyed also suffered very heavily.

16th Pz suffered heavily while on pocket duty during mud.

Here an overview of the units that must have been cursing the incompetency of my logistical management. 35th Rumanian went unready without combat. I should have been able to avoid most of this by diligent supply drops.

Production:

As reinforcements are not able to join their units, the manpower pool is growing.

Vehicle losses are now sky rocketing.

Turn 22, the first turn of Snow.

I have no plans for any snow offensive. All I am doing is taking Stalino and with my lines shortened in the North and the Battlefield tidied up, I move the 5 excess infantry Corps to converted rail ready for duty elsewhere on the front.

The first effective partisan strike happens this turn, severing critical rail lines West of Rhzev, on which I am dependent to move my 5 Reserve Corps to where they are needed. I move multiple Army HQ's in range and hope auto repair does not fail.

Karelia-Tula:

Tula-Stalino:

Most of his forces are massing in front of Tula/Orel and near Stalino. Luftwaffe fighter bases are railed into position where I expect his hardest Blizzard push. Stalino is secured.

A bit of a bummer this turn is that I lost my first Commander: Hermann Hoth was killed in an accident and the less than stellar Jodl takes his place. I will need to find a replacement before resuming offensive operations.

To deal with truck shortages I have been moving more and more bomber groups to the reserve. A process that will continue during blizzard.

Fighter groups will stay at the front no matter what.

Ground Losses to date:

A full 30% of these losses were suffered during the short mud season.

Post Mud OOB:

All I am doing these snow turns is preparing for Blizzard:

- Getting as much rail converted as possible using FBD and auto repair (Army HQ's). The Army HQs will go to a town close to the front on the last turn of snow.
- Spending AP to move support units to areas of the front where I think they will be needed most. All 88mm FlaK (LW mixed Bn.'s) will be concentrated where I see his concentrating the BBC.
- Spending AP to give infantry corps in important areas better commanders
- Moving mobile divisions to towns close to the front for rest and act as local or strategic reserves.
- I have increased infantry to 100% for all infantry divisions south of Oka. This way, I will have as much strength as possible everywhere, while I not yet know where is main pressure points will be. As soon as he attacks during blizzard, all TOE apart from critical areas will be dialled down to 70%. Edit: I actually dialed TOE back down on the last turn of snow, as manpower pool was running dry and I wanted enough to be able to reinforce the critical sectors during logistics phase after enemy first blizzard turn

I should add: Before this game I had never played past turn 7 as Germans in 1941, so everything but summer weather is all new to me. I only have some mud experience in the 43-45 campaign a few years ago, but at that point all you doing as Germans is dig in and slowly withdraw.

This turn, auto repair fails me and my reserve Corps at Rhzev can still not utilize the North-South line:

It is a bit of a disaster really, as this is also causing supply issues east of Moscow, and thereby delaying fort building.

Karelia-Oka:

I decided to keep the weakest of the 5 excess infantry Corps in the north as a local Strategic reserve. The other 4 are either on or close to converted rail, waiting for repairs to be completed.

To guarantee that I will be able to use that crucial piece of rail in at max. 2 turns, I railed the FBD that was converting rail towards Kursk/Voronezh here, as I cannot keep relying on these moronic Army logistical staff officers.

Oka-Stalino:

The main reason why I am desperate to get my reserves moving, is because I currently have Rumanians holding the critical hinge in the line (outlined in blue). They need to be relieved before I finish the first blizzard turn.

I have moved 2 Corps worth of fighter squadrons and the Rumanian airforce here to counter his air grouping in this area (outlined in black).

I will hold near Voronezh while I can, but as soon as there is a break I am willing to pull back to my stop line.

Final screenie for this turn is the supply situation in the deep south:

Oh yeah, keeping track of enemy recon flights is a good way of gauging their intentions. Of course, recon flights can be part of Maskirovka [8D]

More turns will be posted later this week, and you'll witness how I will be improvising myself through my first Blizzard
Next turn is the last turn of snow.

Edit, during mud I accidentally left Cherkassy ungarrisoned for 1 turn (as Rumanian units could not rail through the Hungarian garrison). To prevent partisan disasters I have kept the Hungarian/Italian airforces in the area on night missions, and Army HQ's loaded with construction Bn's are in the area. to get more completed redundant lines over the Dnepr.

You would be better served sending those extra infantry back to europe so they dont take winter attrition if you dont need them in Russia.

ORIGINAL: chaos45

You would be better served sending those extra infantry back to europe so they dont take winter attrition if you dont need them in Russia.

Probably good advice. But this point in time, I don't know whether they are needed Also, at the moment I have motorized forces holding the front that I want to relieve.

Turn 24, last turn before the blizzard starts.

Karelia-Oka:

There is not much enemy concentration north of the Oka. Heaviest concentration is due east of Moscow and Opposing Yaroslav. Lines here are weaker than I would have liked due to slow fort building (supply issues causing that).

Manstein's Pz Corps is in reserve mode with 1 Pz Div. in Moscow as operational reserve.

Oka-Stalino:

3 Pz Corps are in the Tula area to deal with the expected push there. I no longer have regiments holding the line. Weakest point in the line are the Romanian units on the major river at Voronezh, but it is not yet completely frozen so they should be allowed to dig another turn. At the southern end of my stop line I a have not yet been able to relieve the Romanians.

Instead of helping the Romanians dig I decide to use the bulk of 2 Pz Corps in the area to launch a spoiling attack. This must come as a surprise to my opponent as he has been complimenting me on my restraint during snow. Because of my passiveness during snow, his positions were not setup to deal with a sortie and I manage to displace a couple of fully loaded airbases.

Because this is a spoiling attack, instead of cutting supply I focus on routing out as many units as possible.

I think this will sufficiently delay any push in this crucial sector at the cost of attrition in my mobile units.