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Eastern Front
Situation Report March 18th 1943 Turn 18
AG North

Soviet Counterattacks continue along the Volkhov front with no real gains by the enemy, determined resistance by 18th Armee Inf units forces the Soviet Armour back with one Tank Corps being pocketed and in danger of being cutoff and destroyed.

No real fighting along The Kempf Armee front line, here Two Guards Cavalry Corps are moving forward towards our Infantry.


With 16th Armee all but stripped down to only one Korps we go on the defensive somewhat and allow the troops to rest and refit as some units are almost down to half strength.

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 18th 1943 Turn 18
AG Centre

With 16th Armee now reduce to one Korps and with several Div's on rest and refit behind the front FM Von Kluge orders 9th Armee to halt all offensive operations until the resting units are ready and moved up into attacking positions.
Another issue of concern is the continued attacks directed towards 3rd Pz Armee on the right flank is of concern as the Soviets launch determined attacks against already weakened and under strength units.

Some good news in the Orel / Kursk sector as the timely arrival of reinforcements stem the tide if only for a short time,however The Soviets once again switch there focus of attack back to Orel, fortunately the city has now been reinforced.
Hopefully this will stabilise this area of the front till the mud season arrives and fighting dies down enough to gives us time to reorganise our forces for the coming summer.

Germany / Western Europe
Situation Report march 18th 1943





As Wehrmacht Forces extent there control from the cities and towns of Germany and the occupied Countries into the rural regions, heightened security to key facilities and roving patrols throughout the countryside intensify to maintain control and assure the general populations the New Military leadership in Berlin has the full authority and support from The Wehrmacht.





At OKH Headquarters with the backing of the General Staff Rommel flies to Western Europe for a series of important meetings with various Military and political figures to guarantee there will be no unrest and opposition to the new leadership.

Arriving in Paris Rommel meets with SS Generals Sepp Dietrich,Wilhelm Bittrich and Paul Hausser, in a day long meeting Rommel briefs the Generals the outline of the plans by country's new Leadership.

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 18th Turn 18
Army Groups B / Don

With reinforcements arriving from 17th Armee the situation along 6th Armee's front has somewhat stabilised,The Soviets seem to be holding back there forces, this could change as recon reports show massive Mech and Tank units both on the front line and in the rear areas.
Both 6th and 4th Pz Armee's are still outnumbered in terms of manpower and Armoured forces even with fresh troops arriving.

The Axis Allied forces once again hold firm against Guards Mech Units, but there is a huge gap in line still which could be exploited by the enemy.

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 18th 1943 Turn 18
Army Group A

No real changes along The Black Sea with 8 Soviet Units still cut off on the coast from Sochi to Sukhumi, they are getting supplied by sea at this time as our Naval Patrols are not maintaining a 24 hour blockade as of yet.

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 18th 1943 Turn 18
Weather and Production


The mud season is finally starting, with most of Western Europe seeing both light and heavy conditions on the ground, in the East it is starting to appear, I'm hoping in about 2 to 3 weeks it will hit the Soviet Union and stop the enemies momentum giving my Armies a chance to recover somewhat.

The production screen for this week is looking good, no real major issues of concern, more manpower would be nice.

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 18th 1943 Turn 18
Losses and OOB

The enemies manpower casualties were low this week, even so there AFV losses are high as we continue to punish there overzealous Tank Corps that try to push forward with out Inf support.


Our troop strength on the ground in the East just hovers over the 3 million mark, with about 2 thousand operational AFV's as opposed to almost 6 thousand of the enemy's, another key area is Artillery which we a sadly lacking behind in.

North Africa
Situation Report March 23rd 1943 Turn 20
Libya

British 10th Corps launches a series of attacks just East of Marsa Brega against the Italian XXI Corps which blunts the assaults with determined resistance, this is followed up by more attacks involving both the 10th and the 30th Corps combined, Axis aerial recon detects enemy movements of very important significance.

The arrival of the 4th Indian Inf Division, this could mean that Montgomery is preparing for an all out assault the break the line once and for all.

Secondly 3 mobile units have pulled back to " The Great Sand Sea " to rest and refit another indicator of the British 8th Army's intentions.

The switching by the Desert Air Force from lines of communication to direct attacks on Axis units leads me to further believe this.

North Africa
Situation Report March 23rd 1943 Turn 20
Southern Tunisia

With little activity in Southern Tunisia 15th Panzer Division continues to remain in reserve, only minor skirmishes and probing attacks by The Allies to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of The Axis lines.


While the sparring between both sides in The Tebessa Mountain region continues Rommel returns from Europe with new orders.

North Africa
Situation Report March 23rd 1943 Turn 20
Northern Tunisia

Here in the North Allied ground attention is focused on the coast at the town of La Calle as The British 5th and 9th Corps launch an attack against The Italian XXX Corps, the attack fails but 10 precious AFV's are lost on the Axis side.
Once again Allied aircraft continue bomb ground units in the hope of softening the front line.

North Africa
Situation Report 23rd March 1943 Turn 20
Statistics

The 2 screen shots show losses after both sides have there turns, with Allies coming out the better of the two sides.

The supply situation is precarious for North Africa, this week is was not dangerously low but the North African Commands seem to still be running below requirement.

Germany
Situation Report March 24th 1943
General Staff Meeting

THE FOURTH SUPREME COMMAND is declared " The Oberste Heeresleitung, Supreme Army Command or OHL " the High Command is formed.


FM Erwin von Witzleben becomes C in C OHL Command , FM Gerd von Rundstedt becomes Chief of Staff with Gen Heinz Wilhelm Guderian staying as Inspector General of Armoured Troops (Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, this department moving from OKH to OHL ) whose responsibilities are to rebuild / reorganise and optimize AFV design and production.

OHL Command takes the strategic responsibilities of OKW. OKH takes sole responsibility for the Eastern Front, OKW takes responsibility for the Western Front and Mediterranean Front.



FM Erwin Rommel becomes C in C OKW Command, FM Albert Kesselring Chief of Staff and Gen Hans Speidel Chief Of Operations.


Admiral Wilhelm Franz Canaris becomes C in C OKM Command replacing Admiral Karl Dönitz, Vize Admiral Friedrich Oskar Ruge becomes Chief of The Seekriegsleitung or SKL (Maritime Warfare Command).


Generalmajor Hans Paul Oster takes over control of Abwehr (German military intelligence) with Gen Reinhard Gehlen as Chief of Staff.




The Military Objectives of OHL:

Defeat the Soviet Union, knock them out of the war.

Force The Western Allies to the negotiating table for peace talks.
















NOTES / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND SPECIAL MENTIONS

For those that read this post and indeed this novel AAR a lot of these names may be familiar and you may realise where this AAR is heading.

To 2 by 3 games and everything involved in all 3 " War series " games, great work.

And some special thanks / mentions to John Young, Randy Seger and Trey Marshall for two great WITW campaigns, hope you don't mind me using some of your background notes for my variation / adaptation for this combined AAR.


P.S.

Note to 2 by 3 Games

When are you going to design a FULL 1940 -1943 North African Campaign so as The Afrika Korps can have a chance to capture Cairo and The Suez Canal ?

Tm1 wrote at the end of the last post:-

P.S.

Note to 2 by 3 Games
When are you going to design a FULL 1940 -1943 North African Campaign so as The Afrika Korps can have a chance to capture Cairo and The Suez Canal ?

If only they would ,create one that is

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 25th 1943 Turn 19
AG North

With Leningrad securely cutoff and the Soviet offensive stopped, time to turn 18th Armee's full attention towards The Volkhov River forces, as expected we cutoff the Tank Corps that failed to pull back quickly enough.
Still The Soviets have concentrated large numbers to defend the lake Ports.


South at the Valdai Hills the Kempf Armee and 16th Armee maintain a defensive posture until Army Group Centre's 9th Armee units are in a attack position.

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 25th 1943 Turn 19
AG Centre

The Soviet attacks against 3rd Pz Armee have been beaten back resulting in one of the enemies Mech Corps cutoff, will need to regroup my forces here. 9th Armee made a small push against a unsupported enemy unit and trapped a Inf Corps.
However there are still many units on refit and it will take time to prepare a major new offensive here.

South of Moscow The SS Panzers hold off attacks towards Orel, also 2 Armee contains attacks against Kursk thanks to the efforts of The 2nd Hungarian Army which was eventually forced back,but the Hungarians mounted a brilliant staggered fighting withdrawal giving The Ostheer time to get reinforcing units in place.

Still just to be certain more troops from 9th Armee are sent to the area.

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 25th 1943 Turn 19
Army Group B / South

Romanian Forces together with the German units thrown together to plug up the gaps in the line face a large concentration of regular and Guard Mech and Tank Corps preparing for another assault against a already weakened defence line.

South of The Romanians Axis forces continue to dig in and fortify there positions,

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 25th 1943 Turn 19
Army Group A

Here in The Caucasus Soviet Forces have now been weakened as troops have been withdrawn and sent to other sectors of the front, 1st Pz Armee can now fight on equal terms, in fact with the arrival of units from 17th Armee we has a slight advantage.


Not much really happening along The Black Sea coast both sides content to remain on the defensive for now.

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 25th 1943 Turn 19
Statistics : Losses Ground / Air and OOB

The enemy ground losses were not as high as have been in the last number of weeks, numbering under 80 thousand casualties, but we did inflict heavy losses on there AFV's and field artillery numbers.
Air Losses were there biggest issue with over 300 enemy planes destroyed.

Our OOB numbers for AFV's is not encouraging as we have under 2000 operational compared to over 5400 for the enemy.

Eastern Front
Situation Report March 25th 1943 Turn 19
Statistics : supply and production

The the supply situation for the Eastern Front given the state of things looks quite positive, it will change once the mud season arrives but I am confident I can hold the enemy and get rail lines to my troops.
Production is looking fine at this time with no serious issue apart from truck repairs.

North Africa
Situation Report March 30th 1943 Turn 21
Libya

With the return of Rommel to North Africa , the OKW Commander issues new orders to his forces, a general withdrawal from the El Agheila position, PanzerArmee Afrika is to fall back to The Mareth line.
This puts the Armee in a better position both in terms of supply with shorter lines and also a quick redeployment of troops from Tunisia in the event of major Allied attacks.

The race begins



Axis Forces on the move


8th Army gives chase