6 Player Great Patriotic War

[BULLDOGINTHEUK]

Russia South turn 2 done. Another retreat for Soviet forces.

[JAMiAM]

This turn opened up with some action that I should have taken earlier - a Finnish assault against the forts north of Leningrad. For the most part, I got the better of each of the combats, and only one fort that was attacked by the Finns remained in Soviet hands. Overran some artillery and a divebomber, and am emperiling the Cradle of the Revolution.

[JAMiAM]

The Dvina was crossed in force, and my forces are ready to continue barreling down the roads. Last turn, I divided up the AGN Road Convoy unit amongst my two Army and one PG HQ's. This allowed me to use them to pull and throw some of the slower moving Infantry divisions from the rear, up to the front lines, using Strategic Movement. I will pay a higher cost in supplies to regain readiness, but in each case, I gained 2 to 3 turns of movement from the actions, allowing me to keep sufficient mass at the tips of my Schwerpunkten. I need to take advantage of the last turn of accelerated movement next turn, and want to close in on Pskov, Velikie Luki and Vitebsk while my advantage lasts. The free ride won't last forever.

Highlights of this area were the destruction of the large Engineer unit east of Riga, and the elimination of 11th Army HQ by aerial bombardment to the east of Dvinsk. Unfortunately, I was letting my airforce have the glory of wiping out the engineers instead of using my ground forces, and when I resumed moving them forward, discovered the 8th Army HQ just out of reach of my ground forces, and safe from my 10 AP Luftwaffe fleets. C'est le guerre.

[JAMiAM]

The losses (to my forces) this turn came almost exclusively from the Finns. They lost most of theirs in the assault on the third of three Leningrad forts to be attacked, and the only one that held on. That's what I get for sending Rifles to do a job best suited for SMG's.

[03_walk_alot]

Turn to AGS.
AGC contiunes march east with light resistance.

(try to get screenie up later)

[JAMiAM]

Forgot to take a screenshot of the Totals, before I saved, but the losses to both sides were primarily due to fierce battles near Leningrad. The Finns destroyed the last of the forces north of the city, then closed in taking the factory, and crossing the river to the east of Leningrad. The Kriegsmarine, U-Boats and Finnish Destroyer Flotilla combined to destroy all but one DD of the Baltic Fleet, swept the minefields so that supplies could flow freely, and permanently submerged the Soviet's Baltic Submarine fleet.

[JAMiAM]

Along the Baltic Coast, Kuchler is racing toward Talinn. No opposition was encountered, but it looks like something is hiding in Tartu, since my recon did not paint the adjacent hexes. As in the previous turn, I'm using the HQ's to pull Infantry Divisions from the rear by Strategic Movement. Since the fronts will probably begin stabilizing a bit, and the Soviets will come out of their shocked state, this will not be such a good tactic to use, as the reduced readiness of my forces makes them more vulnerable to counterattack. However, at this stage, where the Soviets are too weak to hit back, it's a safe way to keep mass at the front where it's needed.

[JAMiAM]

Hoepner and Busch argued over who should get the use of the Luftwaffe. Busch wanted to destroy more Engineers and to reduce the defenders in Nevel. Hoepner wanted to reduce the defenders in Pskov and Ostrov. Hoepner received about two-thirds of his requests, allowing him to take Pskov and severely maul the defenders in Ostrov. Busch grumblingly accepted bloodying the Engineers, and the promise of next turn being able to focus on Nevel and Velikie Luki.

[03_walk_alot]

Turn to ACS.
I learned you can kill mines with arty and air but how can they retreat?[;)]
 

[JAMiAM]

ORIGINAL: 03_walk_alot

Turn to ACS.
I learned you can kill mines with arty and air but how can they retreat?[;)]
 

Maybe it's like the kid who gets tired of being abused at school and takes all his toys home crying "They're mine, they're mine, they're all mines!"...[;)]

Anybody have a clue as to who has the game?...[&:]

[JAMiAM]

Speaking of mines....

Finnish troops near Leningrad find hundreds of thousands of mines in the Soviet factory north of Leningrad, and distribute them to their troops, who are dug in along the river, and besieging the city. Meanwhile, the last of the Soviet naval minefields outside the city have been swept, so that the Kriegsmarine can bombard it freely. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a screenshot of the area before saving.

Elsewhere, the Soviet's defenses are stiffening a bit, with conscripts popping up in most major cities. In some cases, they are the only defenders, and in others, they have augmented the regular troops. Losses this turn came strictly from my German forces as they attacked several cities, taking them all. Forty-five dead conscripts should be added to this turn's totals.

[JAMiAM]

Kuchler's forces have reached Talinn, and have almost finished their trek along the west coast of Lake Peipus. Next turn should see us at the river line in front of Narva.

[JAMiAM]

Hoepner has pushed out from Pskov, taking Dno, and moving toward Leningrad. The terrain is getting uglier, and less suited to my mobile forces, except along the corridor between the swamps and Lake Piepus.

[JAMiAM]

Busch has taken Velikie Luki and is also into the swampy terrain. Things are going to get slower.

[03_walk_alot]

Turn to AGS.

[Captain Cruft]

Turn to NWF.

We are approaching Kiev ...

[lomyrin]

Russia NW turn 5 sent to jjdenver
 

[BULLDOGINTHEUK]

Russia South turn sent to AG North & Finland.[/align] [/align]Hoorah, no massive Axis movement and I have my readiness back. Pity most of my troops were wiped out in the retreat.[/align]

[JAMiAM]

The days of free recon for the Soviets are over. From now on, unless I really want to gloat, or have time to blur out the numbers on the counters, I'll only be posting the Strat Map pics for my area, and the Totals for the turn and/or cumulative.

This turn, the Finns remained hunkered down, behind their minefields, as the local air and naval assets were called upon to support the drive on Luga and Talinn. Busch pushed beyond Velikie Luki, cutting off a Soviet HQ, and Infantry division in the swamps. Kuchler has advanced to the river lines in front of Narva, and awaits the Engineers with their pontoon bridges.

Hoepner continues to drive toward Novgorod and Staraya Russa, pursuing increasingly larger Soviet formations. After driving as far as they could, advanced elements of Totenkopf spotted an ungarrisoned airfield with Soviet air units that did not intercept against my air missions only two hexes from them. Unfortunately for the glory of the 3rd SS PzGd Division, they had run out of gas, and could not reach the airfield, in force. A regiment of Brandenburgers was ordered to be outfitted at the Pskov airfield to make a night drop and landing unopposed, slaughtered the sleeping Russian pilots to a man. Obviously these units were either set to not intercept, or were suffering from extremely low readiness. In any case, with four other enemy land units in adjacent hexes, I thought I'd teach my opponent to never leave his airfields ungarrisoned...

[JAMiAM]

The destruction of the Soviet airforce was only part of the lop-sidedness of this turn's losses. Some of the Soviet units seem to still be at extremely low states of readiness. I don't know if my opponent is neglecting his supply production, and not turning out enough to refresh his forces, still reeling from the shock period of the first four turn, or if some of his HQ's have been out of position to receive the supplies. In any case, I'm looking for weaker units to destroy and have, so far, avoided having any larger, more prepared formations to fight against. I see several lurking just out of reach, so things should soon start to get more difficult.