25/9/41 STAVKA
The last three weeks have been extremely tense for the staff in the operations centre. Made more so by Comrade Stalin's personal oversight of performance. For Markian Popov (Leningrad Front CO) and Stepan Kalinin (24 Army CO) their efforts have been rewarded with promotion to the rank of General-Polkovnik. General-Mayor Pyotr Filatov has been retired, we are informed, to dacca near Novosibersk and General-Leytenant Pavel Artemev takes over command of the 13th Army. For Northwest Air Command commander Aleksei Ionov things go differently. He is forcably retired by NKVD firing squad, continueing the trend Comrad Stalin has established towards Air Generals who fail to perform. General-Mayor Fyodor Falakeev takes over command of Northwest Air Command.
Everywhere people pray for an early onset of the yearly rain. This would give us a much needed breathing space to recover our strength and dig our lines in deeper. However, on a positive note the last two weeks of fighting has not seen a single combat unit lost, only small regimental support groups have been overwhelmed.
Leningrad Front
The news is generally positive. Finnish forces seem to be redeploying, their army is movng back and their Air Force is moving up. Attacks launched agains the 2nd Guards Division were repulsed with few losses. Additionally, re-evaluating recent combat reports several battalions of sappers have been raised to be incorporated in the network of fortified strong point protecting Leningrad proper as well as Novogrod. Skirmishing near the city of Novogrod continues and the 28th Army has reinforced the troops attempting to recover the lost ground. The Hitlerite invader's forces are slowly wearing down so maybe this week they will hold their ground. Additional reinforcements are currently training in camps along the northern rail line. The forces of the enemy are still only 40 km from the outskirts of Leningrad so concern is high.
The advance of the Finnish air force to within striking range of Leningrad is greeted with a series of day and night air strikes agains their bases. The destruction of the Finnish fighter force is given hightest priority.
Northwestern Front
Riga has falledn, somewhere over 120,000 enemy troops well supported by artillery and tanks assaulted the city. Seeing the mass of troops the CO's of the 22nd NKVD and the 67th Rifle division commendeered everything that could float and when the attack started managed to convoy their troops out to the nearby port town of Kuressare. Something over 2 Rgt's of troops were lost holding the harbor as their commrades escaped to continue the fight.
The 27th Army has been forced to withdraw eastward under pressure across the Navra. The invader has now linked forces but the line on the Narva itself is solid. The 27th will also become responsible for a portion of the Luga line in the next week. The 11th Army continues to withdraw it's exposed troops from fortification to fortification along the rail line parelleling the Narva river. In addition the 180th, 207th Rifle division supported by the 46th Tank Bde have stood off repeated enemy attacks before being forced back over the Luga. This area south of the Luga near Kingisepp has seen intense combat in the last few weeks as the 11th Army has forced the enemy to pay in men, tanks and more importantly time to advance. The 11th Army is planned to withdraw to the rear and take up positions digging in a new line of defence and to allow its troops a chance to recover, of all the units in the Northwest Front its forces have been in combat the most. The 8th Army is primarily responsible for the Luga line (west) and its troops supported by Naval Infantry Bde's have stood off two probes by mechanized forces.
The 5th Airborne Corps conducted the first combat jump of the war in a joint operation with the forces of the 48th and 31st armies against a Security Rgt. They dropped near the river north of Staraya Russa and became immediately involved in a series of small firefights with the rear area troops of a HQ unit, driving them off. The security Rgt was driven off in disarray. Unfortunately the approximately battalion sized force of the 8th Bde were themselves overrun by an advancing infantry divison but still it was valuable experience.
22nd/31st Armies (STAVKA)
The wound seems to be no longer bleeding. All combat ready reserves have been poured into the breach and last week in two decisive battles the invaders were checked. The 246th Rifle division of the 31st Army plus the HQ troops of the 31st and 48th Armies stood off the 87th Infantrie division. On the other side of the salient, the 22nd Armies 17th Rifle and 194 Mountain Divisions withstood a major assault from the 28th Jäger Division, and the 102nd and 256th Infantrie Divisions supported by over 200 bombers. The newly arrived, after 3 weeks of rail movment, 2nd Rifle divison has reinforced this position. Meanwhile the 21st and 32nd Rifle divisions have detrained near Valdai and next week will move into blocking positions. These are two very strong divisions fresh from the far east. The 48th Armies forces have been active driving off enemy security regiments and harrassing the enemies control with cavalry sweeps.
The situation is hopefully stabilizing but still 17 infantrie divisons, 1 security division and 2 motorized Bde of the enemy are in the region, this is a very strong force that can't be allowed to break through.
Reserve Front
Serious fighting over the same areas of ground have occured in the areas between Vyzma and Rhzhev. The invaders Pz and motorized divisions have three times forced the reserve front's infantry out of the woods north of Vyzma only to have their light security screen driven away and the weary men of the Rifle divisons to return to begin digging in. The forest is shattered from the bombs and it is littered with burned out vehicles and downed aircraft. Cavalry continuously sweeps over areas the enemy thinks it controls. The cost of these actions have been high but it has boughten precious time for the forces near Moscow to dig in deeper. The largest counter attack pitted 2 Rifle divisions against the troops of a security division which was driven back. The 107th Tank division lost most of its T26 tanks to sudden arrival of a large number of enemy Quad-20mm AA guns firing at long range during the capture of the woods west of Vyzma.
Nightly our bombers strike at the enemy air bases while other units harrass their combat forces. The air craft of the Long Range Air Command and the Moscow Air command conduct strikes agains the enemies combat forces during the day.
Western Front
The invaders infantry have been fighting our men near Spas Demennsk and slowly they are making progress. The soldiers grimly defend their ground and the lines have been relatively stable for the last few weeks. Counter attacks against weak enemy forces have occured regularily. The situation for the 13th Army defnding north and west of Bryansk has been quiet for the last two weeks as the enemy declines to assault thier positons.
Bryansk Front
The Front has been now in continous combat for nearly 3 weeks. General-Leytenent F. Remezov ordered the 3rd, 32nd and 50th Armies to stand and fight while tasking the 37th Army with screening the gaps. Three invading divisions that had driven deep in the lines were nearly surrounded but they could not be isolated. The 3rd Army withdrew to the forests south of the Besed while the 32nd tried to hold the rail line east of Gomel. The invader drove into the 32nd driving them back from their positions in the first week then turned and hammered the 3rd Army then next week. The Pz divisions sweep over the 3rd Army like a scyth and only in the initial battles where a sapper company used a hidden roadblock and flamethrowers to destroy an advanced tank force did the enemy suffer armour losses of note. Poor choice of retreat paths punished the Rifle divisions and almost half the army was thrown into a paniced rout. The mobility of the enemies armoured forces dwarfs our significantly.
Still the need to attack the troops of the 3rd and 50th Armies has bought us 3 weeks to dig in along the Desna river. The 38th Army, 5th Cavalry Corps and 4th Airborne Corps have been busy fortifiying the east bank of the Desna while strong resevres have filled out the 50th Army defending Bryansk. The 50th Tank division was hit by repeated air strikes while attempting to move accross the Desna, it lost nearly 2000 men to bombing alone. Unfortunately it is likely to wrecked by enemy action in the next week, all other units of the 37th Army made it accross the Desna.
The decision to turn his panzer forces south has caused a strategic nightmare that can only be fully recified by mud, but that the SW Front is not threatened by envelopment rests solely with the men of the 3rd, 32nd and 50th Armies who have paid a price in blood to slow the enemy advanc.
Southwest Front
The 12th Army was struck by the enemies LVII Panzer Korps. In a series of battles near Chevsaky they struggled to hold the enemy off being driven back by full scaled armoured onslaughts. The area around Lysyanka has seen attack and counter attack. The 11 Pz. Division, Slovak Mobile Division, 25 Motorized Division, 4 Geburgsjäger Division and the 2nd Hungarian Motorized Bde drove back the 39th Tank Division, and the 96th and 192nd Mountain Divisions. The 12th Army mounted a counterattack agains the 11th Romanian Infantry Division that had moved up to occupy the ground consisting of the 15th and 39th Tank Divisions, the 240 Motorized Division, and the 60th, 96th, and 192nd Mountain Divisions. The forces drove through the Romanian infantry and sent them fleeing westward but were unable to occupy the ground.
Panzer Forces striking the 164th Infantry division changed the strategic picture for General-Polknvik Kiriponos. He realized he could no longer hold the enemy at bay from the bank of the Dnepr or he risked the envelopment of the 12th Army which has commited all its reserves. He orders a major movement of troops. The forces under his direct command remain clustered near Kiev, supported by the 5th Army which holds the banks of the Dnepr, the 6th, 16th and 26th Armies withdraw from their blockng positions south and west of Kiev. The 6th Army takes over defense of the Dnepr between Chevsaky's vital bridges and the 5th Army. The 16th Army's Rifle divisions move into Chevsaky itself as a garrision force. The 26th Army moves into the badlands north of Chevsaky securing the 12th Armies flank.
The Airborne Corps is sent north to begin fortifications south of the Desna. The 16th Army is designated as the Front Reserve.
The situation is not idea for the SW Front but the 12th Army position is vital to the security of the Southern Front holding along the Bug. If the 12th is displaced the Southern Front will be forced to move significantly eastward.
Southern Front
The last few weeks have been trying times for the Southern Front. Unseasonably early mud made their movement eastward significantly slower then anticipated in the planing. Worse the enemy sent his Panzer forces south and the 16th tank division with nearly 100 T34-M1941's was nearly cut off. The 16th made it back to the lines on the Bug before being caught by the 1st Romanian Armoured Division, and the 50th and 296 Infantrie divisions. The battle was hard fought but the division was driven back across the bug ((nearly held...the final odds were 2.1:1 wow!)) with most of its T34's intact.
The Cavalry screens were badly mauled by the enemies Panzer divsions as well but all the troops of the Southern Front are now on the east side of the Bug river. The Front has gained the 51st Army (CO: General-Leytenant A. Eremenko) which now has all Tank Divisions and Bde's under its control. The Coastal Army has taken over responsibility for the Sevastapol region. The 7th Naval Infantry Bde. garrisoning Odessa was attacked by the 15th Romanian division and easly stood off the attack. However, it was withdrawn by ship as there seemed little reason to risk the Bde as the city was doomed as the Southern Front was already behind the bug and no signficant enemy force was involved in the attacks.
The situation for the front is perilous. Should the 12th Army be seriously displaced the Front will have to withdraw to the Irgul River line and Kirovograd possibly bringing the 19th Army across the Dnepr to hold the ground between the Dnepr and the Kirovograd. The troops have not had much time to dig defences though prepared positions exist for the rail crossings. Any crossing will have to be counter attacked by the 51st Army.
VVS
The night attacks on the enemy air fields continue. Daylight raids on some of the most exposed airfields have yielded good results. The 11A airbase has only 26 operation planes after the last weeks attacks. This weeks raid was met with fighter interception so the bombers of the 4th BAK may have to switch to night operations.
Player Notes:
I turned up the combat resolution and watched several battles to see what was going on. I now understand the situation better and I recommend everyone give this a go. What seems to happen is you get a phase where the heavy artillery fires from each side. Then the lighter artillery and heavy mortar's then there seems a mix of light mortar's, guns and men. Mortar's really do a lot of damage because they fire a lot. I also saw that the tanks use their machine guns against infantry. What seems very odd is the lack of obvious air to air intercepts. Also I saw some very odd things like 1000 Kg bombs from Stuka's which seems a tad off, since my memory is that they had 1 250 Kg and 4 50 Kg bomb per plane. Ah well, anyway I recomend everyone do this to get a better feel for the combat.
The overall situation is still damned grim. The movement of the Pz south (both from AG Mittel and AG Sud) was unwelcomed. People may argue that the decision to send the panzers south was wrong but at least in the game here it is a damn good one. SW Front is in danger but I am confident the mud will hit before they could be enveloped. Still they could go straight east and hit the line near Byansk which would also be bad.
Production continues to move eastward. Most of the eastern Ukraine factories are moved, so it is just Kharkov and the stuff around Rostov that remains.
I hope I can attrit down the Finnish Air Force over the next few weeks.
