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In the Center. Not sure what a good measure of success is. VL is still active and a minor offensive by the SU encircled an entire Corps. Bad Flank protection by me but the pocket will be easily broken and he will likely lose a few units as a result. South of Smolensk I bagged 7 divisions but tied up 2 + 3 Pz Gruppes.

Partisans have severed 1 of my 2 lines...2 turns in a row. Not really bad but an annoyance.

Finally in the South .....sigh!

T6 saw me take a decision to use the Gassed up III pz Corps turn south to bag units instead of a river crossing prep. TBH a T6 crossing wasn't going to happen. I might have made a hole but I couldn't have crossed and held it.

Well the haul in the South was 12 divisions except the units continued to resist and broke the pocket. 1 pz regiment was defeated and the pocket blew open. Well on T8 he did it again. He opened the pocket and isolated all of III pz Corps. Very frustrating but not fatal imo. Now, on T9, all my infantry is prepared to open a hole and I know this pocket will be sealed permanently this turn.

T11 After German moves

-Russians holding Finnish line in the North. Again, some Russian explain this to me. Why would you waste 8 Rifle divisions holding back my thin Finnish line? I hope every Russian player does this. A full strength rifle army wasted. Otherwise AGN slugs ahead at Leningrad. I took Novgorod where I committed 10 divisions and had a hell of a battle. I really want to release a panzer Corps toward Moscow soon, but this guy has put everything in the North. Every battle has reserves (almost) and its bloody as hell.

T11 Center

I formed an identical Rzhev salient (see Insert) Inside I bagged 3 Rifle and a Motor Division. My strategy was to clear the flanks while rail and infantry caught up. More importantly he's stubbornly clinging to VL. The natural gap between Group North and Center. Its hell fighting straight through this spot so I figured I would pry his left flank lose. If he doesn't withdraw this turn Ill delay my Moscow approach to bag at least a dozen divisions.

In the South 2px Group bagged a dozen division behind Gomel. He stubbornly tried to hold that gap. It did pull 2pz Group South, but not as far as historical. This turn 2pz turns back North and bags a lone Rifle division.

The swamps are finally isolated along with 3 Cavalry divisions and an unknown formation. I might just let them starve until after November.

T11 South after Moves.

The bridgehead from T9 now explodes outward. We trapped a Tank div, 2 Rifle divs, and 4 airborne Brigades. More importantly we flipped a lot of hexes and are ready for a HQBU next turn. Still only 1 buildup to date. Maybe thats a mistake..I dunno but Ive put my tanks to good use.

I made another bridgehead across the Dnepr West of big D town. Its tying down a lot of units from both sides. Hopefully I can put it to my advantage. The 11th army is looking to cross the Dnepr further South. Do I go for the Crimea? Probably not but I want to capture the straights for fort builds.

Losses to date.

I got to give it to A-game. Hes fighting forward.

T13 North

After German Moves.

Group North Wins several routes with overwhelming odds. Appx 1/3 engineers and stug's are assigned to Lindeman's L Corps and Models I Corps. Both Corps' are on refit and have high morale. I had thought about ditching a few panzer Divisions to beef up the assault on Moscow but I want to make sure Leningrad falls. Im going to knock them out to free up the front....if I have it in me. Keeping myself to 3 deliberate attacks per turn I should have no problem sealing Leningrad's fate before Blizzard. I know everyone says it falls but I've yet to actually do it. My key is to only launch 2-3 massive deliberate attacks per turn using 3 full hexes of troops. I always outnumber him 3-1 to help avoid reserve activations.

T13 Center

Here I saw the 2 panzer Groups largely isolated last turn. Soviet Cavalry can be a pain in the ass. However, even with low MP's, I managed to reseal a pocket and activate my second HQBU. Both new panzer Divisions are also halfway to the front.

2nd PZ is slogging its way back towards Moscow.

T13 South.

Making decent progress. All in all A-game is doing a great job of fighting forward. Losses at end of T13.

Axis:348k
Soviets: 2.31m

T16 AGN before German Moves.

A bit late to be assaulting Leningrad, but I took Kolpino last turn and rested L and I Corps. The main assaults will start now and hopefully a bridgehead can be formed. While I may not destroy Leningrad before Mud Im sure I can isolate it. The Volkhov is the River Front. LVI PZ Corps was detached and sent South to join PZ Group II.

AGC

TBH a successful attack on Moscow is not happening this year. While Ive suffered no major defeats the Northern Flank really delayed me. The last few turns I sent 3 pz Group North to unhinge VL. This really slowed me a lot. Last turn I trapped 3 infantry divisions only to see him blast a hole in the encirclement. I am going to make progress to buy me time and space for Winter. Hopefully Tula, Kalinin, and Kaluga fall before Blizzard.

South.

Here things are a bit sexier. T14 and 15 saw me do my 3rd HQBU and anchor the entire 1pz Group on Refit. I had a wide open flank and A-Game has ignored the southern front. I figured I could seize the industrial area, but instead i turned straight South and bagged 25ish military formations. While this delayed my drive to Rostov it will net me some more communist laborers.

Obituary

If u avoid losing tons of moral in the Blizzard/to many unit u will be in greate shape for the 42 offensive. He wont be if u keep up the grinding. Dont even let the mud stop u. If he has 1-2 weak units in a hex with out forts or more than 1. U can succesfully attack if u have firepower enough. As sad as it is u cant take more than 3 mil losses pre blizzard as russian and have the army u need come july 1942. Grinding is in ur favor now.

Kind regards,

Rasmus

Thanks for the tip.

While Moscow isn't going to fall in 41 I am making great progress. A-game has fought a good defense. He's fought forward enough to stall me, but far enough away to avoid catastrophic losses. I've noticed some of my weaknesses and will learn from them come next campaign season. Just submitted T16 back to him so Ill post T17 when it comes back.

T17 After German Moves

As you can see the Neva River is crossed. It took about a dozen pre-Deliberate/Hasty attacks to draw out his reserves and exhaust his defense. Then the 75CV stack of 6 blasted him off the line. He is now isolated in Leningrad with 11 eleven rifle divisions, an Army HQ, and the usual FZ's.

Ill wait till after Mud to try attacking the Urban provinces so for now were going to rest the units and wait for the freeze. The line on the volkhov is lvl 3 and should survive the winter. I've never played into Blizzard before.

T17 Center

So last turn I used 3pz Group to unhinge him and try to encircle some units but he turned the tables on me. He cut off 2/3 of 3pzG and so they exhausted their mp's just getting back to safety. While I wanted to withdraw the panzers for refit during mud it looks like they will be manning front line duty. Good play to A-game.

Otherwise we took Tula, Kaluga, Kalinin and have pushed him to within 4 hexes of Moscow.

T17 South

Earlier we bagged about 25 units and have now destroyed about 16 of them. We also isolated Stalino and took it this turn. Im in a good position to take Rostov and Vorishlagrod. I withdrew the tank divisions to rest up during the mud.

The Crimea isn't going to happen this year so we'll likely fort off the straights and economize on military might. The Southern Front has been my saving grace in late 41. While AGN took Leningrad the Center front has been lackluster. I followed the Art of War maxim of attacking where he is weakest to avoid pitched battles. I knew A-game was expecting a heavy push to Moscow (doesn't everyone?)And although I have been attacking towards Moscow it hasn't been my Schwerpunkt by any means. I kept 1pz Grp heavy with Das Reich, 60th motor, and 1st Cav to keep them strong. In hindsight I wish I had kept the whole 2nd Pz Grp in the South but I couldn't have kept A-game thinking I was gunning for Moscow so it worked out well. We'll save Moscow for 42 or maybe Ill turn 1pz Group North...not sure yet. Depends on him probably. Either way I should be able to raid Rostov and V-grad before Blizzard.

T19 North

Still starving Leningrad until Mud ends and still digging on the Volkhov. The Soviets have thinned their lines all over the North. Probably regrouping them for blizzard. PzGrp 4 is only a shell with a single pz Corps remaining..now withdrawn for refit. They will probably take over a infantry Corps or two to ease the command burden on AGC. Manstein is returned to the command pool awaiting further assignment.

Center-North

3PzGrp is falling back to pull armor off the line. We hold Kalinin bug the Russians are hugging it tightly. Basically Im waiting on the flanks to be cleared so 3pz can refit for the rest of mud. The 9th and 4th armies continue to grind..producing outstanding results. Im bunching 3-5 divisions per attack and causing 20-30k losses per turn in straight battle. Not bad for mud!

Further South the 2Pz Group pulls off the line to rest. Tula turns into a fortress city and Im contemplating my next move. All reinforcements head to the Center front and I've transferred a few divisions there. Going to do my best to encircle Moscow.