My D21 attempt

[700851McCall]

In the Leningrad sector we link up with the Finns. Targeted Soviet units were destroyed by the end of the turn. There's no expectation of a major offensive here, the terrain is too poor, but it may divert some enemy units from other sectors.

[700851McCall]

Turn 127. September 6th 1942

Here is a full situation report as we enter the last full month of good campaigning weather

Army Group North:

AGN have linked up with the Finns and are pushing forward to capture the vital road and rail junction at Tikhvin (cirled). Supply is good and most units are at or near full strength. Strategy here is to keep the enemy working and forcing him to re-inforce, taking some pressure off the other sectors.



Army Group Centre:

The front is stable. An attempt will be made to cut out the small Soviet salient west of Moscow (circled). Most units are at full strength and well supplied.



Immediately south of Moscow we have broken through enemy lines and are racing south to cut off the large enemy salient. If all of the Soviet divisions in this salient can all be destroyed before the mud arrives and ends combat operations it will be a disaster for the enemy and enable our front to be shortened by approx ten divisions, which will go into reserve. Time is short, though.



Army Group South:

Although the advance on Stalingrad is progressing well, the front to the North is weak. The river helps at the moment, limiting the enemy to contesting a handful of crossings, but come winter it will freeze over meaning this entire stretch of the front will need to be covered. Historically, this is where the Soviets broke through in the '42 Winter offensive and cut off 5th Army. At the moment we have maybe 10 divisions in reserve to be brought up to cover this line. That's about a fifth of what is needed!

The Soviets have already forced one of the crossings (circled). This was defended by 2 full divisions, in good supply, backed with artillery. Earlier in the war it would not have been possible for Ivan to push them back. This does not bode well.



Stalingrad:

After bitter fighting 170th Div pushes through into the city, splitting the Soviet defence. The south of the city is expected to fall within the week, but in the northern sector are two full strength, fortified enemy divisions. Our troops are worn out, but there is sufficient strength in this sector now to begin rotating divisions so we can keep up a constant pressure. Most of the siege artillery is here too. The plan is to hit them with everything we have and keep hitting them until they break or we do. There's no time to muck about now. If we can't secure Stalingrad before the mud it will be a disaster of epic proportions.



Army Group Caucasus:

Mopping up continues. Novorissisk on the coast is captured by Italian mountain troops. Digging the remaining Ivans out of the mountains is going to be a slow process. Rumanian 4th Mountain advances on Mount Elbrus to discover that the Soviet has an artillery battalion on the summit. At 18000 feet! How they managed to get their pieces up there can only be guessed at. This is the sort of fanatacism we are up against!

To the north a lot of Soviet divisions have arrived in the last 2 weeks and are constructing an MLR to prevent any penetration further south. We do not have the troops or supply to push on south, everything is at Stalingrad. The worry is that the enemy will switch to offence come winter. At the moment our defence here is just a crust.

[700851McCall]

Stalingrad falls!

A massive artillery bombardment is conducted using every available asset including 4 of the 5 railroad gun units in the sector. 25th Motorised makes a minimal attack solely to improve our spotting. Amazingly the Soviets retreat immediately. This is unexpected but welcome. 25 mot, barely scratched in the assualt, occupies the city centre and raises the swastika flag over the central square. There is a day of rejoicing in Germany. Stalin orders the commander of the defences to be taken out back and shot. We dig in to await the inevitable counter-attack.




***

The attack on the salient south of Moscow begins in earnest. 36th Motorised captures the town of Plavsk, a vital road and rail junction, cutting off supply to the Soviet troops in the front line. They are not entirely encircled yet, but can no longer receive meaningful supplies of men and ammo.

This is the signal for the main offensive to begin from the west. We have stockpiled supplies for this for several months. Every gun along a 300km stretch of front is ordered to begin firing and continue firing until they report rounds complete. The infantry go over the top. Here is the situation at the end of the turn:



***

On the Black sea coast the Italian mountain corps advance to Tuapse and attempt to take it on the bounce. Soviet infantry retreats but the troops manning the coastal defence installations are fanatics and hang on. The advancing Italians are mown down by fire from the bunkers and break off the attack. Meanwhile a little to the north more fanatical Soviets remain holding out in the mountains despite being completely cut off from supply.

[700851McCall]

Pocketed!

Soviet 11th Guards Army and approximately 30 other divisions, regiments and auxiliary units are trapped. A massive amount of ordnance is poured into the area and the Soviet salient collapses like a punctured balloon. Here's the situation after half a week of advance. Our casualties were light:



And a little later:



Situation at start of September 16th 1942 (turn 130).



You can see how pinching out that salient has shortend the line considerably. The remanants will be mopped up in the first combat round. There are 3 more weeks (6 turns) before I can expect the mud (although it could come a little earlier or later than that). Supply will drop to nothing so battered units will not be able to replenish then, they need to do so beforehand. There should be just enough time to take up defensive positions and stock up on ammo. Especially artillery ammo, which is almost completely depleted in this sector.

However recon units have been sent east up to 70 km from the new front line and reported that there is nothing out there, which is good news.

**

On the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus 23rd Panzer arrives to help the struggling Italian mountain corps. Tuapse is taken. The front lines here are not far off what the Germans accomplished historically. Hopefully it will not be a high water mark this time...

Note the Rumanian 'fleet' getting in on the action. It is only 4 old destroyers but they have built up their proficiency a little shooting at insane pleasure-boating Soviet troops in the Kerch Straits earlier in the campaign and can now actually hit things occasionally

[700851McCall]

The attempt to turn the Soviet flank in the north and capture the key junction fails. The Finns infiltrate through the dense forest, attack an army headquarters and cut the critical east-west rail line. Large numbers of Soviet reinforcements then arrive and give the Finns a beating. They retreat to the Finnish border to lick their wounds. A tank battalion is split from the main force and finds refuge in the German lines near Novaya Lagoda. Its 45 tanks gain the distinction of being the only armour asset in Army Group North.



**

At Stalingrad we have shifted completely to the defensive. If a Soviet blow is to fall this is perhaps the obvious place for it with the enemy on 3 sides. The railhead runs almost to the city but the engineers are busy working elsewhere to get supply to the bad areas first. There should be time to run the rail all the way to Stalingrad before the winter, though, even taking account of the reduced rate of repair.

I notice that a lot of the rail engineers withdraw in the spring, as do a lot of fighter squadrons. I suppose the fighters go to defend against the Allied strategic bombing offensive. I've no idea where the railroad people are going. But that's several months away.

The one thing that bothers me about this defence is that I am relying a lot on the Rumanians on the southern perimeter. Now when did that ever go wrong? At the moment I have 4 Panzer divisions there as fire brigades but I'm guessing that I will have to divert at least some of them away to wherever there is trouble.

Once the rivers freeze I can't cover everywhere in the south. The line is just too long. I'm using recon units to cover areas in the Don river line that should be okay because the enemy has poor supply to them. They won't hold a serious assault in these areas but at least they will give warning and allow reserve units to be moved there before it gets out of hand.

The enemy are already piling up divisions in the south.




**

The Soviets attempt a crossing of the Volga. They fail to dislodge the Rumainian infantry from the shoreline and are left exposed in the water. Railroad artillery is called in and the entire lot end up decorating the river bed. The Soviets have lost a lot of people with their lunatic amphibious operations already in this campaign. But they just don't seem to learn:

[700851McCall]

September 30th 1942 (Turn 134)

The Rasputista storms could happen any time now, killing the supply levels. In around 4 weeks (9 turns) intelligence reports that the Soviet's planned winter offensive will begin. This gives them a shock of 125 for ten(!) turns. Plus they have an advantage now they did not in the previous winter. Lots of artillery. That's what you need for shifting dug in units out of their emplacements and pushing them back.

I have some advantages the historical Axis did not have. The control of Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad and a fairly extensive rail network covering almost all of the front lines with good supply except in the Caucasus and the northern bend of the Don. And that is being worked on. Added to that I have preserved my forces better than the historical Axis did. So confidence is fairly high that the front will hold.

On the minus side I will not be able to attempt any serious combat operations until March or April of 1943. That's a lot of time for the Soviets to build up and recover from two years of beatings. And they start getting better units, better planes, better tanks. Even if the winter passes without disaster 1943 is still going to be difficult.

Here are the overviews of the front lines Sept 30th 1942. This is pretty much the Axis 'hard shoulder' position for the next 6 months (50 turns). That sounds a lot but it doesn't take that long to play through because you're attempting to move and fight as little as possible. Whereas in the campaign season you are doing the opposite and a turn can take a couple of hours.

AGN




AGC

Arrows show where the Soviet is piling up divisions.





AGS

Circle shows where the enemy salient was pinched out. Note that the Soviets are already constructing a new MLR.




More AGS

Note the gaps on the bend of the Don where it tuns west. It doesn't look too bad at this scale but close up that's a lot of uncovered space.



A G Caucasus

Circle shows the railhead moving northeast. Note the Rumanian security regiments guarding the Crimean ports (also circled). I've no idea if the Soviet has any amphibious capability on the Black Sea at this stage but they way I see it, why take a chance? I know the Soviets did make an assault landing at Novorissisk later in the war so perhaps they do get some Sea Cap down here at some point.

We can't go any further down the Black Sea coast road towards Sochi. The Panzers are out of fuel. Everywhere is on the defensive now.




Here are the losses so far. No Soviet data as I don't like to look at enemy stats until the game is over.

Almost 40K heavy rifle squads assigned, doesn't seem too bad.



Engineers have taken a beating. This is due to Soviet attacks, I very rarely use engineers in assaults but they are sometimes pressed into service in a defensive role. Also what is the deal with machine guns? Twice as many medium as heavy? In any case this is the German army so it is the same weapon for light, medium and heavy roles. So who knows how that works.



Tank losses. Doesn't seem too bad considering. Note that 100 Tiger MK1 are on hand. It will be several months yet before they show up in a unit, though.

[700851McCall]

Leningrad. 1500 hrs October 1st 1942

Oberst Gruber, commander of the 620 Wach Military Police Battalion is relaxing in his office overlooking the Nevsky Prospekt. He is drinking brandy and reading a pulp novella set during the Spanish Civil War. Gruber served in Spain and likes to imagine himself as the hero of the novel, bravely fighting the communists and romancing many women. In reality he spent the entirety of that conflict interrogating suspected partisans in a basement.

The telephone rings. It is the adjutant of Jagdstaffel 54. One of his pilots has reported sighting a Soviet troop concentration in the town of Kolpino just 30 kilometers south of Leningrad. Gruber curses the man for a fool and hangs up. Kolpino is 100 kilometres behind friendly lines and the whole sector was cleared of enemy troops almost a year ago. Snorting indignantly, he goes back to his novel.

Ten minutes later the 'phone rings again. This time it is a full Colonel of Supply Train. One of his locomotives has encountered a section of destroyed track near Kolpino. Whilst investigating they came under fire. The Colonel demands Gruber take action.

Outranked, Gruber cannot refuse. Cursing fluently, he gulps the rest of the brandy and runs down the stairs shouting for his driver. He buckles on his belt whilst his jeep is brought up. They speed off as the rest of the platoon scrambles to mobilise.

Approaching Kalpino there is a burst of machine gun fire from the side of the road. Gruber's driver is hit several times in the chest and is killed instantly. The jeep runs out of control, veering up an embankment and turning over. Gruber is thrown clear but is badly injured.

As he lies winded on the ground a young Soviet soldier, a boy, no older than seventeen, approaches him. The Russian smiles slyly and raises his Kalashnikov. The harsh rattle of the machine gun startles the birds out of the nearby trees. It is the last thing Gruber sees before he dies. The war continues without him.



I mean seriously how does this happen? Where has this Soviet unit come from? Up out of the ground?

In case you are wondering the rest of the MP battalion plus some engineers and tanks arrived and wiped out the Soviets fairly easily. But the rail was cut. Fortunately the Bautrupps have been working hard here earlier in the game and there is an alternative route so frontline supply was unaffected.


**

With that exception the entire front has been very quiet. Even our artillery are not firing in order to conserve ammo for the oncoming poor weather. Only on the Black Sea coast is an attack attempted. 23rd Panzer and the Julia mountain div, assisted by corps artillery, regiment of nebelwerfers and a squadron of Stukas hit a large Soviet concentration and force it back. This will be their last attack of the year.

Meanwhile Soviet troops counter-attack through the passes, throwing back the the Geb Mountain division. The almost fresh Hungarian 1st Mountain Brigade replaces them in the line.



***

October 7th 1942 (turn 136). The mud begins! Headline supply drops to 19 from 27. Shock level is down to 75% for both sides.

I have done most, if not all of the housekeeping I wanted to get done before the stormy season. Most units are fully rested and supplied and dug in to fortified level. There are reserves in all areas except AGN. AGN only has 1 division in reserve and I already need to commit that around Novaya Lagoda. However I'm anticipating the main Soviet thrusts to be around Moscow and Stalingrad, so it should not matter.

[MikeJ19]

Great job. I am enjoying your AAR. Thanks for sharing.

Have a good day,

[700851McCall]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19

Great job. I am enjoying your AAR. Thanks for sharing.

Have a good day,

Thanks Mike.

[700851McCall]

November 8th 1942 (turn 145)

The cold front comes in and the ground freezes over. Supply and shock values return to normal. Here are the front lines as they would look from space (probably):





Note the Soviet units that have just come out of the woodwork in the south (circled). The Luftwaffe ground divisions (a bizarre concept, but the Nazis were just making it up as they went along) have arrived in theatre and have been detailed to neutralise the threats. No rail has been broken yet.

I also solved the mystery of the Soviet unit behind the lines at Leningrad. There were 5 hexes of the Neva river no-one had been into (it's a super river so you need a unit with amphib capability). He must have been hiding in there. A battalion of engineers is now searching the rest of the river to make sure that was the last of them).

***

As supply is at maximum an attempt is made to attack out of Stalingrad into the Volga Anchorage. This needs to be captured in order to inflict the Volga traffic interdiction penalty on the Soviet. Needless to say they have over ten thousand troops guarding it. (The stack is on red density).

Massed artillery accompanies a probing attack by 170th infantry div. Heavy casualties are inflicted, but the Soviets hang on. 239th Div and 25th Motorised then mount a full attack, accompanied by a bombardment from a Nebelwerfer regiment.

This still fails to shift the remaining 3 Soviet divisions in the anchorage, all from 7th Guards Army. The attack is broken off. Clearly we are not going to dislodge them with infantry assaults alone. The fresh 11th Panzer div is brought up for a second assault that will go in as soon as the railroad guns replenish their ammo.

***

Holding the extreme point east of Moscow is the SS Wiking div. Check out the proficiency, doesn't get much better than that.



***

We can't take any chances once the Don river freezes over. Everyone available who is not part of the reserve is given a rifle and told to stand on the line. This includes the 3 battalions of SS police who are removed from whatever dubious duties they were performing previously and ordered to set up in defence along the river.

[700851McCall]

The attack on the Stalingrad landing commences. Pay attention now chaps, as here's the plan:

239th infantry div supported by 25th Motorized div will attack the landing from the city. Ten 280mm long range railroad guns with a 70km range will bombard the Soviet artillery positions furthest to the rear. Divisional artillery will engage the closer batteries, and the unit concentration immediately to the rear of the landing in the hope of disrupting the supporting fire from these units. 80 Stukas will bomb the landing, supported by 120 ME109s. All remaining divisional arty will fire in support of the attacking troops in a creeping barrage.

Engineers and bridging units are waiting on hand to follow up a successful attack as the terrain on the other side is marsh and rivers and the Soviet has
already blown the bridges there, presumably in the expectation that we will break through.



If this fails the 239th will retire and 11th Panzer will then attack along with 170th infantry, accompanied by the same bombardments, which should carry the day.

(I never use the combat planner btw. As Han Solo once said, 'Never tell me the odds').


***

First attack fails.

Second attack is made with 239th and 11th Panzer. This too fails, but now there is not much left in there.





A third attack is made this time accompanied by a ferocious nebelwerfer bombardment. No Soviets retreat, every man jack of them dies where he stands:




A bridging unit moves in and 11th Panzer establishes a defensive position on the landing with 25 Mot in tactical reserve. Divisional arty is brought up to support. In theory this should knock 2 points off of Soviet supply. Note the enemy squadrons on the airfield to the East. I've got a little surprise for them in the shape of a 210 mm railroad gun with a 120 km range if they are still there next turn...

[700851McCall]

And it works. Minus two from Soviet supply and they already are a point down due to the loss of the Maikop oilfields.



***

Meanwhile, the advance down the Black Sea coast to Sochi is on again. During the mud I had 7 railroad engineers working on this line and they managed to get it all the way from Krasnodar to the front near Sochi. It's a pretty circuitous route and I thought it would take most of the winter but they caned it. Corps and divisional arty has resupplied so we are going to see if we can push on a little more.

In the mountain pass to the north east pressure is being brought to bear on the Soviet 392nd Reserve Division by German and Hungarian mountain troops. The enemy unit has been out of supply for some time now, so it should crack soon.

[700851McCall]

November 15th 1942 (turn 147)

This is it, the Soviet Winter Offensive has begun!




According to the briefing it should have started on turn 143 but I'm guessing there is some randomisation or something. Ten turns of increased shock for the Soviet and lowered shock for the Axis, so I don't want to be attacking unless I have to.

Initiative changed going into it so the Soviet got 2 turns on the bounce, which was nice for them.

Not sure if I'll be able to play many more turns this week as back to work tomorrow, will have to keep you all in suspense

[700851McCall]

Managed to crack on with this a bit.

November 5th 1942 (Turn 150)

The Soviets have completed 3 turns of their 10 turn offensive with shock of 125%. So far they have not achieved a breakthrough. In a couple of places they have pushed forward 10KM. They've either been left to occupy the ground or been successfully pushed back where it matters. I don't want to make any unnecessary attacks while there is a 30% difference in the shock levels, so I can play my turns quite quickly. But the Soviets are making between 80 and 130 attacks and bombardments per turn so that is taking a while.

The Soviet now has mechanized infantry divisions and is throwing them into the attack like a madman. On the Don bend the 63rd Infantry division, a solid formation at 98% of ration strength, 80% prof and 150% supply, is completely wiped out as the Soviets cross the river at Serafimovich. It takes 4 attacks by 16th Panzer div to annihilate them and close the line. Not a man of them retreated. The 16th burns half its supply in the process.

North of Moscow there are more strong Soviet attacks. 1st Panzer is forced to retreat after losing half of its grenadiers and finally running out of ammunition. Armoured losses were quite light, but Ivan now has a lot of heavy arty behind his lines and can chew up our infantry with it. It is being targeted by 3 railroad artillery units firing from the south eastern suburbs of Moscow. They are far enough away from Soviet lines that they cannot be targeted with counter-battery. One enemy unit has fifty 305mm guns!

Some reserves have been committed. If I have to commit them at the same rate for the next seven turns then I'm going to run out of fresh units well before the Soviet does. Not panicking yet, but it isn't comfortable. At least the most vulnerable area of the front, the Stalingrad salient, has not been attacked significantly yet.

**

In the Caucasus the rail engineers have been running east along the front line spreading good cheer (and supply) as they go. It was lucky in this sector that I got here before Ivan and was able to establish my line along the railroad. That means now I have full supply right along the front and his line is over 100 km from a rail in some places.

Here are the engineers at the end of the line (literally in this case). This will really make it much easier to defend this front even with the scratch force. Some Luftwaffe ground divs have just arrived to beef it up a bit, too.



**

Thinking ahead to '43, which may be premature, I'll need to focus on capturing this south-eastern running rail line if I am going to move down and across into the rest of the Caucasus and capture the remaining oil fields. It's the only way to get supply that far down.



Idly scanning around down in the deep south I noticed this Soviet unit quite clearly across the border in Turkey.



Maybe they went on exercise and got lost, or have deserted? We may never know.

[700851McCall]

More long range artillery fun. Remember I mentioned the Soviet air units on the airfield east of Stalingrad? Well they didn't move. That's possibly because there are very few air bases in the area and there are dozens of Soviet air units needing bases. Still, the result was some more extremely satisfying smashy-smashy:

[700851McCall]

Seven turns of Soviet offensive have now elapsed and the line is holding.

On the Don bend the SS Florian Geyer cavalry division is wiped out completely in another brutal Soviet assault. 9th Panzer moves up from reserve and throws the Soviets back again. To the east more Soviets attack across the frozen river where only a few engineer and recon battalions are covering the line. 13th Panzer moves up from the Stalingrad sector to stem the flow




***

At Stalingrad the Soviets attack across the now frozen Volga. The headquarters of 46th infantry, ensconced on the western bank, is taken by surprise and thrown back. 27th Guards Rifle Division advances deep into our positions but is soon surrounded.Soviet tanks race across the river towards the Romanians. They are caught exposed on the ice and hit by heavy artillery and siege guns. All panzer reserves around Stalingrad are now committed.



***

Axis shock percentage rises back to 100% and an attack is launched to capture Sochi on the Black Sea coast. Brandenburg commandos drop south of the town to block the Soviet retreat. 23rd Panzer and an Italian security division assisted by Stukas attack the mass of Soviets in the port and wipe them out. meanwhile 1st Geb crosses the mountains clearing out the Soviets as it goes. Things are looking promising here, although 23rd panzer will now need to re-supply. If I had a second panzer division here the momentum of the attack could be maintained but there are none spare.

[700851McCall]

December 23rd 1942 (Turn 158)

Finally the Soviet shock advantage disappears although they still have a plus 5 supply bonus. No major breakthroughs have been achieved although I was forced to commit pretty much all my reserves. All minor breakthroughs have been contained - so far. The Soviet has a lot of troops piled up so I doubt he is going to give up on attacking, especially whilst the rivers and lakes are frozen.

Around Moscow we immediately move to counter attack. Elements of 23rd army and 1st army are surrounded (circled) and the plan is to go for a larger bag in the subsequent combat rounds(arrows). I also want to destroy some of the Soviet artillery while I have the chance. There are enough fresh divisions in this area for sustained offensive operations.

32 Tiger tanks have arrived and are with the Gross Deutschland Panzer Regiment. only 1 has been lost to date. A further regiment of Tigers arrives soon.



***

Some annoying breakthroughs down south but they are being contained.



***

Here's an overview of the front to the south of Stalingrad (S) and the intended lines of advance. This offensive will begin some time in late January. We will push down through the Caucasus and across to the Volga, splitting the Soviet front. Soviet forces in the Caucasus will be annihilated and the oil wells captured during the course of 1943. At least that is how OKH tells it, Ivan may have other plans.

This will also leave a tidy front line along the Volga and Don in the south and free up a lot of divisions. The Italians will pack it in later in the year (not that they are much use anyway) so this will compensate.




***


Losses as we go into 1943 are not too bad.

45K heavy rifle squads are assigned, which has increased by 10K from the low point, and I have 294 Panzer IVF2, 246 Marder 1 and 163 Tiger tanks on hand.

In the air I am down to 73 units from a height of 91 (mainly due to withdrawals) but there are over 2000 ME109s on hand. Remaining German fighter squadrons are all on ignore losses and have been for a while, but the on-hand number is still increasing. In fact I am not short of any type of aircraft.


***

Just a couple of things that have caught my eye in historical terms.

The SS 'Kaminski' regiment has a proficiency of 94% whereas in reality this unit performed consistently poorly in combat and spent much of the time looting rather than fighting. Not sure what their starting proficiency in the game was but I'd suggest it should be around 50% and that is probably being generous.

The SS 'Galizien' division did not form until mid '43, but a regiment of it has been in the game since the early turns and a second regiment arrived in November. Not complaining as I need the troops but to the best of my knowledge it shouldn't really be around yet.

[700851McCall]

Around Moscow our offensive continues. The Soviets had left themsmelves weak after their offensive. Their front lines crumble and 15 divisions are surrounded and destroyed, Behind them, the big artillery units that have been persecuting us for two months are left unprotected and are smashed aside with heavy losses. SS Wiking, currently the best unit in the entire Axis army, bashes through too far and is surrounded. They hold off all Soviet assaults. Now the heavy Tiger tanks of Gross Deutschland div prepare to advance and break through to them.



An interesting strategic possibility opens up. If it is possible to push north from here and take the main rail and road junction at Yaroslavl (circled) all Soviet units to the west will be cut off from rail supply. They would be forced to supply via road over 200 km from the nearest rail tracks. I estimate this will reduce the bulk of them to zero supply, certainly they will be at least overextended. I could then roll up his line from east to west.




On a larger scale: There are no north-south rail lines west of this position, the only east west line the Soviets will have is further to the north. Everyone below the dotted pink line will have severe supply issues. This could be the grand 1943 move required to break the back of the Soviets.




***

In Finland, which has been mostly quiet, the Soviets attempt an offensive, pushing deep into Finland and flinging aside a weak defence line that has been there since the beginning of the war. Mountain troops from the SS and Wermacht move south to contain it whilst Finnish ski troops (circled) will glide silently through the snowy forests to cut the enemy supply roads.

[700851McCall]

January 10th, 1943 (The dizzy heights of turn 163)

There is no let up in the series of Soviet offensives all along the Eastern Front. It seems more are planned, for example here 100 km east of Orel where the enemy are piling up:




**

However we are not sitting back and taking it. Where the enemy is weak, we attack. South of Stalingrad combined Romanian and Luftwaffe ground troops, supported by 22nd Panzer div, roll up the Soviet line:




***

And further south more Luftwaffe units supported by Hungarian cavalry and mountain troops surround and destroy a motley collection of enemy security and cavalry troops.




****

This winter has not been too bad and supply is good to most places in the front. At the OKH headquarters, 'The Wolf's Lair', the General Staff meet to discuss the plan for 1943. The Fuhrer demands full offensive operations must resume as soon as possible!

But the situation is difficult. With the major rivers frozen almost all of the Panzer divisions are required to hold the line. And recent operations around Moscow have shown that the enemy are as thick as fleas in most sectors.

There is only one exception and that is in the South, The Caucasus region. Here the Soviets appear weak and their vital oil assets are vulnerable. It is the only area of the front where a major breakthrough may still be achieved, capturing critical resources and potentially unhinging the entire Eastern Front.

A plan is formulated. Over the next month every unit that can be scratched from elsewhere along the entire front will move south to the Novinomyssk sector. Once assembled the strike will be aimed in a south-westerly direction straight down the rail line. The objectives: Grozny and its oil fields, and beyond that, Makhachkaler on the shore of the Caspian Sea, cutting off all of the remaining enemy units to the south. A smaller offensive will pivot north east and roll up the Soviet lines to the north:



**


Some units arrive already, including the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion, fresh in theatre and sporting a complement of Tiger tanks. The terrain all the way to Grozny is flat and open - ideal for them. The Tiger's KwK36 88mm gun can destroy the Soviet T34/85 tank from 1500 metres. Whereas the T34 must close to within 500 metres to have any chance of penetrating the Tiger's armour.

[700851McCall]

Stalingrad. 0842 hrs January 10th 1943. Leutnant Olsen of the 24th Panzer Divisions 'clean up' battalion is in a dug out on the banks of the Volga. He wears a woman's fur coat he bought from a feldwebel of supply for 100 reichmarks. It makes the cold more bearable. The coat is stained with the blood of the previous owner.

His task is to watch out across the frozen river for any sign of enemy attack. Next to him is a radio operator, enabling him to call in artillery the moment the enemy is sighted. At the moment the river is covered in a heavy fog. Visibility is no more than twenty meters

To his rear, Olsen hears a familiar voice barking orders. He curses his luck. Has not bothered to shave yet this morning and Major Shwartz is here on inspection. Fortunately the major seems to be more interested in the state of the battalion's compliment of armoured cars. Olsen turns his attention back to the Volga. As he watches, a breeze gets up and the fog begins to billow away. As though in a dream Olsen finds himself staring out at a huge mass of Soviet troops moving across the ice towards him.

Feverishly he scrabbles for the flare gun and sends up a starshell. He seizes the dozing radio man and shakes him into life. The nearest enemy are less than 300 metres away!

Out on the frozen river the advancing Russians look up as the starshell explodes above them. Almost immediately they begin to come under fire from the 20mm autocannons in the turrets of the German armoured cars. Each gun fires 200 rounds per minute. The fire power rips holes in the Soviet lines but they maintain the advance. Then artillery shells begin dropping. Fire is coming in from every gun within range. The explosions toss men high into the air and break chasms open in the ice. Those unlucky enough to fall in to them do not come out again.

Now heavy railroad artillery and siege mortars open up and add to the inferno. An entire company of ski troops is obliterated in a second when a salvo drops right on top of them. A Sargent of the NKVD goes mad and begins running in circles firing his machine pistol wildly. The men around him topple over like ninepins. A commissar armed with an American M2 carbine drops him with a single round to the head. A crew struggle forward with a 57mm anti-tank gun. The commissar orders them to set up where they are and return fire against the armoured cars.

Olsen does not spot the gun until the clean-up wagon nearest to him is hit and begins to bellow smoke. He plots the coordinates and requests fire for effect. A minute later the Soviet AT gun disappears in barrage of explosions, but not before four badly-needed armoured cars have fallen victim to its fire.

The Soviet remnants retreat in disorder. Of the five thousand men who attacked barely twenty-five hundred return to the east bank of the river. There, they pass through fresh troops moving in for another assault.

In the lull Major Shwartz inspects Olsen's position. Seeing his unshaven condition Shwartz gives him a dressing down that lasts a full ten minutes, during which time he does not repeat himself once. He is only prevented from prolonging his harangue further by the arrival of the adjutant. While they were repelling the frontal attack Ivan has somehow got behind them! They must move out at once!