Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome

[M60A3TTS]

MSAG sent back the turn and here were the extent of Soviet actions in week 1.




The air recon missions are set up to identify the Soviet units in the operational area this week.

[M60A3TTS]

Recon results north





and south

[Stamb]

there is only 1 hex for a supply in the South. And there are nearby enemy hexes. Did it affect supply that units near Tarnopol get?

[M60A3TTS]

The divisions are loaded with excess supply at the start of the campaign, so difficult to say with their reduced demand this early if the 1-hex path would be an issue. Here is the supply situation for 25th Motorized around Tarnopol-Proskurov if it helps you any.

[M60A3TTS]

Into the second week and the pocket clearing takes place in the north.





And battles in the south with a new pocket formed.





Soviet losses much more in line with expectations this week. Note 3,300 Soviet AFVs lost to 30 Axis.



In the majority of battles where Soviet AFVs were lost, no panzers were involved.

[M60A3TTS]

In terms of leadership, there are reports of two Soviet KIAs, Mikhail Shumilov of 11 Corps and Vasily Kuznetsov, 3rd Army.

For Axis leadership changes, there are two so far. Hans Kreysing commands 49 Mountain Corps and Hans Hube commands 14 Motorized Corps.

In the area of logistics, we now have the following in-country depot tonnage excluding National Supply Sources:

Germany 451,608
Poland 159,726
Rumania 75,293
Soviet Union 185

Total 686,812

The rail repair situation looks reasonable in the Baltic States.


In the south rail repair is extended past Lvov.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

The rail repair situation looks reasonable in the Baltic States.

Reasonable my hairy behind!!!!!! That looks f'ing GREAT!!!!! Got some excellent conversions there

[M60A3TTS]

Into week 3 and the Bialystok Pocket shrank considerably.




The other northern pocket to the east.




The pocket in the south. This will yield the last of the Soviet mechanized and tank divisions for a while.

[M60A3TTS]

Here are Soviet AFV losses again from the battles tab. Again note only a few select battles involved German panzers.



Soviet Mechanized Corps erased from the Soviet OOB follows:

Northwestern Front
3rd and 12th Mechanized Corps

Western Front
6th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 17th

Southwestern Front
4th and 8th Mechanized Corps

That totals 9 mechanized corps destroyed with 9 mechanized and and 18 tank divisions. There were a couple other individual divisions as well from 15th and 20th Mechanized Corps. Total AFV losses at the end of the week stood at 127 Axis to 7,796 Soviet.

[M60A3TTS]

A few battle results in the south.

[M60A3TTS]

In the north, an overview.



Pskov fell to 41st Motorized Corps.

Panzer and motorized units from PG2 and 3 found the land bridge only lightly guarded. Just to the south the 47th Motorized Corps arrived at the Dnepr and found...

nobody there

It continued east to the river Pronya and found...

nobody there




In the south, an overview.



Panzer Group 1 advances against only minor resistance.

[M60A3TTS]

Week 4 and a look at the usual OOB.



Ground losses. Not much opposition to kill, mostly regimental and brigade defenses.



Overview in the north



Overview in the south



On the road to Novgorod with PG4.



Around Smolensk the Soviet defenders seem to be set up largely east of the city.



11th Army is closing up on Odessa.

[M60A3TTS]

In the area of logistics, we now have the following in-country depot tonnage excluding National Supply Sources:

Germany 537,401
Poland 299,752
Rumania 49,518
Soviet Union 6,641

Total 893,312

Week 4 manpower pool



In leadership, we have reports of Soviet 12th Army Ponedelin KIA replaced by Max Reiter. In our own 11th Army, command goes over to Walter Model while Walter Weiss takes over 30th Army Corps from von Salmuth.

[M60A3TTS]

Logistics report on freight. So far, so good. A respectable number of Soviet vehicles belong to us.

[M60A3TTS]

A first look at week 5 in the south.



Cherkassy is unoccupied by Soviet troops and both 11th and 16th Panzer Divisions have no opposition across the Dnepr. This and the minor opposition in the south so far pretty much confirms an abandon the south strategy. We will see how this plays out,

[M60A3TTS]

11th Army seems to have a chance to storm Odessa at this early stage so the attack goes ahead. The defenders retreat out and the Rumanians move in.



Somewhat to the north, Hungarian motorized brigades and Rumanian cavalry and armor do some hex flipping. Nikolaev is bypassed as 13th Panzer approaches Kherson.

[M60A3TTS]

The aggressive attack against Odessa does not find similar success at Kiev. Here, not one but two attacks against the city fail. So be it, the city is surrounded and will be dealt with next week.



PG1 rolls east along the north bank of the Dnepr and wins a battle at Kremenchug against token opposition. With control of both banks, an early fall of Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk is all but assured.

[M60A3TTS]

In the area around Smolensk. AGC attempts to envelop the city.




In the north, the drive is on for Novgorod.



To the northwest, an attack goes in at Tallinn, but similar to Kiev the Soviet defenses hold for the moment.



OOB and ground/air losses





Victory Points

[M60A3TTS]

First really dumb move of the game that I'm aware of.



Just got plain careless and missed the fact the railroad wasn't build straight. Soviet engineering.

[M60A3TTS]

This at least worked out. By the start of turn 6, the double track line to Pskov will be connected in addition to separate rail links to the ports of Riga and Parnu. This is key because a lot of fighting will be needed and that in turn will take a lot of ammo. The Soviet can run away in the south but at least that has a positive effect for my supply in that units are still hauling some of their pre-war ammo load with them. So in effect a lot of units just need basic supplies and not so much ammo reload. That's the theory anyways.