My airborne brigade was shattered. Not the result I was hoping for. I was able to encircle 183rd and 256th Infantry Division. Lots of reserve activation in this area. I do nothing but deliberate attacks.
Also good progress in the south. I am really trying to stack my units correctly so that they don't get routed. I am also putting lots of infantry divisions and tank brigades on reserve but in most cases they just seem to be too far away to join the action. I think I made a real mistake organizing my armies. It is probably better to have one rifle division less and two tank brigades instead.
I am unable to break out of the Crimea yet. The land bridge is guarded well and my attack fails despite lots of reserve activations. It is not cold enough to use the other two entry points. I guess I should have put stronger troops into the Crimea.
Another attack out of Odessa. Flieger division will leave soon so he has to replace it with something else. The goal is still to ship an army HQ and reinforcements into Odessa.
He is still above 3 mio but his tanks are getting low. He lost more the 100 in one turn. I am very surprised about my supply situation in this game. Supply stores are actually rising now. No comparison to my last game in which I ran short of supplies after the blizzard. It must be the bombers. I am only using them sparingly in this game.
The hexes with Finnish troops are simply to strong to attack them and terrain is unfavorable. Instead I push in northwest direction south of Lake Ilmen and towards Pskov.
This is just to show the effects of air drops. The increase in CV value is significant. Of course all those troops continue to loose morale every turn.
Some heavy counterattacking in this area. He routs two of my cavalry corps and frees 183rd and 256th Infantry Division. I reseal the pocket but it requires an airborne brigade. This will probably be the last time I use paratroopers.
I have pushed the Germans away from Kaluga. This means I can finally move those 8 armament points that are still in the city.
Same in the south although there is more fighting in this area. I pull newly formed guard divisions with low morale out of the front so that they can get to 50 morale.
TOE of my front troops is already quite low across the entire front. Many divisions are in the 60-70% range. But of course his troops are not doing much better.
There are no troops here that are of any concern. I think he has to move many divisions from this sector to cover the Crimea and Odessa. One of the goals is to get ALL of his troops exposed to blizzard conditions.
A list of battles with retreat and held results. I don't have the time to list individual battles anymore. But there are many battles that require the 1=2 rule. It is really quite amazing to see the effects of fortifications.