The D21 Road Not Taken....

[larryfulkerson]

double post, sorry

[rhinobones]

Larry
Look outside, Bighorn fire is coming your way!! Pack up and get ready to scoot. Hope you are all well.
Regards

[larryfulkerson]

WTF are you talking about?

[rhinobones]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

WTF are you talking about?

[larryfulkerson]

looks like fake news to me. LOL.

[larryfulkerson]

T16, Kiev
There's been significant progress these past several turns. The supply levels are adequate and Soviet resistance isn't quite heavy yet and the forces present are pressing south. I'm catching and destroying all the Soviet units still on the riverbank on the east side of the river but there's a boat-load of them further south to take care of. The condition of the planes is excellent, only two planes resting. I have the recon units way out in front to make the most headway as fast as possible. I need to get on the east side of the Soviet units to prevent them from getting away to the south or east.

[larryfulkerson]

T16, Leningrad
This is what's going on in the Leningrad area in T16. I'm in the process of isolating Leningrad from the rest of Russia and after that the take down of the city will probably be easier. The Finns are stuck at the stop line so they will be of limited use. I'm wondering if I can't jump over the river near the city and invade from the east somehow. And of course the push to the east is continuing. The repaired rail goes right up to the front lines in the north near Oranienbaum and then plunges south to feed the push to the east. Supply levels are near 40 or at least the high 30's all along this front so that's not a problem. I need to move some more fighters into this AO because of the heavy infestation of Soviet air present. It's still too early to predict the fall of the city since things could change remarkably over the next few turns. The condition of the aircraft fleet is good and their support is being felt all over the map. The air losses meter says I've lost 25 planes and the Soviets have lost an alleged 327 so far this turn. The AS meter says 39 Axis and 15 Soviet. I'm still leading in AS and will be for at least 7 turns or so. The amount of Soviet aircraft coming out of their factories is still substantial. They will eventually gain air superiority toward the middle of the winter '41-'42 if memory serves. It's still the middle of August so the weather is cooperating with my advance so far.

[larryfulkerson]

Report on a typical Finn Fighter unit
This is the first detailed look at the Finnish aircraft I've done in this game I'm sorry to say. This particular fighter unit has been chewed down pretty much until it's borderline combat worthy. I'm going to move it to Norway to rest some and then post it in a quiet spot, maybe Murmansk, because the Inventory Report says that I have very few of these models and none of them are being built for one reason or another so it's not going to get very many of the on-hand reserve so this is just about the strength it's going to have for a long time. And it's already down to a 1-1 unit and it has so few aircraft that it would be easy to destroy it outright by one of those Soviet fighter units that has 200+ fighters in it. And there are quite a few of those I've found out. I've seen about 600+ Soviet fighters show up for one mission a few times now. And I have at most about 60+ fighters showing up for these parties. Anyway, I need to protect this unit more than I have in the past. My fault for not monitoring the Finn aircraft better.

[larryfulkerson]

T17, Bryansk
This is the area just south of the operations going on to capture Leningrad and represents the push AGN is making to the east to envelope Moscow and destroy the industries there. Plus killing a lot of Soviet units. I seem to have developed a rather large gap in my front lines and that's a symptom of the lack of troops for this frontage. I need to ship some more troops to the gap to fill it in. A lot of the rails have been repaired all the way to the front lines in this area and the supply levels are more than adequate. I'm trying to surround a few Soviet units at a time to kill them and whittle down the opposition. During the Soviet turns I see a lot of units being railed from the Urals all the way to just west of Moscow and to Kharkov in the south. All the units I've been killing are being respawned at Gorky and without resting for a turn or two they are railed immediately toward Moscow. More and more Soviet planes are showing up in my ground engagements and more often than not my fighters intercept them. So the air war is heating up.

[larryfulkerson]

T17, Stalino
This is the area around Stalino and shows the progress being made in the south right now. The Soviets are showing up a small group at a time and I'm surrounding them and killing them fairly regularly. Axis forces have forced their way into the Crimea and the siege of Sevastopol will begin in a couple of turns.

[larryfulkerson]

Just after 07:00 at the Foggy Bottom Barracks in Washington DC 39-year veteran of the Army Sgt Major Brown is inspecting the 7th Inf Color Guard Platoon. He stops in front of one of the newer members of the platoon and asks:

"Private Jenks, there is a member of our species that is intent on using asexual reproduction as a viable option. Know who it is?"

Jenks replys immediately: "You know...that sounds a lot like your wife Sgt Major."

The barracks got real quiet. Sgt Major Brown said:
"This inspection is over."

And he turned to his staff and made motions with his hands, the sign: "pull the chocks" and he and his staff left.

[larryfulkerson]

T19, Kiev
This is what's going on near Kiev right now. I've forced my way across the river in several places and I'm ganging up on the Soviets near the riverbank. They have already started trying to escape my noose and I'm having to scramble to block their path. I'm shipping more troops to the north of Kiev to push east to Orel and Kharkov.

[larryfulkerson]

T20, Leningrad
I've gotten into a position where I can assault the city of Leningrad and I'm optimistic that it will fall this turn. I'm also pushing to the east as hard as my units are able. If I can capture the city that will release the Finns so that they can wonder south and engage the Soviets as well. They will be a welcome addition.

[larryfulkerson]

T20, Moscow
This is the area just south of the Leningrad area and stretches south to just west of Moscow. This image shows how my front lines are broken and there are gaps and I don't have enough troops present to handle all the Soviet units that are showing up. Elmer must have just received a boat-load of reinforcements or something because more and more Soviet troops are showing up in this area. I'm going to have to rail some more warm bodies into this AO to help out. I've been repairing the rail right up to the front lines so the supply levels are adequate for the advance to continue. The air losses meter says 5 Axis and 135 Soviet and the AS level is 39 Axis and 16 Soviet. About half of my aircraft are resting. I've decided to use 50% as the cutoff point to determine whether or not to rest an aircraft. So reguardless of their color I'm resting them if they are 49% or less in supply.

[larryfulkerson]

T20, Moscow
This image stretches from Moscow south to Tula and shows how many more troops I have in this area. I'm sneaking up on Moscow and Elmer is railing more and more troops this way. I may have stirred up a hornets nest here. I'm optimistic that more progress will be made from here toward the south extending to Stalino. There's a major river that I will have to force a crossing to get into the depths of Russia, notabily, Stalingrad. That's my next long-term goal: to capture Stalingrad before the winter weather prevents such a feat.

[larryfulkerson]

T20, Kiev
This image shows what's going on near Kiev now. You see the line of Soviet units stretching from the riverbank to the east. Elmer is trying to escape his units before I can kill them. I have forces advancing from the south of this image and a lot of my units are headed east to cover as much terrain as possible before the advance has to stop for the winter or low supply levels whichever occurs first.

[larryfulkerson]

T20, Stalino
Here's what's going on in the deep south. The Romanians are breaking into the Crimea and surrounding Sevastopol and the forces here are fighting for the crossings over the river. It's the 27th of August '41 so we're into the fall of the year and bad weather will be here soon and I'd like to get as far east as I can before the mud season.

[larryfulkerson]

T20, Odessa
Here's what's going on in Odessa now. Everybody else has moved on to the Crimea and I've been bombarding and probing and I've got a few hexes to go yet before I can clear out this nest of Soviet units.

I've been listening to Devi Prayer for a while now. It's calming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma5NJ3ucV4M

[larryfulkerson]

T20, Sevastopol
This is the face of war in the Sevastopol area right now. I'm going to try to surround the city before I start my serious assaults. I saw some Soviet ships parked around the waters near the city, at least three of them so I need to find 'em and sink 'em. It's too early to tell how long it will take to capture Sevastopol but I hope I can do it before 04Dec41 so I can release the Bulgarians from garrison mode.

[larryfulkerson]

T20, Stalino
This image shows the shape of the front lines right now. It illustrates where the most progress is being made. Supply levels are adequate for the advance and I've captured at least one crossing over the river so the future looks bright for a little while at least. There's lots of gaps that the Soviets could drive through but so far I've been able to hold them back. Even push a little bit each turn.