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This is the area near Vologda in T51 round 2 as it is right now. The 1st Panzer Division has forced his way across an intact crossing and is making his way north to help open the crossing to the north real quick. The rest of his formation are still clearing out the Soviet remnants in the marshes. They will be done soon and can join the stream across the crossing and head toward Volgoda.

I was using the OOB to tell me which unit to move next and I've come across the 17th Inf Div and remembered that during the Soviet turn the Infantry Division was swamped by three huge stacks of Soviet equipment and even though a Soviet unit evaporated the attack was so fierce that my infantry division was destroyed, although I see where I'm going to get it back. I have a choice with what to do with the HQ unit now. It's either drive it to the hex that the division will spawn in { 164,173 Yukhnov } or use it's arty to help defend if the SWO starts before T58. I decided to compromise by using it's arty now and then in T57 I'll rail it to the hex where it's sidekick spawns in.

This is the Voronezh as it is just now. I've driven a path around a rather large group of Soviet units and they are now cut off from their supply and so it should tend to be easier to kill them off. This is a good thing to have happen just before the Soviet Winter Offensive. Now my task is to dispatch these Soviet units ASAP.

This is the area around Stalingrad as it is just now. I've noticed a pattern. Elmer rails troops here every turn, a couple of them at a time. They are starting to be able to build a rather descent screen between me and Stalingrad. This may turn into a problem sometime soon.

This is the T53 round 3 front lines before I have moved anybody. The Soviet Winter Offensive has started and the Soviets made some small breakthroughs but I managed to cap the holes so far. My RR arty went into reorg and I can't use them which hurts a little bit at Sevastopol. My shock is 90 and the Soviet shock is 120 and it'll be that way for 10 turns or so. My blood pressure is 145 over 95. I've got 18.3K HRS's assigned, 699 HRS's on hand, and I've lost 45.3K HRS's so far. I've got 27 jeeps assigned and 195 jeeps on hand and I've lost 19 of them. I've got 760 Me-109E/F's and there's 219 on hand and I've lost 789 of them. I've got 15 Gloster Gladiator's assigned, 2 on hand and I've lost 5 of them.

Here's what it looks like around Stalingrad right now. In the image I made mention of using a pontoon unit to get my units across the river and I have to do that because this far south the rivers haven't frozen over yet. The supply levels are okie dokie because the rails are repaired all the way to the front line units. Since the shock levels are so skewed I've decided not to attack but only defend for a while.

Here's what it looks like around Vologda right now. In the lower left I was surrounding what I thought was a substantial unit but when I moved the 1st Panzer Division tank unit adjacent to it the symbolism on the Soviet unit revealed it to be an infantry platoon and I'm definately treating it with overkill. I'll move most of that stuff NE next turn. Not very many Soviet units up here this far north.

Here's what it looks like around Yaroslavl right now. There's a Soviet Infantry unit that has blown a hole in my lines and is a threat to several of my units. I'm going to have to deal with him sometime soon because this is the north end of my surround on Moscow and this could very well turn into a crisis.

Here's what it looks like around Ryazan right now. This is the south end of the Moscow surround line and I'm fighting over a river crossing to see if I can't get into the Soviet backfield. I'm not sure whether or not the river is frozen over yet. I can't cross the river with the frozen marsh behind it for lack of MP's.

I am resting the tired aircraft at the airfields around Minsk and I've railed Hitler to the spot and parked him where there are four airfields adjacent to encourage the crews and help the aircraft to heal faster. There are other fields nearby when the Minsk fields are full up. I'm frequently forced to use all of them after all my bridge busting missions. Two or three strikes per aircraft usually turns them yellow and they need to rest, refuel, and refit. The crews usually invade Minsk to eat at the resturants, watch movies at the one undamaged theater left at Minsk and there's even a heated swimming pool they can use. There's also a bar that the Luftwaffe has adopted as their alternate CP. Not to mention all the houses of ill repute.

This is the Ryazhsk area right now and I've arrived at a spot that has only a few Soviet defenders so I'm expecting to be able to push right through them.

This is the Voronezh area right now and I've run into a small group of Soviet units that I have surrounded and I'm in the process of clearing out the enemy units. It'll take another two or three turns to do that and then I'll head out to the east again.

This is the Sevastopol area right now and I'm still trying to wear down the Soviet defenders to get at the city itself. My units are tired and worn down and it's getting harder to force the Soviets backward. I'm also trying to cut them into two groups so I can kill them one group at a time. I need to get the city first to cut off the supply to the Soviets.

This is the Rostov area right now and I'm still pushing to the south but Elmer is still railing Soviet units to this AO and so far I've been able to deal with all of them. But if Elmer ships one more unit to this area I may have to start breaking down units into pieces to have enough units to form a solid front line.

I've just now started T55 and this is the news summary for this turn and it mentions German Supply Efficiency dropping off and I took a look at Murmansk and I was startled to find the supply situation intolerable. I'm going to retreat all these guys closer to the supply source and fly the planes further south as well. And I started looking at the supply bubbles down south and I've found most of the front line situations are depressed in terms of supply as well. I've got to quit attacking everywhere and just try to hold onto what I've got. Maybe back up to better defensive positions.

This is the Kalinin area before I have moved anybody. The elephant in the room is those Axis units surrounded by the Soviets. These are the specific units:
253rd Inf Div HQ, 253rd Inf Div
30th Inf Div HQ, 30th Inf Div
52nd Inf Div
17th Panzer Div: 27th Pioneer, ( Eng )
24th Panzer Corps: 515th Pioneer, ( Eng )

I'm not entirely sure I can rescue them. I'm in the middle of the Soviet Winter Offensive, the supply levels are below 10, and the breakthroughs the Soviets made in this area constitutes a disaster. I've got to start pulling everybody to the west and quickly.

It's now T56 and this is an image of what's going on near Moscow and you can see my units streaming to the west and the Soviets are surrounding lots of my units and I anticipate losing about 1/3 of my land forces. D21 has beaten me again. That's it....I'm burned out. I've been TOAW wargamming for over a year now and I feel the need to do something else. This AAR will terminate here and I'm going to start a WITP-AE game.

Damn, it looked like a solid position to weather the Winter Offensive, and yet it devolved into a Soviet Breakthrough.

The Ukrainian front also seemed mostly in the bag, a done deal.

Thanks Larry, I enjoyed it

Thanks for doing it, Larry.