Field Marshal von Fogger vs Comrade Marshal Fulkerson

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a close up of the area near Smolensk where Field Marshall Fogger has already gotten elements of his Panzer Divisions across the
Dneper river and I've got nobody strong enough to hold them back handy nearby. So it looks like John is going to unhenge my whole
front line defensively. D'oh. I wasn't expecting him to be coming on so fast and didn't get enough people there in time to stop this whole
thing from happening. It will be an interesting spectacle to watch these next few turns.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's how the air war seems to be going:

[Petey]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Here's how the air war seems to be going:

Soviet Air Superiority is starting to come back

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Petey

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
Here's how the air war seems to be going:

Soviet Air Superiority is starting to come back

Yeah, my boys are training night and day and the veterans are sent back to the training centers to help the others along.
That plus the new hats we got everybody has raised morale significantly. Plus we've been giving out metals to several
people at random and that gets interesting. Moscow has started a really good program of urban renewal. Mainly we're digging ditches.
You should see the traffic tye-ups. And for some reason the richer folks don't seem to have to help out as much as the rest of us.

[larryfulkerson]

I busted the bridge at Borisov and I'm a believer now: bomber losses are a LOT less when you have fighter escorts. My bombers went
after the bridge, John's fighters went after my bombers, so then my fighters went after his fighters and we had quite a large furball going.
Largest one since the beginning of the game probably. I've got all my aircraft set on least losses and so far the losses have been high
but not catastrophic.

[Telumar]

Will you counterattack at the Dnjepr near Bhykov where he made his crossing? Two Tank and one Mech Division could do him harm. The armored recon battalion would be subject to the flanking penalty.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the entire front lines at one go. This is as of the end of Soviet turn 14

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Telumar
Will you counterattack at the Dnjepr near Bhykov where he made his crossing? Two Tank and one Mech Division could do him harm. The armored recon battalion would be subject to the flanking penalty.

Good idea......I forced the recon unit back across the bridge and sealed off that hole and then I scrounged around for some more
divisions I could plug the second hole w/ and voila` problem solved. So to speak. He's probably not going to give up though. He may
pull back and try somewhere else, somewhere easier. It's going to be interesting to see what he chooses to do.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's some of the losses so far:

[Telumar]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: Telumar
Will you counterattack at the Dnjepr near Bhykov where he made his crossing? Two Tank and one Mech Division could do him harm. The armored recon battalion would be subject to the flanking penalty.

Good idea......I forced the recon unit back across the bridge and sealed off that hole and then I scrounged around for some more
divisions I could plug the second hole w/ and voila` problem solved. So to speak. He's probably not going to give up though. He may
pull back and try somewhere else, somewhere easier. It's going to be interesting to see what he chooses to do.

Ha! That's the spirit. Wear the Axis forces down where ever you can.

Also, you should conserve your IL-4s if possible. They're a very valuable asset, but with low production rate. Maybe use them later when the Air Shock ratio will be less severe. But who am i to lecture Larry Fulkerson on FitE [:D].[&o][&o]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Telumar
Ha! That's the spirit. Wear the Axis forces down where ever you can.

Yeah, yeah. Wear them down. They are at the end of a long supply chain and are probably cherry red, at least some of them, and I'm
thinking I can probably finally maybe set up some kind of stable front line somewhere but then on the other hand, it looks like John is
forcing his way through the tiny pass to the West of Leningrad and I'll have to try to build another section of front line really quickly.
Having said that, I'm still cautiously optimistic. I may have to concede Leningrad to have enough troops handy to hang onto what I
have left. I'd hate to lose the 5% or so in production etc. by losing Leningrad but I have to be realistic about what's about to happen
there. We're going to make the Axis fight for it however.

ORIGINAL: Telumar
Also, you should conserve your IL-4s if possible. They're a very valuable asset, but with low production rate. Maybe use them later when the Air Shock ratio will be less severe.

That's a great idea. I keep looking for low-cost targets like bridge busting. To attack something else would probably need fighter
escort and I have them busy doing sweeps right now. Until the air over the battlefield has less Axis fighters in it I probably don't need
to go looking for trouble. My losses are high but not catastrophic yet. And I'm hoping John is suffering losses too.

ORIGINAL: Telumar
But who am i to lecture Larry Fulkerson on FitE

Hey I don't claim to be an expert on anything. I have yet to win a PBEM FITE game. I just tend to post a lot. I need all the advice
you can send my way. Oh, and to make it fair post stuff that John can profit from too.

Here's a new turn front lines.........the northern part of the front lines:

[larryfulkerson]

No major drama in the middle:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's where all the major drama is going on: the Kiev area down to Odessa. John is pushing hard to get across the river(s) and into
my rear areas. The Stalin Line is hanging in there only in the northern part and John and I are in negotiations about the river(s) as you
drive to the east. I have a lot of the crossings covered so far but as we have seen in the past, John's units can leap across rivers with
ease. And I've got only so many defenders at the river yet. So here we have another race to the river going on. Only if I get there first
can I win this war. It's that important.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's how the air war is going right now:

[larryfulkerson]

Okay so after I moved everybody I clicked on the end turn button to start the combats and the first one was me hitting the bridge at
Konigsburg..............I think I may have busted the bridge there for the cost of just 3 bombers. Least costly mission yet.

[larryfulkerson]

I found a place in the front lines where I could do a flank attack and gave it a shot. Might take the edge off some of the Axis blade.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the Odessa area. At Odessa the city itself the Romanians have lined up to contest the city and I'm bombarding them w/ arty and
a couple of ships. The losses aren't heavy but strangely it's satisfying to do that.

[Petey]

Larry: The Odessa and points East area is looking better than I remember. How long do you think you can hold? It seems the Axis drive has slowed down, even with the landings at the port East of Odessa.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Petey
Larry: The Odessa and points East area is looking better than I remember.

I moved a bunch of units via boat and moved some ships from Sevastapol to Odessa just to
bombard the Romanians. I've got a bunch of arty at Odessa and I'm guessing that losses
will be high for the Axis attacks.

ORIGINAL: Petey
How long do you think you can hold?

I'm guessing that Odessa can hold out about a month or so. That's about 8 turns or so.
Whatever I say is probably going to be wrong because I really don't have a clue.

ORIGINAL: Petey
It seems the Axis drive has slowed down, even with the landings at the port East of Odessa.

The Axis drive HAS slowed down in the south but in the middle I'm still scrambling to
provide enouth units to make a front line. John is already threatening to leap across
the river and drive into my rear areas. It's still exciting in the middle. Down south
the Axis drive has stalled and I'm feeling really good about my situation there.

[fogger]

The lull before the storm. Threatening? I jumped two rivers this turn which is about 50% completed. Hope to finish later to day