FITE v.5.0 Ian Soviets larry Axis

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 79....22nd March 1942

The Germans managed to gain ground from both the western and eastern side of the Odessa perimeter as the 4th Rumanian Army from the West and the 22nd German Division and Italian Expeditionary Force from the north east pushed back Soviet defenders. The situation at Odessa having appeared stable has now deteriorated for the last few turns and is of great concern. I REALLY need to hold the city given its supply source status.

Up in Finland a general offensive is launched against isolated German and Finnish formations. The losses to the Axis are considerable as the 15th and 17th Finnish Divisions and a full regiment from the German 169th Infantry Division are destroyed . Soviet Armour and infantry formations are now battling the Finnish defenders in the Coastal Forts at Koivisto and Viipuri. The latter town is on the main southern coastal road direct to Helsinki.

Almost all Soviet bombing formations were grounded this turn thanks to German air activity so several have been pulled back east to try and regain their strength.

[MikeJ19]

Larry and Ian,

This continues to be very interesting to follow. Well done!

[devoncop]

Thanks Mike....glad you are enjoying it ! I am having an absolute blast.

Soviet Turn 80 25th March 1941

I am fortunate as Larry only manages a short turn due to some serious resistance from some partisans he took out West of Minsk which burned through his turn.

The offensive in Finland continues and after initial resistance the two Forts at Viipuri and Koivisto both fall to sustained assault and Soviet forces continue their advance towards Helsinki.

Thankfully there are no further advances towards Odessa and fresh artillery is successfully shipped into the encircled garrison to try and help the beleaguered defenders.

The Finnish forces facing Murmansk are now also fully surrounded due to Soviet troops advancing from The South and it is hoped Finland may be able to be knocked out of the war completely.

Elsewhere on the front as we approach the ceasefire of spring 1942 things are generally quiet although attacks are made in the North to try and divert at least some German troops from the south where they are causing the Soviets some problems.

[SMK-at-work]

ORIGINAL: devoncop


It should be remembered as well that the numbers of bridges and crossings are huge so disruption is never more that minimal and temporary even if two or three bridges are dropped close by.

Yeah but you are only in 1941 still, and there's a lot of time for a lot more partisans to arrive!!

Also killing rail lines means destroying all the small bridges not marked - over ditches and streams and even storm water gullies.......

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: SMK-at-work

ORIGINAL: devoncop


It should be remembered as well that the numbers of bridges and crossings are huge so disruption is never more that minimal and temporary even if two or three bridges are dropped close by.

Yeah but you are only in 1941 still, and there's a lot of time for a lot more partisans to arrive!!

Also killing rail lines means destroying all the small bridges not marked - over ditches and streams and even storm water gullies.......

Point taken.........we are well into 1942 now though.

I have just about stopped dropping bridges with bombers now anyway...they are needed for CS more.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 81.........29th March 1942

With the ceasefire imminent I continue to advance in Finland and have now hit the new Finnish defence line just west of Viipuri protecting the Helsinki road. I have requested artillery be brought to the front as this is going to be needed.

Heavy attacks are launched across the Narva River and the German defenders are pushed back but the Soviets are too tired to follow up whilst back in Finland the 5th SS Geb Division is reduced to 50% strength in a pocket and 1st Finnish Division loses a complete regiment.

The situation at Odessa remains stable for now with the Soviet artillery helping to offset at least some of the German heavy guns.

[devoncop]

Turns 82-88...

We are now into the spring ceasefire as mud prevents offensive operations.....

I shall report back on the next active German turn....

[devoncop]

Turn 84....8th April 1942

In a blatant contravention of Adolf's orders (did no-one tell him?) the Soviets peer through the lashing rain and muddy quagmire on the orning of 8th April 1942 to see......nothing. The Germans have retreated out of sight. Due to the shocking weather no advance can be ordered as yet (ceasefire in place until about turn 89) but the few recon flights that could be launched as well as reports from sympathetic locals further west show that the line is in retreat from north to south.

The Dnepr has been abandoned as a defence line by the Germans and as a consequence, Staraya Russa in the north, through Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev the Kiev salient south as far as Kherson in the Crimea all lie empty and liberation will soon be at hand.......

The new German defences appear to be coalescing north and south of the eastern side of the Pripyat Marshes and along the Berezina River with the northern end anchored on Pskov and Lake Peipus.

In the south the Line appears to still be east of Odessa so the city remains under siege but the inhabitants will soon be able to hear the crash of Soviet artillery to the east as the front lines meet so morale in the city should soar !

[larryfulkerson]

I decided to pull back and form another MLR further to the west and get organized, get the formations put back together, and build a better defensive line. So my units are moving to the west and giving the Soviets free access to move forward when the cease fire ends. I need to straighten out the front lines and make them shorter if possible. Less units on the front lines gives more units to chase partisans. Unless I'm mistaken it's the same partisan units that are appearing on the map so if I DON'T kill it but just surround it and babysit it then maybe they will quit appearing in new spots each turn.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's me pulling back to the next river to the west. I wanted to get organized better and this cease fire season is ideal for that. I'm moving the units back to better supply levels and I want to use the Infantry on the front lines with the Panzers as the reserve units. I'm thinking of flying all the planes to Germany to keep them out of the fight for a little while to let them refit.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm getting organized and starting to form the next MLR along the river and I'm enclosing the Odessa area within my territory so I'll have to babysit that still. I'm parking HQ's and engineers on the river crossings so that there will be a modicum of defense on those bridge busting missions Ian might fly. I realize that eventually I'll have to give up this area and pull back some more so I'm not all that eager to take Odessa. I don't want to spend the troops it would cost. I'm happy bombarding them however. Ian keeps sailing units to Odessa through the port and there's quite a fortress there now. I estimate that I'm about 30% through building the MLR. It's got to go from this coast to the north coast without a break.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Pskov area and you can see that I'm still quite disorganized yet. I've started parking defenders along the river and I'm planning on trying to use just Infantry as defenders and use the Panzers as the reserve, parked just behind the lines up and down the front lines. I don't know where the next breakthrough will occur so I'm defending all of it. I'm not at all sure I have enough Infantry to man the entire front and I'm wondering which of the Panzer formations to employ to fill in. I've got several.

You can seee me surrounding a partisan unit. I plan to replace the Infantry units around him with RR engineers and security forces and just watch him for the rest of the game. He'll quit spawning each turn if I do that. Note the Soviet hex near the middle. I'd best go investigate that. It appeared this turn.

[larryfulkerson]

The mud season has ended and this is the front lines and the war is on again.

[devoncop]

Turn 90 29th April 1942

Finally the skies clear and operations resume as huge numbers of Soviet heavy artillery opens up on German lines just West of the Narva river near Kohtla-Jarve and tank and infantry units from the 63rd and 54th Armies crash into the 21st and 11th Infantry Divisions of AGN. The line initially holds as reserves support the infantry but a second assault breaks through on a 20Km front. It appears only the artillery heavy HQ units now stand in the way of the Soviets in Kohtla -Jarve itself.

If the break can be maintained the drive towards Talinin 200Km away can start and the liberation of the Baltic States. In an attempt to prevent reserve armoured Divisions reaching the Germans quickly a bridge is blown behind German lines.

In Finland remnants of 11th of 14th Finnish Division's are reduced further just West of Kontupohja and the Finnish 1st Division is destroyed.

The original German rescue column for the Finns comprising 6th and 7th Geb SS Divisions and 169th Infantry Division were attacked repeatedly after being surrounded and almost totally eliminated and should be finished off next turn.

The Finnish front line to the West blocking the road towards Helsinki is bombarded and more Soviet Armour and Infantry moved up to try and break through. To assist this a very speculative naval operation is launched across the Baltic.

Further South Soviet troops move across the Dnepr and capture multiple towns as they advance towards the new German lines which they have yet to reach and Soviet bombers hit several German airbases to the rear.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 91...3rd May 1942.

With the Soviet lines moving slowly up to meet the new German defence lines in the South and centre most of the action again is in Northern Russia and Finland.

Pskov is evacuated by the Germans and is liberated by Shock Army infantry with the German lines visible across the River Velikaya running South from the city.

Fighting on the German lines to the West of the Narva River continues to be fierce and the German 11th Division is hit hard and forced to retreat from its position on the coast.

In Finland the 6th SS and 7th Geb Divn both just survive this turn but are now surrounded in a single 10Km area whilst the HQ of the Finnish 2nd Corps is destroyed further east.

There is a check to the Soviet advance from Viipurii on the route to Helsinki however where the main Finnish defences fight off two determined Soviet assaults with the help of dug in artillery. In an attempt to break the impasse Soviet infantry and armour launch an amphibious landing behind the Finnish lines....

In the air the Luftwaffe and allied air units suffer over 300 planes lost for the loss of 60 Soviet planes as Soviet air superiority takes its toll.

[larryfulkerson]

Ian has broken through my defenses near Narva and I'm going to have to comitt some of my reserves to contain it. The troops in the far north are doomed and there's nothing I can do to prevent Ian from grabbing Helsinki. It's just a matter of time.

[larryfulkerson]

Ian did an amphibious landing to the west of my Finn defenders above Leningrad and have gotten into the backfield and I think I may have contained it for now.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 92...6th May 1942

German actions were confined to some bombardments and the surrounding of my first wave of amphibious invaders in Finland along with rushing reinforcements to West of the Narva River. In order to find troops to surround the Soviet armour and infantry that had landed in Finland however it seems the Finns had to strip their garrison in the port of Sakkijarvi close by which the second wave land in unopposed and attack to the East and North meeting up with Soviet tanks from the main line East of Viipuri.

The only town which now lies between the Soviets in Finland and Helsinki is Kotka on the coast, 70km to the West.


Down in the extreme south shelling begins of the German and Rumanian positions on the western side of the Bug River and local commanders decide to launch an attack from Nicolaev towards the besieged city of Odessa now only 60Km away. Multiple attacks go in on the right hand flank of the Axis positions on the coast held by large Romanian formations supported by artillery. After brutal fighting the Romanians are pushed back and by the end of the turn Soviet forces have gained 20km.

[larryfulkerson]

Ian is moving his units adjacent to mine and the fighting has already started. He's made several attempts to break the line and is making some minor progress in the south and the Finns are in trouble.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Ian and inspecting the northern front lines i see that Ian has made some more progress pushing my defenders backward and now we're back to the artillery park. I'll have to make some adjustments and rail some more people up here.