FITE Chambers vs Fulkerson

[larryfulkerson]

This one shows me working my way through the marshes and approaching the Stalin Line to the immediate west of Kiev:

[larryfulkerson]

This one shows me trying to do mop-up in the Carpathian mountains with the Hungarians and another shot of the approach to the Stalin line:

[larryfulkerson]

This shot shows Romainian operations in Bessarabia to the west of Odessa:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the north half of the front lines at the end of turn 4:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the south end of the front lines at the end of turn 4:

[larryfulkerson]

One interesting point is Curt defense of Riga. I notice right away that he's got arty stacked with really good defenders ( except for in the middle with an AA unit ) and the Armour division in Riga itself. I thought it best to try to use the Panzers to persuade him to leave the city. I haven't built up the rail lines near enough to use the RailRoad arty the Germans are known to have and I don't have any arty to speak of near Riga to help out so I'll have to ship some in by rail really quick if I'm to have any hope at all of taking the city without massive losses.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Axis losses so far by the end of turn 4:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's something interesting that happened early in turn 5; I was analysing the Riga defense and noticed that there was a hex that only had an AA unit and some arty. The arty unit was entrenched and had lots of guns ( 13 strength ) and I really needed to unentrench it somehow before I could hope to have a successful assault and just on the off chance that it might work I asked an AT unit to move into that hex and wonder of wonders, I got a retreat before combat result and both the AA unit and the arty retreated into the adjacent hex.
The arty is now unable to fire and I have set up the attack on the Armour unit in Riga itself. That will probably never happen again during this game.

[larryfulkerson]

Another thing interesting this turn is that I have surrounded Minsk. There is some major Soviet arty there though so I'm going to have to get some tanks to unentrench it before I can seriously assault the place. Either that or bring in some major arty myself. Trouble is, my arty is busy elsewhere at the moment.

[larryfulkerson]

In turn 5 round 2 the results of the combat at Riga were the complete destruction of the armoured unit defending in Riga itself and I moved a panzer unit up and dislodged the arty unit sitting to the NE of Riga so now there is no Soviet arty support. Now I'll try to move the stack with the Soviet pontoon unit in it so that I can get a surround on the stack with the cavalry unit in it. Then in round three I'll attempt to liquidate the stack with the calvary unit in it completely. Riga now has an Axis supply point in it....that's handy for the Axis units near Riga. Now if only I could get some of that supply to the eastern side of the river.

[larryfulkerson]

Okie Dokie, now that we have all the defenders in the same basket, now in round three we'll start the main assaults to reduce the infection.

[larryfulkerson]

I got an early turn ending so I didn't get to finish the job but the reduction is well under way at Riga.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the minimovie showing the moves from turns 1 throu 5:

[larryfulkerson]

From careful calculation I figure that I destroyed 24 Soviet units in turn 5: 17 inf types, 2 armour divisions, and 5 guns. Now I'll start a series of images to show a close-up of the moves starting at the northernmost sector and working my way south. First the north sector: [ please note the capture of Riga and Daugavpils ]

[larryfulkerson]

And the next sector to the south:

[larryfulkerson]

This next sector view shows that I've finished the surround on Minsk and can now concentrate on the reduction of the city defenders.

[larryfulkerson]

This view of the next sector shows me passing through the north end of the Stalin Line:

[larryfulkerson]

And the next view is me passing through the south end of the Stalin Line:

[larryfulkerson]

And this last sector shows the continuing operations of the Romanians in Bessarabia:

[larryfulkerson]

And for those of you who would like to see the front lines all connected up, here's the north half of the front lines at the end of turn 5: