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T8 -grinding away

more fun as AGC advance predictably cut off, but restored and a nice little Smolensk pocket

Even more fun. With help from 1 corps from 1PzG on HQ build up, a most satisfactory pocket. The HI in D town going neither and I discovevered there are 11 trapped arms in Z town[:D]

Just where is the rest of the Soviet manpower - in the pool? Adding the OOB and losses numbers for turn 7 leaves almost 700k unaccounted for. It is already 'a rainy day', so why save?

I don't know where the 700K comes from but I don't imagine B is saving on purpose. Outside player control. He needs the troops though as his defences seem to be falling apart on all 3 fronts. As I've said elsewhere, kill enough russians and the territory follows

T9

I rather messed up this shot. Just to south are about 10 divs not quite pocketed but ZOCs cover their escape route. They won't be happy campers for long, nor will the inhabitants on Lgrad

Kharkov factories locked ( all rail line out broken) whilst 11th Army wanders off in the direction of the Crimea



B's defence line between D town and poltava, and also the one by Kiev probably need to think about bugging out soon

whilst the relentless advance on Moscow continues. The lead inf div is only 70 miles away with 8 more turns of clear

The reason B is in so much trouble



NB his real losses by end of G turn 9 are almost 2.3M once one adds back in those who have migrated from the POW category to Hiwis-in-waiting.

air losses



I overran some airbases this turn

ORBAT

On the economic front the following factories have been taken:

HI 9 + 18 more locked
Arms 13 +26 locked
vehicle 20 locked
SU2 15 locked

Lgrad emptied ages ago but with his losses I believe B will find it impossible to empty Moscow + Donbass in time.

I'm now looking to be holding L-M- khursk-donbass line as a minimum in the winter. Taking Rostov this year and collecting an extra army group now looks possible, tho' probably in the snow and unlikely it can be held during the blizzard. I also intend to take Crimea. Shortens the line a bit and reduces his amphibious capacity and reduces his manpower further, without considering the benefits it may bring in '42.

I am not expecting B to have much of a blizzard offensive ( unless something goes badly wrong for me between now and dec) so I can focus on keeping my troops in snug billets to keep attrition down.

I'm not sure what B can do at the moment. I'm too close to his major economic centers for him to run without sacridficing his economy. On the other hand, he's too weak to stand and fight and has lost too many units for a 1/2 decent checkerboard.

AGN T10. L'grad looking doomed as 4 PzG beaks out

AGC. Nothing dramatic. Pocket on south flank of advance to Moscow has had to be re-established after some skilful work by B

D town stormed with loss of only about 50 men. AGS on the way to Donbas with significant pockets formed. Small Pz corps just south of Dtown gets HQ build up to try to lockdown Stalino etc next turn.

t12 N.

Reduction of L starts after it was cut off last turn, whilst 4 Pz heads for Moscow taking V V

AGC

Creeping round Moscow

AGS

After havng planted myself on Donbas cities T11, now take vorishilov and plant on Rostov. All the Russains in the donbass area cut off with capture of supply ports. 11th Army storms into Crimea. 6th Army beginning to eye-up stalingrad.

Losses. Adding back in Hiwis means about 2.75M losses in 12 turns.

Dead units by T11. About another 30 died in T12



This is the heart of B's problem especiallty if you counsider that about another 30+ divs are in safe pockets. He simply does not have enough units to do anything very much - though he has been fighting on manfully and causuing me problems in Moscow area.

Because he is so weak he hasn't been able to counterattack effectively, which means my mobile forces are strong for this stage and can be more bold, which adds to his losses.

B's analysis is that he's tried to hold ground for too long. I agree. He hasn't been helped IMHO by letting me kill 39 fortified areas which represent about 13 divs worth of troops and a LOT of arms points.