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12th July 1941
Turn 6

Apparently there is a 30 Paranoia increase as Minsk falls. No idea what all that means - other than its bad!

12th July 1941
Turn 6
Finland

An attack against the extreme left flank of 23rd Army failed to dislodge the defenders - huzzah! So some of my Soviets do have a backbone? Who knew right? As a reward the 163rd Mechanised Division are provided with support from the 28th Border Division.

In Central Finland I continue moving the remnants of 168th and 237th Rifle Divisions toward Petrozavodsk.

12th July 1941
Turn 6

I deploy the 48th Army to Talinn

I deploy the 47th Army to Pervomaisk

I deploy the 34th Army to Smolensk

I deploy the 33rd Army to Odessa

With the German breakthrough west of Zhitomir/Vinnitsa it looks pretty much over there. I have nothing in the way. I garrison Zhitomir though anyway and task the commander of a newly formed division to hold back a panzergruppe. If he loved me he would.

I order the surrounded unit in Latvia to breakdown into Partisan units.

12th July 1941
Turn 6
Army Group Centre

Okay lets play this game out.

In the central Front, 20th and 24th Army are ordered to push west and engage the German 9th Army - in the hope of exploiting the junction between Army Groups North and Centre. Sadly they cannot catch them on the break while they are not expecting it and while the transport pipeline to AGN is vulnerable. The danger is that the Soviets will then be caught out in the open but its pointless just sitting here waiting to be steam-rollered every turn.

Meanwhile, 16th, 22nd and 30th Armies are ordered to hold the delta west of Mogilev.

12th July 1941
Turn 6
Army Group South

In the south the situation looks even worse than that before Smolensk! I decide to go down fighting where possible.

In the extreme north of the front three divisions attack the 25th Motorised that has almost surrounded them but the attack barely registers. In the south the Romanians are pushed back - allowing the bridge gateway to Kishinev to open up again, but the Axis remain on the other side of the river.

Unless Field Marshal mud hits next turn or the Germans run out of fuel, then the south will collapse next turn.

ORIGINAL: warspite1

12th July 1941
Turn 6

Apparently there is a 30 Paranoia increase as Minsk falls. No idea what all that means - other than its bad!

There's a random 1d100 die roll. If it equals or is less than his paranoia level, Joe has a fit.

When Joe has his hissy fit, a commander will get shot, you won't be able to play action cards, and you lose all your PPs

On the other hand, lost PPs will reduce the threat rating of the army commanders. (Never below zero though.)

ORIGINAL: Aurelian

ORIGINAL: warspite1

12th July 1941
Turn 6

Apparently there is a 30 Paranoia increase as Minsk falls. No idea what all that means - other than its bad!

There's a random 1d100 die roll. If it equals or is less than his paranoia level, Joe has a fit.

When Joe has his hissy fit, a commander will get shot, you won't be able to play action cards, and you lose all your PPs

On the other hand, lost PPs will reduce the threat rating of the army commanders. (Never below zero though.)

warspite1

Hissy fit? Hissy fit? Have you ever visited the Soviet Union Mr Aurelian? No? Then I suggest you keep it that way...if you value your worthless, capitalist, facist-pig existence...

Kind rgds

Uncle Joe

16th July 1941
Turn 7

I place 46th Army in Pervomaisk

I place 44th Army in Kiev. I suspect its too late and that the city will be overrun before the army gets a chance to form, but its worth a try given the importance of the place.

I place 45th Army in Cherkassy

I place 43rd Army in Vitebsk

I fortify the Minsk-Orsha Road

The 197th Rifle Division are ordered to break into Partisan units

I raise a garrison unit in Vinnitsa.

I place Kruschev with the Southern HQ

I place Zhukov with 16th Army

16th July 1941
Turn 7
Finland

All quiet at the moment. The 237th Rifle Division makes it to Petrozadovsk.

Northern Front

I place 31st Army on the defensive.

In Latvia the 2nd NKVD Mechanised and the 5th Airborne Divisions attack the 254th Division on the Windau-Riga road. The choice of target is two fold: the German unit's power rating is in the 50's and I do not have to move the Soviets to launch the attack. The attack was a waste of time and the German unit's rating went up??

On the extreme right wing of the German position the lone 3rd Motorised was attacked by two tank divisions from the Central Front. The result was another low point for Soviet arms....

The plan stated previously was for sizeable Soviet units around Polotsk to threaten AGN's fuel supplies. Sadly however, the Soviets forces can barely reach 9th Army let alone threaten them. As a result, the Soviet forces on the Lower Dvina will be crushed next turn - and the way to Estonia and beyond clear.

16th July 1941
Turn 7
Central Front

This has been a massive disappointment. 9th Army are massively outnumbered and the fuel line lies just beyond their positions. But the 20th and 24th Armies can do nothing about them due to a lack of AP's.

Little for me to do here other than launch desperate attacks (the one mentioned above) and one in the Pripyat Marshes. Both are signal failures. I can only sit and wait - as someone once sang [;)] Dire.

16th July 1941
Turn 7
Southern Front

But the biggest mess - and bizarrely the only place where the Soviets have had any sort of success (albeit pyrrhic) is in the south.

Pretty much all forces in the northern Ukraine are destroyed, surrounded or remnants. Once again I can only pray to the weather or fuel god in the hope of salvation - but even then, Kiev looks like it will fall next turn.

The only place where the Axis have been turned back is in Besarabia. Unfortunately Kishinev has finally given out, but this time both Axis hexes north of the Dneistr have been ejected back over the water - the 1st Romanian Armoured Division broke and the 76th Infantry is in the blue!

But that is as good as it gets for the USSR..... Where are you Uncle Joe - we need your genius!!

20th July 1941
Turn 8

Quelle surprise as they say in downtown Petrograd - Kiev has fallen and Paranoia has increased to 40!! [X(] I assume that is why I have no reinforcements - but it gets worse.....

I have to admit that, yes, there may be a crisis and that the war is not going exactly to plan. So I play the card admitting that there is a... ahem... crisis and this costs 10pp - but should lower costs going foward.

With hindsight, maybe I would have been better playing the Reorganise card or Prioritise Front, but if so it's too late as I have insufficient PP. Instead I have enough PP to play the 'Exhort Victory' card (5pp).

This means I get to give one of my rousing speeches to my adoring public. I love this part of my job. I remember the last speech I made in public. There was a moment in the proceedings I had them all cracking up.

I was in Leningrad giving a long speech at an event to mark my first 10 years in office. The audience must have been about 1,000. When I was halfway through, somebody sneezes. So I stop and look at the audience.

"Who sneezed?" I asked.

Deathly silence. Strangely no one says anything.

"I repeat, who sneezed?"

Not a peep. I could not understand why no one was answering me.

"Very well," I said. "First row, stand up!" Everyone in the first row stands up, at which point I do the natural thing and order: "Guards! Open fire!"

A few seconds later, the entire first row of the audience is lying in bloody heaps on the ground. It was hilarious.

"Now, who sneezed?" I repeated. But still there was not a sound from the audience. "Second row, stand up! Guards! Open fire!" Soon everyone in the second row is on the floor writhing in agony or dead. What was I supposed to do in such a situation? I asked the same question a further time naturally.

"Now, comrades: who sneezed?" But there was absolute silence. "Third row! Stand up! Guards! Op...."

"Wait! Wait!" From the sixth row a man suddenly rises up, shaking so hard with fear, I could barely contain my laughter. "Please! Comrade Stalin!" he says to me. "It was me. I sneezed."

"You sneezed?" I enquired.

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, yes. It was me."

"Bless you, comrade!" I said, and then carried on with my wonderful speech.

Ahh fun times!

20th July 1941
Turn 8
Finland

At least with no units to move it should be a quick turn.

7th and 23rd Armies do not move in Karelia.

Northern Front

Some of 48th Army are able to activate and I decide to largely abandon Tallinn. 31st Army is trying to hold a line southeast of Lak Ilmen. 48th will be tasked with holding the area between the lake and the sea around Narva.

20th July 1941
Turn 8
Northern Front (cont)

There are no units able to move in Latvia. The remaining units of 27th Army are ordered to remain at their posts along the Dvina and wait for their impending destruction. I send an urgent telegram to MajorGeneral Berzarin to give him my best wishes and encouragement. "My Dear Comrade Berzarin. Stop. This hurts me more than it hurts you. Stop. But Mother Russia needs you to stop the Germans at the River Dvina. Stop. You must stay where you are and either defeat that sour faced nazi von Leeb or die tryin'. Stop. Yours sincerely The Boss. Stop. P.s. If you fail in carrying out these orders, you will be shot. Stop.

20th July 1941
Turn 8
Central Front

My planned threat to the fuel supplies of AGN have come to nought. Firstly the Soviets simply have insufficient AP's to move and attack - and Secondly, the Germans have got wise to the threat and placed defensive units on the rail line.

20th Army are unable to threaten the flank of 4th Panzergruppe so I order 24th Army to attack the infantry of 9th Army. The 1st and 15th Rifle Divisions are joined by the 1st Tank and 1st Motorised Divisions for the attack. The two defending German divisions barely notice the attack....

In formulating a plan, it is really difficult when your units can't even cross a river. Those units of 20th Army south of the Dvina will just have to stay there and try and hold.

19th Army have been moved south to try and protect Mogilev - but again I cannot get the units there fast enough. 43rd Army, in Vitebsk, have not activated so I bring 34th Army, currently in Smolensk, toward Orsha - though they cannot reach either and so the fortification process cannot begin.

In the south of the front the Soviet 29th Army is in danger of being cut-off. They have no means to attack so I order those units capable of moving to pull back east and for 28th Army, west of Gomel, to try and join them.

20th July 1941
Turn 8
Southern Front

This front is a front in name only. There are no troops available anywhere east of Kiev.

There are four new armies:

- 45th Army in Cherkassy (only two units can move so will keep where they are)
- 46th Army in Pervomaisk, which I order to Kirovgrad.
- 47th Army in Pervomaisk, which stays put.
- 33rd Army in Odessa. Given the localised success in this sector I wanted to hold this city. However, there is nothing to stop the Germans sweeping down through the steppe and so I reluctantly order the army to Nikolayev.

The remaining units of Southern Command are told to try and delay the advance of the enemy across the Dneistr for as long as possible.

All units north are out of command, out of moves and out of hope.

24th July 1941
Turn 9

Looking at my opponents turn was not a pleasant experience. 4th Panzergruppe has broken out from the Dvina. 29th Army has been cut off from its would-be rescuers, and lead elements of 1st Panzergruppe have reached the outskirts of Cherkassy.

To cheer myself up I console myself with the fact that my son Yakov was taken prisoner in the last few days. Hopefully the Germans will treat him accordingly. I hate my family so much.

I spend 10pp to prioritise the Southern Front for reinforcements and supplies. That leaves 7pp I cannot do much with.

There are no reinforcements this turn once again. Where's all this inexhaustible manpower everyone keeps telling me about?

I fortify an area south of Mogilev.

I place a garrison in Kursk.

24th July 1941
Turn 9
Finland

All quiet in 7th and 23rd Army's sectors once again.

Northern Front

The four remaining divisions continue to hold the tip of Northern Lativa. There is no hope of escape and no possibility to attack so the order has gone out to hold as long as possible and tie down as many of von Kuchler's men as possible for as long as possible.

Further east, the end for 27th Army is close at hand. Jakobstadt has fallen and Berzarin has chosen to do the sensible thing and pay heed to my previous telegram. Every moment his four remaining divisions can hang on at the Dvina, Leningrad gets an increased chance of salvation.

South of Lake Ilmen the 31st Army continue to dig in, one flank anchored on lake, the other in the marshland. Unfortunately 48th Army, less three divisions that have been held back to defend Tallinn, are still struggling to get to Narva. I despatch Zhukov to the region. Maybe that will get the units moving more quickly.

24th July 1941
Turn 9
Central Front

Opposite 20th and 24th Armies the Germans have added the 2nd Army to reinforce the 9th. A sole division of the 2nd Army, the 167th, occupies the right flank and the junction with 9th Army.

I order three divisions of 24th Army - 3rd and 4th Infantry, plus the 2nd Motorised, to attack in this spot. The newly arrived German unit withdraws and the Soviet units give chase. The ideal now would be to attack west - and keep the pressure on 2nd Army. However the possibility of getting five divisions against two of 9th Army is too tempting. 4th, 7th and 15th Rifle Divisions plus 1st Motorised and 1st Tank make the assault against the German 8th and 162nd Divisions. However, the Germans are able to hold off the attackers and stand firm.

So as things stand at present the position is roughly as follows:

- Defending the area west of Polotsk, (mostly) south of the Dvina are 20th and 24th Divisions.

- 32nd Army have been ordered to remain north of the river and hold the line roughly Polotsk-Vitebsk.

- 43rd Army have responsibility of the area Vitebsk-Orsha

- 34th Army have responsibility south from Orsha on the east side of the river.

- 16th, 19th, 22nd and 30th Armies continue to have responsbility for the delta west of Mogilev.

- 28th Army have orders to protect Gomel. They attack the two most southeasterly German divisions but the attack is a waste of time, effort and most of all, men.

- 29th Army is cut-off in the western Pripyat Marshes.

24th July 1941
Turn 9
Southern Front

45th Army are at Cherkassy and have been met by lead panzer elements of the 1st Panzer Army. Rather than just sit and be blown away next turn, the army are given orders to counter with everything they've got. For the first attack against the lone 16th Motorised I hope will achieve something. Two tank and two rifle divisions are employed but the German unit holds. I should have called off the second attack, but in a fit of rage I order four rifle divisions to assault the two panzer units. All that has happened is that the 45th Army has hastened its own end.

The 33rd Army complete their journey to Nikolayev and start digging in. 46th Army do likewise at Kirovgrad.

47th Army are ordered to hold Pervomaisk - and divisions are sent not only east of the town, but north and south in case the intial threat comes from across river.

The remains of Southern HQ continues to hold the Lower Dneistr, but are seeking to slowly withdraw at the same time.

And that is all that is left of the Southern Front.... What donut did I put in charge down there?