
Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Moderator: Joel Billings
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Here is one area of the game that could have been done better. Here we see a list of surrendered depots, but aside from one entry where freight was seized, is there really anything of meaning in this?


Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Odds and ends.

Some people have voiced a lot of frustration with the air war. I find recon so much better under this game. No spamming hexes with 600 air missions to draw out enemy fighters.
Here with Luftflotte 2, I have three short range and one long range air recon groups. The aircraft are limited to three units in an AOG. It's simple to move them, simple to reset the air target hex week-to-week and everything else stays basically the same. I use the air directive target (shift-Y) to get the big picture of what missions are flying where and which ones are inactive. If a short range group can't cover a target area in a given week, I just have the long range group pick up the slack.
AOGs are pretty much flying one day a week, although each AOG may fly on a different day.

Some people have voiced a lot of frustration with the air war. I find recon so much better under this game. No spamming hexes with 600 air missions to draw out enemy fighters.
Here with Luftflotte 2, I have three short range and one long range air recon groups. The aircraft are limited to three units in an AOG. It's simple to move them, simple to reset the air target hex week-to-week and everything else stays basically the same. I use the air directive target (shift-Y) to get the big picture of what missions are flying where and which ones are inactive. If a short range group can't cover a target area in a given week, I just have the long range group pick up the slack.
AOGs are pretty much flying one day a week, although each AOG may fly on a different day.
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
That is a bug where all named hexes get reported as depots being captured. It's been around since last year.M60A3TTS wrote: Wed Apr 06, 2022 2:49 am Here is one area of the game that could have been done better. Here we see a list of surrendered depots, but aside from one entry where freight was seized, is there really anything of meaning in this?
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
First look at week 6.
26th Corps of 18th Army will be dealing with Tallinn.

Smolensk will be surrounded.

Kiev to be assaulted again by 6th Army.

The Odessa garrison forced away from the city last week and now isolated in clear terrain will be mopped up.

26th Corps of 18th Army will be dealing with Tallinn.

Smolensk will be surrounded.

Kiev to be assaulted again by 6th Army.

The Odessa garrison forced away from the city last week and now isolated in clear terrain will be mopped up.

Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
The attack against Tallinn by 26 Corps now commanded by J. Harpe was successful. The garrison has been driven out and can be dealt with in the coming week. Our air losses were 6 A2A, 31 flak and 9 ops. Bombing altitude of 9k may well be too low for the Ju88s involved but the disruption of Soviet ground elements by air accounted for 24% of total so the current air doctrine is worth a re-evaluation. OKL will no doubt have an opinion!
3rd Panzer Group completed the envelopment of Smolensk. Hoth is fairly confident the cordon will hold, but latest air recon shows Soviet defenders gathering in the Yartsevo-Pochinok-Dorogobuzh triangle. Is this where the Soviets will make their stand?

Elements of 1st and 2nd Panzer groups conduct a link up east of the Pripet. Rather doubtful that any Soviet lurk in the region aside from roving partisans who are appearing in Belorussia now (level 1 intensity). This secures our rear at least even if no troops are bagged. Now Guderian can have a secured rear area as he looks to the east.

55 Corps of 6th Army again attacked Kiev and this time success was assured as the city was surrounded. General Vierow is undoubtedly the best among the three corps commanders, but 6 Army commander von Reichenau could use a more capable corps commander here.

At Odessa in the south, Rumanian troops made quick work of the former garrison.
Hungarian motorized troops drove out the airborne brigade at Nikolaev.

Other items
- 14 Motorized Corps closing in on Dnepropetrovsk. Now 20 miles to the west. Both the northern and southern banks of the Dnepr continue to be rolled up. PG1 reports supplies and ammo adequate but fuel levels quickly becoming an issue. Gen Qu Wagner reports a little under 30k tons of supplies now in the Soviet depots among 865k total (excl.NSS). He will coordinate with LF4 to fly more freight forward from rear depots in south but it is clear the advance will not be able to continue at this pace indefinitely.
- Chernigov was found abandoned and with the link up of PG2 and 3, a move on Sumy will quickly be in the offing.
- Operations continued in the Novgorod region. Various units within Panzer Group 4 successfully pushed off various defending Soviet divisions to include identified elements of 16 Rifle Corps (Vasilevsky) 20 Army (Remezov) and 8 Army. (Tyurin). Deaths Head Division reports they are at the gates of Novgorod with no enemy garrison in evidence. No means to take it off the march this week, but success will come soon enough.
-Also in north, 291 Infantry Division of 10 Corps took Virtsu and will prepare to cross over to Saaremaa and later Hiiumaa. The Soviet controlled port of Kuressaare continues to generate low level naval interdiction.
- At Pskov, FBD 4 prepares for super depot next week prior to resuming regular rail repair services.
- Casualties 22 June 2-August
---Disabled 44,956
---Killed 18,261
---Missing, presumed captured 75
- Manpower pool near 260,000. More than adequate to cover our losses to date.
-255 AFVs lost so far during the campaign, compared to over 8,500 enemy. We have over 300 AFVs in the pool so again our losses can be covered here so long as the vehicles can be brought forward.

3rd Panzer Group completed the envelopment of Smolensk. Hoth is fairly confident the cordon will hold, but latest air recon shows Soviet defenders gathering in the Yartsevo-Pochinok-Dorogobuzh triangle. Is this where the Soviets will make their stand?

Elements of 1st and 2nd Panzer groups conduct a link up east of the Pripet. Rather doubtful that any Soviet lurk in the region aside from roving partisans who are appearing in Belorussia now (level 1 intensity). This secures our rear at least even if no troops are bagged. Now Guderian can have a secured rear area as he looks to the east.

55 Corps of 6th Army again attacked Kiev and this time success was assured as the city was surrounded. General Vierow is undoubtedly the best among the three corps commanders, but 6 Army commander von Reichenau could use a more capable corps commander here.

At Odessa in the south, Rumanian troops made quick work of the former garrison.

Hungarian motorized troops drove out the airborne brigade at Nikolaev.

Other items
- 14 Motorized Corps closing in on Dnepropetrovsk. Now 20 miles to the west. Both the northern and southern banks of the Dnepr continue to be rolled up. PG1 reports supplies and ammo adequate but fuel levels quickly becoming an issue. Gen Qu Wagner reports a little under 30k tons of supplies now in the Soviet depots among 865k total (excl.NSS). He will coordinate with LF4 to fly more freight forward from rear depots in south but it is clear the advance will not be able to continue at this pace indefinitely.
- Chernigov was found abandoned and with the link up of PG2 and 3, a move on Sumy will quickly be in the offing.
- Operations continued in the Novgorod region. Various units within Panzer Group 4 successfully pushed off various defending Soviet divisions to include identified elements of 16 Rifle Corps (Vasilevsky) 20 Army (Remezov) and 8 Army. (Tyurin). Deaths Head Division reports they are at the gates of Novgorod with no enemy garrison in evidence. No means to take it off the march this week, but success will come soon enough.
-Also in north, 291 Infantry Division of 10 Corps took Virtsu and will prepare to cross over to Saaremaa and later Hiiumaa. The Soviet controlled port of Kuressaare continues to generate low level naval interdiction.
- At Pskov, FBD 4 prepares for super depot next week prior to resuming regular rail repair services.
- Casualties 22 June 2-August
---Disabled 44,956
---Killed 18,261
---Missing, presumed captured 75
- Manpower pool near 260,000. More than adequate to cover our losses to date.
-255 AFVs lost so far during the campaign, compared to over 8,500 enemy. We have over 300 AFVs in the pool so again our losses can be covered here so long as the vehicles can be brought forward.
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
General Kinzel, Foreign Armies East gave presentation to the Fuhrer on Soviet manpower and organization from the start of the war to present date. Chief takeaways:
---With updated information now in our possession the 200 Soviet divisions we anticipated at the start of hostilities was actually 229. These divisions included:
134 infantry
51 tank
25 mechanized
7 cavalry
8 mtn infantry
4 NKVD motor rifle
---The Soviets commenced an immediate mobilization of one million reservists on week 1.
---Among the 11 Soviet armies opposite our Army Groups at the start, the bulk of them in the AGN and AGC zone of operations were destroyed after three weeks of fighting.
---In the six weeks since the start of operations, the Red Army added from various reserve and theater groupings the following divisions to their order of battle:
30 infantry to include Leningrad and Moscow people’s militia
8 tank
2 cavalry
2 mechanized
A total of 42 divisions
---For our part we have counted 87 destroyed Soviet divisions in the campaign, among them were included the following types along with Soviet net losses when accounting for the newly arrived Soviet divisions.
47 infantry net -17
10 mechanized net -8
22 tank net -14
4 cavalry net -2
4 mountain infantry net -4
Total net -45
---The current estimate by FHO is that there are 184 Soviet divisions now in the field.
---With an estimate of 9 divisions in a Soviet field army, we could extrapolate the presence of some 20 full strength armies in the field. With 11 known armies facing our three AGs at the campaign start, if they were fully refitted that would leave 9 armies among the so-called second echelon. Among a total of 7 known Soviet reserve armies, five, 18th-22nd were situated in center/south and two armies, the Neva, Coastal Army Groups near Leningrad. That would leave two Soviet armies unaccounted for if the northern army HQs are indeed active.
---The Fuhrer found these numbers extremely suspect. The Soviets would be hard pressed to absorb a million reservists into the army soon after the start of the conflict. Most likely the numbers are half that at best, and in any case their quality of training would reflect virtually no combat experience and correspondingly equipped with second rate weapons. If the two Leningrad militia divisions defending Kiev and the general lack of resistance in the south were any indication, the Soviets only have enough regular troops to cover the Leningrad and Moscow line of advance. That should give AGS a free hand in subduing the remainder of the Ukraine, the Crimea and the Donbas. If von Rundstedt holds nothing back, the few Soviet divisions opposite him will simply “fall into the bag” while an advance to Stalingrad or Maikop would not be out of the question amidst a general collapse of the Red Army. An incredible level of optimism on his part provided the question of logistics is totally removed from any calculations!
---With updated information now in our possession the 200 Soviet divisions we anticipated at the start of hostilities was actually 229. These divisions included:
134 infantry
51 tank
25 mechanized
7 cavalry
8 mtn infantry
4 NKVD motor rifle
---The Soviets commenced an immediate mobilization of one million reservists on week 1.
---Among the 11 Soviet armies opposite our Army Groups at the start, the bulk of them in the AGN and AGC zone of operations were destroyed after three weeks of fighting.
---In the six weeks since the start of operations, the Red Army added from various reserve and theater groupings the following divisions to their order of battle:
30 infantry to include Leningrad and Moscow people’s militia
8 tank
2 cavalry
2 mechanized
A total of 42 divisions
---For our part we have counted 87 destroyed Soviet divisions in the campaign, among them were included the following types along with Soviet net losses when accounting for the newly arrived Soviet divisions.
47 infantry net -17
10 mechanized net -8
22 tank net -14
4 cavalry net -2
4 mountain infantry net -4
Total net -45
---The current estimate by FHO is that there are 184 Soviet divisions now in the field.
---With an estimate of 9 divisions in a Soviet field army, we could extrapolate the presence of some 20 full strength armies in the field. With 11 known armies facing our three AGs at the campaign start, if they were fully refitted that would leave 9 armies among the so-called second echelon. Among a total of 7 known Soviet reserve armies, five, 18th-22nd were situated in center/south and two armies, the Neva, Coastal Army Groups near Leningrad. That would leave two Soviet armies unaccounted for if the northern army HQs are indeed active.
---The Fuhrer found these numbers extremely suspect. The Soviets would be hard pressed to absorb a million reservists into the army soon after the start of the conflict. Most likely the numbers are half that at best, and in any case their quality of training would reflect virtually no combat experience and correspondingly equipped with second rate weapons. If the two Leningrad militia divisions defending Kiev and the general lack of resistance in the south were any indication, the Soviets only have enough regular troops to cover the Leningrad and Moscow line of advance. That should give AGS a free hand in subduing the remainder of the Ukraine, the Crimea and the Donbas. If von Rundstedt holds nothing back, the few Soviet divisions opposite him will simply “fall into the bag” while an advance to Stalingrad or Maikop would not be out of the question amidst a general collapse of the Red Army. An incredible level of optimism on his part provided the question of logistics is totally removed from any calculations!
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
7th week of war.
North
- Rain falling again and light mud scattered throughout the operational area.
- Manstein drove 2 Soviet divisions from Novgorod, inflicting near 10k casualties from 16 Rifle Corps led by Vassilevsky. We lost 40 aircraft to the enemy’s 49. Of these 26 of ours lost to flak, 11 to ops, 3 in A2A combat. All Soviet aircraft downed in A2A.
- The Tallinn garrison surrendered with 27k Soviet losses.
- Supply situation favorable for now. 19k tons of supplies arrived at the Pskov depot and nearly 15k of that distributed. Half the divisions of PG4 with or in excess of their full ammunition loadout.
- 291 Division over the Saareema crossing.
Center
- Weather clear along the front from Vitebsk south.
- Smolenk captured by Materna of 20 Corps, 3 PG. Three rifle divisions of Soviet 24th Army defended and 46k casualties recorded. 56 of 57 Soviet Yak and MiG fighters also to be included in the tally. Our own losses 1,218 men 49 guns, 5 fighters and 31 bombers. 26 air losses attributed to flak.
- Supply picture not as favorable as in north. Significant ammo shortfalls in 5 of 18 divisions of PG3. In 5 panzer/motor divisions of PG3, fuel stocks under 65%. Guderian reported PG2 in similar, slightly less favorable conditions with regards to fuel among his 15 divisions. Ammunition count another story, remains in excellent shape with only two divisions less than full loadouts.
- 9th Army, General Strauss protests his command having been stripped down by von Bock to a single corps, the 6th under Gollnick. He received appropriate response that his situation not unique under present circumstances. 16th Army under Busch stripped out to reiforce other commands within AGN. 2nd Army only operating with two corps. Army Group needs must take precedence over subordinate ground commanders!
- Guderian's 24 Motorized Corps most recent movements places it southwest of Sevsk. His screening of von Kluge’s 4th Army important as it works its way west of the Desna to cross near Znob.
- Fairly evident the enemy intends to hold a line to protect Bryansk. Guderian convinced his present movements should thwart this design. Concur with that assessment if there are no surprises to the east.
South
- 6th Army midway between Kiev and Kharkov.
- 17th Army with two corps, 4 and 52 along the Dnepr in the area Dnepropetrovsk-Zaporozhye. 49 Mountain Corps operating to the south.
- 3 and 4 Rumanian Armies are situated between the 17th and 11th Armies. Looking to minimize their movement to conserve supplies.
- 11th Army over the Dnepr and on the way to Crimea. A pair of Soviet cavalry divisions were the only units encountered in the vicinity of Kherson, aside from Soviet 1 Airborne Brigade that surrendered after their abortive defense of Nikolaev.
- Supply situation in south far worse than other AGs. PG1 with only marginal fuel stocks. This however did not prevent von Kleist from surrounding Dnepropetrovsk. That should be the next major Soviet city to fall, but future movements certainly at risk without improved logistics picture. Rumanians and 11th Army still being forced to rely on truck columns originating from depots based in Rumania! Trouble brewing here. Fuhrer’s notion of a potential move on Stalingrad might as well be Mars at this stage.
Gen Qu Wagner reports Soviet depots stockpiled to 29k tons among 907k total in depots (excl. NSS). Much to be done here. More freight must flow east, particularly in the south! Luftwaffe transport can only do so much, shuttling a few hundred tons forward among the western depots.
North
- Rain falling again and light mud scattered throughout the operational area.
- Manstein drove 2 Soviet divisions from Novgorod, inflicting near 10k casualties from 16 Rifle Corps led by Vassilevsky. We lost 40 aircraft to the enemy’s 49. Of these 26 of ours lost to flak, 11 to ops, 3 in A2A combat. All Soviet aircraft downed in A2A.
- The Tallinn garrison surrendered with 27k Soviet losses.
- Supply situation favorable for now. 19k tons of supplies arrived at the Pskov depot and nearly 15k of that distributed. Half the divisions of PG4 with or in excess of their full ammunition loadout.
- 291 Division over the Saareema crossing.
Center
- Weather clear along the front from Vitebsk south.
- Smolenk captured by Materna of 20 Corps, 3 PG. Three rifle divisions of Soviet 24th Army defended and 46k casualties recorded. 56 of 57 Soviet Yak and MiG fighters also to be included in the tally. Our own losses 1,218 men 49 guns, 5 fighters and 31 bombers. 26 air losses attributed to flak.
- Supply picture not as favorable as in north. Significant ammo shortfalls in 5 of 18 divisions of PG3. In 5 panzer/motor divisions of PG3, fuel stocks under 65%. Guderian reported PG2 in similar, slightly less favorable conditions with regards to fuel among his 15 divisions. Ammunition count another story, remains in excellent shape with only two divisions less than full loadouts.
- 9th Army, General Strauss protests his command having been stripped down by von Bock to a single corps, the 6th under Gollnick. He received appropriate response that his situation not unique under present circumstances. 16th Army under Busch stripped out to reiforce other commands within AGN. 2nd Army only operating with two corps. Army Group needs must take precedence over subordinate ground commanders!
- Guderian's 24 Motorized Corps most recent movements places it southwest of Sevsk. His screening of von Kluge’s 4th Army important as it works its way west of the Desna to cross near Znob.
- Fairly evident the enemy intends to hold a line to protect Bryansk. Guderian convinced his present movements should thwart this design. Concur with that assessment if there are no surprises to the east.
South
- 6th Army midway between Kiev and Kharkov.
- 17th Army with two corps, 4 and 52 along the Dnepr in the area Dnepropetrovsk-Zaporozhye. 49 Mountain Corps operating to the south.
- 3 and 4 Rumanian Armies are situated between the 17th and 11th Armies. Looking to minimize their movement to conserve supplies.
- 11th Army over the Dnepr and on the way to Crimea. A pair of Soviet cavalry divisions were the only units encountered in the vicinity of Kherson, aside from Soviet 1 Airborne Brigade that surrendered after their abortive defense of Nikolaev.
- Supply situation in south far worse than other AGs. PG1 with only marginal fuel stocks. This however did not prevent von Kleist from surrounding Dnepropetrovsk. That should be the next major Soviet city to fall, but future movements certainly at risk without improved logistics picture. Rumanians and 11th Army still being forced to rely on truck columns originating from depots based in Rumania! Trouble brewing here. Fuhrer’s notion of a potential move on Stalingrad might as well be Mars at this stage.
Gen Qu Wagner reports Soviet depots stockpiled to 29k tons among 907k total in depots (excl. NSS). Much to be done here. More freight must flow east, particularly in the south! Luftwaffe transport can only do so much, shuttling a few hundred tons forward among the western depots.
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
How do you like being on the other side?
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
It's different. At this point I'm 9 months away from having last played the Soviet side and after a few Axis games into 1942 it's been a learning process. I really don't mind the constant pressure that the Soviet manpower numbers bring to the table. The Axis logistics planning involves a lot more port dependencies in the early game and building a supply system from scratch within the Soviet Union has it's challenges. Still, most of the surprises are gone and I feel reasonably confident that a functioning supply system for the Axis is possible once you overcome some of the early shortages when you only have so much to work with.
Once I get past the first winter, I'll have a better picture if I'm playing well enough to at least have a chance at a win.
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Yeah, it's always '42 when you're faced with the daunting task of attacking against rifle corps and 50 MP tank corps that you really get to see how the campaign is going hahaM60A3TTS wrote: Tue Apr 12, 2022 1:47 amIt's different. At this point I'm 9 months away from having last played the Soviet side and after a few Axis games into 1942 it's been a learning process. I really don't mind the constant pressure that the Soviet manpower numbers bring to the table. The Axis logistics planning involves a lot more port dependencies in the early game and building a supply system from scratch within the Soviet Union has it's challenges. Still, most of the surprises are gone and I feel reasonably confident that a functioning supply system for the Axis is possible once you overcome some of the early shortages when you only have so much to work with.
Once I get past the first winter, I'll have a better picture if I'm playing well enough to at least have a chance at a win.
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Week 8
North
-Manstein’s 56 Motorized Corps reaches Myasnoy Bor, north of Novgorod. Vasilevsky’s 48th Army putting up the main resistance in this area.
Center
-9th Army’s VI Corps (Gollnick) secured the towns of Durovo, Dorogobuzh, and Yelna. 3rd Panzer Group now just east of Smolensk.
- 12 Corps, Panzer Group 2 closing on Bryansk. Just west of the city now. The remainder of Guderian’s forces are just east of the Desna and resting this week while taking on additional supplies and fuel.
- Von Kluge’s 4th Army east of the Desna and making for Kursk.
- Rail repair should reach Smolensk next week.
South
- Poltava with two cavalry divisions and Zaporozhye with a pair of Leningrad militia divisions and another pair of cavalry divisions surrounded. The Fuhrer believes the sign of Leningrad militia sent so far south is a clear indication of the desperate plight the Bolsheviks face.
- 34,000 Russians surrendered at Dnepropetrovsk to von Obstfelder's 29 Corps.
- 6th Army advances on Kharkov. Field Marshal von Reichenau reports no significant resistance after the advance past Kiev.
- 49 Mountain Corps arrives outside Perekop at the entrance to the Crimea and will launch assault next week. 11th Army is close behind.
- Ships from the Rumanian port of Constanta delivered over 6600 tons of supplies to the port of Nikolaev. If this continues, Model is convinced that the drive into the Crimea will remain on track
Overall Soviet losses now at 1.5 million men, over 24,000 guns, 8,700 AFVs and 5,900 aircraft. They have clearly been shielding much of their air forces since our success in the first week of the conflict.
FHO currently has estimated that the Red Army in the field is at 3.1 million with 187k in reserve and another 165k in their manpower pool. Their tank forces at some 6.2k are a cause for some concern but so far we have seen no significant concentration of armor forces.
For the last several weeks, our own air forces are hovering between 3,300 and 3,400 aircraft of all types. So long as we can maintain these numbers things should continue to go well.
North
-Manstein’s 56 Motorized Corps reaches Myasnoy Bor, north of Novgorod. Vasilevsky’s 48th Army putting up the main resistance in this area.
Center
-9th Army’s VI Corps (Gollnick) secured the towns of Durovo, Dorogobuzh, and Yelna. 3rd Panzer Group now just east of Smolensk.
- 12 Corps, Panzer Group 2 closing on Bryansk. Just west of the city now. The remainder of Guderian’s forces are just east of the Desna and resting this week while taking on additional supplies and fuel.
- Von Kluge’s 4th Army east of the Desna and making for Kursk.
- Rail repair should reach Smolensk next week.
South
- Poltava with two cavalry divisions and Zaporozhye with a pair of Leningrad militia divisions and another pair of cavalry divisions surrounded. The Fuhrer believes the sign of Leningrad militia sent so far south is a clear indication of the desperate plight the Bolsheviks face.
- 34,000 Russians surrendered at Dnepropetrovsk to von Obstfelder's 29 Corps.
- 6th Army advances on Kharkov. Field Marshal von Reichenau reports no significant resistance after the advance past Kiev.
- 49 Mountain Corps arrives outside Perekop at the entrance to the Crimea and will launch assault next week. 11th Army is close behind.
- Ships from the Rumanian port of Constanta delivered over 6600 tons of supplies to the port of Nikolaev. If this continues, Model is convinced that the drive into the Crimea will remain on track
Overall Soviet losses now at 1.5 million men, over 24,000 guns, 8,700 AFVs and 5,900 aircraft. They have clearly been shielding much of their air forces since our success in the first week of the conflict.
FHO currently has estimated that the Red Army in the field is at 3.1 million with 187k in reserve and another 165k in their manpower pool. Their tank forces at some 6.2k are a cause for some concern but so far we have seen no significant concentration of armor forces.
For the last several weeks, our own air forces are hovering between 3,300 and 3,400 aircraft of all types. So long as we can maintain these numbers things should continue to go well.
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Southern Ops
6th Army advancing on Kharkov

1st Panzer Group and 17th Army actions on the Dnepr

Crimea

6th Army advancing on Kharkov

1st Panzer Group and 17th Army actions on the Dnepr

Crimea

Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Northern Ops

Army Group Center in the area of Smolensk-Bryansk


Army Group Center in the area of Smolensk-Bryansk

Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
4th Army and most of Panzer Group 2

Rail progress in center


Rail progress in center

Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Week 9
Rain falling from Leningrad to Smolensk
North
--A Russian attempt to cut off the 4th Panzer Group narrowly fails in the area Plyussa-Soltsy-Volot. Only this last location was captured by the Bolsheviks and a narrow supply path remained intact. Our own counterattacks managed to rout two cavalry, one mechanized and one tank division from their 11th and 31st Armies.
--A series of attacks along the Volkhov River against the Russian 8th and 48th Armies are successful. Nevertheless, progress in this area is slowing considerably. The heavy concentration of heavy woods and swamps clearly are aiding the enemy in this regard.
Center
--A more significant Russian attack at Durovo-Dorogobuzh causes two of Golnick’s divisions in VI Corps, the 26th and 110th to rout. This was a very unexpected event and Gollnick needs to get on top of the situation quickly. One Russian tank division from Govorov’s 13th Army attempted an exploratory attack at Smolensk which was easily beaten off by 20th Corps. Our counterattacks here have surrounded four rifle and one tank division. We have identified four Soviet armies operating in the Smolensk region this week, 3rd, 13th, 28th and 49th.
--Our deliberate advance on Kursk continues, unopposed for the moment. 12th Corps has one division, the 34th, fights it’s way forward and is now adjacent to Bryansk.
South
--Poltava and Zaporozhye remained surrounded by von Rundstedt’s forces and as a result both cities fell to our advancing troops. Militia and cavalry divisions are offered up to us in this transparent bid to trade space for time.
-- 6th Army continues the march towards Kharkov.
--Von Mackensen’s 3rd Motorized Corps headed into the Crimea against no opposition. 14th Panzer Division is over the Salagir River and four towns of Dzhankoy, Seytler, Fraydorf and Sarabuz pass into our possession. Model’s 11th Army works it’s way along the railroad tracks leading into the Crimea at Perkop-Armyansk-Ishun.
Air losses were not inconsiderable this week with 211 aircraft lost. To date our overall losses can be categorized as follows:
333 lost to air combat (24%)
400 lost to flak (29%)
628 lost to operations (47%)
1,361 total losses
Our ground losses in two months of fighting amount to 112,267 men, 924 guns and 322 AFVs. By comparison the Russians have lost roughly 1.6 million men, 26,000 guns and 9,034 AFVs.
Qu Gen Wagner reports 965,000 tons of supplies now stocked among the non-NSS depots broken down as follows:
542k Germany
295k Poland
67k Rumania
61k Soviet Union
Our northern depots are managing to keep the travel distance of various truck columns to a reasonable distance. Guderian is struggling in getting supplies, with much of his originating from the Minsk depot that sent out over five thousand tons this week. Rail repair reached Smolensk this week so next week Hoth's Panzer Group 3 should see some supply improvements. The AGS depot at Fastov is forced to pull double duty, supplying both Guderian and 6th Army while Nikolaev and Odessa are supplying 17th Army, the Rumanian and Hungarian troops and 1st Panzer Group. Southernmost units in some cases are still being forced to draw supplies from Rumanian depots. Not good!
Rain falling from Leningrad to Smolensk
North
--A Russian attempt to cut off the 4th Panzer Group narrowly fails in the area Plyussa-Soltsy-Volot. Only this last location was captured by the Bolsheviks and a narrow supply path remained intact. Our own counterattacks managed to rout two cavalry, one mechanized and one tank division from their 11th and 31st Armies.
--A series of attacks along the Volkhov River against the Russian 8th and 48th Armies are successful. Nevertheless, progress in this area is slowing considerably. The heavy concentration of heavy woods and swamps clearly are aiding the enemy in this regard.
Center
--A more significant Russian attack at Durovo-Dorogobuzh causes two of Golnick’s divisions in VI Corps, the 26th and 110th to rout. This was a very unexpected event and Gollnick needs to get on top of the situation quickly. One Russian tank division from Govorov’s 13th Army attempted an exploratory attack at Smolensk which was easily beaten off by 20th Corps. Our counterattacks here have surrounded four rifle and one tank division. We have identified four Soviet armies operating in the Smolensk region this week, 3rd, 13th, 28th and 49th.
--Our deliberate advance on Kursk continues, unopposed for the moment. 12th Corps has one division, the 34th, fights it’s way forward and is now adjacent to Bryansk.
South
--Poltava and Zaporozhye remained surrounded by von Rundstedt’s forces and as a result both cities fell to our advancing troops. Militia and cavalry divisions are offered up to us in this transparent bid to trade space for time.
-- 6th Army continues the march towards Kharkov.
--Von Mackensen’s 3rd Motorized Corps headed into the Crimea against no opposition. 14th Panzer Division is over the Salagir River and four towns of Dzhankoy, Seytler, Fraydorf and Sarabuz pass into our possession. Model’s 11th Army works it’s way along the railroad tracks leading into the Crimea at Perkop-Armyansk-Ishun.
Air losses were not inconsiderable this week with 211 aircraft lost. To date our overall losses can be categorized as follows:
333 lost to air combat (24%)
400 lost to flak (29%)
628 lost to operations (47%)
1,361 total losses
Our ground losses in two months of fighting amount to 112,267 men, 924 guns and 322 AFVs. By comparison the Russians have lost roughly 1.6 million men, 26,000 guns and 9,034 AFVs.
Qu Gen Wagner reports 965,000 tons of supplies now stocked among the non-NSS depots broken down as follows:
542k Germany
295k Poland
67k Rumania
61k Soviet Union
Our northern depots are managing to keep the travel distance of various truck columns to a reasonable distance. Guderian is struggling in getting supplies, with much of his originating from the Minsk depot that sent out over five thousand tons this week. Rail repair reached Smolensk this week so next week Hoth's Panzer Group 3 should see some supply improvements. The AGS depot at Fastov is forced to pull double duty, supplying both Guderian and 6th Army while Nikolaev and Odessa are supplying 17th Army, the Rumanian and Hungarian troops and 1st Panzer Group. Southernmost units in some cases are still being forced to draw supplies from Rumanian depots. Not good!
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Northern Ops

Near Smolensk

Orel-Kursk

Kharkov

D-Z

Crimea

Manpower



Near Smolensk

Orel-Kursk

Kharkov

D-Z

Crimea

Manpower


Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Week 10
Leningrad area

Smolensk

Orel-Kursk

Kharkov

D-Z

Crimea

Leningrad area

Smolensk

Orel-Kursk

Kharkov

D-Z

Crimea

Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Week 10
North
--Von Leeb fears he has lost the freedom of maneuver and has been forced into a static war. Many Russian divisions are between his army group and Leningrad. He is instructed to keep up attacks in order to force a breakthrough.
Center
--Hoth continues to push east of Smolensk but it is slow going. To his south, Guderian manages to take Maloarchangelsk and position the 29th Motorized Division east of Orel.
--Von Kluge and his 4th Army reach the outskirts of Kursk. He should be well positioned to seize the city in the coming days.
South
--6th Army with assistance of Kempf’s 48th Motorized Corps surrounds Kharkov.
--17th Army begins a cautious advance in the direction of Stalino. Von Kleist has his panzers resting this week which in turn causes consternation at the most recent Fuhrerconference. Von Rundstedt is accused by the Fuhrer of deliberately ignoring the Barbarossa directive in not pressing forward. 1st Panzer Group has about half its authorized fuel, but the field marshal's response is thatthey have been on continuous action since the beginning of the campaign. Additionally, half the panzer group is actively engaged in active operations at Kharkov and it is only elements in the Stalino area that are resting.
--Little enemy opposition can be found in the Crimea. Kerch falls to 3rd Motorized Corps while 11th Army continues their march towards Sevastopol. 11th Corps has reached the port of Yevpatoriya.
Our ground forces this week stand at 3.3 million and another 1.2 million allied vs. 3.2 million enemy troops.
The air war continues to go fairly well despite significant operational losses. We have lost 1,553 aircraft to 6,658 of the enemy
We are moving into September and the great campaign is by no means resolved. Stalin continues to give up his cities in the south with little opposition and focuses on defending the routes to Moscow and Leningrad. We can see the Red Army gradually growing in size while we are outrunning our supplies with each passing week. If we cannot force a major action in the coming weeks and succeed in drawing in a significant concentration of enemy forces, the Fall rains will arrive soon enough to make our supply situation even more difficult.
North
--Von Leeb fears he has lost the freedom of maneuver and has been forced into a static war. Many Russian divisions are between his army group and Leningrad. He is instructed to keep up attacks in order to force a breakthrough.
Center
--Hoth continues to push east of Smolensk but it is slow going. To his south, Guderian manages to take Maloarchangelsk and position the 29th Motorized Division east of Orel.
--Von Kluge and his 4th Army reach the outskirts of Kursk. He should be well positioned to seize the city in the coming days.
South
--6th Army with assistance of Kempf’s 48th Motorized Corps surrounds Kharkov.
--17th Army begins a cautious advance in the direction of Stalino. Von Kleist has his panzers resting this week which in turn causes consternation at the most recent Fuhrerconference. Von Rundstedt is accused by the Fuhrer of deliberately ignoring the Barbarossa directive in not pressing forward. 1st Panzer Group has about half its authorized fuel, but the field marshal's response is thatthey have been on continuous action since the beginning of the campaign. Additionally, half the panzer group is actively engaged in active operations at Kharkov and it is only elements in the Stalino area that are resting.
--Little enemy opposition can be found in the Crimea. Kerch falls to 3rd Motorized Corps while 11th Army continues their march towards Sevastopol. 11th Corps has reached the port of Yevpatoriya.
Our ground forces this week stand at 3.3 million and another 1.2 million allied vs. 3.2 million enemy troops.
The air war continues to go fairly well despite significant operational losses. We have lost 1,553 aircraft to 6,658 of the enemy
We are moving into September and the great campaign is by no means resolved. Stalin continues to give up his cities in the south with little opposition and focuses on defending the routes to Moscow and Leningrad. We can see the Red Army gradually growing in size while we are outrunning our supplies with each passing week. If we cannot force a major action in the coming weeks and succeed in drawing in a significant concentration of enemy forces, the Fall rains will arrive soon enough to make our supply situation even more difficult.
Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Week 11
The weather has finally cleared across the entire front.
North
--Von Leeb reports some success in dislodging the Russians from very difficult terrain west of Myasnoy Bor. He still is pessimistic about long term results as August ends and we move into September.

Center
--Von Bock reported major Soviet tank and cavalry movements east of Orel that isolated a part of Guderian’s Panzer Group 3. Some 900 enemy tanks put 10th Motorized Division to flight while 19th Panzer Division beat off five successive attacks by individual enemy divisions. Four cavalry divisions of Kalyuzin 43rd Army put to flight in our counterattacks. 38th Army (Akimov) 29th Army (Khorzun) and 10th Army (Vatutin) also fighting here.

--Von Kluge has managed to surround Kursk that is defended by yet another militia division.

South
-- Kharkov fell to Field Marshal Von Reichenau’s 6th Army. Mikhail Kazakov of the Soviet 1st Airborne Corps defended with 3 divisions. 62k Soviet casualties.

--Von Rundstedt has once again resumed the march east of the Dnepr. Two Russian divisions are cut off with several others routed.

--11th Army and the Rumanian Mountain Corps bear down on Sevastopol and Yalta. 5th Rumanian Corps takes the port of Feodosiya. Model’s army is given assault status and it is removed from 1st Panzer Group. General Loehr’s Luftflotte 4 is being issued orders to make a maximum effort in order to support naval patrols in the Crimea which will involve a great number of mines. Our troops from Kharkov to the Sea of Azov will have to do without any real measure of air support save for minimal fighter support until the Crimean actions have a resolution.

The Fuhrer may have been correct in that on June 22nd we kicked in the door and the whole rotten Soviet structure did indeed come crashing down. What we failed to anticipate was that Stalin would simply build another one. This one is fighting Von Leeb to a near standstill in the north while Russian cities south of the Oka River fall in their turn without having any appreciable effect on Russian determination to carry on the war. FHO has estimated enemy field strength at 3.17 million having sustained nearly 1.9 million in losses after over two months of fighting. Worse, General Kinzel believes given time the Soviet Union will raise many millions more against us. This is not the war of Poland or France, and our ability to sustain a long term conflict is very much a question mark. Our own casualty rates at least for now remain sufficiently low so we can continue to maintain the offensive despite our growing supply difficulties.

The weather has finally cleared across the entire front.
North
--Von Leeb reports some success in dislodging the Russians from very difficult terrain west of Myasnoy Bor. He still is pessimistic about long term results as August ends and we move into September.

Center
--Von Bock reported major Soviet tank and cavalry movements east of Orel that isolated a part of Guderian’s Panzer Group 3. Some 900 enemy tanks put 10th Motorized Division to flight while 19th Panzer Division beat off five successive attacks by individual enemy divisions. Four cavalry divisions of Kalyuzin 43rd Army put to flight in our counterattacks. 38th Army (Akimov) 29th Army (Khorzun) and 10th Army (Vatutin) also fighting here.

--Von Kluge has managed to surround Kursk that is defended by yet another militia division.

South
-- Kharkov fell to Field Marshal Von Reichenau’s 6th Army. Mikhail Kazakov of the Soviet 1st Airborne Corps defended with 3 divisions. 62k Soviet casualties.

--Von Rundstedt has once again resumed the march east of the Dnepr. Two Russian divisions are cut off with several others routed.

--11th Army and the Rumanian Mountain Corps bear down on Sevastopol and Yalta. 5th Rumanian Corps takes the port of Feodosiya. Model’s army is given assault status and it is removed from 1st Panzer Group. General Loehr’s Luftflotte 4 is being issued orders to make a maximum effort in order to support naval patrols in the Crimea which will involve a great number of mines. Our troops from Kharkov to the Sea of Azov will have to do without any real measure of air support save for minimal fighter support until the Crimean actions have a resolution.

The Fuhrer may have been correct in that on June 22nd we kicked in the door and the whole rotten Soviet structure did indeed come crashing down. What we failed to anticipate was that Stalin would simply build another one. This one is fighting Von Leeb to a near standstill in the north while Russian cities south of the Oka River fall in their turn without having any appreciable effect on Russian determination to carry on the war. FHO has estimated enemy field strength at 3.17 million having sustained nearly 1.9 million in losses after over two months of fighting. Worse, General Kinzel believes given time the Soviet Union will raise many millions more against us. This is not the war of Poland or France, and our ability to sustain a long term conflict is very much a question mark. Our own casualty rates at least for now remain sufficiently low so we can continue to maintain the offensive despite our growing supply difficulties.

Re: Express to Valhalla GC41 M60 (Axis) vs MSAG (Sov) MSAG welcome
Looks like you are doing very well overall but particularly in the south. Look forward to seeing the next few turns.
How many turns behind is the game? Is it too much to ask to see your rail lines?
How many turns behind is the game? Is it too much to ask to see your rail lines?