Drive To The Caucasus - A 41 Campaign

[tm1]

AG South Turn 56

4th Pz Armee plus elements from 3 other Armee's form another pocket South of Voronezh, this tactic, by the AI might be a master stroke to delay the drive on Stalingrad.

Its certainly delaying both 6th Armee and 4th Pz's drive towards the city, its certainly slowing the pace of the advance.

On The Don drive Rostov is encircled with units pushing South to link up with troops in the Kuban area and also clearing the last enemy units out of the Ukraine.

The Hungarians link up with 17th Armee as parts of 11th Armee move towards Maikop, the first of the oil producing cities.

Another attack and the defenders at Sevastopol just hang on.

AGS 56.jpg (836.88 KiB) Viewed 1036 times

AGS 56a.jpg (878.95 KiB) Viewed 1036 times

AGS 56b.jpg (800.56 KiB) Viewed 1036 times

AGS 56c.jpg (554.12 KiB) Viewed 1036 times

[tm1]

Supply And Production Turn 56

Plenty of supplies reaching the troops on the ground, even air supply is in the black.

The truck issue remains the same though.

Another big boost of disaffected enemy troops joining the Axis ranks.

Supply 56.jpg (357.25 KiB) Viewed 1035 times

Production 56.jpg (372.8 KiB) Viewed 1035 times

[tm1]

losses and OB Turn 56

With the big manpower losses The Soviets took I now have more men on the Eastern front than the Red Army.

They also lost over 220 AFV's.

The air losses this week are about the same, numbers wise.

I also have over 3000 more AFV's total than the Soviets.

Two more enemy leaders killed including The Southwest Front Commander.

Losses 56.jpg (389.99 KiB) Viewed 1034 times

A Losses 56.jpg (391.34 KiB) Viewed 1034 times

OB 56.jpg (306.82 KiB) Viewed 1034 times

Leader 56.jpg (486.96 KiB) Viewed 1034 times

[tm1]

AG North Turn 57

No real resistance to speak of up in the far North, I outnumber them and so there being pushed back, its now a race to get to my stop line and dig in for winter.

South of 16th Armee there are some big Soviet Corps in the line which could hold up proceedings there , but that's fine I will encircle and destroy them with Hube's 6th Korps.

On the whole its a slow slog to the Northern lakes.

AGN 57.jpg (1.02 MiB) Viewed 943 times

AGN 57a.jpg (1.06 MiB) Viewed 943 times

[tm1]

AG Centre Turn 57

Finally the Moscow salient is encircled with many enemy HQ's trapped there and as bonus South of Moscow another pocket is formed.

Quite a big one involving 3 Armee's , the main thing now is to reduce the Moscow defences, I don't really need to capture the city straight away but when I complete my objectives in the South It should be a easy capture.

Amongst the trapped units are at least 3 Inf Corps that will net quite a few POW's.

AGC 57.jpg (1.04 MiB) Viewed 942 times

AGC 57a.jpg (950.01 KiB) Viewed 942 times

[tm1]

AG South Turn 57

The drive East continues as pockets are cleared and more formed, with Command and Control seemingly breaking down with the Soviets it may be only the weather that's stops me reaching Stalingrad.

More of 1st Pz Armee crosses the Don River and the Rostov pocket is reduced as the Hungarians consolidate the link up with 17th Armee and the Romanians.

Further South The Black Sea drive continues but that one last city in the Crimea is a thorn in my side that continues to hold out.

AGS 57.jpg (905.7 KiB) Viewed 941 times

AGS 57a.jpg (906.73 KiB) Viewed 941 times

AGS 57b.jpg (783.72 KiB) Viewed 941 times

AGS 57c.jpg (620.58 KiB) Viewed 941 times

[tm1]

Losses And OB Turn 57

The Soviets take huge losses thanks to the pockets with over 270,000 this turn also just over 230 AFV's destroyed.

Though my own losses in AFV's was reasonably high with about 100 losses.

For once I suffered more losses in the air which is not good.

Soviets also lost a lot of Commanders this turn including 2 Front Commanders.

There OB is steadily dropping, still good to see.

Losses 57.jpg (391.51 KiB) Viewed 940 times

A Losses 57.jpg (393.55 KiB) Viewed 940 times

OB 57.jpg (309.56 KiB) Viewed 940 times

Leader 57.jpg (477.35 KiB) Viewed 940 times

[tm1]

AG North Turn 58

Almost reached Oshta and surprise surprise having cleared the frontier there not a single Finn has shown up to thank us

Seems the Soviets have not completely given up as they have seem to have massed troops against 9th Armee, we shall see if the make a fight of it.

AGN 58.jpg (979.89 KiB) Viewed 939 times

AGN 58a.jpg (869.09 KiB) Viewed 939 times

[tm1]

AG Centre Turn 58

Reducing the Moscow defences begins by 9th Armee while 3rd Pz Armee begins to form a second ring around the city.


South of this 2nd Pz begins to eliminate the pockets and form more as the Russians seem to throwing themselves in to the fire.

2nd and 4th Armee's are now at Voronezh, if keep this drive up in the centre I will have all the required victory points before I reach Baku.

AGC 58.jpg (901.92 KiB) Viewed 935 times

AGC 58a.jpg (810.61 KiB) Viewed 935 times

AGC 58b.jpg (781.29 KiB) Viewed 935 times

[tm1]

AG South Turn 58

Southern Forces keep moving forward trapping enemy units in there path despite the rain and our supply lines not being able to keep up.

Rostov is taken and the rest of the trapped forces destroyed, plan to slow the offensive down to allow troops to recover and supply lines to catch up.

The Hungarians consolidate the link up and the Italians keep pushing on down the coast road.

The Soviets have constructed forts on there ports which means either wasting time besieging them or just by passing them.

If I reach Batumi they are isolated.

AGS 58.jpg (757.56 KiB) Viewed 932 times

AGS 58a.jpg (764.32 KiB) Viewed 932 times

AGS 58b.jpg (819.18 KiB) Viewed 932 times

AGS 58c.jpg (707.72 KiB) Viewed 932 times

[tm1]

Supply Turn 58

Still good but with the rain and the advance moving so fast cant keep the rail up to the front.

It seems the Fuehrer is not happy that Sevastopol has not been taken and 11th Armee has a new Commander he hopes will do the job.

Meanwhile there are more losses in the ranks of the Russian General staff.

Supply 58.jpg (364.11 KiB) Viewed 930 times

Leader 58.jpg (458.84 KiB) Viewed 930 times

[tm1]

Losses and OB Turn 58

More large losses for The Red Army again over 270,00 but only a small number of AFV's

The Air losses are better this week as we destroyed double our losses.

OB for the Russian Army clings to just above 3 million.

Losses 58.jpg (389.96 KiB) Viewed 928 times

A Losses 58.jpg (391.91 KiB) Viewed 928 times

OB 58.jpg (304.07 KiB) Viewed 928 times

[tm1]

AG North Turn 59

18th Armee has almost trapped a Tank Corps but my units just didn't have the legs thanks to the weather and terrain.

16th Armee has almost reached the Rybinsk Reservoir, the Soviets seem to have no fight in them as there counterattacks are brushed aside.

I am starting to upgrade and also build airbases now in the north as the rail system is few and far between and the roads are woeful, I need to supply my troops and so it will have to be by air transport now in some places.

AGN 59.jpg (819.69 KiB) Viewed 927 times

AGN 59a.jpg (832.39 KiB) Viewed 927 times

[tm1]

AG Centre Turn 59

Well all but cleared the Moscow salient only the city defenders now, will begin to chip away at them over the months.

South of 3rd Pz Armee's positions the pockets are reduced, I have units and Korps all over the place so I will be redeploying them back to some uniformity as soon as I can.

Voronezh is encircled but I will just besiege it.

AGC 59.jpg (877.19 KiB) Viewed 926 times

AGC 59a.jpg (735.48 KiB) Viewed 926 times

AGC 59b.jpg (690.05 KiB) Viewed 926 times

[tm1]

Army Group A Turn 59

Well OKH has decided to create a new Army Group so AG South is now split.

Army Group A

4th Pz Armee
2nd Armee
4th Armee
6th Armee

Objective - Stalingrad and to cover the Northern flank of Army Group B.

Army Group A 59.jpg (699.48 KiB) Viewed 925 times

[tm1]

Army Group B Turn 59

1st Pz Armee
17th Armee
11th Armee

Objective - The Caucasus and priority Baku

This grouping will supported by

Army Group Antonescu

3rd Romanian Army
4th Romanian Army
2nd Hungarian Army
8th Italian Army

Objective - The Black Sea operations

Army Group B 59.jpg (725.55 KiB) Viewed 923 times

Army Group B 59a.jpg (692.51 KiB) Viewed 923 times

Army Group B 59b.jpg (692 KiB) Viewed 923 times

[tm1]

Supply Turn 59

Still steady but the weather is getting worse.

Another Russian General meets his fate on the battle field.

Supply 59.jpg (360.6 KiB) Viewed 922 times

Leader 59.jpg (437.88 KiB) Viewed 922 times

[tm1]

losses and OB Turn 59

Over 310,000 manpower losses , how can the Red Army sustain the drain of men, also over 280 AFV's and one thing I don't mention in my reports are the Artillery which is always in the high numbers.


Heavy losses on both sides in the air this week, not good for us unlike the Soviet war production machine which keeps pumping out air frames.

Finally got them under the 3 million mark again, and there AFV numbers are below 2000 to

Losses 59.jpg (387.62 KiB) Viewed 921 times

A losses 59.jpg (391.57 KiB) Viewed 921 times

OB 59.jpg (302.36 KiB) Viewed 921 times

[tm1]

AG North Turn 60

Still pushing North East, the only real opposition is the weather and terrain, I'm tempted to strike out towards Vozhega and Konosha, but I wont.

South of 18th Armee the 16th is facing some opposition including a Tank Corp and a rare Guards unit.

AGN 60.jpg (832.57 KiB) Viewed 844 times

AGN 60a.jpg (866.12 KiB) Viewed 844 times

[tm1]

AG Centre Turn 60

On the Moscow front 3rd Pz Armee and 9th Armee push back the enemy trapping one Inf Corp and almost another.

South of the capital the pockets there are destroyed, but for now Voronezh remains isolated.

AGC 60.jpg (903.47 KiB) Viewed 843 times

AGC 60a.jpg (765.79 KiB) Viewed 843 times

AGC 60b.jpg (690.78 KiB) Viewed 843 times