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turn 52. Russia.

A very bloody one. George used the good weather turn well and hit me very hard.
Pls don´t think i can easily replace those 600 infantry. I had no reserves since i lost
constant 200-300 infantry during the winter turns, not to talk about autumn 1943.

Attacking myself is the only way. Beeing agressive as possible.
Not showing any weakness. And i had my weak points. Stalingrad front for example.
Fortunately George did not realize the advantage his AG South had at this point.

The North.

Massive attacks. I crossed the Bug in force and recaptured Kaunas
Russian Engineers fortified Kaunas area.
The russian air force flew a massive attack against a german HQ
and artillery unit.

I´m willing to fight until the last german or russian soldier died here.
No longer retreats, just attacks.

In the south we saw a very quiet Stalingrad front.

Near Kursk i started to build a new little army to attack against
Kharkov. 6 new units, but they have strong german units near....

My attack north of Baku developed well.
I not only built the planned bridge and send armored troops into the
bridgehead for more attacks. I also destroyed nearly all romanian artillery
and broke the enemy front at about 60 Km.
Now i´ll send all i have into that gap and drive direct to Baku (that´s the plan....).

The only bad news is the appearance of german fighter III.
The first air battle saw 1:1 losses, but long term i need either more fighters
of fighter III myself.
But same as in the north. I´ll go for the decision here now !

Germany, Turn 53, April 27, 1944

Despite giving Seille the second-bloodiest hit since the start of the campaign (the other one was last fall when I took out a lot of arty) his troops still had enough stamina left to deal out a devastating blow. My Northern front is buckling under the weight of the attacks and the Romanian right wing simply vanished from the Order of Battle, taking most of its artillery with it...

On the Bug some very bloody battles wage as I try to hit the Russian bridgeheads when they're most vulnerable. However a lack of just about everything means I only manage to fight back 3 units and the Russians keep two bridgeheads over the Bug. Worst of all, my counter-attacking units are within his artillery range.

Near Kursk, the sudden arrival of 5 new Soviet armies stops my "gung-ho" offensive dead in its tracks. Time for yet another retreat towards Kharkov, it will probably be the last one.

In the South I still try to prevent the inevitable fall of Baku. AG South beats the crap out of the Stalingrad Front, but has gained only little terrain. The outflanking movement in the Don Bend is crippled by air attacks, destroying valuable transportation and robbing those units of their mobility.

In front of Baku, things look hopeless. Despite the dangers, the Romanian left wing clashes with the Russians, with some units getting out of range of fighter cover. It's all or nothing now.

The troops from the Crimea race into the Kuban to recapture the Rostov-Maikop road and perhaps aid in the battle for Baku. But they still have a long way to travel.

Wow, what suprises is the brutality with which both sides are fighting now. Apart from some decisive clashes you both always traded space for time if the need was here. But now both sides are getting reckless. Impressive.

George was brutal the whole time, mostly with his artillery.
But now i started to fight back. Wanted finally to break the back of
the Wehrmacht. And i was willing to pay for.
 
Next turn tomorrow.

Real East Front battles now taking place. Close Combat, man against man, Hand fighting, no prisoners taken.

I can almost taste the smell of the battles, hear the screams of the wounded and dying. The noise of battle: guns being fired, tanks exploding as divebombers rain death from the skies.

Great AAR

Russian turn 53.

A very good turn for my forces again. Even i took high losses myself during the last german
turns (alone around 900 (!!!) infantry in the last two turns) i was able
to attack myself.
Partially the germans are now on plain terrain and out of their fortifications which make
things easier. And i have finally some artillery assets in the north and the south which give
the needed support. Same time i continue to reduce the german artillery.
My armies are on a good way now.

The north.

More brutal attacks. With artillery support i expanded my bridgehead
over the Bug near Kaunas. The germans can´t longer throw me out
since i already started to hit their reserves as well as their HQ´s.
Took out some artillery again.
It doesn´t look good for the german AG North and Center which are melting away
like snow in the summer now....

The south.

The last turn was already good, but this one was better.

My planes hammered the german left flank northwest of Baku and the following
ground attacks took out the most units there including some artillery.
The german Luftwaffe did not show up to prevent me from doing this !
My spearheads are now only two hexes away from Baku and they cutted the german road to Baku,
so they will have problems to send reenforcements to the city which is actually defended by only 10 rifle III.
I have to be fast here since the Crimean troops are already on their way.

My Stalingrad front moves his shattered corps back slowly leaving some guards only
at the better to defending points. AG South is here now way too strong to fight against.

A unexpected success i had near Kursk north of Kharkov.
The units i built there last turn did their first successful attacks and threw back two german units.
Little horse driven units supported by some armor. But attacked from different directions with good
staff support, so i didn´t really wonder about [:)]

Baku could fall next turn and then i have the production advantage i have in mind [:D]

Germany, Turn 54, May 17 1943

There's not much to say this time around. The Eastern Front is starting to crack like an egg being cooked too long. And each crack is weakening the entire structure, accelerating the disintegration.

In the North, I manage to squeeze out a handful of counter-attacks. Running away is not really an option as most troops lack mobility.

Around Kursk a second round of "bluff poker" starts to prevent the Russians from cutting off the entire Southern front.

In the South an poorly planned air strike runs into an interceptor force twice as large, costing me a lot of fighters. AG South still continues to attack towards Stalingrad, but its commander is starting to look over his shoulder ever more anxiously.

Russian turn 54

The north:

Again some very effective attacks. The german lines are broken
and i seperated AG North from AG Center.
(did not know at this time how the german supply chain was, but AG Center got it´s supply
from AG North, so both HQ´s won´t get anything next turn).

The germans have only a couple of good units here, the others are broken and no match
for my attack forces.

Looking at the current situation it should be possible to take Königsberg within 2 turns and also destroy
AG North completely.

The south:

Multiple battlefields here now.

Near Kursk i was successful. Recaptured the city and encircled
the german units in this area. Now i can easily attack Kharkov.

Near Stalingrad i engaged the Luftwaffe which lost 50% of the used planes.
An other attack destroyed a engineer unit completely which was not careful
enough and in "my" territory.

Near Baku i took out the few units and took the city back. A really fast and
unexpected success. Followed the romanians sharply. Overrolled another artillery unit.
Most of the initial AG Romania is now dead or cutted off and in bad shape.
Only the crimean fighters has been lucky enough not to come into the meat grinder.
They started to fleew thru the Kerch straight now.

Aaahrgh. I have been reading this AAR since it started in july last year. Almost feels like ive lost a friend now that i know its almost over. (and pretty much who will win)
 
Its been a great ride guys. You wouldnt fancy playing some other scenario against eachother and reporting?

I write the AAR in a way i would like to read it myself. Many pictures with comments wrote
mostly direct into the screens, but it´s a lot of work. The salt in the soup are little details like
the forces overview George provided ( i hope he´ll give us a last one when the game is over)
I think about 90 minutes for a turn. Too be honest i´m happy it´s over soon, so i can play more again [:D]
Cutted my play time a lot, so in the last 3 month´s i had not a single game running.

Maybe i´ll write another AAR in the future but not too soon. Need some rest now.
In addition i think i´ll fix some little bugs in russia 1941 (just found another: taking back Baku gives a message
the germans burned down KIEV instead of Baku.