Nach Moskau und zurück - Gunnulf (A) AtAtack (S) GC-No early end

[Gunnulf]

T12 11A

11 Armee breaks through the causeway with relative ease as the spearhead korps is close to 100CPP. Some soviets trapped but still at least 8 divisions ahead. Question is how many will retreat to fight in Sevastopol and how many will evacuate to Kerch...

[Gunnulf]

T13 AGC

In the centre 9 Armee continues to hold and replen, while 2 Panzergruppe encircles Tula. 2 Armee reaches Orel.

[Gunnulf]

T13 AGS

1 Panzergruppe envelops Stalino and a few other scattered cavalry divisions although we can't quite reach the sea of azov to cut off a further two. C'est la vie. Railhead links up Zapordzhye to double up the railyard points in this stretch. Other games I ignored this until much much later but going to see what effect that might have on rail congestion in winter.

[Gunnulf]

T14 Leningrad

Well behind the curve, still grinding 10 miles a week against stiff opposition. Soviets can't hold the front line but equally no exploitation possible. This is not blitzkreig here for sure. 40 miles to go when in a parallel real-world Leningrad already got cut off. On the western flank of this sector he's still holding the river line. However I strongly suspect that if/when the cut happens this commitment to non-key terrain will prove to be a millstone. Or come blizzard he will have advanced jumping off points to regain down to Pskov... Time will tell...

[Gunnulf]

T14 Rzhev sector

The railhead extends up north of Velike Luki having decided that there wasn't much of value to extend in the Leningrad sector and a super-depot in Pskov not needed. If we can link east to give an alternate route to Kallinn all the better. Biggest news though is cutting the Leningrad-Moscow mainline way closer to source. Trucks can supply Valdai from Kalinn for a while, but now only 2 single tracks heading into Leningrad might tighten things a little more.
Otherwise 9 Armee builds a bridgehead across the river in preparation for Operation Typhoon. Here at least we are weeks ahead of historical timeline. Not that that means we expect to walk into Moscow anytime soon of course!

[Gunnulf]

T14 Tula Sector

The Tula pocket surrenders but also 17Pz and Das Reich exploit all the way to take Ryazan. Not a very sustainable position come winter I'm sure but cuts an important arterial railine and puts another angle on Moscow to cover, with much harder to defend terrain. Stalin's butler will be getting a suitcase ready just in case.
Otherwise a few Soviet counter-attacks against regiments which is showing Red confidence and strength growing... Nothing that can't be contained for now.

[Gunnulf]

T14 Stalino sector

In a second blow to Red morale Stalino falls and after having had their operational pause 16 motorised and Wiking push to within 20miles of Rostov. This is the blitzkrieg spirit we are missing in AGN! A few more cavalry divisions in secure pockets too. The railhead close to Stalino and we can think about consolidation to help the push on Kharkov.

[Gunnulf]

T14 key numbers

Soviet losses circa 200k including 105k in the bag which drops the ORBAT slightly below 4.8m. Not disastrous for either side I think, we made a dent but Stavka has preserved its forces reasonable well, although at the cost of territory in the south having prioritised Leningrad.
22k captured trucks will be put to good use somewhere/somehow. Losses don't seem too bad as our supply network not super-strung out anywhere, but each army certainly getting less than optimum supplies aside from 4 Panzergruppe which is fair as they are doing the bulk of the real fighting right now for sure.
In the air losses are 6-1 in terms of machines and pilots which I think we can deal with at this stage. Again the heaviest fighting in the skies above AGN and we are putting fresh fighter units in here to make up for losses.

[Gunnulf]

T14 Crimea

Looking like a bit of a ghost town so far...

[Gunnulf]

T14 Kharkov & Kursk

Our lead 17th Armee reconnaissance patrols start to report signs of a major fortification network around Kharkov and it seems to indicate this is where the Reds have chosen to make their end of year stand linked in with the Donets to the north and south. 6th Armee meanwhile reaches Kursk to find it relatively empty. [/quote]

[Gunnulf]

T15 AGN

4 Panzergruppe able to punch through 20 miles and get across the last waterway before the lake but as Sept41 draws to a close its the extra water starting to arrive that going to cause us to fall short soon. We can probably punch on through light mud a turn more or two and cut the next railine to add to the Reds problems at least a little bit, but a depot a little way back can still truck freight in. 18 Armee is going to bog down pretty quickly though and not much chance they will go further unless he lets us.

[Gunnulf]

T15 Moscow sector

3 Panzergruppe reach the outskirts of Kalinn and pretty sure it will be assailable next week. A few minor advances along the rest of the line by 4 & 9 Armee while 2 Panzergruppe has a ersatzcigar and consolidates CPP. If we go full Operation Typhoon despite the advanced start line it won't be a cake walk for sure.

[Gunnulf]

T15 Orel and Kursk Sector

Orel falls easily and will be linked up next week from the north to complete a nice loop to give supplies options to avoid overloading the Smolensk branch. Kursk will certainly fall next week and be immediately linked to rail too. We have been using 2-3 AP each time a railyard falls to get it back up to capacity as soon as reasonably possible.

[Gunnulf]

T15 AGS

Rostov falls to a coup-de-main assault by the Panzergrenadiers. Next stop Baku! Or maybe not...
Kharkov meanwhile looking like a tough nut to crack this late in the season with the weather turning and off the main arterial rail link. Stalino is connected and we face a choice to connect Rostov already or at least its port, or to backtrack and start a new branch from Dnepropetrovsk.

[Gunnulf]

T15 Crimea

Starting to piece together the outer defences of Sevastapol, but nothing yet to indicate what lies waiting in the fortress.

[Gunnulf]

T15 Numbers

132k Soviet casualties for a total of 2.6m, about 9-1 ratio but the easy times draw to a close. I think we've been riding the panzers quite hard, moreso that some folks seem to but AFV losses seem to be about 8-1 too and most Panzer divisions seem in reasonable shape. We have taken 118 divisional tokens off the board and a further 27 Tank/Infantry brigades. Many will come back as cadre's soon but its helped to thin the lines a bit.

[Gunnulf]

T16 AGN

20 miles to the lake, although need to beat a wider patch so more like 30 really. Due to reasonable rotation then lead divisions like Totenkopf and 8 Pz shown has reasonable fuel, ammo and CPP, but never able to get further than 1 hex at a time really. As before the thought is that we will fall short due to weather but got to keep trying for a while at least...

[Gunnulf]

T16 Kallinn

Kallinn falls and 3 Panzergruppe continue to exploit north and east. 2 Pz interdicts another key rail which should put more pressure while not directly on the Leningrad front but at least the Reds shielding north of the Valdai hills.
Otherwise 9 Armee follows up as the Soviet line re-adjusts mostly voluntarily towards presumably better prepared lines in front of Moscow.

[Jango32]

Would it be feasible to switch a Panzer corps from the Volkhov line to Narva, and encircle the Soviets below Leningrad?

[Gunnulf]

T16 Crimea

11 Armee clears the outer defences of Sevastapol but its still unclear from intel as to whether the city is lightly held or whether a full city-fort of defenders is lurking. If the latter we will no doubt have some problems this late in the season as the rails and well back at the causeway and there is only so much we can fly and ship in to support a large assault. Our supplies ok, but ammo and CPP need to catchup maybe.