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T106.
The retreat continues towards the fortified line that have been building since the winter.
A minor counter attack to pocket a couple of divisions that strayed too far ahead.

T107.
The pocketed Soviet divisions were safe from rescue and duly killed.

Elsewhere the Soviets launch a surprise attack towards Pskov. They rout the three entrenched divisions in the front line and advance around 10 hexes, pocketing two divisions in the process.
Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic., will show more next turn.
Axis frantically rush units to the rescue but to plug the line rather than recover the pocket which is well out of range.

T108
Soviets push on past Pskov and get down to the Daugava river. Up by Lenningrad the front is quiet, I guess all of the Soviet force is heading South.
Start of the turn: We had a fair number of units rushed over and are able to pocket 10 or so of them, but it is a thin screen and expect they will all be able to escape. Elsewhere we continue to retreat to the line of forts that had been under construction for the past several months.

T109.
The action around Pskov heats up.
No surprise that the Soviets broke all of the pockets from last turn. With some herding they get pushed out again and sealed off better this time - some of the screening units are just there for combat delay and are likely to take a thumping. The ones in the pocket are mostly low on fuel and supplies and I don't think they will have the combat power to win an attack to help a breakout. Some heavy losses on them already.

Had an attempt to save my two pocketed divisions but it was clearly going nowhere with the Soviets too strong.

Elsewhere all is quiet.

T110.
The Soviets trashed of the front line divisions but otherwise were unable to make any progress against the pocket. Gives Axis a good haul, the best since the first couple of turns.
As well as wiping the pocket out give some lead Soviet units a beating and set up to try and get across the river next turn.
Near Lenningrad do a small advance to interdict the only active rail line they have down to Pskov.

Not much change to the VPs, they auto-flipped a few turns ago.
Axis reserve manpower holding up, though a lot of it is Allies and despite my efforts am just not getting to fight with them enough to make use of it. German pool has been going up a little, no shortage to fill out units so far. .

Nice to see offensives and counter-offensives of such caliber. Reminds me the Third Battle of Kharkov. Still, Soviets captured a considerable amount of land. Will you try to recapture Pskov, or just aim to stabilize the front?

Nice to see offensives and counter-offensives of such caliber. Reminds me the Third Battle of Kharkov. Still, Soviets captured a considerable amount of land. Will you try to recapture Pskov, or just aim to stabilize the front?

I did make an attempt at a counter offensive around Pskov but made no progress - the Soviets were too strong.
We are several moves ahead now but am holding off screenshots as they show too much of my defensive lines.

T111
Small counter attack from Lenningrad to keep the rail line interdicted. I was thinking that the Soviet units around Pskov would be short of supply but as it turned out over the next few turns they weren't and I wasn't able to do anything to recover those two German divisions that eventually he killed.

T112.
Not much happened.

T113.
Major Soviet attack against my fortification line around Kursk with multiple divisions taking a trashing.
We reflip the hexes and pull down 1st Panzer army from further North to prop up the line and hope they can't do too much next turn.

T114.
The Soviet offensive continues and they wreck the the larger stacks on the shoulders of the southern gap, and then trash them again when they retreat.

However this tine PG1 was in place and conducts a strong counterpunch - the Manstein plan for Citadel I think !

T115.
The pattern continues, Soviet attacks on my line of infantry in level 3 forts and Axis counterattacks with Pnazers.

T116
This time the Soviets are too strong to counterattack.

T117.
But this turn is better.

Could you post an OBB screenshot some time? I wonder if these losses are sustainable for Axis. Even the turn you call better has merely 1:2 lose ratio for men, AFV losses are almost equal.

Will do a summary at the end of the summer.
The present rate of Axis losses is sustainable. There is still a surplus of German manpower and AFVs in the pool, and a glut of aircraft.
OOB is an odd one because the most significant variations are the Italians coming and going, and for the Germans units arriving and leaving plus the Infantry divisions getting smaller.

T118.

Have had to abandon Kursk and Belgorod, were becoming too much at risk of being pocketed. It leaves 2 divisions in the open and my line slightly unhinged – next turn is going to be a bad one. Could have pulled back earlier to prevent this happening but I think holding up the Soviets for the extra few turns is worth the damage am going to take.
Have decided am going to abandon Lenningrad during the mud and pull back to Narva, fortifications there under construction. That whole northern force of 5 Corps is too much at risk and the shorter line will help provide some more reserves.

T119.
As expected the Soviets do a lot of damage around Kursk, one of my worst turns for losses (though quite a few of them were expendable Hungarians). However nothing pocketed and the new defensive line is up to level 2/3 forts.
We manage a few good Panzer counterattacks and get the loss ratio back to a respectable number.

In the North the Soviets open up a new attack towards Lenningrad. Am not concerned about that, will just start the fighting withdrawal early. My main concern is that they could cut across to Narva, there is some probing just by Pskov and have spotted Mech in the area which might be supplying up for a charge towards Tallinn or Parnu.