Russia! Why not? (Morvael welcome)

[Schattensand]

This game is about encirceling and destroy, not about push back and forth.

[morvael]

Easy to perform as Germans in '41, not so easy as the Soviets in 44' - the Germans are never as weak as the Soviets in '41 and they have powerful PzDiv to counterattack, so every time I encircle something it must be protected by CV35+ stacks to stay in my grasp. But a disaster for the Axis will soon happen

[morvael]

For the Soviets the game is mostly about pushing back, until the Germans run out of manpower. And only then interesting thing starts to happen.

Partially this is effect of German morale bug and too strong fronts in general. WitE sometimes resembles WW1 too much. Not my fault.

[loki100]

The amount of pressure you are putting on should generate a critical break at some stage, note that SS Pzr Div in the front lines on the Rumanian border, seems as if the Cpt has had to throw almost everything into the front to try and hold you?

[morvael]

Turn 155 (June 1st, 1944)

The enemy withdraws from the Dnestr line, so a lot of ground is captured, including the important rail bridge at Tiraspol:

[morvael]

Three tank armies hit hard the mixed German-Hungarian forces near Zhytomir, and in the chaos of a running battle three enemy rearguard divisions are partially encircled. To the south steady hammering continues. It may be not so spectacular, but it's what causes the Axis manpower reserves to be utterly exhausted, and in turn mortally wound their armies:

[morvael]

With Mozyr taken by the Poles, the widest part of the swamps (on the north-south axis) is now crossed:

[morvael]

From Minsk, now firmly in Soviet hands, major thrust is headed towards Baranovichi. A lot of open terrain in that area will be good for mobile operations:

[morvael]

Leningrad Front prepares slowly to assault Riga. 2nd Baltic Front enters Lithuania(n SSR):

[morvael]

AFV losses are horrible, and tank corps are down to 60-70% of their nominal strength, but the Red Army has to strike while the iron is hot, so there is no pause in operations. Maybe the Western Allies will finally open the second front, as promised so long ago? Rifle corps are about to change their TOE in a very positive way. Artillery is strengthened, AA weapons are reintroduced, and heavier AT guns are added (while light AT guns and ineffective AT rifles are reduced in number). In total the corps is about to grow by 8%:

[morvael]

3rd Army commander, Nikolai Krylov, is promoted to the rank of General-Pulkovnik. General-Major Nikolai Simoniak is appointed to lead 62nd Army. 31st Army is renamed 3rd Guards Army. 33rd Army is renamed 4th Guards Army. 5 light SU brigades, 2 flame tank regiments, 2 flamethrower battalions and 2 light rocket regiments are formed. 20 light SU regiments and 4 separate tank regiments are disbanded.

Strength:
men: 10 286 210 vs 4 605 665
guns: 165 666 vs 44 332
AFVs: 16 247 vs 6 765
aircraft: 21 323 vs 2 115

Trucks:
in units: 283 363 / 283 581 (99.92%)
in the pool: 214 177 / 190 554 (112.40%)
in repair: 93 788

Losses:
killed: 33 427 vs 16 608
captured: 0 vs 727
disabled: -824 vs 9 907
guns: 462 vs 919
AFVs: 1 516 vs 206
aircraft: 432 vs 300

Including:
in combat: 218 vs 143
from AA: 124 vs 22
on the ground: 0 vs 79
operational: 90 vs 56

[morvael]

ORIGINAL: loki100

The amount of pressure you are putting on should generate a critical break at some stage, note that SS Pzr Div in the front lines on the Rumanian border, seems as if the Cpt has had to throw almost everything into the front to try and hold you?

Yeah, but previously the break didn't occure before next mud and thus there were no significant gains from entire season of butchery. In the south he uses the SS divs as anchor points for the weak Rumanian units. Being mobile they are able to withdraw from dangerous positions when required. Most of the German infantry fights in the north and center. However, most panzers and panzergrenadiers remain in reserve, as do some infantry units. His line is usually 3 units deep and there is no chance to break through it to the rear.

[morvael]

Turn 156 (June 8th, 1944)

Kishinev, the capital of Bessarabia, captured. The Prut river, that is the border between Rumania and USSR is so close now. Soon, Rumania might be forced to change sides in the conflict:

[morvael]

Only 100 miles remain to the pre-1939 border between Soviet Union and Poland, on the Zbruch river:

[morvael]

The battle of Zhitomir turns out to be the greatest offensive success of the Red Army in the entire war! Three tank armies supported by five tank corps and four cavalry corps encircle a huge Axis force of 6 regular German infantry divisions, 3 Luftwaffe field divisions, 7 Hungarian infantry divisions and 1 Hungarian border guards brigade. It seems only one German panzer division is in the area to try and rescue them, so unless reinforcements will be quickly sent to this region by the enemy high command, some 150 000 men might be doomed. Too bad it's an infantry-only force, but the loss of manpower should be significant:

[morvael]

Wehrmacht withdraws from the swamps of Polesia without offering resistance. The Grossdeutschland division causes a lot of grief in Konev's HQ, by turning sure defeats into victories for the Axis defenders. The division is finally located and a task force of three tank armies and a number of tank and cavalry corps from several other armies assembled to hunt for it:

[morvael]

Two German divisions hold against the assault on Riga, killing or wounding 17 men for each loss suffered:

[morvael]

The Allies have landed in Normandy! The dreams of a "Thousand-Year Reich" fade away. All that counts now is the race to Berlin. Will the Red Army win it?

9th Army commander, Pavel Artemev, is promoted to the rank of General-Armii. 1st Ukrainian Front commander, Fyodor Kuznetsov, improves his morale skills (6). General-Armii Vasyli Kuznetsov is appointed to lead 65th Army. 1st Tank Army is renamed 1st Guards Tank Army. 9th Army is renamed 5th Guards Army. 5 light SU brigades, 1 flame tank regiment, 1 sapper regiment, 1 AA regiment, 2 flamethrower battalions and 2 light rocket regiments are formed.

Strength:
men: 10 237 345 vs 4 589 213
guns: 169 851 vs 44 174
AFVs: 15 275 vs 6 728
aircraft: 21 417 vs 2 158

Trucks:
in units: 278 622 / 278 840 (99.92%)
in the pool: 222 540 / 195 903 (113.60%)
in repair: 95 226

Losses:
killed: 39 334 vs 28 983
captured: 250 vs 1 388
disabled: 2 099 vs 17 377
guns: 681 vs 1 531
AFVs: 1 466 vs 307
aircraft: 579 vs 286

Operational:
in combat: 346 vs 127
from AA: 119 vs 10
on the ground: 0 vs 79
operational: 114 vs 70

[smokindave34]

Have you considered moving some of your mobile units to the Rumanian border? The Rumanian surrender is a delicate situation for the axis to master and you will soon have a lot of open terrain with no forts to push your armor through. It's certainly not the quickest route to Berlin but you will force your opponent to fall back or stretch his lines to the limit. I certainly wouldn't divert any mobile units from Zhitomir as I'm sure your going to exploit your victory in that area but you could consider sending some of your armor that is slogging through hexes north of the Pripyat marshes.

[morvael]

You are right, but as it turned out I wasn't expecting a quick Rumanian surrender and thus wasn't prepared for a dash there. As it turned out my opponent also wasn't prepared for quick Rumanian surrender and thus offered me wonderful opportunities that I wasn't able to exploit, as I wasn't expecting them in the first place. A blunder on one side caused a blunder on another side [:)]