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November 24th 1943 (Turn 254)

The stormy season ends and the ground freezes over. The start of our third winter in Russia.

Preparations continue for Operation Nibelung. Moscow has been evacuated of civilians. Its wide boulevards are now crammed with thousands of tanks and other vehicles. More forces have yet to arrive. Only the 1st, 6th and 23rd panzer divisions are excluded from the operation, they are on defensive duties down south along with 2 panzer grenadier divs. Every other armoured unit in the German army will be part of the offensive, along with all of the Waffen SS units and divisions. All panzer divisions have now been refitted with the latest tanks.

Due to a Soviet offensive just north west of Moscow some of the panzer divisions have already been committed to stabilise the situation. The attacking Soviet armour and infantry have been destroyed and we are into his backline of arty and HQs. (Circled). Note anti tank units (composed of Marders or 88mm AT guns) supporting the infantry on salient points in the line. Most of the German infantry divisions still do not have anything more than a few dozen 37mm anti tank guns so this corset stiffening is necessary as almost every Soviet stack now has an armoured brigade or more in it.






The basic plan for Operation Nibelung. We will attack in echelon on a narrow front, north along the railroad The objective will be the transport and industrial centre at Yaroslavl (circled). Then we drive west, again along the rail line all the way to the shores of Lake Ilmen, pocketing the Soviet troops to the south. The line will then be rolled up from Moscow westwards. D Day is not yet fixed but will be some time in early December.




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In the Caucasus the Soviets are still resisting although their units are brittle now and cannot stand up to assault. Iranian neutrality has had to be violated as a stream of enemy units came out of there and attacked towards Baku, then retreated back. So we went in after them. There is no threat here anymore as long as the border is covered. The last major Axis unit down here, Gross-Deutschland division, is preparing to rail out to join operations around Moscow.




***



Up in the Arctic a Soviet battleship arrives. The weather looks good for it so a Stuka attack is launched.




And down it goes. Only 1 Stuka is lost.

McCall,

Great stuff. I'm enjoying your AAR!

Thanks Mike. I've owned a copy of the original 'Fire In The East' boardgame for decades but never played it as it is just so big, it isn't really practical. You need a spare snooker table just to lay out the map, and then you need to find an opponent who has (at least) a couple of years to spare. So it's great to be able to finally play it out on the computer.

Even so it has taken me over 4 months of playing at least one turn almost every day to get this far!

December 1st 1943.

Enraged by continuing Soviet assaults in the Moscow sector, which are causing whole German infantry divisions to evaporate at a rate of two a week, the Fuhrer orders Operation Nibelung to commence immediately. The Generals protest. Not all of the artillery and rocket units are in place yet, the big SS divisions are still re-supplying after their long march north, and the bulk of the Gross Deutschland division has yet to arrive from the Caucasus.

Nevertheless rumours abound on the front lines that the Soviets have developed some sort of 'Death Ray.' In reality it is just that they now have literally thousands of 122mm and 155mm guns and katayusha rocket launchers stacked up behind their line. But something must be done. The code word 'Loki' is transmitted and several thousand Maybach engines growl into life. The heavy Panzer batalions move to the front to commence the breakthrough:




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After less than a week the enemy front line is shattered and the breakout begins. The assaulting force is almost entirely mechanised, so once the breach is opened progress is fast. Recon battalions drive up the railroad towards the first objective: Yaroslavl. Units of the 1st Guards Tank Corps are about to be surrounded (circled)






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And just a couple of days later a recon battalion enters an undefended Yaroslavl. The expected slog through a defence in depth has not materialised, beyond the front lines there is nothing but the odd infantry or cavalry regiment, they barely slow us down. 50% of the forces assembled for the operation have yet to be committed. It looks like the enemy are beaten in all but name.




***



In the Arctic yet another Soviet battleship arrives and parks under clear blue skies.




And once again the Soviet's cavalier deployment of their capital ships is punished. It goes straight to the bottom for the loss of 5 axis aircraft:

McCall,

Wow, I'm impressed by those who take on this large scenarios. They look fun, but I can not imagine spending so much time on one scenario. How long is the playback of the Soviet moves. It must take a long time...

I do enjoy the AARs though, so thanks for sharing.

Hi Mike

Playback takes about 25 minutes or thereabouts, less if they fail force proficiency early on of course.

I've decided I am going to mothball this one for a while. The Soviets are no longer a serious threat so it is now just about finding the quickest and most efficient ways of wiping them out. And after 5 months on this I fancy having a go at something different. Vietnam, I think.

McCall,

Wow, I remember when I was playing TOAWIII before work a few years ago and I missed my bus a couple of times because the playback was so long... It is worth it though.

Good idea to switch to a different scenario, I find that I get bored if I have the game wrapped up and there is lots of time left.

I hope you do an AAR for your next battle.

All the best,