D21 yet again. A tribute to the community as my thanks

[larryfulkerson]

It's now T29 round 2 and this is what is going on south of Tula right now. I've managed to get some units into that huge gap I had in my front lines and it's a good thing too because there's bou cou Soviet units trying to make their way to the west in this AO now. The units in this image are extraordinarily mobile ( for both combatants sides ) and as a result the front lines in this image isn't really a front line but rather more like a loose screen. It's hit or miss when I try to play bop-a-mole with the enemy units. By that I mean each turn there's at least one enemy unit that finds a way to make it through my screen and I have to go chase it down before it causes any real damage in my backfield.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T29 round 2 and this is what is going on near Sevastopol right now. I'm on top of the river hexes north of the city in the surburbs. And I'm fighting my way south along the coastal road to get my units closer to the port to make the final assault. Kerch Straits is being a tough nut to crack. Plenty of Soviet units got there before I did and they have constructed a fortress but I've been bombarding the northmost hex and the defenders are at last weak enough for me to attempt an attack. If I can gain that hex I can have three of my hexes to impinge on the southernmost Soviet hex and whittle it down faster than the northmost hex cost me. The rails are repaired all the way to the front lines and now I'm trying to repair the rails leading out the eastmost exit from the peninsula. I don't think I'm going to need repaired rails from the middle out to the port just NW of the city of Sevastopol.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T29 round 2 and this is what is going on at Kharkov right now. I've managed to surround the defenders and squeeze them all into a single hex, the city itself, and now I'm going to apply some persuasion to get them all to surrender or die. I suspect that I'll own the city sometime later this turn. I have repaired the rails all the way to the city so the supply levels are great.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T30 round 2 and I just now managed to capture Kharkov finally. The rails are repaired all the way to the city and for some reason the rail IN the city wasn't destroyed and so it's a working rail as well which means that the flow of my supplies is moving through the city to the front lines just fine. So now I'm on the north side of the Donets River and the next hurdle will probably be the Oskol River.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T31 round 1 and I'm trying to get a good surround on several Soviet units blocking my advance. The rails are repaired close to the front lines so the supply levels are good. I have 22.2K HRS's assigned, 201 HRS's on hand, and I've lost 32.6K HRS's so far. This is the second turn that we've had a cold front pass through this AO. Next turn starts the mud turns.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T31 round 1 and this is what it looks like around Moscow right now. There's a small hole in the Soviet lines but I'll need some engineers to leap over the river to get into the Soviet backfield. The Soviets have been getting a boatload of reinforcements each turn and most of them have been showing up on the front lines so the Soviets are able now to build a proper front line especially in some of the key points in the front lines making it just a little bit harder to pinch off a unit or two and after surrounding them to destroy them. You can see a small group of Soviet units being mopped up in my backfield.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T31 round 1 and this is what it looks like just north of Rostov right now. I'm still pressing to the Donets River and I'm making a small amount of progress. I believe I'll be able to get a good surround on these Soviet defenders and will eventually be able to stop up all the crossings. Including Rostov itself.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T31 round 2 and this is what it looks like near Moscow right now. I've managed to move a little closer to the city but the resistance is really stiff. Most of the Soviet units in this image aren't recent reinforcements but instead are in good shape and ready for combat instead of being cherry red and mear shells of the original unit. Losses have been heavier than I had wished but a little progress is being made.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T31 round 4 and I just now captured Kalinin finally. This is advantageous because that city has a collection of roads and rails that I need. Also it has an airfield adjacent. Plus, I captured an intact bridge in that hex. I will soon have the rail repaired and the remnants of the Soviet defensive force will be destroyed shortly. Then my goal will shift to the river that runs through Kimry to Kalyazin and the crossings over that river. That will help me get into the Soviet north side of Moscow.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T32 round 2 and this is what it looks like between Tula and Moscow right now. I'm finding more and more Soviet units that aren't in the greatest shape and are low on supply and usually aren't very strong. Elmer must be running out of combat ready units and is thrusting the reinforcements into the front lines as they are upon arriving from the Urals. I have 20.9K HRS's assigned, 643 HRS's on hand, and I've lost 33.9K HRS's so far.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T32 round 2 and this is what it looks like between Kalinin and Rhybinsk right now. I find that I'm having to rely on my engineers and recon units to hold a position on the front lines more and more. I guess I'm running out of warm bodies to man the lines. I may have to start breaking down my divisions to 3 regiments pretty soon. I'm pressing to the next major river to the east. That would be a good place to defend from when the Soviet Winter Offensive happens.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T33 round 2 and I thought I'd take a moment to explain some of the things I'm doing in the background. For instance all the aircraft that dip below 60% of supply are flown to one of the airfields adjacent to one of these four Corps HQ icons. I do that because the HQ unit is able to encourage the aircraft to get repaired faster, encourages the crew to give their best efforts to their missions, in other words, the unit rests and refuels and rearms more quickly than they ordinarily would. There are no aircraft parked at any of these airfields because it's still early in the turn and all the aircraft are still in the green.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T33 round 2 and this is what it looks like west of Moscow right now. My boys are worn down a lot and most of them are about 1/2 strength and badly need a rest. A lot of them are in a red condition and are low on supply. I have 21.1K HRS's assigned, 573 HRS's on hand, and I've lost 34.2K HRS's so far. This is the second mud turn and the MP's of all my units is 7 or less and not much movement is going on this turn.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T33 round 5 and this is what it looks like NE of Sevastopol right now. I managed to capture Odessa so now all those valiant troops can come over here to lend a hand taking down the city and the Kerch Straits, which is proving to be a tough nut to crack. My premiere anti-ship aircraft is the Ju-87 Stuka and I have several squadrons of them posted down here and they succeeded to sink all the Soviet naval units near here so I'm now using the Stukas for Combat Support because of their superior CS qualities.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T33 round 5 and this is what it looks like east of Kharkov right now. I'm managed to surround a small group of low-strength Soviet defenders and I would finish them off but my boys are tired and I'm not going to push them. Pushing too hard leads to losses that don't need to happen. I'm not in THAT big of a hurry. I think I'll try to push up to the next major river to the east and stop there for now. I should be there in the next 5 turns or so.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T33 round 7 and this is what it looks like near Rybinsk right now. I'm doing some light mop up and I'm still pushing to the next major river to the east and I'm running into one Soviet unit after another that I need to deal with. Elmer may be running out of available units because they are coming at me only a couple at a time. Note the number of my units that are in reorg. I'm not sure what caused that but a significant number of my units are in reorg all over the map.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T35 round 2 and this is what Sevastopol looks like right now. I've gained a hex or two near the Kerch Straits with the Romulins but the battle for the port is proving to be a tough nut to crack. I wish I had a BB to bombard with. Quite a few of my units are in reorg again this turn. That's been happening for the last three turns now. I guess it has something to do with the weather?

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T37 round 1. I've just now opened the turn and usually I check the status of the aircraft as the first step on my "opening turn" checklist and to my horror I've discovered that quite a large chunk of my air power has been reassigned to the Western front. This is 26Oct41 and Operation Sea Lion has already come and gone so I'm not sure why they were transfered NOW when it's plain to me that they are needed on the Eastern front. Hitler is going to lose this war for us. I couldn't disband them they are aircraft but if I could have I would have.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T37 round 1 and I thought I'd post this to show you how bad the weather is right now. We've had 4 consecutive cold fronts so far and none of the rivers are froze over yet so it's going to get worse before it gets better. I'm putting those disband units on my open ports just as a light garrison. Just something to discourage Elmer from getting adventurous thoughts.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T37 round 1 and I was checking the status of all my aircraft and I've found 3 squadrons so far that need special handling because I'm no longer making them. Case in point is the 8th Fighter Group of the Romulin Air Force. It's a hybrid squadron with 2 separate aircraft types one of which I'm no longer making. So I'm faced with a choice of which future do I wish to give this squadron, park it somewhere safe for the end-game period or leave it operational and on-line. As it happens the IAR 80 is one of my better fighters and I'm still making them, albiet slowly, and WILL make them until T190. And as it happens I have quite a few of them committed already as there are 79 of them assigned to one unit or the other. The pilots were lobbying for me to "send me in choach" for quite a while now so I've decided to leave them in the front lines for now.
EDIT: Yes, that means I'll probably lose the last 15 PZL's I have.

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