Nordlicht 1942 AAR Snefens vs. Telumar

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 37
October 2nd

The Germans complete their small front correction at the Leningrad Corridor. We don't send more reinforcements to the area. (not shown)

At Ramushevo corridor the enemy attacks expand this day. Attacks on Vasil'yevshchina on the north side is repulsed, but south of Zasovo we are forced back, as well as by Pinayevy Gorki.
We change our approach and in the west commit the 24th Guards Rifle Div and take back the lost terrain, but attempts to continue fails. In the east we partially take back the terrain, but here also fails to take more terrain. We are beginning to stand with our backs against the Dubrovski Swamp and would be too exposed to be cut off by a small German breakthrough.

Turn37Ramu.jpg (929.37 KiB) Viewed 532 times

By Staraya Russa our supply head has reached west of the Lovat River now and with the improved situation we decide to make a small "stunt". 35th Sapper Bde has made its way along the Lovat estuary along with elements of 46th Rifle Bde.
This falls into the back of the enemy security forces here, while two separate tank battalions of 27th Army is sent into the bridgehead and cut off the enemy forces. These security forces have limited AT weapons so we manage to rout one of the battalions to encircle another. We are not able to mount an assault on these forces this day.

Turn37Russa.jpg (689.37 KiB) Viewed 532 times

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 38
October 3rd

This day we receive intelligence that reveals a German plan to launch Operation "Slingpflanze" against our forces by Staraya Russa, capturing the bridges over the Pola. There is no obvious signs of this yet, so the actual timing of the attack is uncertain.
We finish off the surrounded security forces north of Staraya Russa, but only after 3 assaults, so we don't continue our small thrust further west this day.
The German halts their attacks on Vasil'yevshchina again, but continue their attacks on the southern shoulder. By the Lovat we retake the terrain, but 24th Gds Rifle Div loses a regiment in the counter-attack.

Map shows de facto VP values of each hex, with the now known operations taken into account. The orange values are the hexes included in Slingpflanze, which would have been valued 5 VP normally.

Turn38Russa.jpg (1002.09 KiB) Viewed 510 times

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 39
October 4th

Small German attack by Volkhov bridgehead, gaining an additional hex on the objective Rashishchevo. We refrain from counter-attacking as we are saving our forces for the upcoming attack a bit further south. (Not shown)

At Ramushevo corridor there were only the usual attacks on the south-eastern part of the sector. The enemy gained terrain in two places, but we regained one of them.
22nd Gds Rifle Divisions is being shuffled out of the western side of 11th Army and begins moving to the eastern side for the planned renewed thrust over the Pola River, east of Zasovo. From Stavka Reserve 253rd Rifle Div is also being planned railed to this area for the attack.
24th Guards Rifle Division that was original planned to be part of the building up of forces by 1st Shock Army, but was nearly destroyed by use in our counter-attacks are being pulled out and sent to resupply by the rail to the south. It won't be fully ready until two weeks from now.

Turn39Ramu.jpg (585.39 KiB) Viewed 489 times

In the Eastern part of Demyansk Salient, the 53rd Army will be ready to launch the limited offensive for the village of Vatolino tomorrow.
As support/diversion 34th Army makes new attacks south towards the airfield and advances slowly along the road. As expected there is still a secondary line of defenders here, but the goal offensive is also just to pin these down; 53rd is opposed by a thinner line of defenders, but they themselves are not that strong, so just limited reserves being brought up could stop them in their tracks.

Turn39Dem.jpg (555.32 KiB) Viewed 489 times

[Cpl GAC]

Sneffens - the scenario is stunning work. Both of you - the reporting is fantastic. I check in most days.

The troop density, even in the middle of nowhere, really highlights the scale of the whole five years of conflict.

Stefan, if you lose this, I will kill you. I already do not forgive you for the Oranienbaum disaster.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 40
October 5th

Again small attack by Volkhov Bridgehead, but we hold the line this day. Assuming the enemy is trying to spot artillery positions to bombard (not shown)

Enemy attacks at Ramushevo corridor makes more progress this day. West of Tsemeno two small pincers cut off a regiment of the depleted 191st Rifle Div and destroy it, also coming very close to cutting off majority of the 374th Rifle Div, although it still have communication, albeit very teneous, along either side of the Dubrovski Swamp.
It's a unfortunate situation, but somber analyzing leads us to the conclusion not to go all in on trying to re-establish the front lines. This will likely doom most of the 374th RD, but the strength of all the threatened units consists "only" of a bit over two thirds of a full strength regiment and we would like to retain some of 2nd Shock Army's strength intact south of Zasovo, as it will be the likely place we can link up with the attack from north.

Turn40Ramu.jpg (498.02 KiB) Viewed 432 times

In the eastern part German counter-attacks throw 34th Army back to our lines of yesterday by Luzhno.
11th Army's small offensive begins. Going is a bit tough, but after a couple of assaults we push the Germans back in a couple of places. Vitally this reveals that there are no reserves dug in at Vatolino and the only defenders so far are the companies of 32.ID that fell back to it.

Turn40Dem.jpg (574.69 KiB) Viewed 432 times

In Kholm the last forces are getting into position for the imminent offensive. 3rd Shock Army has been reinforced by 177th Tank Bde, 3rd,4th and 19th Guards and 291st Rifle Division as well as large amount of heavy artillery, include 101st Railroad Art Bde.
As our previous small offensive north of Kholm didn't manage to cut off this route into the town, it would be difficult for a large encirclement of all the forces inside the town now
Instead we go with a pretty much straight forwards assault on the town itself with heavy support from artillery. Main objective is actually the landing strip west of the town that allow supplies to be brought in by air, but this hex is in difficult terrain and will not be able to be attacked at first (see yellow lines for impassable hexsides in the sector. German supply point is under the left objective)
Although a cutting off of the enemy is unlikely, we still we be making a supporting attack over the Lovat 15km west of Kholm, by 177th Tank Bde and 4th Gds, Rfl. Div in order to prevent reinforcements to freely move in to assist in the defense. A partisan group has also been moved into position to be able to harass enemy troop movements.

Turn40Kholm.jpg (927.42 KiB) Viewed 432 times

[LLv34_Snefens]

Sneffens - the scenario is stunning work. Both of you - the reporting is fantastic. I check in most days.

The troop density, even in the middle of nowhere, really highlights the scale of the whole five years of conflict.

Stefan, if you lose this, I will kill you. I already do not forgive you for the Oranienbaum disaster.

Thank you, I'll try to keep alive

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 41
October 6th

The enemy was having command issues and didn't perform any attacks this day other than overrunning one of the battalions by 374th Rifle Div, closing one end of the bag.
It would still be possible to evacuate part of the units south, but as stated yesterday we will remain in position and force the Germans to spent time and units to defeat the pocket.

Turn41Tsemeno.jpg (492.12 KiB) Viewed 399 times

At Vatolino the enemy commits a couple of worn out battalions to strengthen the line. Part of our force is reorganizing, so we only advance into the hex we cleared yesterday, planning to attack the town tomorrow.

Turn41Dem.jpg (529.09 KiB) Viewed 399 times

The real action this day is by Kholm.
To the west we cross the Lovat west of the town, but only manage to form a one hex bridgehead. Combined with the partisans moving out from the swamp to the north this DO cut the German communication west out of the pocket, although he will fairly easily be able to reestablish it.
Our assault on Kholm itself goes well. After an initial bombardment that disrupts the enemy fortified deployment, we attack and drive him our of the northern part of the town on first assault.
An attack on the southern part of the town is halted, but we do force one battalion to retreat and the remaining one is no longer in fortified deployment, so renewed attacks tomorrow should have a good chance to capture it too.

On either side of the town we also make progress into the enemy lines, but although we are close to completely cutting it off, the Germans just barely keep a road open into the town.
Enemy panzers are spotted in reserve west of these advances, so a counter-attack is likely.

Turn41Kholm.jpg (703.37 KiB) Viewed 399 times

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 42
October 7th

Local enemy attacks by Chudovo again. Today we make counterattacks and push him back again as well as additional attacks out of the Pogost'ye salient and by Kirishi.
These are mostly just harassment attacks although regaining the terrain by Chudovo serves the purpose of gaining ZOC on tracks running south west of the Gazh'i Sopki Swamp, so when we begin our attack here tomorrow it will be harder for the enemy to shift forces to this area fast.

Turn42Chud.jpg (822.24 KiB) Viewed 367 times

By Tsemeno the situation is unchanged with no enemy attacks. (not shown)
We capture Vatolino after heavy fighting in five assaults! This has pretty much emptied our offensive strength and we only manage to bring in a weak battalion to hold the town from any counter-attacks.

Turn42Dem.jpg (551.49 KiB) Viewed 367 times

At Kholm enemy panzers as expected counterattack. They focus on our bridgehead over the Lovat west of Kholm, so even though they throw us back over the river it DID stop him from sending them to the town itself.
This allow us to capture the southern part of the town this day, but we are unable to move further west of here today.
From North the Germans bring in strong reserves to defend the landing strip, so 8th Gds Rifle Div penetrate onto the road north of this.

Turn42Kholm.jpg (762.98 KiB) Viewed 367 times

[Telumar]

I am finally back from holidays and family, time to catch up. Turn 42 is actually a good turn to jump back in..


Turn 42 - October 7th

The enemy attack on Kholm came as a surprise to us, though we knew the enemy was preparing something as enemy actions somehow had petered out during the last days. But the lack of reconnaissance in the sce meant that we could only guess. Although Kholm might be an easy target due to its relative isolation I did not necessarily expect him to attack there as the transportation of units to and out of the area of operations will take several days each and the VP bonus is "only" 40VPs (two objectives). And he knew he was up against a Panzer Division.

I posted earlier in the thread about the relative isolation of the Kholm area from the rest of the map and about the precarious logistical situation of the sector. With this in mind a successful defence of Kholm relies entirely on the possession of our supply depot in the northwestern corner of the city. We also decided to not send reinforcements to Kholm, so 8. Panzer and 218. Infantry Divisions are on their own. Only a handful of security units could be sent that are slowly making their way south. Immediate reinforcements would have been available in the form of 12. Panzer Div, but this division was to be committed elsewhere in an offensive operation and sending it towards Kholm would have disrupted the time schedule as we already are past halftime in the scenario.

The defense plan relied heavily on 8. Panzer's two Panzer Abteilungen which we employed along the Lovat river west of Kholm to prevent an enemy crossing into our rear while also inflicting heavy losses upon the Soviet infantry. Thus it is hoped that the enemy will reach a point where he will not be able or willing to continue his attack due to exhaustion. All the while infantry elements of 8. Panzer are tasked to hold the supply depot at all costs. Once the enemy offensive has been defeated we will rest the Panzers and try to dislodge him out of the eastern parts of Kholm again.

Given the enemy superiority in numbers the chances for a successful defence without reinforcements might not be the best, but we cannot simply give ground here. Also this will bind his troops down here while we have an operation ongoing at the same time (more on that further below). We estimate that an enemy unit will take minimum three to four days including railtransport to be redeployed to another sector under ideal circumstances.

Should we lose the depot without any chance of an immediate recapture there will be no other choice than to stop all counterattacks, retreat at least partially the 'better' units, as the entire sector will fall under 'overextended supply'.

This is the situation at the end of German turn turn 42:

Kholm 42.jpg (1.81 MiB) Viewed 334 times

Further north there are new developments. After the successful counterattack at Lyuban that stopped the Soviet offensive in that sector, we transferred 12. Panzer together with LIV. Korps artillery to Staraya Russa for Operation Schlingpflanze, the attack to widen the Ramushevo corridor towards the north. 121. Infantry Division will arrive over the next few days here too while its sector at Leningrad has been mostly taken over by 58. Infanterie and SS Polizei.

With halftime past, the enemy occupied at Kholm and all attack divisions well rested and stockpiled, we felt we should not wait until the 121st has been fully assembled, but begin the attack now. Note that we have to take four objetives (marked by the yellow diamond symbols on the map) to gain all the VP bonuses. We invested 40 VPs for selecting the operation on turn 1, so we at least will have to take two objectives to come out even. This will not be an easy task, we do not expect a fast breakthrough and will probably take a week or so to reach the Lovat river from the west. We will attack out of Staraya Russa along the road towards Parfino with 18. Inf.Div. (mot.) and 12. Panzer while we have a secondary axis of attack along the Lovat river from the south which will be executed by 81. Inf.Div. supported by II./Pz.Regt. 203, elements of XXX. Corps and 5. Jäger Div. We estimate that we should thus be able to at least capture Kiyevo and Parfino.

A further continuation towards the final two objectives will depend on how things will have developed by then. Note that an attack towards Pola is possible by Vasilyevshchina from the south, but here the enemy is heavily fortified and we cannot muster enough firepower to overcome them directly (see section further below). The sector north of Staraya Russa where the enemy successfully executed his incursion will be held by security units supported by three Panzer companies using captured, mostly Soviet, tanks and thus hopefully will be sealed off effectively from enemy harassing attacks. We also assembled a good part of super heavy artillery and all railroad artillery batteries in support of the operation.

This is the situation on day 1 of the offensive (note that I derived manpower percentage by loading the save in the beta exe.. left the last two digits out though ) Also note that I summarized the various Panzer variants (III J, III N, IV G etc...under their parent model name for space reasons)

Schlingpflanze 42.jpg (2.3 MiB) Viewed 334 times

As for the previously mentioned Pola sector, which nominally would also be part of Operation Schlingpflanze, there will for now be only limited operations. A direct attack straight against the heavily fortified enemy positions at and around Vasilyevshchina is not feasible with the forces at hand. The enemy has dug in T-34s all along this line which are a nearly impossible obstacle to overcome even with tank support as we had already been testing over the last one to two weeks in localized probing attacks. Constant shelling of these positions to soften them up had also proven ineffective. Instead we will slowly roll up the enemy position from the northern bank of the Pola river towards the Northwest with the intent (or hope) to outflank this fortress and advance on Pola.

Pola North 42.jpg (1.02 MiB) Viewed 334 times

There were various small skirmishes, mostly in the wider Lyuban / Chudovno sector (not shown), but most notably at the southern Demyansk/Pocket front where we managed to cut off a group of Soviet units units roughly equivalent to two Rifle regiments. The screenshot also shows how far rail repair into the pocket has progressed in the meantime:

pola south 42.jpg (792.6 KiB) Viewed 334 times

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 43
October 8th

We now launch the operation out of the Volkhov Bridgehead. There aren't any large victory objectives within reach, but our previous offensive towards Chudovo have placed the enemy 254.ID in an exposed position, with its rear blocked by the Gazh'i Sopki swamp. A quick blow from south of Spasskay Polist' reaching the swamp could trap a large part of this formation.
This main attack is supported by 5 tank battalions, while north of Spasskaya Polist' 3 tank battalions are supporting the attack into a curiously undefended part of the enemy line.
Further south Coastal Op.Group has taken over part of 52nd Army's front and they will both do supporting attacks towards Podberez'ye tying down enemy forces.

The main attack sees decent progress, advancing 5km deep in two places. With the other advance along the southern edge of the Gazh'i Sopki swamp advancing unopposed 4 battalions by Spasskaya Polist' is cut off, while the rest of the division, although not cut off completely are pressed into two groups having lost contact with their flanks. The only enemy observed in the rear are artillery.
The supporting attack towards Podberez'ye sees surprisingly good results despite being done with no armour support. Two battalions are cut off near the Zamoshskoye swamp as we advance along the highway, although our single weaker attempt to make additional crossings of the Volkhov fails.

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East of Staraya Russa an enemy attack begins. Main thrust by 12.pzD comes out of Staray Russa, while supporting attacks north of Ramushevo also push us back. Our counterattacks limit the enemy advance to 2km, but we immediately revert orders for 22. Guards Rifle Division which begins moving back west again after having moved to Pola.
We also begin railing in additional reserves, mainly 48.RD from Coastal Op.Group that had been destined for Novgorod.
Just as a distraction we send in 40th Ski Bde into the gap along the south edge of Lake Il'men, just to see if it can cause a bit of havoc.

Turn43Parfino.jpg (1.01 MiB) Viewed 320 times

There are also some attacks by the corridor. The enemy completes the encirclement of 374th RD, but their other two attacks both north and south of the Pola River are thrown back.
Although we aren't fully ready, we begin an attack over the Pola, but only comitting 133rd RB besides the already present 282nd and 370th RD of 11th Army, still holding 161st RB and 253rd RD in close reserve. We are unable to dislodge the enemy of his position NE of Zasovo however, and only advance onto the open river hex se of this.

Turn43Pola.jpg (336.79 KiB) Viewed 320 times

At Vatolino, as expected the enemy is able to retake the town, but shuffling forces a bit around we can make a new attack and retake the town, now holding it with a full regiment (Not shown)

At Kholm the panzers once again counterattack our attempts to cross the Lovat river west of the town and we make no progress here. North of the town however, after an initial smaller setback, we can take a larger portion of the road into possesion. We are now close to have the landing strip either cut off or captured.

Turn43Kholm.jpg (650.49 KiB) Viewed 320 times

[Telumar]

Turn 43, October 8th - All along the Volkhov

Marshall Snefens cooking 'objects-in-space' named operations all along the Volkhov

The enemy, by again changing his center of gravity, manages to disrupt another area of our front line in an area where we did not expect it. The enemy attack benefited partially from poor deployment by us, combined with only minor defensive artillery support. Luckily we were able to rescue all cut off units and to reestablish lines of communications, but with the state of our units and our currently exposed positions in the sector, a continuation of the enemy offensive will see more Soviet gains over the next two or three days at least. In 254. Inf.Div.'s sector the just 'liberated' units are still in danger of getting cut-off again as the attack to reopen lines of communications was only successful late in the turn and I could not retreat them from their exposed positions. Reinforcements in the form of three battalions from 1. Inf.Div. together with anti tank assets of 20. Mot.Div. are set on the march from Chudovno to I. Korps' southern sector while units of 5. Gebirgs-Division were brought in by rail from the Mga sector. More units from 5. Gebirgs-Div will be made ready and brought up over the following turns. I rather would not have had the Mga sector weakened, but there were no other options. The wider intent of the enemy offensive is unclear however as there are no major VP objectives in the area except Podberezye in 212. Inf.Div.'s sector and we also did not get an intel warning about a possible attack on Novgorod. Furthermore he attacks into an area where he will struggle to resupply his attacking formations rather sooner than later, while we are literally fighting just on top of our rail heads. We assume this to be a mere harassing and diversionary operation. The lack of VP objectives means we can give ground and can prioritize on limiting losses. Situation at the end of the day:

Novgo.jpg (2.6 MiB) Viewed 274 times

At Staraya Russa our offensive continues with armored spearhead penetrating up to 5 km into a deep enemy defense. The southern attack force was able to reach unprotected enemy command and artillery positions but could not continue its attack further on that day. North of the city the enemy launched a small harassing operation which we were able to defeat and curiously drive them into Lake Ilmen (there was an engineering unit with the ski battalion maybe Snefens can explain, I just remember there were some roads in the water hexes as the map is derived from his Operation Neva sce).

staraya russa 43.jpg (1.33 MiB) Viewed 274 times

The enemy incursion near Zasovo was defeated, but we made no further progress on the northern side of the Pola river. Not shown: We begin reducing the pocket of 374th Rifle Div. between the rail line and the Dubrovski Swamp which for unknown reasons saw no liberation attempt by the enemy.

Screenshot 2026-08-10 181424.jpg (746.91 KiB) Viewed 274 times

At Kholm we are able to eliminate the threat to our supply depot's / air strip's flank at least for the time being. Generally this was the first day that saw a reduction in combat since the Soviets launched their attack, but we expect this to be just a temporary lull.

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[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 44
October 9th

By Leningrad we begin a smaller offensive over the Neva in order to create a bridgehead for a later attack towards Mga. Initial objectives are the smaller town Otradnoye and reach the swamps 7km SE of Neva River.
Leningrad Front assigns an extra Tank and Rifle Bde to 55th Army's local forces (also has a Tank Bde).
First day we secure a 5km wide bridgehead, but the initial assault on the town is unsuccessful.

Turn44Mga.jpg (524.44 KiB) Viewed 245 times

By Volkhov bridgehead the 4 enemy battalions pull out of Spasskaya Polist' and fight back west to regain communication with their own lines. Our mobile forces continue their advance along the swamp and with help from the attack from east again cut the enemy battalions off. Their pocket is reduced further during the day to a single hex and an assault manage to force the surrender of about half the forces.
Our two tank brigades north of the Zamoshskoye swamp are reorganizing, but our infantry manage to overrun part of the enemy screening forces brought into the sector. This surrounds further 4 enemy battalions, but the encirclement is only completed by a thin screen of a single rifle regiment.

By Podberez'ye the enemy also here breaks out of the encirclement and they even destroy one of our rifle battalions. Our new attacks drive pincers through the enemy lines, but we can't cut off the "fingers" at the base.
We also manage to cross the Volkhov further south and a regiment even break through to the highway south of Podberez'ye, but our lead units are quite exposed.

Turn44Vol.jpg (562.65 KiB) Viewed 245 times

By Staray Russa our little excursion south of the lake is dealt with swiftly by the Germans and they also resume their advance along the two axis from west and south. Counter-attack both, pushing the northern advance back slightly and cut off the leading panzer btl in the southern. Our attempt to destroy them is fails as we lack any real offensive AT-capabilites here and only 5 of the 45 panzers are destroyed.
To reinforce we rail in parts of 1st Gds Rifle Corps's 45th Rifle brigade and 391st RD as well as setting 253.RD in move back from the aborted offensive by Pola.

Turn44Parfino.jpg (783.35 KiB) Viewed 245 times

By Tsemeno our surrounded forces' pocket is reduced a bit this day, while the defenders at Vatolino holds off four assaults (not shown)

By Kholm enemy counterattacks again widen the corridor into the airstrip, but we continue the assault and are this day very close in cutting off the forces there completely, the road leading into them only being held by a single pz-company by the end of the day.

Turn44Kholm.jpg (527.21 KiB) Viewed 245 times

[Telumar]

Turn 44, October 9th

The enemy starts another offensive this day and manages to cross the Neva river between Kolpino and Mga. The enemy bridgehead is only 2,5km deep and he is not well dug in, but we have no forces ready for an immediate counterattack. We estimate this has to be in preparation for a renewed wider offensive against Mga, that will later probably be joined by an effort out of the Leningrad corridor towards the south. We see no other possibility to assemble a counterstrike force than to shorten the frontline by retreating from the (exposed) bridgehead south of Schlisselburg thus freeing up Stug Abt. 226 among other units for counteroperations next turn. However it is doubtful that we will be able to eliminate his bridgehead with the forces available as 5. Gebirgs-Division (less 2 Btls.) will leave the area for the Novgorord-Chudovo sector this turn, but at least it is hoped we can contain it for the time being. With a possible renewed enemy effort against Mga from the north in mind, this is a bit of a risk though. Therefore we keep the remaining units of 121. Inf.Div. that were destined for Staraya Russa in the area.

It is obvious that the enemy operations at the Leningrad - Volkhov front in the recent days were able to disrupt our own operations in the wider theater and caused more attritional losses that will probably hamper us long time.

Screenshot is from the beginning of the turn and does not show our final dispositions, also unit, not stack A/D values are shown this time:

44 start Mga.jpg (1.41 MiB) Viewed 171 times

Between Novgorod and Chudovo the crisis deepens as the enemy is able to again cut off parts of our forces west of Spasskaya Polist where 2 of our battalions (1 Pionier and 2/3 of an Inf. Btl.) were eliminated! In this attack however the enemy loses one Tank battalion and 3 AT battalions (!). South of the Zamoshskoye Swamp in XXXVIII. Korps sector an enemy encircling attempt fails but he is able to achieve a deep break-in into our frontline although this leaves his advance units very exposed:

44 Novgorod Start.jpg (2.5 MiB) Viewed 171 times

North of the Zamoshskoye Sewamps our encircled units are able to break out towards the west and link up again with our front line, except for one exposed company. With recent reinforcements we finally are able to again establish a coherent front line in the bottleneck between the Zamoshskoye and Gazh'i Sopki Swamps.We estimate that the enemy will not continue further towards the west as there are no immediate objectives for him in this area and it is logistically difficult to support his forces for a wider swing into the back of either the Chudovo or Nowgorod sectors.

Further south we manage to cut off his advance units. While one Rifle Regiment surrendered immediately, one enemy Rifle Regiment of 327. Rifle Div. was able to hold its ground. As our screen southeast of the enemy encircled position is only held by a single infantry company, the enemy will most likely be able to reestablish contact with his cut off unit. Meanwhile strong reinforcements from 5. Gebirgs-Division have arrived in the sector by rail:

44 end Novgorod.jpg (2.75 MiB) Viewed 171 times

At Staraya Russa, enemy counterattacks pushed us back east of the city and cut off our advance unit at the Lovat river. However we are able to reestablish contact with the cut off Panzers and make another small advance east of Staraya Russa. Enemy resistance in the sector is stronger than anticipated and meanwhile he also has reinforced the sector. We fear this will turn into another crawl, especially as reinforcements from the Leningrad sector in the form of the rest of 121. Inf.Div. will not be able to take part in the offensive for now as initially planned. At the Pola river we are able to expand our bridgehead north of the river and intent to continue the attack towards the northwest in the following days. South of the river the rest of the small enemy pocket finally surrendered.

Good news is that we now stopped air supply to Demyansk airfield and the rail line into the pocket becomes operational (this will return 1 VP / turn in our favor).

Situation in the wider Staraya Russa - Ramushevo Bottleneck sector:

44 staraya ramushevo end.jpg (1.76 MiB) Viewed 171 times

[Telumar]

Turn 44, October 9th - Kholm area

At Kholm we were able to retake the road northwest of the air strip. For the time being at least as our forces that now hold it are too weak to resist another enemy attack (of course I would have liked to put stronger forces there, but the attack happened rather late in turn and enemy ZOCs prevented more units to move into the hex after the capture).

44 Kholm end.jpg (963.34 KiB) Viewed 169 times

Some thoughts about the situation:
I believe we can not prevent the enemy from taking the air strip much longer. Without air supply, counteroperations to retake the air strip or even part of the city will be not feasible in any kind (the whole area will be overextended and normal supply is only available about 16-18 km north of Kholm again). Generally it looks like we finally have to give in to enemy pressure and retreat further, especially as continuing enemy pressure north of Kholm towards the last remaining road north is threatening to severe us entirely from the rest of the Army Group (this would not technically result in an encirclement of the entire Korps, but it would leave us locked in into that area with "red supply" units in overextended supply state and the only remaining retreat path across bad roads and marches towards the West. It is however also possible that after the (final) capture of the airfield the enemy will not press further in force, neither west nor north of Kholm against the retreat road as he will have achieved his main objectives. In this case we will move all red supply units out of the sector towards the north for recovery and resupply.

kholm wider area.jpg (2.34 MiB) Viewed 163 times

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 45
October 10th

By Neva the enemy shortens his line North of Mga as a response to our attack. Direct assaults capture Otradnoye, but fail to expand the bridgehead north of this.

Turn45Mga.jpg (509.41 KiB) Viewed 146 times

West of Spasskaya Polist' remnants of the encircled formations escape, but we DO manage to round up the stragglers of the last company. We further push west, but the enemy avoids new encirclements. By this we have reached the objective line of the offensive, but without having destroyed quite as much of the enemy force as desired.

Further south, what initial was just a supporting diversionary attack, there is more opportunities on the other hand. Our exposed regiment that had advanced deep into enemy lines are encircled, but manage to hold fast and survives. We shift the majority of the two armoured brigades from the offensive by Spasskaya Polist' down the road to help exploit the situation by Podberez'ye and we encircled it in a cauldron with 4 enemy battalions, but are unable to capture the town or force any large enemy surrenders. Also relieving our encircled regiment.

Turn45Vol.jpg (441.66 KiB) Viewed 146 times

East of Staraya Russa the enemy re-establishes contact with the encircled pz-btl from south and also continues the push from the west. Large portions of 27th Army's units are reorganizing, but the arriving reinforcements are still strong enough to push the enemy back to the initial lines. 253rd RD arrives in Parfino by road this day, ready for action tomorrow, as well as parts of 7th Gds Rifle Div arriving by rail.

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Last parts of 374.RD surrenders by Tsemeno, while action stops at Vatolino.(not shown)
We are informed that the Germans have stopped flying supply into the Demyansk pocket, since they have improved their supply lines enough through the widening of the Ramushevo Corridor.


The attrition battle at Kholm continues. The enemy once again widens the corridor into the airstrip and we narrows it back down, but he has now moved the panzer battalions of 8.Pz.Div in to cover the southern approach.

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[Telumar]

Turn 45. October 10th


Novgorod / Volkhov bridgehead

North of the Zamoshskoye Swamps the enemy advance continues, but first attacks against our newly formed line at the bottleneck between the two swamps fail. Further south in the Novgorod sector the enemy attack continues unabated. He is able to break through to his isolated rifle regiment and also manages to encircle a force of about 4 battalions of 212. Inf.Div. This cut-off force however is able to withstand the first enemy attacks:

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In the north we remain passive and continue to dig in a 5 km depth. If the enemy does not continue here, we can safely dissolve the second defence line and employ these units elsewhere later (not shown in screenshot). In the Novgorod sector freshly arrived reinforcements in the form of 5. Mountain Division are sent directly from their trains to the front line and jump into action. We are able to break through to our cut off units, but we fear we will not be able to save the most advanced battalion in the northeast of the finger if the enemy continues his pressure. Situation at the end of the turn:

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Mga / Leningrad

Here the village of Otradnoye falls into enemy hands, but it can be retaken later in the day. No further action here, but we expect continuing efforts by the enemy to widen his bridgehead in the coming days. Around Sinjavino the last 2 (mountain) infantry battalions of 5. Gebirgs-Div. have been taken out of the front line with their sector finally being taken over by a Kampfgruppe from 121. Inf.Div. The rest of the division (5. Geb.) is already employed in the Novgorod sector and it looks like we will be able to stabilize the situation down there without further reinforcements. We will keep the two battalions ready (and on a rail line) as a reserve for the time being, although maybe it could be wise to use them for a second defence line south and southwest of Sinyavino where we now are only 2.5 km deep. We still think the enemy will attack at some point towards Mga and Sinyavino again, but when...?

Mga eot 45.jpg (870.95 KiB) Viewed 116 times

Staraya Russa

We must admit that our offensive has now 'officially" bogged down. After enemy attacks against our two pincers and our counterattack we can roughly restore the situation from yesterday. This however means, that we still have not advanced further than we did on the first and second day of the offensive. We change our objetives slightly and will first try to encircle and destroy a smaller enemy force around Daydovo in the bulge of the enemy front line before advancing further towards the Pola river on a wider front instead in a pincer movement (The pincers have ever exposed flanks as they are actually too thin, with a broad advance we can prevent the enemy from cutting off advance units. While the pincers might have worked against an enemy without a deep defence, here we were just stuck in a sea of enemy riflemen. I should have done this from the beginning..). However, we cannot yet achieve this, but the situation is beginning to look dangerous for his most southern and southwestern units.

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[Telumar]

Turn 45 - Kholm sector.

The battle for the northwestern road out of and towards the air strip at Kholm has now turned in the enemy's favor. Our counterattack this time fails, with one of our Panzer battalions going into reorg. The air strip is now surrounded from five sides by the enemy and will most likely fall if he attacks tomorrow.

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[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 46
October 11th

By Neva the enemy retakes Otradnoye, but our renewed attacks take it back once again and even push further into the enemy lines, but any real breakthrough it is not. We make supporting attacks on either side of Sinyavino, but only manage small gains on the western part with the commitment of 1st Tank Bde.

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At Podberez'ye the enemy relieves the four surrounded battalions by bring in the mobile forces previously sent further north. It causes quite a bit of casualties on our end as our withdrawning units loses cohesion in the narrow spaces. We still have enough strength to resume the attack and this day take Podberez'ye and cut off and destroy a single battalion in the process.
North of the Zamoshskoye swamp we keep up a bit of pressure to avoid the enemy moving additional forces south, and we make small gains doing this.

Turn46Vol.jpg (594.07 KiB) Viewed 110 times

The enemy offensive by Staraya Russa carries on. The enemy is obviously trying to cut off the couple of divisions we have defending around Davydovo, but as per our usual doctrine we don't operate with pulling back units voluntarily. Our counterattacks again stop the western attacks, but we are unable to retake the southern pincer's gain.

Turn46parfino.jpg (757.04 KiB) Viewed 110 times

At Kholm for once we are able to hold on to our positions west of the airstrip. With this position it is now much easier to force the enemy from the road leading into the airstrip as he is attacked from opposite sides. This traps 5 battalions in the narrow space and our initial assault manage to destroy one of them.
We also are beginning to see the enemy lines break along the northern road, almost having the edge of Lake Rdeyskoye in sight, but our forces are getting very low in supplies and until we have the road cleared through to Kholm, it will take a long time to restore it.

Turn46Kholm.jpg (578.21 KiB) Viewed 110 times

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 47
October 11th

SW of Otradnoye enemy counterattacks blunt the tip of our advance and after this we go over to the defense here (not shown) .

Also counterattack west of Spasskaya Polist' that straightens the indentation we had made in the line yesterday. We even lose one of our Rifle Rgts in the battle. Here we also make no new attacks. (not shown)

At Podberez'ye we also prepare to let units of the Coastal Operational group take over this sector of the front, but we make one last small attack south of the town and push the enemy back a little.

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By Staraya Russa the battle continues with unchanged intensity. The two pincers slightly shift direction of attack, so instead of aiming towards Kiyevo, they reduce the size of the bite they try to "chew off" of our salient by Davydovo. They manage to link up just north of Davydovo trapping the 26th RD.
The enemy doesn't have time to dig in though, and we counter-attack fiercely at the base of both pincers. Attacks are successful, although we do lose a rifle bn in the attack, but it is worth it with the opportunity to cut off an enemy panzer battalion. Our first attack is quickly stopped, but for our second we bring down our own armour from near Kiyevo and force the surrender of the enemy unit causing the loss of nearly 50 panzers!

Turn47Parfino.jpg (609.27 KiB) Viewed 77 times

At Kholm we also have success. Although the enemy reopens the corridor to the encircled 4 battalions, he is unable to bring them out. We once again close the ring and this time destroy two additional battalions (including a battalion of a PzGr.Rgt) by the airstrip, leaving only weakened engineer units remaining in there. To further increase the pressure of the enemy, we once again make some attacks across the Lovat west of there, but they make no grounds.
Our attacks north of the town are also thrown back and the gap that appeared towards the lake has closed.

Turn47Kholm.jpg (574.03 KiB) Viewed 77 times

[Telumar]

Turn 47 - October 12th

EDIT: corrected the Staraya Russa screenshot (uploaded the wrong screenshot first)

The developments of the last 48 hours have not been that fortunate to say at least. While combat intensity has diminished and now came to a final standstill in the Novgorod - Chudovo and Mga/Leningrad sectors, the battles at Kholm and at Staraya Russa have led to severe losses, among them one of 12. Panzer Div.'s armored battalions (!). This is especially bitter as we do not have near as much armor and/or AT-support units as the Soviets.

At Staraya Russa, the Soviets have exposed themselves by their counterattack which enabled us to close another encirclement, trapping a force of around one Rifle Division in Daydovo. One enemy Rifle Battalion and two AT Battalions lose cohesion in our attack to close the encirclement while another AT battalion, one Rifle Regiment and two third of another surrender in our first attack against the small pocket:

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At Kholm we are able to break through to what remains of the defenders of the air strip. The strip itself cannot be held anymore against the enemy pressure and will certainly fall into Soviet hands tomorrow for good, but at least we want to try to save our engineers before we order a general retreat:

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