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I would apreciate any comments and advice, as this is my first game of FitE. I would also ask my opponent not to read the setions labled Commentary, as i plan to outline my plans in that section.



Turn one:
North:
German spearheads at Liepaja and Ukmerge. Siaulia and Kaunas under siege! Soviet Red Banner Baltic Fleet sorties and sinks Schleswig-Holstein! On land, elements of the 3rd Mechanized Corps have counter attacked and are moving to the relief of the brave garrison in Kaunas.

Otherwise, Soviet forces are pulling back in this theatre.


Schleswig-Holstein, Sunk by the Red Banner Baltic Fleet off Memel in the opening week of the war.


Centre:

German spearheads at Rozhanka, Pruzhany, Kovel and Lutsk. Brest is under attack, but holding out. The brave comrades of the 56th rifle division have counter attacked around Grodno, and driven back the invaders. Other Soviet forces are falling back to better lines.

South:

German spearheads at Brody, Lvov under siege.
Soviet forces falling back to prepared lines.



Turn2

North:
Siaulia and Kaunas have fallen to the invaders. German troops are closing in on Riga, where defenses are being erected by the militia. Stavka discussions in Moscow have resulted in several untenable positions in the Baltic being abandoned. The fleet is safely returned from its victorious sortie. Local counter attacks launched in the Daugavpils region.
.

Centre:

Brest has fallen to the invaders. Defenders and citizens are digging trenches at Minsk. Red Army units are still falling back to tenable positions.

South:
This theatre saw the heaviest fighting during the second half of the week. Red Army mountaineers and motorized elements struck back in the Berezhany region. Further north, the 15th Tank division launched its own counter attack, to aid encircled comrades from the 6th Army.

Commentary:

The Soviet border defenses have disintegrated under a well conducted assault. The Red Army is pulling back on all fronts, trying to set up a coherent and tenable defense somewhere in the rear. So far, it seems that the light elements of the Pz Divisions are advancing much faster than the main body (See screen shot), leaving an opening for a possible hit and run counter attack, or infiltration of delaying elements between the recon elements and the main body, leading (hopefully) to the encirclement and destruction of these leading elements.







The German intentions seem clear. The Pz Divisions of AGC are advancing straight for minsk and Smolensk. Steps to delay and attrit them must be taken. At the moment, however, it seems more important to establish a line somewhere.

This is where I hope to make my stand on the norhtern half of the front. At the moment though, the lack of rolling stock has me doubting the wisdom of this. The lines are not filling out anything like as quickly as I had hoped. More rolling stock will become available though, and I will attempt my first stand on this line.

Note that I will not attempt to defend Bessarabia, but am immediately pulling back the majority of the forces there to the planned main line. Odessa will attempt to hold out to delay the enemy advance here. A successful defense can be supplied by sea.

Turn 3

All fronts:
The glorious Red Army continued its tactical withdrawal. Strong lines of defense ore being constructed to halt the invaders. Some local counter attacks have been launched.

Turn 4

North:
The enemy have reached Riga. Our brave boys held as long as possible, but have now been ordered to withdraw. In spite of enemy propaganda such as this, the loyal people of the Baltic provinces are assisting in the construction of new lines of defense.

Centre:
The enemy has reached Minsk, and captured the western suburbs. The heroic troops of the 3rd NKVD division are doing everything they canto keep the enemy back, ably assisted by elite airborne formations.

South:
The enemy spearheads have been checked by the Stalin line. Reinforcements are building solid lines at this very moment.
Further south still, the bridges over the Dnestr River have been blown, delaying the enemy furhter.

Turn 5?

All fronts were fairly quiet, from the Stavka point of view. In the far north some small units have infiltrated behind enemy lines. They successfully blew a bridge and ambushed an airfield. Their greatest success, however, was the liberation of Petsamo, a town that rightfully belongs to the Soviet Union!



Podpolkovnik Smirnof leads the brave troops of the 31st engineer battalion in their assault on Petsamo.

[center]Turn 6[/center]

North:
The Petsamo bridgehead was reinforced by the 88th RD. In the far north constant probing by small units continues. In Finland the enemy offensive started this week. The Soviet line is holding!

Centre:

The line is becoming more solid. The enemy spearheads have reached Orsha and Vitebsk, but have not launched their attack yet. The VVS leapt into action with some attacks on enemy trains, engineers and airfields.

South:
All quiet on the southern front.