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Weeks 1&2 - June 22-29, 1941

Mehring opened things in the south with a good Lvov pocket that I made no effort to break. Standard Axis opening in the north, center and south. Hoepner'4 4th PG isolates Riga in the north. In the center, Hoth's 3rd PG breaks over the Dnepr north of Vitebsk while Guderian's 2nd PG reaches Mogilev. Von Kleist's 1st PG reaches the outskirts of Vinnitsa in the south.

The Red Army falls back all across the front. weak screen units try to maintain contact with the German lead elements. First priority will be to rebuild Western Front from the better available rifle divisions.

The Red Army Air Force has headed off to the reserve for rebuild and reorganization. Air commands disbanded or scheduled for same: Baltic Fleet, Black Sea Fleet, Moscow, Leningrad PVO, Moscow PVO, Volga MD.

Unlike previous games, I used no railcap for factory evacuation on turn 2, it all went to move troops about.

North



Center



South

Good luck M60. Very curious to see how this goes for you.

Weeks 3&4 - July 3-10, 1941

Mud hit across the front to slow down Mehring and the Axis juggernaut.
No major pockets have been formed since the first turn. I have kept putting brigade units and security regiments in contact with panzer and motorized divisions where possible. Where there are some checkerboards, the lower morale and smaller sized units are along the front. They are not getting any refits in these early turns, replacements have gone for the most part to the units of Reserve and Western Fronts. Zhukov leads STAVKA. A fair number of APs went into aircraft replacement this last turn.

The Finns didn't make much of their first turn. The Janisjarvi Line is strong enough to hold for some time, I hope. Pskov in the north will be given up as units form along the Luga Line. Guderian is in the vicinity of Mogilev-Gomel. No pressure on the direct line to Moscow yet, but Hoth is probably lurking between Smolensk and Velikie Luki. Kleist is north of Nikolaev.

Leningrad, Kiev and D-Town have had key factories evacuated.

Weeks 5&6 - July 17-24, 1941

In the north, the Germans appear readying themselves to break through the lines south of lake Ilmen. Hoth's 3rd PG is east of Velikie Luki. Near Chernigov, Guderian's 2nd PG is over the Dnepr and at the banks of the Desna. Kleist's 1st PG has reached the Dnepr across from Zaporozhye.

A secondary defense line is being set up west of Moscow, along the Lania River. Andrei Eremenko's 31st Army mans the forts on this line while 9 cavalry divisions of Fyodor Tolbukhin's 33rd Army supplement the defenses and are ready to be committed in a reserve role. The main line of defense just east of Smolensk does not appear threatened at the moment.

Since the initial losses in the Bialystok/Lvov pockets, the Red Army hasn't suffered any large scale envelopments.

Air units are still undergoing some reorganization and morale building in the National Reserve.

North



West of Moscow



Gomel-Chernigov



South



Unit losses



Air kills

Weeks 7&8 - July 31-August 7, 1941

Little happening in the north, but it appears that the panzer formations of 3rd and 4th PG are going to be battling it out in the Valdai.

In the area east of Smolensk, things remain relatively quiet.

Farther south, Kiev has fallen and Guderian is over the Desna River.

Farther south, Kleist has pushed through the thin screen to the east, reaching the gates of Stalino. STAVKA commits Filipp Golikov's 37th Army to assist 9th Army in surrounding the Wiking and LAH SS divisions with the 16th Panzer.

Factory evacuations continue to be on schedule, with all arms factories in the Stalino area moved out. Kharkov is the last major city still requiring evacuations, and that area is still safe from immediate danger.

North



East of Smolensk



East of Kiev



Stalino



Organization

I can't recall ever seeing a Soviet OOB so high so early, well done.

Much better job the first few turns M60. No point in fighting forward when there is zero need and no point in not moving 20-30 units from south to north.

That bring's your game into the upper ranks.

Ok the mud did help some

Man the russian looks strong here. In my view, the center needs alot of pressure. By center I mean 7 hexes north and south of smolensk. A quite center allows for the strong reinforcement to the valdai hills which is not where I would send alot of force as axis. The valdai hills is a perfect example of strategically very important terrain that you should really take indirectly and slowly so the soviet does not reinforce. This retreating soviet is building up alot of power for when he eventually chooses to fight as well as overloadiing the north and daring the axis to either go all in or go static. A great tactic cause the soviet will just get stronger if the axis decides to go static in an important area.

However, all those 3 stacks of soviet on the front line creates some great pocket opportunities if you can mass and are close enough. This is a very tough soviet defense at this point. Although one that has given up alot of territory.

vandev

Week 9 & 10, Aug 14-21 1941

In the north, two PGs are pushing along with the infantry in the Valdai Hills region.

In the Smolensk sector, things remain quiet as our lines remain quiet 40 miles from Smolensk. A few forays are launched to gain more wins.

In the Kursk-Belgorod region, Guderian finds his 2nd PanzerGruppe short of fuel. Our isolated units were able to link up with front line troops to in turn isolate the Germans.

In the area of Stalino, the SS with Kleist's 1st PanzerGruppe are trying to envelop the city and its defenders.

The one area in which Mehring makes progress is the Crimea, as our defenses give way.

Factory evacuations continue at their regular pace. 20 arms factories have been lost to date. Tank and vehicle plants were evacuated without issue.

In terms of strength, Mehring is not taking much in the way of losses as I've been avoiding a major claah. Soviet losses to date are around 1.3 million.

7 turns of clear weather remaining.

North



Smolensk



Belgorod-Kursk



Stalino



Crimea



Losses

Amazingly low Russian losses. Mehring will struggle from now on.

Don't get the campaign in the Valdai Hills for Axis.

Otherwise, nice defense/nice atttacks everywhere else.

Interesting game. decision to upgrade SOV commanders early must delay unit creation, maybe waiting for higher quality units, equipment, defensible locations.

Week 11 & 12 - August 28 & September 4

Mehring goes all in attempting to bag the armies of the Leningrad Front. He continues to push the better part of two PGs to the northeast of the Valdai. On week 11 he managed to sever the rail link near Tikhvin, so a mass evacuation of Red Army units won't be possible. Still, with only 5 weeks of good weather remaining, Mehring has clearly lost any opportunity to threaten Moscow this year. I chose to sacrifice one good cavalry division to cut behind his panzers in order to affect his supply situation once again.

All remains relatively quiet in the Reserve front sector, as Mehring made no attempt to push anything in the direction of Moscow from the northwest.

The Smolensk-Bryansk-Orel area remains fairly quiet with a few battles here and there.

Farther south, Kharkov remains in Soviet hands while the Axis troops make better territorial gains around Stalino-Voroshilovgrad-Rostov. Significant industry was previously pulled out. In the Crimea where h has almost no opposition, Mehring takes Sevastopol and moves up to the Kerch Straits. The 18th Army is slowly reforming there.

Northern push



Northwest-Reserve Front area quiet



Smolensk-Bryansk-Orel



Donbas



Guards farming- About three dozen in the making



Miscellaneous numbers

Week 13 & 14 - Sept 11 & 18, 1941

Mehring manages his biggest pocket since the first week of the war in the north. On week 13, he came one hex shy of cutting the Leningrad Front. Now he will be forced to stay in the area another week, to mop up the pocket as big as it is.

He has one other success in the south, striking deep and taking Voronezh. All the IL-2 factories in the city were lost there.

The Red Army continues to remain just east and north of Smolensk. In the far south, Rostov continues to remain in Soviet hands.

So far, there are a total of six guards divisions with more being farmed.

Leningrad front pocket



Smolensk



Voronezh



Rostov