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So, I got my first Kessel (in the South) and the Soviets put it in high gear ... retreating towards their nearest supply source.

Now ... I'm thinking to establish a new front along the black dotted line ...

Theoretically, I could use some Speed cards and have the 9th and 11th Panzer attack Stary-Oskol - but as the Reds have significant forces
building up a little North East from the city ... and the guys trapped in the Kessel are pushing East and seeking to link up , my thoughts were to occupy one
hex to the West of Stary-Oskol and build a gradually arcing front (as seen in the image) up to the line in front of Livny.

This would give time to re-form the line and then prep for encirclements around Stary-Oskol and Livny (24th Panzer / Gross Deutschland) in a few turns and in the mean while
work can commence on eliminating the Kessel that I am delicately maintaining atm.

At this point, I'm not getting a clear picture of out-of-supply effects in terms of eventual troop status deterioration and possible surrender etc .... If anyone can clarify (point to a section in the manual) - it would be appreciated.

Also - open for critique / advice from senior guys .... does this approach seem to cautious? Would you attack Stary-Oskol straight away? (Game date is now June 30th)

Should the killing off of the Kessel be the main priority atm? (hard to see in the image - but there are 11 units total in there) - Right now, I'm thinking to have just the 88th, 95th and 385th IDs attend to that task ...

Thoughts on next moves are welcomed - would like to hear other perspectives .....

Halder's pet kitten is senior to me but for what its worth I think the classic approach is to use the the mobile forces to make and hold the encirclement, moving on as soon as the opportunity allows, while the infantry replace them in line and do the chewing, mostly in the direction of advance. Unless its a really useful target - like a river crossing, a major city or catching air units on the ground (and Stary Oskol isn't) I try to resist the temptation to make opportunistic attacks because the mobile units have a lot of work to do and replacements are few. Against the AI, once surrounded, units may make one effort to break out, but they become brittle within 1 or 2 turns and can be reduced by even allied infantry units. The AI will attack isolated mobile units quite aggressively and tank corps appear in greater numbers as the summer goes on, so that's another reason to keep mobile units' effectiveness high.

As far as the moves after that are concerned keep focused on supply and road/rail/bridge connections for your forward units - it takes several turns to convert the rail network to use. Conversely, The AI often abandons a position that loses its last rail connection.

Hope that helps.

I should have added that the apparently feeble unit holding a strongpoint often turns out not to be - and you can wreck your own unit by attacking hastily. Keep an eye on the 'Recon Value' of the target hex (top centre right of UI) - which tells you how much you actually know about what's there - a value less than a couple of hundred means it's guessing. Bringing up more units adjacent, recon flights or a recon card will increase the value.

Enjoy.

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Thanks for the input Jervis.

Here's how it played out after the turn processed.

I needed the forward Panzer elements to anchor the line at the bottom and maintain the pocket.

8 of the 11 pocketed units fled into one hex as close to Stary-Oskol as they could get and he also left some stragglers to prevent me from rushing down there to crush it.

Seems I have no choice now but to let my clean-up IDs in the South trudge through and then take the place of the Panzers / GD on the line. From there, they can arrange a new break-through since he did not commit to heavily in the South-East.

I get the feeling that these delaying tactics are going to be too effective for my liking ... We'll see ....