Brief summary of campaign to Dec 21, 1941:
Initially, surprised by the perfidious attack on June 22, many brave frontier formations were destroyed or badly mauled by the battle-hardened panzer forces. For eight weeks or so, these armored predators rampaged their way through Belorussia, the Baltic states and the Ukraine. By late August however, mounting casualties, inadequate logistics and valiant Red Army resistance caused the German steamroller to slow down and halt.
In the north, extremely aggressive German attacks actually cut off Leningrad for about 2 weeks, but with some skillful redeployment of reserves and fierce Soviet counterattacks, Malinovsky succeeded in re-establishing supply lines to the holy city, which has resisted all German efforts to storm it. At great cost, German forces did however manage to penetrate through to Kalinin.
In the center, a tenacious defense by Zhukov and Konev frustrated all attempts to capture Moscow. Even though Rzhev and Tula were occupied, the exhausted Army Group Center could move no farther.
In the south, a final German lunge succeeded in taking Rostov but their hold on the city is tenuous.
Now for the latest updates:
East of Leningrad, Soviet forces trapped and destroyed 56 Pz Korps and 2 infantry korps. For his many victories including the heroic defense of Leningrad, Malinovsky has been promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union.
In the center, Zhukov's and Konev's forces have liberated Tula and are ripping great holes in the German line. The Moscow and Western Fronts are already looking to liberate Smolensk from the Germans.
In the south, German forces continue to hold Rostov but Vasilevski has assured Stalin that the city will soon be liberated!
For this week of Dec 21, 1941, Stavka announces the German casualty list:
2210 squads
292 tanks
2308 guns
178 aircraft
Cumulative German losses to-date:
27462 squads
5629 tanks
20964 guns
5616 aircraft
I'll leave Matt to announce the Soviet casualties.
[ August 07, 2001: Message edited by: Chimera ]
