The Sun Also Rises ( D21 )

[larryfulkerson]

I can't remember if I've shown you a picture of the Kiev area right now or not. I'm
doing some mopping up and I'm trying to squeeze the defenders down into a smaller
footprint so it will be easier to bombard them. Units on the east side of the map
haven't gotten a good start yet but I'm optimistic.

[larryfulkerson]

About 25 hexes north of Odessa in the middle of nowhere there's a small battle going
on like the other small battles in the past in this area as the Axis tidal wave sweeps
to the east clearing the terrain and killing the Soviet units. It seems like they,
the Soviets, just stand there and let themselves get surrounded without much of a fight.
It's not hard, just teedius.

[larryfulkerson]

It's T12 already and I don't have Smolensk yet. To fix that I'm planning on sweeping
with the 10th Panzer division to the north in a headlong charge to get a surround
started on the city. The follow on forces in that area will provide flank cover.

[larryfulkerson]

I've got a potential threat on the west coast of the northern peninsula in that there's
a Soviet calvary unit, an AA unit, and some ferry engineers on one of the small islands
ready to move to the mainland if I don't prevent it. Elmer would do that I'm thinking.
So to eleminate the threat I think it might be necessary to land on the island and wipe
them out. I hesitate to assault directly across the channel as that would involve high
losses but I don't have any sea cap so there's no 0ther way except for using the
paratroopers and I'm not sure I want to use them that way. I think I need to study the
situation a bit more and I could sure use some recon. I think I'll do some recon by fire
by attacking hexes with some throwaway bombers.

[larryfulkerson]

I've just now discovered another reason the advance isn't advancing very fast....I'm
using the 20th Motorized Division as if it were infantry instead of zooming up and
down roads converting hexes and finding Soviets units. This unit should be down south
in tank country instead of in heavily forested terrain. I'm learning.

[larryfulkerson]

I just moved the 25th Mot Div to where they are now just in time to prevent the Soviets
from forcing the crossing after taking command of the crossing themselves. They may still
attack but I will have a better chance of holding onto it now. The supply situation has
improved a little bit so there's a chance that the advance can continue in this area.

[larryfulkerson]

I bombarded that stack of Soviet stuff off the west coast and got a complete list of
the contents of the hex. The thing that troubles me the most is the presence of the
armored cars. I may need an armor unit to take this thing down to lessen the losses.
I can use the ships to support as soon as the exclusion zone is lifted whenever that
may happen, until then the boats will just bombard the CD guns on the island. I'm
playing with the idea of dropping some paratroopers on the supply point on the island.
That would mean that they would effectively be out of play for other areas on the map
for as long as they are on the island. They would be dedicated to that island only
and I may need them for elsewhere soon for some reason. The island isn't that
important to my plans that I would use them for service on the island.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought I'd take a peek at the losses and here's what I found. Relatively light
losses so far. I've decided that switching to defensive mode would be premature
right now.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like around Odessa right now. The siege has started and I'm
bombarding the forward defenders especially hard so I can try to compress the
defenders down into a single hex to make the bombardment more efficient.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T13 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

Security forces from the 620.Wach are moving into the treeline in front of them. They
have traced some partisans to the trucks in the background and it is thought that
the passengers fled into the tree line so they must be rooted out like animals. They
have been on the hunt since early morning and now the August sun is radiating it's heat
severely making this job all that much harder.

[larryfulkerson]

Elemets of the SS Div Totenkopf are leaving Tartu headed for Kingisepp to their north
on the northern front lines in the bottleneck area. Supply is onlly adequate for limited
operations even with the presence of a supply unit nearby.

[larryfulkerson]

Here we see the German troops sweeping through Narva clearing the surburbs and the
industrial centers. The structure in the background was a truck factory and it is
planned on repurposing it for a field hospital and rest camp.

[IainF]

Larry: You can use an engineer unit to get your lads onto that island - I've been testing it out ready for my own island clearing operation and it can be done.

(And a Tiger in '41?!! [;)] [:-])

[larryfulkerson]

Larry: You can use an engineer unit to get your lads onto that island - I've been
testing it out ready for my own island clearing operation and it can be done.

That's good news indeed. I've scrounged up some ferry engineers and I'm moving them
that way so as to be able to walk across the shallow water hex and see if I can't get
onto that island one way or another. Actually, there IS no other way since I don't
have any sea cap right now. And the exclusion zone prevents me from using my BB on
the offending hex. But I'm thinking that with enough bombardment that a three-dot
attack might be able to push aside the defenders. I'm probably going to need some
armor to make the attempt because of the armored cars that are defending.

[larryfulkerson]

This is what the northern front lines look like right now. I'm still pushing east
but the resistance is just about all I can handle....if I take it one target at a
time. The supply level is adequate for once and I'm optimistic about the future
of this area.

[larryfulkerson]

I just did something wild and reckless. I drove one of my motorcycle units out in
the Soviet backfield and cut off the supply lines from the north to the south Soviet
group. I would have driven all the way to Staraya Russa but I ran out of MP's part
way there. I'm not sure what effect this will have on Elmer but I'm guessing he
will respond in some way. I'm hoping that he's thin on troops and doesn't have anybody
to move over there.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of Kiev looking south. I'm fighting over the river crossings and pressing
the Soviets to the next river to the east...clearing the territory and converting hexes.
Lots of bridges to repair not to mention the rails. It seems to be going well except
for the very low supply levels.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on around the Odessa-Nikolayev area right now. I've gotten some
Soviet units surrounded and I'm mopping up and pressing forward and gaining hexes.
It's too early to tell how long it'll take to capture Odessa but the siege has been
ongoing for a couple of turns now and if I were to hazzard a guess I'd say 10 turns
or less might do it.

[700851McCall]

For Odessa I used all the Rumanian arty and HQ units plus the railroad guns and gave them the beans for two turns. There was not much left in there afterwards.