Part 59: Turn 9 - Axis Combat Phase

In order to break the encirclement, the Axis need some heavy weaponry. The 3rd Panzer is pulled off the line, which is generally weakened around Smolensk, and instructed to prepare for the breakout operation. Its position is handed off to the 3rd Rumanian.


Down south, another part of the Axis force moves to aid the general push. The encircled Panzer forces band together to break out, while the rest of their comrades reposition to aid them from the other side.




I need Logicone to place up to 5 Target markers on hexes the Axis will voluntarily attack this turn. Afterwards, Fangz may discard cards from his hand (he has 3 cards) to place Counterblows on his forces. Those hexes will also have to be attacked in this Combat Phase. Then Logicone decides the order in which the battles will be resolved and may commit Blitz! markers and cards to specific battles, followed by Fangz doing the same. German Army Group commanders decide which forces attack which hexes, if there is any situation where a unit can attack more than one hex. They also post their preferred advance paths and which hexes would take the CB marker, if such a result is rolled. The Soviet sector commanders post their preferred retreat destinations and if they would accept a CA (if possible).

The deadline for this is Tuesday, February 25, 7 PM GMT.

Also, a fair warning: I have not received orders from GenericRX by the deadline, and he did not warn anyone of such a possibility. Again. If this happens again, I'll have to replace him. (Davin also didn't post orders, but he gave a reason for it and a warning that it might happen.)



After the Germans invaded Poland, they found out that the Polish ~*secret weapons*~, the Uruguay AT rifles, could really give their tanks a run for the money. Convinced that this was the future of man-portable anti-armour equipment, the Germans introduced whatever numbers of the Uruguays they had to their units, while also speeding up the production of their own AT rifle, the Panzerbuechse 39, seen above. This proved to be a less than accurate prediction.

At 300 metres, the PzB 39 could penetrate up to 25 mm of armour. Not that hot. During the Fall of France, it could penetrate most Allied tanks' armour, but only from the side or rear. It was also useful against obsolete shit that filled out Soviet armour units in 1941, such as the T-26 tanks. Against a T-34, it would be pretty much useless outside of point-blank range. It quickly became apparent that the AT rifle (in general, not just this one) was the kind of a weapon that had outlived its usefulness, but no replacement was available just yet. Starting in 1942, the nearly 40 000 PzB 39s were converted into rifle grenade launchers, and in that role they served until the end of the war; in the AT role they were occasionally used until 1944.