Part 59: Turn 56: July 9, 1942

More guards cavalry and a few free divisions, I'll take it.





The 10th army is on the Volkhov front so who knows how that guy died, there hasn't been a real attack up there in weeks. The 33rd is on the Bryansk front and is currently tearing the German line to ribbons so that promotion makes sense.



Tweaking the airforce settings, maybe this will increase our losses, maybe it will make the airforce more effective. I've got 12,000 planes to blow up so let's find out.




It looks like some Germans have been stripped from this line, I might be able to get a few good attacks in.



Yup sure can, anywhere the Germans have weak forts I'm able to knock them around with impunity.




Bloody fighting on the western front as we take back some hexes that were lost during the German turn. I also evict a security regiment from Bryansk but lack the MP to retake the city. At the very least this destroyed the fort, forts in urban hexes are nightmares.




A bunch of Germans have showed up on the rails here, but are there enough to stop me with no fortifications?



On the northern end I don't make much progress, there's some well-rested Germans that I can't budge just yet.



Just south of that the Germans aren't so lucky. A pair of rifle corps pushes the Germans out of their fortifications and then a swarm of divisions harries them back 30 miles, destroying the line. I deploy another rifle army here, one is going to push for the river while the other will push north, rolling up the Bryansk front and destabilizing the German line.



And the crown jewel of this turn, the line holding back the southwestern front completely loses integrity and shatters, allowing a tank army to recapture Kiev before looping back around to encircle a hungarian division. These tank corps probably aren't in for a great time come the German turn but I really wanted to take ownership of Kiev in '42.



These panzers are just no match for my rifle corps and if I can get them to stick around for a turn or two I will bleed them white.




Less and less Germans down here, most of their best counters have railed north to be butchered.



The 3rd shock loops around to take the eastern riverbank while the Crimean front pushes along the western bank to join them.



The southern front tears down some forts. Next turn they should be able to take more ground now that the Romanians are in the open.



Near Odessa 4 important attacks are launched.



First off, one of the level 3 forts that's been driving me mad down here is destroyed when I push the Germans off the hex.




The second two attacks reduce the fort that's been keeping me from advancing on Odessa. With this fort in tatters I should be able to take the hex next turn. Sappers are a beautiful thing.



And finally I get some good odds and decide to do a direct assault on Odessa from across the river and get damn close to taking the city. With the fort reduced I might very well be able to take it via direct assault if it doesn't get immediately reinforced.




In the north Germans are pulling off the line to rail south, opening up possibilities to break the line and get some action up here.



A handful of attacks near Orel, the line is still very weak here so our counterattack should be rather devastating.



At the Kiev bulge the German force swings southwest to retake the city, cutting off 2 of my panzer corps while they're at it. Honestly not worried, it should be incredibly easy to join up with them and in the meantime I can push northwest virtually unopposed.



Since the start of June the Germans have lost 145,818 men and 631 tanks. They're losing ground rapidly and are only able to stem my advance by catastrophically weakening the line on other fronts. In the north once impregnable lines are creeping within striking distance of my rifle corps. Near Moscow the German offensive has petered out before it even began, the armored formations necessary to maintain momentum being stripped away to stem the tide near Kiev. In the far south the German forces that railed in to relieve the overwhelmed and shattering Romanians have left, leaving the Romanians on their own once again.

German tank numbers