Part 64: Turn 61: August 13, 1942

No exciting guards this turn, oh well.




This guy is kind of really shit, 3 initiative is less than stellar. I'll probably fire him at some point if I don't forget he exists.




Making steady progress up here, as more Germans evacuate to head south this front will become more and more destabilized.



Breaking through the forts up here by the city. I'm never going to accomplish the breakthroughs I can down south up here, progress is too slow so forts get rebuilt behind the frontline while I'm bogged down.



The rest of the front is able to launch a few attacks, not a whole lot of progress is made but this is indicative of the amount of Germans that have been stripped from this area.




Not a whole lot of progress to be made here but I'll take hexes where I can.




Attacking a panzer divisions in a level 2 fort with near even odds across a river probably wasn't going to work. I did however manage to ruin the fort and get an accurate report on the number of tanks they've got up here.



Take some more hexes, never let off the pressure anywhere.



The Western front re-occupies Bryansk but I don't think I'm going to be able to hold it. The twin cavalry armies of the Volga M.D. on the other hand continue to make great progress pushing the Germans back 10 miles and making it across the river.




I'm starting to outrun my railheads here, I may have to pull the Voronoezh front forces off the line and ship them up north. No point in tying up my best assault forces on a front where I can't keep them in supply.



The Bryansk front shred the German line, advancing 20 miles. These forces are going to continue looping north to help destabilize the German line in front of the western front. You can also see 2 German infantry and a panzer division that I managed to cut off but not encircle at the bottom of this screenshot.



If you ever wondered what a tank division from a country that doesn't have any tanks looks like, here you go.



The southwestern front has nearly occupied the entire riverbank, the only Germans on the eastern side of the river are a handful of counters near Chernigov that will be evicted next turn. Towards Kiev 2 divisions manage to sneak across the river and without any serious German forces nearby they probably will hold that hex into next turn, allowing me to start clearing the west bank.




The Voronezh front captures a German infantry division and continues to consolidate its position at Kiev. Eagle eyed readers might notice I haven't moved any tank corps in this screenshot and that's because I'm saving them to see if it's possible to do something.




And the weakest German front on the map. There are some places on the line where the axis allies have been so battered it can't even be called a line, it's just a few counters strewn wherever they could reach after rallying.



The Crimean front opens up the week conservatively, launching the bare minimum number of attacks necessary to open access to the hexes I want for my plan.



And this is why I didn't move my tank corps. The Germans will probably be able to get supply in to these units next turn but I don't think they'll manage to get anything out of the pocket, meaning all these units will just get re-pocketed immediately. Initial counts come to:

8 German divisions, 1 German motorized division, a German regiment and 3 unidentified German counters which are probably HQs or airbases
3 Italian divisions, 1 brigade and 1 unidentified unit which is probably a division
3 Hungarian divisions and 1 brigade
2 Romanian divisions and 2 routed divisions that might rally
And a scattering of HQs and airbases



Not wanting to be outdone the southern front seals off its own, much tighter pocket. These units are mine and they are not getting loose. This pocket consists of 4 German divisions and a German regiment, 3 Romanian divisions and 3 Hungarian divisions.




Finally I move across the Dnestr in force, the Romanians garrisoning the western bank being wholly inadequate to stopping or even slowing me down. The 1st Shock army encircles a Hungarian division while threatening the Romanian border, 50 miles to go.

The tank army I railed down to this front arrived this turn but they appear to be a week late, there's not much left to encircle down here.




The senseless trading of hexes continues for another week.



On the Bryansk front the Germans launch several attacks on some of my overextended counters. Unfortunately the Germans lack the mobility and the manpower to punish me here beyond pushing a few of my weaker counters around.



In the south the top pocket breaks, barely, and the smaller pocket holds. The larger pocket is going to be re-sealed next turn much tighter.



The pockets on the southern front all hold. I was expecting this, the pockets down here are much tighter. I also see an opportunity to bag a few more counters down here but I won't know for certain until I run some recon flights.



The Germans are poised to lose something like 30-40% of their forces south of the Pripyat marshes, it would amuse me greatly if I could capture more Germans than the Germans have captured Soviets. Current plans are to reduce pockets in the south and then continue to push west to the limit of my railheads. The Bryansk front will continue to wrap around north and break the stalemate on the western front who will then begin to push west. Leningrad will continue to do its thing, more and more Germans are disappearing up there. I think the Germans had a ton of units on static up there and they're freeing them up piecemeal to rail south.

Also I messed with my airforce again this turn but couldn't bear to screenshot any of it. Keep an eye out for skyrocketing Soviet plane losses, or maybe I've finally figured this out and I'll be able to shoot down a few Axis planes.