Part 83: Turn 83: January 14, 1943
Guards tanks are neat,I don't have many of those. These are just support units but I'll take what I can get.
And back to chasing Germans, how dull.
That hex gets cut off again as the Leningrad front pushes out, this time trapping 2 infantry divisions and an undestrength panzer. The Germans might be able to open the hex back up again next turn but I think I'm in position to cut it off permanently after that.
The rest of the Leningrad front and the Northwest front go off in search of the new German line and some units make contact. Rails are good here and supply is picking up, now I just need to link the Leningrad front back up and keep pushing southwest.
Further south on the Volkhov front supply isn't as good and it's preventing me from taking much ground. RR repair units are going to start swinging south soon as they catch up to the Northwest front so this area should improve. Once supply improves I think I'll be able to push for the Daugava, hopefully before it thaws.
Strong line with a picket line out front. Supply is still shit here so actually shifting the picket line might prove difficult.
I'm converting a lot of rifle corps on this front, about half a dozen this turn which uses up the last reserves of my AP pool. I'll need a lot of rifle corps everywhere this summer which I think will actually be better campaigning than this awful blizzard.
A few attacks are launched this turn mostly centered around Minsk which the Germans mostly abandoned last week. With light resistance I'm able to re-occupy the city and I don't plan on losing it again.
I've pulled my RR corps off this front and sent them south. The front here isn't in great supply but it's good enough and I need perfect rails in Hungary for momentum.
In the swamp the Don front forces a division to surrender before slogging forward some more. There's more Germans showing up here and I'm very nearly through the worst of it.
The Voronezh front launches a series of attacks to drive the Germans back and take a few hexes, it's nice to launch attacks again.
The
Time to test what the Germans have thrown up to stop me. I could be vastly underestimating them here but I don't think I am. I've got a feeling that line is the absolute strongest it can be and there's not a whole lot in reserve any longer.
The Southern front finishes what the North Caucasus front started and cuts off two infantry divisions. One is severely understrength but it's the thought that counts. The North Caucausus part of the pocket is weak but I don't think the Germans will be able to break it in this weather in this terrain.
Nearly out of the mountains, another few weeks and I'll be back into clear terrain.
And the exciting bit. The Germans get pushed back 10 more miles basically everywhere which exposes 2 gaps in the line. In the west the western front's artillery blasts a hole through an SS police division and some Italians and on the north flank the cavalry open up a hole that gets wedged open with some mechanized corps. I imagine this is going to cause another 10-20 mile pullback, I don't think the Germans are capable of holding the line here for another week. I'm also trying to pull the 71st tank army (in dark purple) off the line so I have at least one mobile force in reserve if I get another break in the west.
This turn also sees the capture of the first large Hungarian city as the 65th tank army rolls through Karcag. How much more of this will the Hungarians take?
In the north the Germans mass a large force to free those 3 trapped divisions again. I'm just going to re-encircle them again next turn but these Germans sure are determined to save those formations.
South of the marshes the Germans pull back to the German border. If they give up one hex more than this they're going to be fighting on German soil.
At Stanislav the Germans annoyingly manage to break my pocket, just surrender damn you
The Carpathians are almost entirely abandoned with a few forces left behind to slow my advance.
Hmm. This looks like it's going to fall apart if I so much as look at it the wrong way. The saving grace for the Germans is most of my tanks are still pretty low on gas.
Supply still isn't great but it's slowly improving.
