Part 56

I start the attacks in the north. Where ever I see a weak spot, I hit them hard, this is not many places however.



16th Army is a lot more successful, and make a good 10km advance across the front.







While I'm not calling it a “Drive on Moscow”, 9th Army shatters a hole in the Russian lines and moves closer to the Capital city. This should draw more enemies into the area, and away from Fall Blau.



I send that Corps that been a horrible bulge in my lines fleeing back, and now I have pretty lines once more.



4th Army also keeps the Russians on the back foot.







But you don't care about any of that, this is the main event!



So of course, I start by moving the Romanians and 11th Army. This allows me to secure the southern front before moving the other units.



4th Panzer Army hooks north, the Volga is in sight. I then move on to 1st Panzer Army.



They cut off one section, and all but cut off another, the encirclements are starting. I also put the 22nd Panzer Division across the Volga and rescue the Wicking Division.



I also wipe out that trapped Tank Corps. The next move is to trap another ten units.



Every move is counting at this time, and this turn is taking me a long time. Two more heavily staffed Corps are forced to surrender, costing the Russians over thirty thousand men.



On the far north, near 6th Army, I am forced to rearrange units as several Guards Tank Corps threaten a breakthrough.



2nd and 3rd Panzer Armies smash through the Russian line towards the Don. If I can get them though and link up with the eastern units, then they will be in trouble. At worst, I can threaten the Russians to evacuate the area and give me Stalingrad and the last T-34 factory.








The Russians pull back in force.



My troops are near the Gates of Stalingrad, they have abandoned one Corps, five Divisions and ten Brigades with no attempt to rescue them.



The Road to Baku remains open, even if most of my Panzers have been moved north. Soon I shall reach the Caspian Sea, and no more troops will be able to move south to save the city.





We have taken out another 117,000 Russians, and they are starting to hurt bad.



Their numbers are down slightly on last week, and that was without these two large pockets.



Near two hundred thousand men are returned to units this week.



Supplies are dropping slowly, as we are engaged in heavy fighting, but the fuel pool remains healthy, mainly as most units are yet to outrun the railhead by that far.



And as someone will ask about it, here it is.



As you can see, the lack of rail lines is going to be the real killer here.


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Although I'm amazed how close I am to my (personal) objective – a line along the Volga to the Caspian Sea.