Permanently Operating Factors - A Soviet LAN AAR

VILenin: Hey! I was wondering where you had disappeared off to! Glad to see you back for the war (which will indeed get very messy! )

BritishImperial: Actually, I have no plan, really, and no updates written ahead. I'll certainly be writing about Nikifor and his squadmates, but they've not actually entered combat yet. When they do, however, you can expect updates from them as well

Update coming up!

9 kilometers west of Orsha
April 21, 1942

Vasilevskij and Timoshenko sat together, surrounded by Front commanders, in the operations room of Vasilevskij’s headquarters west of Orsha, the billet for his 1st Tank Army. Vasilevkij had wanted a full council on the war with his generals, where they could openly raise issues or questions with the strategy the Soviet Union was following. Looking around, he saw several haggard faces, particularly those of Berzarin, Fedorenko and Purkaev. Antonov, Malinovskij and Vlassov also showed some strain, as did Timoshenko’s and likely his own. Vasilevskij could only, however, smile whenever his eyes landed on Tolbulkin’s figure. The man was simply a legend, and Vasilevskij knew he could trust the man with any task and it would be carried out not just to the best of his ability, but to success even in the face of terrible odds.

Gorodovikov was the first to speak, his impressive moustache shuddering with each word as if emphatically agreeing with every single one of them. “Sir, I must unfortunately report that there might be some reverses in the north. On the 19th, the British attacked my own corps around Rovaniemi with two of his own, and from different directions. I don’t have precise information with me, unfortunately, due to the short time between my defeat before sunrise this morning and my leaving the theater to come here.” Seeing Timoshenko’s expression, he smiled. “Oh don’t worry, I left clear instructions of what was to happen during my absence. My spearhead infantry in Lulea is to keep advancing, and other units are to take the British offensive in the flank. The situation will be not only contained but taken advantage of, I assure you.”

Unsure of what he was expected to say, Vasilevskij merely nodded and gave some words of encouragement. “Good, good. Does anyone else have anything to report, or issues to raise?”

Lieutenant General M.N. Chistyakov, commander of the 3rd Belarussian Front, coughed. “Is it wise for me to send my two mobile corps, under Lieutenant General Pliev and Major General Rotmistrov, toward Lomza? I understand that it would place the enemy’s airfields around Warsaw in danger and put Torun under threat from another flank, but they’ve already failed once as Pliev did not consider victory there attainable at an acceptable price.”


The battle for Lomza between two Soviet mobile corps and Anglo-German defenders.

“Besides, it would leave Bielsk dangerously exposed, with only three infantry corps to defend it. That is the same density as in the Ukraine, and we see how dangerous it can get if the enemy is concentrated. Given the eighteen Anglo-German divisions around Lublin, it would not be the best idea to move toward Lomza. I would suggest holding back my mobile corps in case I need to commit them elsewhere. The situation is delicate.”

Vasilevskij nodded. “Fine. In fact, you can send your entire front southward toward Brest Litovsk. Fedorenko will soon relieve you, in a sense. Right, Fedorenko?”

Fedorenko tightened his lips but nodded, albeit curtly. “The Germans are counterattacking around Suwalki again, the units that I had manhandled earlier are returning with vengeance foremost in their minds. My men are tired from the first fighting around Suwalki, as well as the battles for Konigsberg. We’re already in the process of disengaging and withdrawing toward Bielsk. I’m concerned, however, about the gap that will be left there. The Germans will be able to pour through the vacuum.”

Vasilevskij shook his head. “That won’t be a problem.”


Yet another battle for Suwalki, and the situation in the north generally.

“The 1st Belarussian Front is moving from Grodno toward Suwalki. With Malinovskij soon to occupy Alytus, we will thus present a coherent front toward the Germans again. There is nothing to worry about; we’ll make sure that they do not achieve a breakthrough. The Germans are tired as well, and meeting a fresh Front around Suwalki will probably stop their advance cold and, with our front as dense as ever in the north, we will be able to enforce a short operational pause to recover before pushing again, everywhere. The Germans will not be able to stop our deep operations doctrine when it is fully concentrated.”

Fedorenko, and a handful of other generals, looked skeptical but largely remained silent. Purkaev seemed on the verge of saying something but instead opted to stay quiet as well. Vasilevskij understood his worries; the Anglo-German threat was the worst in his sector of the front, but he knew that he had the entire Ukrainian segment of the second strategic echelon to call upon if he required reinforcements—and Zhukov had arrived at Vinnitsa as well, bolstering his Front with armored strength. Vasilevskij turned to Vlassov. “Vlassov, when will your units reach Chisinev?”

Briefly looking at his watch, Vlassov answered. “This afternoon, sir, in several hours actually. I must soon leave to coordinate the inevitable defense.”

Vasilevskij nodded. “All right, we’ll finish quickly then. What we have on this table, gentlemen, is a map of the entire front.” Hearing a cough in the background, Vasilevskij smiled. “Nearly the entire front, rather. I am sorry, Gorodovikov, but you know your front isn’t decisive. You are still doing a fine job there, however. Regardless, the Baltic and Belarussian theater looks like we have it fairly well in hand, it is unlikely that anything will go greatly wrong now. The south, however, seems to be in a dire situation. Over a hundred Anglo-German divisions are pushing into the Ukraine, and it is likely only a flexible and tenacious defense will be able to wear them down.”

Vasilevskij looked hard at Vlassov, Tolbulkin, Purkaev and Zhukov each in turn. “Don’t lose contact with the Front on either side of you. Don’t fight for land if you don’t have a chance of winning. Don’t counterattack if you don’t think you can throw the enemy back. But at the same time don’t make it too easy for them. Make them bleed, make them expend their strength and organization in ways that do not serve their major purpose. Speaking of which, we are not yet certain what their plan is in the Ukraine, but consider it likely that they will attempt to push toward Kiev or even Kharkov or Sevastopol. Don’t hesitate to bring in further reinforcements if you believe it necessary, they are there to be used at your own discretion. But remember, there is only a finite number of men we can throw into the south. Does anyone else want to bring anything more up, or may we conclude?”

When no one spoke up, Vasilevskij nodded. “Very well then, you all know what it is you need to do. I will be taking my 1st Tank Army southward as well. This will place Timoshenko’s theater in a difficult situation without reserve armored support but both of us considered it necessary, given that the terrain of the Ukraine allows both myself and the Germans to operate with armor more effectively. You are all dismissed.”

As everyone stood to leave, Vasilevskij stood as well. His gaze, however, was lingering on the map.

BritishImperial: Hah, do you now

General Jac: Yep, the north is a meat grinder. Even meat grinders look upon the north as the epitome of meat grinder-ness

ColossusCrusher: Yeah, that's old news

Discomb: No you didn't. You only brought it up once and that was like, two months ago

First comment day!

ColossusCrusher: It might be, I'm not quite sure what you're talking about so I can't say with any certainty

Second comment day!

ColossusCrusher: Ah yes, that. I thought you were referring to some specific game of HoI2. As to whether it matched that, we'll see, huh?

Update coming up!

9 kilometers northeast of Chisinev
April 22, 1942

Vlassov stood in front of the door to the building that had been appropriated for his headquarters and looked to the northwest, toward Beltsy. There, he knew that a great mass of German armor was driving across the Prut River toward Mogilevi Podolski, a very great mass. Vlassov did some quick mental calculations; assuming a standard German armored division had about three hundred tanks, and that there were twenty of them crossing the river, that amounted to over six thousand tanks. The ten motorized infantry divisions probably contributed a bit more to that sum; the manpower total might be a quarter of a million for that single thrust from the Beltsy area alone. Together with the Stryj-Stanislawow thrust, the Anglo-German push into the Ukraine amounted to a full million men or so. Vlassov whistled appreciatively, that was a large number of men for a single thrust.

His job in Chisinev was obvious, of course. His was a limited offensive designed to draw off some pressure from Purkaev’s 2nd Ukrainian Front to the north. The sounds of battle to the northwest and the southwest were testimony to the fact that, to some degree, it was working. Vlassov adjusted his glasses as Soviet fighter planes roared overhead, providing local air superiority. He knew that there was little in the way of German air opposition. Romania was a backwater front, given the heavier fighting in the Baltic and Belarussian theater and the heavy fighting to come in the Ukraine. All the German air support was in those areas, not around Chisinev. Vlassov’s battle there was a minor one in every sense of the word; barely over two hundred thousand men were taking part in it. Vlassov smiled, that sounded like a lot but given the cataclysmic battles that were already beginning to occur in the north, and the shattering offensive into the Ukraine, it really was not.

Turning around, Vlassov stepped into his headquarters building just as the Germans began their hourly shelling of the dusty little town that Vlassov had made his command post. They were largely firing blind, and doing very little damage or even chaos to boot, but it was on occasion mildly off-putting. Stepping into the operations room where his staff was working to coordinate the battle by settling the mundane affairs, he grabbed a passing man by the sleeve and asked him for a general report of the twenty-four hours of fighting. With a nod, the man sped off to a typewriter with a sheaf of documents. Satisfied for the moment, Vlassov retreated back to the outdoors and stood gazing at the sky. It was clear and blue; the sun was shining warmly and drying the mud of the spring thaw. Vlassov nodded approvingly, the mud was playing havoc with the German armor that was pressing down on his bridgehead from Beltsy. At that moment, the man he had grabbed previously emerged from the room with a hastily typed report. It was so hastily typed, in fact, that Vlassov was impressed with the man’s speed and made a mental note to arrange to get him a pay raise and perhaps a job transfer as he took the report.

The man had sensibly divided the battle into two parts, the first part consisted of the time before Vlassov himself had personally arrived and the defense was being commanded by one of his corps commanders, Lieutenant General Tamruchi. The man had commanded two corps, as Vlassov’s own had not yet arrived given the slow speed of his headquarters, in a defense against two German corps that had been diverted from the crossing of the Prut. Of these corps, one was a simple infantry corps, but the other was one of the important armored corps. They were together being commanded by General List, a skilled and aggressive commander whose record was well known in STAVKA. He had consistently fought with the upper hand around Chisinev, but failed to pry the Soviet bridgehead from the west side of the Prut before Vlassov arrived. This began during the middle of the morning of the 21st.


The first part of the defense of Chisinev.

In the early afternoon of the 22nd, Vlassov finally arrived with his corps, bringing the total defending formations up to three corps of three divisions each. The Germans and British, however, had also thrown in more units. Two corps, one British and the other German, attacked from the Ismail area, thus putting Vlassov under attack from two directions at once. And, as he knew, that was the situation at the time. The fighting was getting rougher, and closer to the base of the bridgehead, with every passing hour. Vlassov’s orders were, however, to hold on for as long as possible because with every passing day, the German concerns about their flank would grow. Vlassov did not realistically expect to worry the Germans too much, much less divert significant units from their thrust. He did not even expect to emerge victorious from the battle, holding an intact bridgehead, despite the mud that favored his defense.


The second part of the defensive battle for Chisinev, during which Vlassov was in command.

His only hope was to buy some time by keeping relatively miscellaneous Anglo-German forces occupied in an area other than the Ukraine. Every hour he kept those twelve hostile divisions occupied around Chisinev was an hour that they were not advancing into the Ukraine, an hour that they were not causing greater strategic problems for STAVKA. It would have its hands full as it was, given the danger of what was already coming. He was determined not to let the forces he was tying down be the straw that might break the camel’s back. He was unsure, however, how strong the camel actually was. But no matter whether it would break or not, he would do his duty to the best of his abilities.

Maldorians: Nope, I don't. I'm a couple years past the high school stage

Unfortunately, POF will have to go on hold until further notice. Apparently this laptop decided that it would be a good idea to make my screenshots vanish. My other laptop has the screenshots, but that's on its way back to the manufacturer because of a screen problem that will be repaired, so I can't exactly get to them for a week or two. So...yeah, POF will be on hold until my laptop comes back.

BritishImperial: Yep

Maldorians: Awesome

Delex: The guy playing England sucks terribly. The guy playing Germany is pretty good. And actually, their spearhead is 33 armored and motorized infantry divisions, with a support of 76 infantry divisions. To divide that in two would just be begging be to stop them both because they'd both be too weak to be worrisome. Remember what Clausewitz says, "first be strong everywhere, and then very strong at the decisive point." My main front (the Baltic to the Black) is divided into nine Fronts, of which three Fronts hold the southern half. By being very strong in Romania and their push into the Ukraine, the enemy is very capable of shattering the entire southern half of my front, which would be a disaster of epic proportions as the second and third echelon units I have behind them are not capable of defending even the original length of the front on their own, much less one stretched to great lengths by a forward surge of German armor. If he had divided them as you say he should have, the southern thrust would have been handled, if with difficulty. The northern thrust would have been stopped cold because up there, the divisional density per province is somewhere between 18 and 24 divisions, and the various Fronts can easily support each other in a decisive fashion as has already been seen (there have been some three Front battles already). Your suggestions would lead to failure on Germany's part

BritishImperial: Haha, maybe