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So it's yet to see where you'll point your 1942 summer offensive to... perhaps you could try to engage the Soviet forces in a big encirclement battle at the center of the front and then, after having destroyed many enemy armies, head for Moscow or Stalingrad. But you're in charge and it's up to you to decide :) .
Update on its way.
This has got to be one of my favourite aars, i love ones where the author actually has a difficult time, I will be following this to the bitter(sweet) end!
Thankyou, this mod really does make it a challenge to win as Germany!
 
You won't be able to win if you just conduct little "Kharkov" style offensives, cutting off and surrounding them here and there. There needs to be a breakthrough, and the Ukraine is well-suited for this.
 
You won't be able to win if you just conduct little "Kharkov" style offensives, cutting off and surrounding them here and there. There needs to be a breakthrough, and the Ukraine is well-suited for this.
Update upcoming ;)
Let's hope it doesn't follow the destiny of (too) many other AARs... :(
Definitely not, it is called "until the better end"!
Hope not i like this one!
Thankyou :)
 
May 1942

After much debate within the German High Command and the complete reluctance of the German leadership to remove any dissenting generals as they were deemed to valuable to lose, it was concluded four offensives were to be taken in the summer of 1942. The leadership had been able to get the concession that two of these offensives were to join up in a grand encircling motion on the Ukrainian plains and the other two were to first besiege Leningrad then go onto Moscow should the opportunity arise. The offensive in the Ukraine encountered lots of success in the south with Orel being taken by late-May but the offensive in the north failed with disastrous casualties, causing much concern for the Heer.


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The two offensives in the north began in Finland and the Baltic region, with initial successes in both as the Red Army was forced into a full scale retreat while its forces in Finland were being encircled by German and Finnish units.

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A fifth offensive was attempted with predominantly Hungarian and Romanian troops but was immeditaedyl defeated by superior Soviet forces.

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The effects of the Battle of the Atlantic were taking a serious toll on the UK's industry, with it clearly lacking the materials to run its industry at full capacity.

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The German leadership was getting increasingly worried by the state of affairs in Africa as Italy has been continuallu forced to be on the defensive, with the UK landing in eastern Africa and moving inland combined with US forces coming up from southern Africa. However Italy was able to take Freetown on the western coast, threatening the US puppet state Liberia.

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With the offensive in Ukraine experiencing contrasting success in the south with failure in the north the German High Command has had to revise its strategy and make a plan on how to continue the offensive in June and beyond. The offensive in the north had successfully besieged Leningrad but Moscow still looked painfully too far away for the German army. On time will tell if the German Reich can defeat the Soviet bear.
 
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I'm not so sure I got it properly: you launched an offensive in northern Ukraine, reached Orel with your southern pincer but failed to link up from the north, thus closing the pocket?

If so, it seems like a sort of reenacting of "Zitadelle", just in 1942 instead of 1943...
 
You should be able to take Leningrad, but that won't win you the war, unfortunately...
I'm aiming to starve out the Red Army units there to avoid, IMO, unnecessary casualties. It's already running very low on supplies in July 1942 so I could take it before 1943.
seal the crimea
I can try to, the Soviets have concentrated their forces in the north around Moscow (I wish the vanilla Sov AI would do the same) so that does look like the easiest option. But it's really annoying I have to take Batum to besiege Sevastopol, surely the Sov AI can convoy in supplies using the Black Sea.
I'm not so sure I got it properly: you launched an offensive in northern Ukraine, reached Orel with your southern pincer but failed to link up from the north, thus closing the pocket?
Yep that's right, sorry I'll be more clear in my updates from now on.

If so, it seems like a sort of reenacting of "Zitadelle", just in 1942 instead of 1943...
The updates to come will reveal what happens...

Seems quite ominous, you must hold the initiative at all costs.
Indeed, especially because I'm not very good at being on the defensive for long :p
 
June 1942

Situation in the northern sector on Germany's eastern front
At first Army Group North aimed to make a general push towards Moscow, with an encirclement being very unlikely due to the large amount of the newly created Red Army units in Demyansk combined with the Marshy terrain. This was extremely costly from the beginning, with the Soviets winning the battles of attrition with little benefit to the Heer as no land could be taken. Soviet attacks on entrenched German units were successfully repulsed while nearly all the captured territory was lost just as quickly to the dismay of the German leadership.

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Situation in the central sector on Germany's eastern front
The offensive on the Ukraine and beyond initially looked promising with continuing success at Bryansk, Roslavl and Tula, albeit at high casualties. The High Command has demanded the return of the armoured car brigades for its top units as quality is clearly more important then quantity as it helped reduced casualties in 1941, with the brigades being put into production after these repeated high casualties. However the Soviets managed to trap the majority of offensive German units by launching a surprise mass attack on Sumy while the Germans were distracted attacking Tula. This created panic in the Wehrmacht which ordered a general retreat through Sumy back to the original 1942 lines,

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After Sumy was retaken, the German leadership clamped down on the panic and fear in the army, ordering it to go on the offensive once again with mixed success. On 19th June it looked as if the encirclement had been completed when looking on a map, but this masked the fact that German units had evacuated Bryansk and were on the retreat in Klintsy. By late-June it was clear to the Germans the offensive was untenable with a retreat being ordered from Kursk and all other territories west of the Dnieper.

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Situation in the air war
As has been since it started, the air war in the west remains in Germany's favour with the Allies taking much higher casualties then the Germans with little success in its strategic bombing campaign. The bombers of the Luftwaffe managed to see some action alongside Vichy French planes over Leningrad as they aimed to bomb the city into submission, before the Red Air force repulsed daylight attacks, with night-time attacks being ineffectual.
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The start of June looked promising for the Germans with the offensive in the Ukraine being pursued with several victories, however by the end of the month the Heer was on a full scale retreat with no clear end in sight to the war. However the German High Command does aim to once again go on the offensive in July once the army has regrouped and reorganised.
 
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Oh so close to victory! Press on, use the Luftwaffe, seems to be the one thing you have against them! If you succeed, the war will surely be over by 44.
 
Yep that's right, sorry I'll be more clear in my updates from now on.
No problem, as a matter of fact it was clear enough - I just wanted to be sure!

I'm aiming to starve out the Red Army units there [in Leningrad] to avoid, IMO, unnecessary casualties. It's already running very low on supplies in July 1942 so I could take it before 1943.
Hmm, are you sure about that? AFAIK, the TRM has put an impassable land connection between Leningrad and some other place (don't recall which one now), so in theory it should remain supplied even if completely encircled by your forces.


Oh so close to victory! Press on, use the Luftwaffe, seems to be the one thing you have against them! If you succeed, the war will surely be over by 44.

Are you joking? I see many Soviet divs everywhere - even if he manages to destroy some of them, the Soviets will probably just build some more.
Indeed he might be right, Cybvep - in fact, the war could well be over by '44... but not as he thinks ;)
 
Do you have strategic bombers to cripple Russian industry?
 
Oh so close to victory! Press on, use the Luftwaffe, seems to be the one thing you have against them! If you succeed, the war will surely be over by 44.
If the Luftwaffe is the one thing I have against them then I'm sure too lose as the Red Air Force has air superiority all over the front, I've only been able to use the tactical bombers on units that are out of range of their airfields.
I see many Soviet divs everywhere - even if he manages to destroy some of them, the Soviets will probably just build some more.
Indeed, I really am in it for the long haul.
Hmm, are you sure about that? AFAIK, the TRM has put an impassable land connection between Leningrad and some other place (don't recall which one now), so in theory it should remain supplied even if completely encircled by your forces.
And I have control of those two other places :) (the two places on the other side of the lake of Leningrad). The USSR got an event that gave Leningrad around 700 supplies to simulate the siege there.
Indeed he might be right, Cybvep - in fact, the war could well be over by '44... but not as he thinks ;)
:eek:hmy:
Do you have strategic bombers to cripple Russian industry?
Unfortunately I don't but that is a good idea should I try this a second or third time.
Like I said, if this offensive succeeds, I feel it will be over by 44.
Umm.... the offensive failed (see my latest update)
 
And I have control of those two other places :) (the two places on the other side of the lake of Leningrad). The USSR got an event that gave Leningrad around 700 supplies to simulate the siege there.
Ah, good! But I thought Leningrad were linked to Moscow or something like that (should check the csv file but I'm too lazy :D ). If you control the provinces which Leningrad is linked to then of course you'll be able to take the city with relative ease.

About the war ending in 1944 but not exactly with German fireworks ;) : I didn't want to sound too pessimistic but, you know, the TRM with "Bring 'em on!" is known for being a bit difficult...