15. Operation Barbarossa, part 1
16th May - 26th May
16th May 1941 at 4:00 it was decided, it's time for attack the Soviet union, all forces are once again fully mobilized and ready to crush the Bolsheviks.
The southmost breakthrough will be achieved via province of Bilgoraj as it's defended only lone infantry division.
Additional attacks have been launched on poorly defended provinces to put pressure on the forming pocket. Hopefully Georgij Zhukov will be also trapped in the pocket.
Assault on Riga has begun and it was discovered that Riga is left completely undefended so German marines quickly took possession of it.
During amphibious invasion in Riga 2nd Kriegsmarineflottille and transports have been attacked by Soviet fleet, this minor naval clash has resulted in Soviet battleship Parizhskaya Komunna and light cruiser Krasnaya Ukraina being sunk.
Assault of another crucial point has begun, from the start of war bombs have been falling on Novgorodek and its defenders were quickly overrun. River crossing has been secured and airfield has been denied from Soviets.
North pocket has been closed and series of attack have started to shatter it. My estimate is that 9 or 10 divisions have been trapped there.
Finland offer an alliance which I agree to. However they're still aligning towards allies and Soviets are influencing them so I can't invite them to faction.
Another naval battle with outdated Soviet fleet. During encounter German heavy cruiser KMS Seydlitz has been sunk while Soviets lost their pride of the fleet battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya alongside with another battleship Marat and one transport and destroyer flotilla.
Progress which German panzer made starts to being visible.
Germans have total air superiority and all bombers are flying continuously to deliver steady supply of bombs to Soviets.
First two Soviet divisions are trapped in a minor encirclement.
And first two Soviets divisions are destroyed...
Local superiority of German forces is visible in the South so attacks have been launched on an additional axis (yellow arrow) in order to create another pocket.
Stanislavov is last province which connects south pocket and is already attacked by Hungarians.
Central pocket is closed. Soviets immediately launch counterattacks which are successfully repelled.
Stanislavov falls into hands of Germans and southern pocket is created while Romanians are doing surprisingly well against Soviets.
State of central pocket. Another Soviet division behind the pocket is going to be encircled and trampled by German panzers.
Northern pocket is about to fall.
That causality ratios are really satisfying but some of them are looking ridiculous. 95 dead Germans versus over 2800 Soviet defenders dead?
This update ends with three pockets being created and ready to be shattered. Apart from counterattacks after central pocket has been created Soviet did not show initiative and all momentum was in German hands.
In my estimation around 10 divisions are trapped in north pocket, 30-40 in central one and 20-25 in southern pocket. Soviets trapped in central pocket represent all defenders of that part of front.