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Another excellent update. where do you find these great old B&W photos? Fallschirmjagers on the rooftops!

No single place - what I so is write the update, insert the maps and then look for photos to "space" it out. (I try to have 4-5 photos to break up my otherwise interminable prose.)

I look at the relevant situation and then look for a suitable photo. So I might search for "WW2 mud artillery" or something similar. But that is just the start. Then I go "link to link" until I find something I like and can use.

Good show, but I see increasingly challenging fights on the horizon.

I've started a Soviet campaign in the HPP mod, and I dare say, they've managed to create a much more convincing barbarossa; the Great Officer Purge actually hurts Soviet capabilities, and until you get suitably whalloped by the Germans, even with tech parity, Soviet troops just can't fight the Germans on an even footing due a 50% org malus (shrinking eventually to 30, 20 and eventually 0 by '43 or '44). Therefore, the Germans do really well in the opening phase (less so with a human controlling the Soviets, they've lost 250k in a month, I've lost about 350k), and then slowly start struggling as Soviet organization improves, industry expands, manpower losses take their toll and various "Not One Step Backwards" esque bonuses make the Russians more and more dangerous as they lose ground. Eventually, generally the first winter in, the Germans just can't push any further, and start crumbling.

I don't foresee the same occurrence here; base HoI is much more favorable to the Germans and undervalues General Winter, but this may turn into a nasty meat grinder somewhere around the eastern Ukraine when you can't encircle as well, bring your air power to bear or use naval maneuvers.

It's a meat grinder already: unless I can reduce my losses I will be out of men sometime in 1942. (And that is with the minimal builds I am doing now). But there are signs that things are changing. With about 55MP per month I need to keep losses to about 1K per day to be able to rpelace the dead and still be able to build a few divisions a month.

Well, Soviets keep losing more officers than men? :p

I think they must be - officer ratio is directly related to length of battle and the trend seems to be shorter battles. But I expect them to recover during the winter, so Ineed to keep hurting them.

Wow, what happened in Riga? I think you removed the paras and the Soviets attacked before the German army AI could send in the Infantry to shore up the front? Doesn't look good :/

I have to agree with others: Leningrad would've been a better target. With that many units, you should've been able to capture it and the Soviets would not be able to shake you out of it, forcing them to take a large detour to reach the front further south.

I was annoyed that the last para wasn't ready to go with the first, and when it finally had enough org to load I just sent it. Without checking that there was another unit present.:eek:

Put it down to poor staff-work.

OK, I accept Leningrad may have been better, but I thought it would take too long to get there to releive the Marines (with the Baltic and Polen Nord Armies) and I wanted to surround some more Red Army divs in good trap terrain. What is done is done - personally I blame some minor staff officer in OKH.

smg42final.jpg

Those Wehrmacht soldiers posing for the photo-op must be the most unconvincingly disguised guys ever. That one single twig tugged at the front of the helmet is about as effective as having a smear of dirt on the nose. The lack of actual ammunition makes the picture even sillier. :)

See below. I still think it is staged - the uniforms are just too neat and the body language is saying "look at me".

Well, about the "camofulage" you´re right. But there ist ammo on the weapon. The MG 42 is fed from left, so the belt on the right side has to be empty. Look just under the barrel on the chest of soldier on the right. There you can see that he is feeding the gun with ammo. At least there are rounds in the belt, if life or just exercise is not visible. What I find interesting are the decorations of the Unteroffizier commanding the squad. He seems to have seen a little bit more action with the Grossdeutschland Regiment/Divsion (look at the cuff title and shoulder boards).

This is the problem with being left-handed: complete inability to comprehend left and right in photos (or directions. My wife has been reduced to pointing rather than saying "Turn Left/Right".) You are right and as soon as soon as I looked at the photo I realsied I had looked at it back to front.

As for the Grossdeutchland being in Berlin for publicity shots - obviously he has been wounded and is either recuperating or in Berlin to receive a reward. :rolleyes:

Long time lurker here. First, let me chime in on saying that this is by far the best AAR here, keep up the work Uriah, you're doing wonderfully!

But the other reason im posting here is to clarify this photo. I'm a long time reenactor of ww2 german fallschirmjager and heer forces, and I have a lot of experience with camo. Generally, if you're moving around a lot, the camo you start out with is not the camo you finish the day with. Thee guys probably had tons and tons of grass stuck in the rubber bands on their helmets, but during the course of operations that day, it basically all fell out. Judging by how messy and falling apart it is, I think this is the case here. Also, as the poster above pointed out, the unteroffizer is a member of grossdeutschland, as are the two enlisted men. The gun commander also has a iron cross first class, infy assualt, and a silver wound badge (3-4 wounds), meaning he has absolutely seen a LOT of combat. These guys are no amateurs. :p

Welcome VonMudra and thanks for the compliments.

As I said before, I still think this a staged shot. Camo does fall out when moving about, but the uniforms are just too nice and the spacing and body language scream out "professional photographer". But thank you for the info on the medals/insignia: I know that my readers know so much more than me! And keep it up - I am sure that many of the other readers enjoy the extra detail that such comments add. I know I do.
 
Looks good progress. Not least my reading of the HOI3 map is that those Soviets to the west of Kiev are now yours for the taking. A few in the province immediately to the west may escape, but any in the 2 provinces beyond will be trapped against the impassable provinces in the Pripyet region. If I were you, I'd think twice about lunging for Bryansk at this stage. It obviously offers the lure of a big pocket in Bielorussia, but the route from Kiyev is a supply trap, you may end up giving the Soviets chance to recover while you sort out the supply flows as a result of trying it.

... on the other hand, it seems that getting between the Western Front and Moscow is one way to trigger a major Soviet pull back in Bielorussia - seems to be in the new AI coding logic to protect the capital. You may or may not want this to happen.
 
But I have less than 650 MP and can't afford a mass expansion.
Yes, you can. It's called "mechanized infantry". Rotate (to upgrade) or add one division per infantry corps, and you'll be fine.

For an indirect fix without straining your industry, bring the land doctrine techs a year ahead of current date. All of them.
 
Uriah, there is a typo in your calculation of total losses. At some point you wrote 5,385 instead of 5,835 for your own losses in the period of the last posting and went on using the wrong number.

That said, still impressive going in Russia.
 
Midsummer and soon in Minsk.
And Kiev before July is an achievement. :p Maybe...

Only problem is he started in May and not the 22nd of June. So it took almost 2 months to get to Kiev.

The way I figure it is he will now make decen progress in the south and should readh Rostov around the end of September. I still think he gets halted near Smolensk and that zone becomes the focal point of the whole war. But his is just a guess that I made about 2 weeks after he started the fight in Russia.
 
I don't know, if he starts getting more overruns and a few good size pockets, things could swing much more in his favor. He is knocking Soviet org down for most all of the front.
 
Starting so early gives valuable time, there is still many months till the problems really starts.

Regarding the supply paths and their infrastructure upgrades, to find out where they are going to run you need to trace backward from the provinces the units are in toward Berlin, other sources are just bonuses.

One runs south toward Sevastopol and into the Caucasus, this needs only be upgraded to max if you need to attack Iran.
The one to Stalingrad runs in the middle between Kiev and Rostov not going to near either.
The Moscow one goes a little north of the Pripet.
The Leningrad and Polar one goes toward Pskov.

The exact parts are not obvious, trace back from Stalingrad to find the most important route, going from Stalingrad (in supply mode) to the province next to it with the shortest distance to the source, if more chose one and hope its the correct :)

Regarding landing in Leningrad, its too gamey to invade there as the AI is too stupid and therefore you shouldn't take advantage of it that is doesn't cover the objectives correctly :( this is a game breaker and should be taken advantage off.
 
Regarding the supply paths and their infrastructure upgrades, to find out where they are going to run you need to trace backward from the provinces the units are in toward Berlin, other sources are just bonuses.
Or, you could turn on the supply map mode. It's pretty clear when there are no major military redeployments.

Regarding landing in Leningrad, its too gamey to invade there as the AI is too stupid and therefore you shouldn't take advantage of it that is doesn't cover the objectives correctly :( this is a game breaker and should be taken advantage off.
Heh, good point. I forgot that I'm used to playing against an MP-supercharged USSR which does put defensive units in and around Leningrad.
 
Rank and File
A Clerk’s War​


Saturday 28th to Monday 30th June 1941 (Part I)

OKH has been subject to a few curt messages from Erwin Rommel at Polen Army Sud. The essence of his messages (at times the general can get quite personal in his assessment of OKH directives) is that if he is expected to wheel Polen Army Sud to the north of the Pripyat Marshes, then he will need some room. At the moment the area is choked with von Manstein’s divisions moving on Vitebsk, leaving little room for Rommel’s troops. There is merit in Rommel’s argument, and it has been decided that Polen Army Nord should veer further north, at least for the moment. Its new objective is Kholm, a tiny town in the Novgorod Oblast that unfortunately for it has a major airbase nearby.

Saturday was a day of air battles. There was fighting on the ground of course, but most of it was a continuation of existing battles, with little in the way of new operations. Overnight Keppler reported he had chased the cavalry out of Malkowicze but given the casualty figures and our knowledge of the terrain it seems more likely that the enemy horses simply moved faster in the mud than did the vehicles of 1st leichte Panzer.

wiking251final.jpg


Keppler’s vehicles could not possibly move as quickly as a Russian horse

The first sign that the VVS was back in business came before dawn, out in the Gulf of Finland. Patrols sent out by the “Graf Zepppelin” (its Seetakt-Freya system working better than expected) ran into strong fighter groups from Leningrad and soon a major battle was raging across the sea north of our bridgehead at Narva. In one way it was a victory for us, as no enemy bombers were sighted near the two fleets, but otherwise it was not good: the land based fighters of 2nd and 24th IAD were more than a match for the weary pilots of 1st and 2nd Trägertruppe.

28navaligffinal.jpg


Air Battle of the Gulf of Finland

Also before daybreak there was another air battle, but this was a clear success for the Luftwaffe. We became aware of Russian bombers assembling over Zapadnaja Dvina, many kilometres to the rear of the front lines. Acting quickly, Waber and his three geschwader streaked through the night and caught the DB-3s before they could even begin their mission. We will never where they intended to go, but surely many lives were saved by this early interception. (The Luftwaffe claims that the enemy concentration was detected by radar, but there is some scepticism here. There is a strong suspicion that anti-communist elements are feeding information to Frick’s espionage networks.)

28airzapafinal.jpg


Air Battle of Zapadnaja Dvina

Less clear cut but later seen to be significant was Klepke’s interception of Vershinin’s two fighter brigades over Svedasai. The weakened 1st Jagdfliegerkorps could not deliver a crushing blow, but it did drive off the enemy fighters. Because of this, Vershinin was not able to escort Thor’s bombers when they made their bombing run over Aizkraukle. As a result, Waber could join with Klepke and make sure than not one of the DB-3s was able to hit 68.Infanterie as it maintained its attack on Jekabpils. (As a result of the weakness of 1st Jagdfliegerkorps. 8th Jagdfleigerkorps has been attached to the Baltic Army to provide air cover. It is currently based at Memel)

28airaizkrauklefinal.jpg


Air Aizkraukle

General Barkhausen had a quick win in Wilejka: Popov’s men were half starved already and soon had had enough. Kalmukoff also won the battle for Molodeczno, but it was a much more expensive victory. Even with 3rd Panzer to help, 8.ID suffered from the armour of 3 Tankovaya and the sheer firepower that Popov’s 72,000 men could put up.

28wilejkafinal.jpg


Battle of Wilejka

Kesselring is gambling that the heavy guns and armour of 1st and 2nd schwere will allow him to retake Sigulda. He is still in disgrace for allowing the province to be lost, though it was not entirely his fault. With 1st Sturm-Marinekorps taken from him, and the need to keep pressure on the Latvian pocket, he was short of men to garrison Sigulda. That said, leaving it completely vacant was perhaps a bit much. He has been told that any attack involving heavy casualties would not help his cause in Berlin, so this must be his solution: drive his schwere panzers to the river bank and shoot anything that moves until it is clear enough to send the infantry. There is only a single infantry division so perhaps it may work.

28siguldafinal.jpg


Battle of Sigulda

With morning came the bad news that the huge mass of Russians heading east through Mahrovka has proved too much for the lead elements of the Balkans Army to stop. Meises’s men could not resist the pressure of more than 90,000 men desperate to escape what Stavka can now see is a trap. The tanks of 3rd Panzer were unable to deploy effectively and after nearly a thousand dead we have withdrawn. Could this be a lost opportunity? There one piece of good news overnight: Friedrich-Willich and 2nd Gebirgsjäger Division did break the Soviet infantry before 18 Tankovaya could reach them. Mikolayvik is ours and we are drawing closer to the gate to the Crimea.

With a lot of his aircraft missing, presumed destroyed, von Greim has been called on to protect the fleets from air attack again. His Trägertruppen still consist of more than 50% He 51 fighters (and He 123 dive-bombers) being on a very low priority for upgrades. (This is what happens to you if you fall into the gap: not really Kriegsmarine and not really Luftwaffe. Nobody goes in to bat for you). They were enough, however, to chase off Polynin’s slower moving MBR-2 naval bombers. There are not many aircraft that the 330kmh He 51 can outrun, so our pilots enjoyed themselves for once, enjoying superiority in numbers and speed for once. Needless to say the anti-air guns on our ships were not called upon.

29navaligffinal.jpg


Air Battle of the Inner Gulf of Finland

mbr22fnal.jpg


A MBR-2 naval bomber heads for our fleet: for once our carrier based He 51 fighters can catch the enemy

With all this action at sea, there are some concerns that the Red Fleet may make a sortie from Leningrad. Although we have two fleets in the area, the enemy may elude them both and strike at our supply lines to Narva and Tallinn. In addition, many of our bomber units are showing signs of wear and tear, and a lack of front line airbases is restricting the number of missions the Luftwaffe can fly per day. To solve two problems at once Geisler and Stumpff have been ordered to bring their Seefliegerkorps north to join the Baltic Army. For the moment 1st Seefliegerkorps has been assigned to Narva and 2nd to Riga but it will be up to General Kesselring to sort out where they end up.

1fw200cfinal.jpg


A “Condor” sits at its new base, surrounded by the forests of Estonia

To avoid our fighters Golovanov attempted a rare (for the VVS) night bombing mission. They may soon be far more common, if his success is anything to go by. 111.ID lost 182 men and von Bock was terse in his message to the local Luftwaffe co-ordinators. He cannot be expected to capture Demantove if the Red Airforce can hit his rear areas without interference. His blast must have had an effect. Later that morning Golovanov tried to repeat his success. Smart enough not to return to Kremenchuts’ka, he took 30 and 33 BAD to Mala Vyska to try to drive off Heißmeyer’s 162.ID and let the defenders of Kirovohrad turn north to block the flank attack from 2nd Gebirgsjäger Division. The thought was good, but Fisser was too quick for him, meeting him with nearly 600 interceptors and foiling any thought of ground attacks. (Unfortunately our victory in the air did not help Heißmeyer’s men: they could take no more and the attack on Kirovohrad was called off).

29airmalavyskafinal.jpg


Air Battle of Mal Vyska

345.Infanterie may have been exhausted from their efforts in the morass of Makhrovka, but Crüwell’s panzertruppen are not prepared to let the Russians escape, not before one last attempt to shut the door on them. With 9,621 men available for action, 3rd PzD has surged into the swamps, determined to throw back the 64,000 Soviets who remain. Early information is promising.

29makhovkafinal.jpg


2nd Battle of Makhrovka

No-one can accuse von Kluge of not trying his best to help his neighbouring commander. With Guderian being forced to commit more and more men to his left flank to bottle up the Russians in the Pripyat, Österriech Army is extending itself to the north. 3rd Gebirgsjäger is already fighting for Chornabai, harrying the Russians as we race for the Dniepr. We seem to at last be inflicting significant casualties: although Brand faces 5 divisions, intelligence suggest just 33,000 men are under the command of General Sinilov. Either four of the five divisions have only three brigades or they have suffered severe losses that have not been replenished. Brand is not worried, as deserters tell us that none of the enemy units have any reserves of ammunition or food. They cannot expect to hold for more than a day.

29chornabaifinal.jpg


Battle of Chornobai
'

General Wünnenberg is getting a reputation for quick and cheap victories (after his horrible baptism of fire at Kaunas). He took 9th PzD into the gloomy forest trails of Utena and soon had two Soviet infantry divisions on the run. If only all battles were as easy as this.

29utenafinal.jpg


Battle of Utena

End of Part I
 
Midsummer and soon in Minsk.
And Kiev before July is an achievement. :p Maybe...

I have to hold on to Kyiv :eek:: and Minsk is surrounded by swamps.

Looks good progress. Not least my reading of the HOI3 map is that those Soviets to the west of Kiev are now yours for the taking. A few in the province immediately to the west may escape, but any in the 2 provinces beyond will be trapped against the impassable provinces in the Pripyet region. If I were you, I'd think twice about lunging for Bryansk at this stage. It obviously offers the lure of a big pocket in Bielorussia, but the route from Kiyev is a supply trap, you may end up giving the Soviets chance to recover while you sort out the supply flows as a result of trying it.

... on the other hand, it seems that getting between the Western Front and Moscow is one way to trigger a major Soviet pull back in Bielorussia - seems to be in the new AI coding logic to protect the capital. You may or may not want this to happen.

Just because I set somewhere as an objective does not necessarily mean that I will try to capture it. Sometimes I set a place to pewrsuade my commanders to move one way or the other. Remember I am not moving individual divsions so it can get a bit messy.

Without going into detail, in July supply starts to be a problem

Yes, you can. It's called "mechanized infantry". Rotate (to upgrade) or add one division per infantry corps, and you'll be fine.

For an indirect fix without straining your industry, bring the land doctrine techs a year ahead of current date. All of them.

All land are at 1942 level now except for mech offensive which is being researced. And I am building a 4 mech divs and will probably upgrade a few more during winter.

Uriah, there is a typo in your calculation of total losses. At some point you wrote 5,385 instead of 5,835 for your own losses in the period of the last posting and went on using the wrong number.

That said, still impressive going in Russia.

There is a typo, but as far as I can see I didn't use that figure in my calcs: it just appears at one point:

Total East Front Casualties for the period 23rd to 27th June 1941

German: 5,835 = Nil = 5,385
Russian: 6,159 + 8,782 = 14,941


but as you see it is not repeated

Good pick-up though. I am glad someone is checking - I have twice foudn errors myself as I do a rudimentary double check each time.



Only problem is he started in May and not the 22nd of June. So it took almost 2 months to get to Kiev.

The way I figure it is he will now make decen progress in the south and should readh Rostov around the end of September. I still think he gets halted near Smolensk and that zone becomes the focal point of the whole war. But his is just a guess that I made about 2 weeks after he started the fight in Russia.

Things get a bit tough in the next two weeks, but a lot of progress is made;)

I don't know, if he starts getting more overruns and a few good size pockets, things could swing much more in his favor. He is knocking Soviet org down for most all of the front.

I am killing their oprg, but they still manage to find a few units to hold me up.

Starting so early gives valuable time, there is still many months till the problems really starts.

Regarding the supply paths and their infrastructure upgrades, to find out where they are going to run you need to trace backward from the provinces the units are in toward Berlin, other sources are just bonuses.

One runs south toward Sevastopol and into the Caucasus, this needs only be upgraded to max if you need to attack Iran.
The one to Stalingrad runs in the middle between Kiev and Rostov not going to near either.
The Moscow one goes a little north of the Pripet.
The Leningrad and Polar one goes toward Pskov.

The exact parts are not obvious, trace back from Stalingrad to find the most important route, going from Stalingrad (in supply mode) to the province next to it with the shortest distance to the source, if more chose one and hope its the correct :)

Regarding landing in Leningrad, its too gamey to invade there as the AI is too stupid and therefore you shouldn't take advantage of it that is doesn't cover the objectives correctly :( this is a game breaker and should be taken advantage off.

I will be lookig at my summer construction in a few weeks: at that time I'll decide where my scarce resources will be spent. But supply is a real bug bear already. My stockpiles are plummetting just to fill up all the new provinces I have captured.

And I feel you are right about Leningrad: too gamey for me.

Or, you could turn on the supply map mode. It's pretty clear when there are no major military redeployments.


Heh, good point. I forgot that I'm used to playing against an MP-supercharged USSR which does put defensive units in and around Leningrad.

I play with supply map on about 1/3 of the time, so it is foremost in my mind. (About 1/3 terrain, 1/3 weather).
 
All land are at 1942 level now except for mech offensive which is being researced.
Then you're golden. I'd suggest doing the same to the supply throughput techs, but I'm guessing that's already happened. But just in case: Put two teams on those techs, and don't change that research, ever.

I play with supply map on about 1/3 of the time, so it is foremost in my mind. (About 1/3 terrain, 1/3 weather).
Well, building IC in some east core provinces would help, but it's a long-term thing. So is building rails. I know that one can supply a much bigger Barbarossa reasonably well (with acceptable shortages), so either you're being pessimistic, or you just need to hold out until the infrastructure gets there.

Since you have a tech advantage, setting your commanders to "defend" inside enemy territory might be a good idea. This will make them move stuff less often (possibly less supply strain due to strategic redeployment), and conserve manpower by picking easier battles. It will also show you where the Russians are in bad shape, because well-defended parts of the front will see much fewer German attacks.
 
Rank and File
A Clerk’s War​

Saturday 28th to Monday 30th June 1941 (Part II)


The end of the month and halfway through 1941. Time flies when you are busy, but luckily today the Eastern Front was a bit quieter than normal. That was good thing, because as well as preparing my monthly report on U-boat activity, I also had to review our Axis allies’ military updates.

Only three ground attacks all day.. A quiet day by any standards.

The first attack was in the north, where General Agricola (who gained a lot of experience in combat in 1939/40) commanded his first major battle. It looks as though he will start his career in the East on a positive note, as already there are signs that the enemy motorised troops have had enough.

29postawyfinal.jpg


Battle of Postawy

antonowkafinal.jpg


A Russian truck burns as the veterans of Agricola’s 72.Infanterie smash into 205 Motorizavannaya

The next attack was also by Polen Army North, as von Manstein increased his stranglehold on Minsk. General Nehring and 1st PzD have been served up a defenceless Russian infantry division that should not even cause them to change gears. 51 Strelkovaya, already defeated by Barckhausen two days ago, has been too slow to evacuate the area. The heavy forests of Wilejka may allow a few more to escape, but many more will be killed or captured.

30wilejkafinal.jpg


Battle of Wilejka

The third and last battle of the day was ordered by General Rommel. Although he is obviously concentrating on the capture of the Russian divisions in the Pripyat Marshes, he has not forgotten the importance of the securing bridgeheads across the Dniepr. Herzog’s motorised infantry are already in combat in Vodoskhovyshche. Fighting is tough, with the Soviets having two fairly well equipped and supplied divisions available. Herzog knows he must break them quickly to ensure that Stavka cannot fortify the far side of the river. With little chance of further ground troops, he is hoping for clear weather and the Luftwaffe to help him.

30vodoskfinal.jpg


Battle of Vodoskhovyshche


Finalised Battles for the period 28th to 30th June 1941

Malkowicze: 12/10,000: 44/13,385
Molodeczno: 1,165/21,992: 430/72,483
Makhrovka: 927/19,984: 714/91,475
Mykolayivk: 653/9,830: 730/18,998
Kirovohrad: 1,757/19,939: 1,285/17,006

Total Battle Casualties for the period 28th to 30th June 1941

German: 4,514
Russian: 3,203

Prior Battle Casualties

German: 175,931
Russian: 184,244

Total Battle Casualties to date

German: 4,514 + 175,931 = 180,445
Russian: 3,203 + 184,244 = 187,447


Leningrad Area

leningradfinal.jpg



Baltic Army

balticfinalend.jpg

Sigulda: A few Russians have been encircled, but nothing serious. (20% complete)


Polen Army Nord (note lack of supply to HQ)

polennordfinalend.jpg

Postawy: No change (76% complete)

Jekabpils: Feige’s attack from Birzai is welcome, but although 126 Strelkovaya is weakening, it should hold long enough to allow 7 Tankovaya to reach the front line. (31% complete)

Wilejka: Nehring has escalated his attack to a full scale assault. (96% complete)


Polen Army Sud

polensudfinalend.jpg

Stolpce: 19 and 75.ID have arrived at the fighting, and 88.ID is moving in from the north. 88 Strelkovaya has been recalled to the front to strengthen the defence. (73% complete)


Balkans Army (note lack of supply to HQ)

balkansfinalend.jpg

Bobrovytsa: 15 Motorizavannaya has reached the front but has not slowed our advance (72% complete)

Vodoskhovyshche: No change (59% complete)

Makhrovka: Marshall Budennij has taken over the defence and has two more divisions in reserve, but Crüwell is well in command. (77% complete)

Domantove: No change (40% complete)

Polis’ke: Although Gagen has lost another division (21 Gorno Kavaleriy) Cochenhausen’s infantry are dead on their feet and losses are mounting. (13 % complete)

Yahotyn: No change (19% complete)


Österreich Army

ostfinalend.jpg

Cherkasy: 40 Kavaleriy has been replaced by 130 Strelkovaya, which has caused Heunert some problems. He has overcome these and now has encircled some of Leonov’s men. 62% complete)

Chornobai: 14 Kavaleriy could take no more and has left, but 144 and 308 Strelkovaya have arrived and are in reserve. Brand has made a sudden breakthrough and prospects are looking good (66% complete)


East Front at30th June 1941

eastfrontfinal.jpg


Axis Military Situation Maps (as at 30th June 1941)

Greece: General Bitossi is has assembled a large force north-west of Athina. Could the Regio Esercito be about to launch the much-awaited assault on the Greek capital?

greecefinal.jpg



greeksfinal.jpg


The Greek Army has taken advantage of the break in the fighting to move equipment into commanding positions around the capital.


Egypt: Apparently crossing the Suez Canal was too much of a strain on the Italian supply train. British armour has chased the forward units back to the western bank, but the Italian hold on Egypt seems secure.

egyptfoinal.jpg


suezfinal.jpg


Fighting near the canal has been fierce

China: The Kuomintang has been unable to form another line and continues to fall back in the face of the surging Imperial Japanese Army.

chinafinal.jpg


indochinafinal.jpg


Indo-China: The Japanese must have decided to abandon the troops in Indo-China. Although there are plenty of men and equipment, they have not received any supply for some time (is it all going to China?). If there is not a change in policy soon then the Army of Indo-China will be forced to surrender.

marinesprotectedvickers.jpg


In the cities and towns of Indo-China, the Japanese are digging in. VickersCrossely armoured cars form an improvised strong point for these IJA Marines.


Unterseebootsflotte Activity Report

36 British cargo ships and 4 escorts were sunk during June, as well as 1 Irish merchantman and two escorts.

subsinkfinal.jpg


A British ship hit by a torpedo


Bombing Summary for period 28th June to 30th June 1941

Luftwaffe

Svedesai: Löhr with 2nd Schlachtfliegerkorps: 231, 151, 216, 182 (780)
Svedesai: Weise with 5th Schlachtfliegerkorps: 112, 150, 166 (428)
Molodeczino: Kitzinger with 3rd Kampffliegerkorps: 381, 413 (794)
Stolpce: Hoffman von Waldau with 4th Schlachtfliegerkorps: 180, 214 (394)
Stolpce: Weise with 5th Schlachtfliegerkorps: 176, 193, 159, 64 (592)
Polis’ke: Schwartzkopff with 2nd Kampffliegerkorps: 305 (305)
Postawy: Kitzinger with 3rd Kampffleigerkorps: 276, 321, 265 (862)

20090710u882final.jpg


Not all our aircraft returned: these Russians are inspecting the wreck of a Ju 88.​

VVS

Kremenchuts’ka: Golovanov with 30th and 33rd BAD: 182 (182)

Total Bombing Casualties for the period 28th to 30th June 1941

German: 182
Russian: 4,155

Prior Bombing Casualties

German: 1,635
Russian: 121,482

Total Bombing Casualties to date

German: 182 + 1,635 = 1,817
Russian: 4,155 + 121,482 = 125,637


Total East Front Casualties for the period 28th to 30th June 1941

German: 4,514 + 182 = 4,696
Russian: 3,203 + 4,155 = 7,358

Prior East Front Casualties

German: 177,566
Russian: 305,726

Total East Front Casualties to date

German: 4,696 + 177,566 = 182,262
Russian: 7,358 + 305,726 = 313,084
 
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Then you're golden. I'd suggest doing the same to the supply throughput techs, but I'm guessing that's already happened. But just in case: Put two teams on those techs, and don't change that research, ever.


Well, building IC in some east core provinces would help, but it's a long-term thing. So is building rails. I know that one can supply a much bigger Barbarossa reasonably well (with acceptable shortages), so either you're being pessimistic, or you just need to hold out until the infrastructure gets there.

Since you have a tech advantage, setting your commanders to "defend" inside enemy territory might be a good idea. This will make them move stuff less often (possibly less supply strain due to strategic redeployment), and conserve manpower by picking easier battles. It will also show you where the Russians are in bad shape, because well-defended parts of the front will see much fewer German attacks.

I have four factories about to be completed in the east - won't do much but every little helps. Reluctant to set anyone to "defend" as I need to keep as much pressure as posssible while the Red Army is disorganised.

Supply techs are about a year ahead but not researching currently as would get the severe penalty (3 year).

Enemy has supply problems?
Luftwaffe doing it's job! :eek:

Well, I 'm not sure the Russians have supply issues generally (as in low stockpiles) - my single spy in Russia says they have 75K supply and 107K fuel.

What they do have is a problem getting supply to the front. I have found a few Soviet units that are still nearly totally disorg a week after last being in a battle. Obviously some of this is because they are always on the move, but I think a lot is to do with the infra from Moiscow just can't handle the throughput required.

When I saw this in the post, I had a good laugh. The Luftwaffe is doing a hell of a job if the USSR is having supply problems.

See above: I wish the Luftwaffe was doing more but lack of forward airbases is hurting in two ways. The obvious way is that many of my aircraft are out of range or can only manange one or two missions per day. The second which is becoming apparent is that my bombers are getting degraded with AA and fighter casualties, meaning that some are being kept back for weeks to recover.

Luftwaffe and heavy mechanization is doing its work on your supplies, keep building infra and make sea supply to the north.

That's the plan: I have 75+ infrastructure under construction, with 8 completed on 17/7(together with my 4 eastern IC). I am also doing a few small things eg New units are being deployed in Berlin to fiill up with supply and then railed east.

During the winter I have decided that as my MP is gettting critical (down to about 600) I will upgrade some INF to MOT and a lot of MOT to MECH.
 
Good going, yet again. Surprising that the Italians are actually doing something useful in Africa (although they seem to prefer to conquer with HQs insteaf of conventional troops) while still being involved in a staring contest in Athens. Anything you could possibly do about the Japanese inability to supply their Indo-Chinese front?
 
Reluctant to set anyone to "defend" as I need to keep as much pressure as posssible while the Red Army is disorganised.
That's the thing: If the enemy is disorganized or just plain weak, a "defending" army moves as fast as one set to "attack". As an example, in my current game a "defending" German army crossed the Maginot Line.

Supply techs are about a year ahead but not researching currently as would get the severe penalty (3 year).
Ask yourself this: Would you like to have shiny new toys faster, or would you like your front to not collapse from lack of supply? ;) (If it's less than a year per every two years of tech ahead of time, I'd seriously go for it. Once you outrun your supply, really bad things start happening.)
 
Indochina looks pretty disastrous. :D :D
Do you have any crowded areas on your side of Eastfront? Where there would be force enough to make a potential bigger advance?