01/01/1941 – 17/03/1941: Unternehmen Barbarossa
The Axis countries had assembled a mighty host for the largest invasion in history ever seen. Italy took command of the Axis minors to form the South front, and German troops remained under the command of OKO to form the North and Central Fronts.
Before the launch of Operation Barbarossa, German intelligence had been diligently ferreting out Soviet plans and unit compositions. This was done via a mixture of dissident Soviet citizens and the establishment of a specialised radio installation in the port of Königsberg that could intercept signals from the Eastern European sectors of the Soviet Union, covering most of the Ukraine and Baltics.
Reports had painted a clear picture of the Soviet defense, and unfortunately for OKO it looked to be a well-entrenched, rational line of battle drawn out by STAVKA. The riverlines stretching from the Dnieper basin up to the city of Riga were covered by dug-in infantry, and the road to Moscow through the cities of Vitsyebsk and Smolensk crawling with Soviet tank divisons. The center and south were more lightly held, but tank reserves had been spotted in the area with numerous infantry divisions still defending the the rivers.
In response, OKO developed their plans for attack. With the heavily forested terrain in the former Baltic states not defended, it presented a perfect opportunity to break into tank country north of the Pripet Marshes while coordinating an advance by the Italians south.
Upon reaching 3am on 1st January 1941, the assembled host launched themselves across the border, and facing no resistance rapidly advanced into the Soviet Union. Heeresgruppe A was ordered to advance together with the 5. Panzerarmee towards the Smolensk gap. With vast plains commanding the approach to the cities, OKO was sure the mechanized panzers would be able to outmanoeuvre the slow moving infantry divisions entrenched in open fields thanks to the lack of natural obstacles, and force their way across the river once resistance had been destroyed.
1. Armee was ordered together with 2. Armee to provide flank protection towards the north, as it was deemed that it would take too much effort to secure a beachhead across near Riga for an advance towards Leningrad. Therefore, only light mechanised forces would be present in this area.
XVII and XVIII Armeekorps were also shipped up north to reinforce the Swedish army, as OKO had not failed to notice the number of Finish troops present on the border after they were puppeted by the Soviet Union in the abortive Winter war.
However, within a few weeks, while great progress had been made, the logistic train behind Heeresgrupe A started to show signs of strain and the demands of the mechanized forces meant all strategic fuel reserves had to be sent to the front… This did not bode well for the future advance.
OKO investigated, and realised that the severe mud and partially frozen ground this early in the year made the supply trucks slow to a crawl, and many roads impassable. This weather is not likely to let up till April, but it is impossible to turn back the Wehrmacht, so the only way is forward, even as contact was made with the entrenched troops near Smolensk.
In spite of that, German advance had been rapid and decisive to this point. While the infantry and motorised elements were still moving up in support, the lack of resistance allowed the deep penetration of the panzer spearheads to begin probing the enemy lines. Even fully dug-in with armor reserves, the plains allowed the rapid flanking of enemy positions once their lines had been broken, and the Soviet infantry were on the verge of breaking along the initial defensive lines. Field Marshal Rommel, in charge of OKO after his successful African campaign, signed an order authorising operational initiative for the forward panzer elements to keep up their relentless advance towards Smolensk as OKO felt the Soviet’s inferior weapons would never stop Germans.
In days, the battle for Kokhanovo had been won with terrible losses to the Soviets, and the panzers moved towards the second defensive line.
OKO was impressed with the progress thus far, and decided to commit reserves into attempting river crossings in an attempt to flank the main Soviet strength gathered at Vitsyebsk and Smolensk. Two attacks were ordered, one at Chachersk, and the other at Chavusy. Both would allow for a pincer movement towards the north and south without the dug in Soviet infantry to delay the fast moving Panzer divisions, but the dug in troops along the far riverbanks proved more of a challenge than surrounding infantry on plains.
The advance towards Smolensk and Moscow in the North did not falter in spite of reserves being drawn off, as the battles for Orsha and Bogushevsk were reinforced by fresh troops arriving from the rear. 11. Panzercorps leading the charge into Orsha reported that number of Soviet troops that were hastily rushed into the battle did not have anywhere to regroup when attacked, and were taking numerous losses just from the chaos and disorganisation.
In another week, the Soviets had begun to falter. The battle for Orsha was won, and cleared a path to increase pressure on Vitsyebsk, which proved challenging for even the well-equipped mechanized infantry to clear in house to house fighting.
In spite of the Soviets committing most of their armor reserves to the center, German engineers had skilfully constructed crossing for the dismounted mechanised infantry to cross the rivers, and upon securing a beach head begun transporting more material and panzers in. The defenders of Chachersk were forced back, opening a path to surround and attack Homel.
OKO had also been notified of a daring Italian amphibious landing near Sevastapol to isolate the famed port, and were rapidly advancing out of the Crimea to pincer the Soviet armies behind the southernmost tributaries of the Dnieper River.
An assault was then launched on Krasnyy again led by the panzer divisions of the 11. Panzerkorps. Though they had taken losses from the initial charge, OKO was determined to keep up the momentum and take advantage of the disorganized troops disrupting carefully prepared defensive lines as they were caught by the renewed attack.
By the night of 11th Feburary, another crossing was secured in Chavusy, and a rapid pincer movement was launched at isolating the Soviet troops left in the center, as the reserve panzers struck in all directions. Soviets losses were terrible with nearly a quarter of participating troops decimated by the unstoppable german panzers.
In days, two new breakthroughs had been identified. By circling around south of Smolensk, the rapidly advancing panzers could attempt to encircle the remainder of the forces to the south, and cut off the north troops from supplies. The south breakthrough from Homel would allow the establishment of a blocking force to prevent reinforcements from reaching the center, and encircle the troops in a pincer movement.
Events progressed rapidly from this point on. By disrupting the communication lines between the forward divisions, orders to retreat were not received, and the entire Soviet center either pushed northwards, or encircled and destroyed while panzer divisions raced towards Moscow to establish a siege. Huge number of divisions were caught in a pincer at Smolensk and east of Homel as the rapidly moving motorized infantry surrounded them.
The situation was equally grim for the Soviets in the south. The Italian landing at Mariupol had succeeded in encircling the entire infantry army defending near the Crimea, and the pocket was about to be formed.
The chase was on. German panzers were ordered to advance rapidly in all directions towards key objectives with no regard for flank security. The Soviet army was beaten back too far to pose a serious threat, and with the launch of an attack on the isolated Moscow, the Allies and Soviets conceded the game!
End of game, Soviet Front
End of game, India
In all, despite some hiccups with the start of the war that gave Germany an extreme advantage (Fall of France and England very quickly), the Allies played a good game especially in the Pacific where the IJN has been severely mauled by the USN, and the Commonwealth defending Asia far longer than expected by the Axis. Singapore in particular withstood nearly a year of continual siege, and it was only the lack of supplies after the fall of London that caused them to surrender gloriously.
I also think that the current houserules governing war entry are reasonably good, and while we’re still balancing the sub mod, this at least went smoothly without any early conceding.
With this, we conclude Panzer Chaos and this attendant AAR, and in honouring how everyone is still learning, we invite everyone to join us for our next game, HPP for Dummies!