Sudden Carnage
Chapter XXXIII - Operation Barbarossa part II
Countries played by humans: UK, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan.
Recap: Operation Barbarossa has been ongoing for a month (August 15th) and Germany is gaining ground. The fronts are still quite short and Germany can utilize its fewer but stronger forces in an optimal way. Still, the Soviet forces are fighting in good terrain and Wehrmacht’s victories come with a painful price in German lives.
September 23rd-29th, 1940
During an intense week in the end of September the slow going around Minsk in the north finally met some distinct progress. The Red Army failed to stop German spearheads shooting in around the big city - and as the top of the sack was narrowing, they failed to retreat fast enough. First, the city of Minsk fell and a few days later, a pocket containing an entire Soviet Army was created. It was still somewhat week at some frontlines but the majority of the Red Army was under attack which denied them any initiative. Stavka had quite few alternatives as long as Wehrmacht managed to keep the powerful momentum up.
This could very well be the pocket that doomed Soviet’s whole long term possibility to have the slightest chance to win this war.
October 2nd, 1940
The Red Army failed to link up to the pocket and instead, Wehrmacht succeeded to widen the secure area around the Minsk pocket. 12 Soviet divisions were already caught and 2 more divisions had been forced to retreat to the pocket. 14 captured divisions. That was a mighty price.
The German leadership designated quite few units to crush the pocket and instead made sure to secure the surrounding lands. Dive bombers savagely attack the horde of tired Russian soldiers who were too many to be able to hide successfully which made them easy target. It would take some time to crush the pocket this way, but with so few troops involved in the bloody work, Germany had no rush. They had plenty of troops available to continue the push.
Still, they took this chance to slow down a little, shuffle around divisions, reorganize and draw new plans.
October 2nd, 1940
In the far south, Wehrmacht and Italy pushed deep into Soviet and managed to capture yet another unit. A division of elite mountain infantry had been surrounded and would soon give up with no hope for reinforcements of any kind. The Red Army had very little available to stop the panzer spearhead. Several of the Russian forts (some as strong as lvl 3) was captured without battle but in some, the Red Army managed to dig in and prepare.
And it would soon become even harder for The Red Army. The new mechanized army corps was ready for service and on their way.
Authors note: I think this was a huge miscalculation by Daphne (Soviet). He must have spent a fortune of ICs to build all those forts in this area. Had he, as he surely must have planned, retreated to them in good order, they had been damn hard for me to strike through. They were all build along defensible grounds too. As it turned out, I took half of them without battle and in the rest of them he stands to weak to really be able to utilize them. Had these ICs been turned into infnatry instead, it would have been quite many divisions. Anyway - he couldn't know it would turn out this way - but it shows how dangerous it is to rely on fixed defensive points in mobile warfare.
October 4th, 1940
The fight for the Italian mainland was over. The Italian defense had held and they managed to protect the harbor with their damaged navy. Instead, the Brits got supply problems and were dislodge from the shores but safely picked up by awaiting transports. They would need some time to lick their wounds and reorganize after the defeat – but they would be back, in one way or the other.
Still, the Italian leadership was mighty relieved
October 12th, 1940
In the northern East front, the fight continues in the Minsk pocket with the Russians losing their will and strength. Wehrmacht has not launched any new attack but consolidates and prepare.
In the south, the Soviet mountain division had surrendered and now Odessa was about to get surrounded. 1st Panzer Division was the first German division to reach the Black Sea. Also, parts of the mechanized army corps had just initiated their first battle.
October 14th, 1940
In the Minsk pocket, the battle continues – now far behind the frontline. In Odessa, a Russian garrison division has now surrounded. Also, a combat drop by the 2nd paratroop division east of Odessa (actually the easternmost German position in Soviet) caught a retreating Soviet panzer division unawares. What the dog tired Russian troopers though was safety was in fact an ambush. The entire division surrendered. Including the troops in the Minsk pocket and Odessa, Soviet has lost exactly 20 divisions, of which 4 is armor, since the launch of Operation Barbarossa. They cannot possible take this kind of punishment very long…
Now, Heinrich Hahn, Lucas Bauer and Johann Keller – the three childhood friends, were only a few provinces away from each other at the front line in Soviet.
.......
Ok - back in action, guys. Sitting on a shitty mobile network for the moment so I just wanted to try out with a couple of pictures. Coming more in a couple of days.