'Odin' and Stalin's Secret Committee

[roverS3]

An impressive piece of work as always

My first reaction was an unabashedly impressed "Wow!"

Thanks for your support.

As to improvements, perhaps if several divisions have the same TO&E, then just showing the one with a list of the divisions so equipped would be better to minimize duplication of effort. Most clearly: Hungary Sector 1 has 7-8 divisions on both sides that all share the same TO&E graphic, probably best to "merge" them (as an example, see how I did the Italian and Japanese forces in the last TO&E update).

Why not. I'll look into how I would implement that in a practical sense. It might save some space and make things more readable. That said, there wasn't much duplication of effort, as it was a question of copy, paste, change text.

I, for one, like the new graphics. The 50-day total is just gorgeous, but the smaller maps are quite the improvement, I feel. Breaking the front into small sections makes it much easier to follow along as opposed to having 30 or so fights represented on one map.

Breaking things into sections was one of the biggest takeaways from the previous round of feedback, I'm glad it has worked as intended.

The graphics look pretty clean and crisp to me, though I'd like to see a little clearer expression of areas taken. The "frontline now vs frontline then" is simple enough, but is kind of drowned out by everything else going on. I'm not sure what the solution would be there. The casualty counts are fine graphics-wise, imo. As a point of discussion, I thought the old maps were a lot busier. The smaller size and clearer markings make it far easier to read and collate with the text.

It think this goes hand in hand with the question of adding more colour to the map, behind the arrows and symbols. It's a bit of a delicate balance to make sure the symbols & arrows don't become less readable, that the counters remain visible. I might do a test where I layer the terrain map and the country maps over each-other, and play with the transparency, letting more colour through for the areas taken/lost than for the rest.

I am sure this is absolutely how the encounter went rather than, as the decadent Western capitalists would suggest, the Royal Navy telling our submarines to get out of the way because they were a liability and all our good naval officers have been purged. I am certain that our sub captains were not engaged in their usual struggle to stop the Leninets subs capsizing just because someone looked at it funny, but were actually contributing to the fight.

That's how Eliseev said it went, and his crews backed him up. It may be an elaborate lie, but it sounded good, so why not include it. Why should we believe decadent Western Capitalists over the word of our own sailors? On another note, some particularly vicious looks would capsize any submarine.

Random Soviet sub fact - the Soviet Black Sea submarine fleet 'accidentally' sunk more Turkish vessels than Axis merchants during WW2.

As Turkey was & is Russia's/the Soviet Union's main naval rival in the Black Sea, I'm sure that was entirely 'accidental', as you say.

I am, of course, rooting for him to triumph over Odinatsat. I am fully aware this is a doomed hope.

The situation remains fluid, I haven't decided who will come out on top, nor how. Your hope has been noted, no spoilers.

As to actual progress at the front, it is heartening to see our brave troops push the enemy back, even if only locally for now. Can't believe it's only been 50 days since the first shots were fired. Casualty counts still in our favour is also great to see. Our air force, in particular, has been working overtime from day 1. Shame we couldn't encircle and destroy those units in Lithuania, but giving them a trashing is still a point in our favour.

At this rate it looks unlikely that the Germans will reach any of the major cities of the Soviet Union proper. Some of those fortifications may well have been for nothing. And then, there are the secondary fronts we're planning to open. Both Norway, and the Balkans, are on the list. If the main front remains stable or positive, the timetable on those could be moved forwards.

And who knows what those Americans are up to! Intrigue everywhere. Perhaps the Americans are already plotting the next world war?

Yes, what are they doing? Spying on their comrades in arms, so rude. I'd wager there's at least one American general planning for the next great war, and we all know who that is.

I guess I must have opened this and didn't wind up reading the update and thus missed the new graphics.

It happens to the best of us.

It is possible the pace of updates will increase slightly now.

 

[roverS3]

The 17th of August 1942, Vologda, 7,6°C, 10 am Moscow Time,

Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten-day period between the 8th and the 17th of August 1942,

by 'Odin'

Army:

Army numbers (Brigades/Personnel) Reserves included (these numbers don't include regiments being upgraded):​

Total Army Personnel: 1.127 / 2.515.000​

Officers: 106.179 + / 111.900 needed / 111 KIA / 94,887 % +​

Active Leaders: 282 / 214 more available​

Artillery production has increased, with 2 new Artillery Regiments on order, bringing forward the moment when every single Rifle Division in the Soviet Union sports an Artillery Regiment.​

No changes to Army Leadership.​

Air Force:

No change in VVS numbers, nor Navy Air Fleet numbers for the last 10 days.​

The production of Yak-7's has resumed, 124 airframes have been ordered, they will be formed into 178 IAD upon delivery.​

No changes to VVS nor Navy Air Fleet leadership.​

Navy:

No changes to the Navy for the last 10 days.​

Politics / International:

As the Swedish government and the British Foreign Office continue to pull Sweden out of our orbit, despite the best efforts of our diplomats in Stockholm. The decision was made to, temporarily, reduce our efforts, until Sweden gets over it's Axis-loving faze, and the British Foreign Office gets bored.​

Battle of Britain​

The Luftwaffe made a few halfhearted attempts to bomb Dover and Portsmouth. All 4 attempts were intercepted by the RAF before they'd even managed to locate their targets.​

It looks like the German bombers in France are having to split their attention between bombing US-funded partisans, and bombing Britain. (see below)​

Battle of the Atlantic​

At sea, the Kriegsmarine hasn't been very active. Only 3 Allied convoys were sunk in the North Atlantic. British submarines and surface units sunk a total of 32 Axis freighters, a 60% reduction compared to the previous 10-day period. The Red Navy has started sinking German Merchant shipping off the coast of Norway, adding to the pressure on Axis shipping as a whole.​

The Red Banner Baltic Fleet intercepted and sunk two German Landing Craft Flotilla's in the Kattegat.​

France​

As foreseen, Guéret is again firmly under German control. 4 Luftwaffe bombing missions did hammer that point home shortly before the partisans were crushed by Infantry. The other US-supported uprising (above) ran rampant for about a week, taking Arras, St. Quentin, and Compeigne. The fun is now over, in this area as well, as several German Infantry Divisions are bearing down on the embattled Partisans in Compeigne. German Stuka's flew three successful bombing runs on the province, but they were intercepted 5 times by the RAF, no doubt losing a large amount of aircraft in the process. Furthermore, the British fighters increased their harassment of the Luftwaffe in France, battling it out over Paris (11 times), Reims (3 times), Montargis, and Nantes.​

Yugoslavia​

​

Strangely, the Axis made no progress in it's attempts to root out the Yugoslav partisans. Three German Divisions and a single Italian one are simply staring down the remaining Partisans, who haven't moved since the last report. Let's hope they manage to sort this out before we liberate the Balkans, Stalin would rather not have to deal with a bunch of Yugoslav partisans.​

Athens - Greece​

​

No changes here.​

North Africa Front:​

United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 1,9 / 87,1​

Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 5,9 / 79,2 =​

It looks like the Axis forces in North Africa have melted away. Gazala, along the coast, and Al Jabal al Akhda, further inland, were taken with little or no enemy resistance. To add insult to injury, the RAF's Bristol Beaufighters, now based out of Tobruch, flew 12 bombing missions on the fleeing Italian troops in. They were intercepted only once, over At Tamimi. Right now, the only things slowing down the British are their lack of vehicles and interruptions in their logistics.​

35 Italian Freighters were sunk by the Royal Navy, in the central Mediterranean and the Adriatic. (This on top of the convoys sunk by the Red Navy in the area)​

There were no British convoy losses.​

The RN Coastal Naval Command stopped it's Port Strikes on Tunis Harbour after upgrading to the Bristol Brigand with the RR Griffon engine. This new model is faster, but it does have a shorter range, meaning that Tunis is now too far away. Their attention was now focused, first on Reggio di Calabria, where they flew 4 missions, and on the smaller port of Sousse, to the South-East of Tunis, which was hit 41 times. The Naval bombers sinking three Italian transport squadrons in the process (4a, 5a, & 10a Squadrone Transporti).​

The Strategic Group of Halifaxes based in Athina was unable to do much, as they were intercepted twice, just to the West of Salonica, before they could reach their target. (probably somewhere in Western Bulgaria). ​

No naval battles in the Med.​

South East Asia Front​

United States of America (Surrender Progress / NU): 8,5 / 85,1​

United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 1,9 / 87,1​

Japan (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 70,1​

Netherlands, France (Government in Exile)​

The Japanese Division on Java continues it's slow trek to take control of the island. They now moved north, taking the Mountainous province of Gunung Ciremay, in the interior. There is nothing of value in this province. No Allied troops have arrived on the island as the clock continues to tick on most of the Netherlands' remaining Industry and resources.​

​

The IJN has delivered numerous reinforcements to Teluk Anson. Now, a full IJA Corps is starting to run rampant on the Malay peninsula. With only a single Division on the Peninsula, the British are likely to loose it entirely over the coming weeks. Unless they ship in reinforcements of their own.​

Convoy Raiding has slowed down a little, with 32 Japanese freighters adorning the seabed, and a mere 16 Allied merchant vessels sent to the bottom.​

The Royal Navy intercepted Japanese transport fleets several times, but it was unable to stop the IJA reinforcements from getting to Malaysia and Java. In the fighting, IJN Light Cruiser Yahagi was sunk by HMS Barham, 2 Yuso Sentai, a flotilla of transport ships was destroyed by HMS Revenge, and the British 48th Destroyer Flotilla was given the coup de grace by the Light Cruiser Tatsuta, and the 59th Destroyer Flotilla was lost to CA Kinugasa ​

Top: Yahagi (1911), not to be confused with Yahagi (1942) was a 5.040 tonne protected Cruiser (CL) of the Chikuma-Class of the IJN. It was commissioned in 1912. It's main armament consisted of 8 15,2cm/45 type 41 guns. One forward, one aft, and 3 in sponsons on each side. 4 deck-mounted QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns formed the secondary armament, with a pair of 7,7mm Lewis Guns providing (some) anti-personel and anti-aircraft firepower. In 1919, two 8cm/40 Type 41 multi-purpose guns were added. Three 18" torpedo launchers round out it's armament. Propulsion is provided by 2 shafts, powered by 16 Kampon-type boilers and a pair of steam turbines, providing 22.500 shp in total. Only the deck (22-57 mm) and the conning tower (102 mm) are armoured, hardly sufficient to stop HMS Barham's 15" shells. Her top speed of 26 knots wasn't particularly great during the Great War, and is positively pedestrian in 1942. She had an active Great War career, chasing the German East Asia Squadron around the Pacific in 1914, patrolling off the coast of Queensland in 1914-1915, relocating to Singapore in 1917 to cooperate with the British China Squadron in the Indian Ocean, and later off the coast of Australia and New-Zealand. Historically she was decommissioned in 1940 and moored near the Etajima IJ Naval Academy, where she served as a barrack ship for submarine crews. Her hull was scrapped in 1947.​

Bottom: HMS Barham is a Queen Elizabeth Class Battleship displacing over 32.000 tonnes (standard), and commissioned in 1915. It's main armament consists of 8 BL 15" Mk.I guns mounted in 4 twin turrets, two forward, and two aft. Her secondary armament consisted of 14 BL 6" Mk.XII naval guns in single gun barbettes. The original 3" AA-Armament was replaced in 1938 with 4 QF 4" Mk. XVI guns in 2 twin turrets, and a high-angle range-finder was also added. In 1940, two quadruple Vickers 0.5" MG's were added, and in 1941, a pair of 8-barrel 'pom-pom' batteries were added (one on each side of the conning tower.). 56.000 hp is provided to 4 shafts, by 24 Yarrow-type boilers through two steam turbine sets. Her Great War top speed of 24 knots was reduced to 22,5 knots due to age and alterations that added weight. The main belt sports 13" of armour, the deck, 1-3", the barbettes 7-10", the turrets 11-13", and the conning tower 13" of armour. Needless to say, Yahagi's 152mm shells struggled to do anything beyond scratching the paint. OTL she was sunk by U-331 in the central Mediterranean in 1941.​

Pacific Front​

Taking advantage of the lack of US initiative, the IJN successfully landed SNLF troops on Palmyra Atoll, taking it and Jarvis Island with little opposition.​

The small US Navy task forces based in Palmyra was taken entirely by surprise by swarms of Japanese Carrier-borne aeroplanes. With no Carriers of their own, the USN vessels took a beating as the faster Japanese ships of the Kido Butai stayed out of gun-range of the American Battleships, some of the older Japanese units did get heavily damaged, but none of them was sunk.. The only option for the US forces was to run to Christmas Island, which they managed, but not before losing the Heavy Cruiser USS Pensacola to torpedo bombers from the CVL Chiyoda, and three Destroyer Divisions (27th, 50th & 52nd DD), to the Air Groups of Ryujo. By miracle, all 4 US Battleships managed to limp away, having sustained very heavy damage. With no US ground forces Garrisoning Christmas Island, this may well be a short stay of execution.​

The Convoy war slowed down here too with Japanese submarines sinking 20 Allied freighters, mostly to the East of Nauru. Allied convoy raiding is down too, with 27 Axis merchant vessels sunk in the Pacific, mostly around Johnston Island. A further 5 were sunk in the Caribbean.​

Top: USS Pensacola, lead ship of the Pensacola-Class of Cruisers, displaced 9.100 tonnes, and was commissioned in 1930. Her main armament consists of 10 8"/55 naval guns in two twin turrets, and two triple turrets (One of each fore and aft). Four 5"/25 AA-guns were meant to protect it from attacks by aircraft. Three 3-pounder 1,9" quick-firing Hotchkiss guns and 6 21" torpedo tubes completed her armament. Power is provided by 12 White-Forster boilers, which can send up to 107.000 shp to 4 screws through 4 Parsons reduction steam turbines. Being a Heavy Cruiser, USS Pensacola has some armour: A 2,1-4" main belt, a 1-1,75" armoured deck, 3/4" of armour on the barbettes, 0,75-2,5" on the turrets, and 1,25" on the conning tower. Her top speed is over 32 knots, much faster than Yahagi (see above). This high top speed is likely what made her a prime target for the IJN aeroplanes, as she was faster than some of the Carriers and could potentially catch up to them. OTL she survived the war, an atomic aerial burst and an atomic subsurface burst in 1946, before being sunk as a target in 1948.​

Bottom: Chiyoda is a 11.200 tonne (Standard displacement) Chitose-Class Light Aircraft Carrier. She was commissioned in 1938, as a seaplane carrier. In 1944, she was converted, along with her sister ship Chitose, into an Aircraft Carrier (let's pretend this happened earlier in-game). This conversion included the addition of a wooden deck measuring 180 m by 23 m, and two aircraft elevators. As a CVL, she can carry up to 30 planes. She also sported 8 12,7cm/40 Type 89 multi-purpose guns, and between 30 and 48 Type 96 25mm AA guns, all in twin mounts. Her 2 propellers are powered by 4 boilers, through 2 geared steam turbines. With a total of 56.000 shp, she can reach a top speed of 18,9 knots, significantly slower than USS Pensacola. OTL, she was sunk at the battle of Leyte Gulf.​

Industry:

Working Industrial Capacity / available domestic capacity / available capacity with Lend-Lease: 235 + / 428 + / 599 + The Industrial complexes in Jelgava (1 IC), Stanislawow (2 IC), and Kuopio (1 IC / Finland SSR), have been retaken from our enemies, foreign and domestic. Some of these are still damaged, so it will take a while before they are back to full production, if we manage to hang on to them.​

Lend-Lease aid has been slowly increasing to over 170 IC/day, there were still some interruptions, the average over the last 10 days was about 149 IC/day. There have been 9 days were aid was delivered for a total of 1.485 ICdays.​

IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )​

Upgrades: 93,9 / 103,31​

Reinforcement: 28,30/ 28,37 - The need for reinforcements varies wildly but remains over 20 IC.​

Supplies: 76,00 / 58,62 = Supply stockpiles were starting to get dangerously low, so more supplies were ordered from the US.​

Production: 364,92 / 364,92 + The recovery of lost factories, and another increase in Lend-Lease aid have allowed us to increase production again.​

Consumer Goods: 35,95 / 35,95 + Some of the Lend-Lease aid trickles down to the population, this concerns mostly luxuries, like food.​

Stockpiles:​

Energy: Maximum tonnes +​

Metal: 98.496 tonnes -​

Rares: 48.927 tonnes +​

Crude: 94.383 cubic metres -​

Supplies: 29.386 tonnes +​

Fuel: 95.371 barrels +​

Money: 1.363 +​

Intelligence:

American weapons have been ordered through the Lend-Lease programme, for clandestine operations, with the aim of setting up an underground resistance base in enemy-controlled territory. Arrangements are being made to train Partisans and Commando's. As we have little experience in this area, it could take until March next year until the partisans can be deployed.​

Spy numbers, spies in (active / added / lost / caught by us)​

France (Supporting our Party / Counterespionage): 5 / 0 / 0 / 0​

{ Germany (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }​

{ Japan (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }​

{ UK (/) : 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }​

Other: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0​

Total: 5 / 0 / 0 / 0​

Reserves: 7​

Spy training leadership expenditure: 0,21 + (a new spy every 29 days)​

Research:

Our team of Nuclear Physicists has managed to successfully achieve Isotope Separation (Level 3), they are now ready to start developing practical applications through Civil Nuclear Research (level 1), one of their main jobs is the design of a full-scale Nuclear Reactor.​

Petrov's design bureau has come up with a worthy addition to our arsenal of Artillery pieces. The new M-10 Howitzer is almost ready for production as issues with it's Barrel and Ammunition (Level 7) have been sorted out.​

The M-10 Howitzer design can be traced back to German Artillery pieces that were given to the Soviet Union in the 1930's. These German howitzers were too complicated to be reproduced, en masse, by Soviet Industry at the time. It took many years of improvement before the Soviet Industry was up to the task. Finally, in 1938, Petrov's design bureau came up with a workable design which included some of the better features of the German guns, and could be mass produced. TTL, the M-10T tank gun (KV-2) was the first application of the gun, before Petrov's team finally got around to making a tractor-towed variant.​

The differences with the ML-20 are numerous. It's carriage has the same suspension set-up as the rear axle of a ZiS-5 lorry, allowing for a higher towing speed on the road (35 km/h vs 20 km/h). Additionally, it's shorter barrel (3,7 m vs 4,41 without muzzle brake) and lower combat weight (4.150 kg vs 7.270 kg) make it significantly more mobile, to the point where it's closer to a 122mm Divisional gun in that respect. The trade-off is a lower muzzle velocity (ca. 500 m/s vs ca. 650 m/s) and a shorter maximum firing range (12,4 km vs. 17,23 km). The rate of fire (3-4 rounds per minute depending on the crew) and maximum elevation is pretty similar (62° vs 65°). The breeches are similar as well, with both models featuring an interrupted screw breech block, and a recoil system consisting of a hydraulic buffer and a hydro-pneumatic recuperator. The M-10 and ML-20 are complementary in their capabilities, therefore, each Artillery Regiment will eventually be reorganised to field 12 152mm M-10 Howitzers, 12 152mm ML-20 Artillery Pieces, and 16 122mm A-19 Field Guns. (now they field 16 ML-20's and 24 A-19s) Some issues with the Carriages still have to be sorted out, but by the end of the month, these will have been remedied.​

Petrov's staff and budget has been reduced as an overhaul of our Education (Level 4) system was considered overdue. Experts from many fields are now spending time devising new curricula and teaching the next generation of educators.​

Engineers in our factories where the T-70 is produced have integrated feedback from it's users in the field, making our Light Tanks significantly more Reliable (Level 4).​

The Red Army Sappers have, together with civilian designers and engineers, developed new and improved Bridging Equipment (Level 3) for our Engineers on the front lines. Now, they've started working together with the navy to develop Amphibious Warfare Equipment for the Naval Infantry. This will likely come too late for the initial landings in the Balkans, but it will likely be useful later in the war.​

Vasily Degtyaryov and his team of weapons designers have been tasked with the design of a cheap to produce sub-machine gun for use as the main Small Arm (Level 3) of our second line troops (Garrison, Militia) and Partisans.​

The NKVD has been given additional funding to Improve our Security Units (Level 1) by teaching them more effective ways to track down enemies of the state.​

Leadership distribution:

Research: 20,75 (+1,25)​

Espionage: 0,21 (+0,11)​

Diplomacy: 1,02 (-1,04)​

Officers: 12,00 = (72 Officers/day)​

Total: 33,99 (+0,33) Re-capture of Jelgava and Stanislawow.​

Statistics:

National Unity: 83,237 - foreign spies are back at it​

Neutrality: 0,00 =​

Dissent: 0,00 =​

Manpower:​

Available: 2.075.000 (-7.000) The reduction in manpower remains manageable.​

Men To reinforce(need): 6.190​

Men To mobilise(need): See above​

Monthly gain: 71.200 Men + (1 fully mobilised Infx3, Art, AT Division every 5,4 days)​

No changes in Party Organisation, nor in Party Popularity.​

​

This Information is accurate on the morning of the 17th of August 1942, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.

'Odin'

 

[El Pip]

Petrov's staff and budget has been reduced as an overhaul of our Education (Level 4) system was considered overdue. Experts from many fields are now spending time devising new curricula and teaching the next generation of educators.​

​

The NKVD has been given additional funding to Improve our Security Units (Level 1) by teaching them more effective ways to track down enemies of the state.​

​

I do hope these two things are connected, after all State Security begins in the school.

We must ensure these experts and educators do not forget that loyalty to the state is the first lesson all citizens must learn, whether in school or somewhere... further east.

​

 

[Bullfilter]

bringing forward the moment when every single Rifle Division in the Soviet Union sports an Artillery Regiment.

This will make them hard-hitting indeed. And the Soviets relying heavily on artillery is very authentic too, of course.

Strangely, the Axis made no progress in it's attempts to root out the Yugoslav partisans.

A mystery. Usually the partisans are a walkover for regular divisions. Maybe they had supply issues? Or more likely a drunk general (ie negligent AI).

It looks like the Axis forces in North Africa have melted away.

Good news for the war - but is it mixed news for the USSR? At the rate things are going, the Soviets won’t need a second front to kill the Axis in Europe and may prefer to take the whole lot themselves, without Allied interference.

Unless they ship in reinforcements of their own.

Unlikely, if their usual performance there is anything to go by. At least they haven’t marooned any Australians there - have they?

Our team of Nuclear Physicists has managed to successfully achieve Isotope Separation (Level 3), they are now ready to start developing practical applications through Civil Nuclear Research (level 1), one of their main jobs is the design of a full-scale Nuclear Reactor.

Ah, so a nuclear weapons program is shaping as a serious prospect. Interesting.

new and improved Bridging Equipment (Level 3) for our Engineers on the front lines.

Very important as the Red Army starts fording all those river lines on the way to Berlin - and Paris!

 

[Wraith11B]

Consumer Goods: 35,95 / 35,95 + Some of the Lend-Lease aid trickles down to the population, this concerns mostly luxuries, like food.​

Good to hear that food is a luxury in times like these...

 

[roverS3]

I do hope these two things are connected, after all State Security begins in the school.
We must ensure these experts and educators do not forget that loyalty to the state is the first lesson all citizens must learn, whether in school or somewhere... further east.

Of course, the main purpose of education is to teach loyalty to the state, dare I say even love for it. People who are thus educated aren't distracted by politics, they know they're working for the benefit of a state they love, and they can get on with the job. Very efficient. If the lesson doesn't stick, there's always the time out zone 'further east', as you say.

This will make them hard-hitting indeed. And the Soviets relying heavily on artillery is very authentic too, of course.

We're almost there, if you include the Artillery Regiments in production, we're only missing 3 before every Rifle Division is either Infx3, AT, Art (Western Front) or Infx3, Eng, Art. (Far East).

Maybe they had supply issues? Or more likely a drunk general (ie negligent AI).

Maybe I'm being cynical, but, perhaps Tito's uprising is somehow hard-coded to survive and be a thorn in Stalin's side?

At the rate things are going, the Soviets won’t need a second front to kill the Axis in Europe and may prefer to take the whole lot themselves, without Allied interference.

To be fair, the fact that Roumania has stayed out of the war is a huge advantage. We could have faced them too, sure, but we would have fewer reserves on hand, and there would be little talk of a separate Balkan front, nor anything beyond a small-scale operation in Norway. (if Narvik wasn't so full of tanks)

At least they haven’t marooned any Australians there - have they?

No. Not yet.

Ah, so a nuclear weapons program is shaping as a serious prospect. Interesting.

It'll still take some years as the research isn't always fully funded, we'll have to build a reactor, and our attention will also go to rocketry and Jet Engines once the Rocket Test Site is complete. In the end, when all else fails, it's always nice to have a massive nuclear stick behind the door.

Very important as the Red Army starts fording all those river lines on the way to Berlin - and Paris!

Indeed. All our mobile Divisions, except for the Armoured Cavalry, have a regiment of Engineers, as do the Guards units and all our Rifle Divisions in the Far East. Plenty of river-crossing expertise to go around.

Good to hear that food is a luxury in times like these...

In this TTL there's probably not the same level of food shortage there was OTL, as most of the Ukraine remains in Soviet hands. That said, due to the emphasis on the production of weapons and war material, it is likely some people are still going hungry as fewer people are left working the fields. OTL food imports from the US were an essential part of Lend-Lease aid, so it makes sense that some food is being imported TTL as well.

 

[Finshades]

New artillery guns, now that's what I like to see. Increased tactical and strategic mobility should further improve the flexibility of our artillery units, which are also being rolled out in numbers. Lovely synergy of production and research! Hopefully the NKVD improvements materialize in less uprisings so our paras can focus on actual warfare rather than ruining capitalist sympathizer picnics.

 

[roverS3]

New artillery guns, now that's what I like to see. Increased tactical and strategic mobility should further improve the flexibility of our artillery units, which are also being rolled out in numbers. Lovely synergy of production and research!

It was a nice coincidence, though I have been adding Artillery to the production queue quite often ever since Superior Firepower allowed for a 5th Regiment to be added to our Divisions.

Hopefully the NKVD improvements materialize in less uprisings so our paras can focus on actual warfare rather than ruining capitalist sympathizer picnics.

Well, the NKGBF peacekeeping units (Gar, MP) are still in training, but they should be even more effective once they get these improvements. Not to worry, the Paras will see some actual combat relatively soon.

 

[roverS3]

21st of August 1942, Vologda, 2,6°C, 6pm Moscow Time

'Shest' has been keeping me informed of 'Odinatsat's whereabouts in a series of short reports:

14th of August 1942​

​

In the context of 'Odinatsat's promotion to Major, an NKVD interview has to take place, this is routine, and thus unlikely to arouse particular suspicion. Of course, the opportunity will be taken to subtly notify her of the Markkur situation, and to invite her to join the new NKVD commando & partisan training initiative we're just starting up. I hand picked a man from the Kyiv NKVD office to prosecute the interview using very specific wording, integrating some of the old codes I used to communicate with her when we were working together in France two years ago. I'm sure she'll figure it out.​

​

16th of August 1942​

​

I've obtained the report from the interview. It looks like she got the message, though she hasn't indicated how she's going to act. She told the NKVD officer she had to think over his offer of a prominent role within the NKVD commando & partisan training programme. On another note, she has now passed every test she needed to for an expedited promotion to Major. (Physical requirements were waived due to the injuries she sustained, and her excellent form on previous tests) With Lt.Gen. Popov's backing, it will no-doubt become official very soon.​

​

The 17th of August 1942​

​

We're going to have to rethink our plan for dealing with the Americans. Despite the NKVD's (my) suggestions, Major Goleniewsky hasn't applied for the job at the NKVD commando & partisan training programme. Now, I realise that a promise had been made to her, and that she could pick her next job within the Red Army, but this is still highly irregular. With anyone else in the Red Army, being allowed to pick your next job means that you go to where the state wants you out of the goodness of your heart, and if you don't you get to choose between a variety of jobs in Siberia.​

​

Now, instead of 'Odinatsat', who already has a prior relationship with General Markkur, we'll have to send another operative, who will have to start from scratch. NKVD Major of State Security Vladimir Lavrentyev will lead the commando & partisan training programme. He has had extensive experience with guerrilla warfare and sabotage operations as a teen in the civil war, but he's not the best spy. A pair of instructors from the OSS's Camp X will arrive shortly to teach our commando's about the modern tools of sabotage developed in the UK & the US. Another area where 11 has valuable experience. A certain Captain Johnson (Lt. Johnson back in Stockholm) will be the permanent liaison with Camp X and the OSS. Our intelligence indicates that he is to report directly to General Markkur, who has now been appointed as the foremost Liaison officer of the USA to the Soviet Union. He has set up shop at 13 Mokhovaya Street (Moskva, US Embassy to the Soviet Union). Arrangements have already been made for select commando's and operatives to go through the VDV's parachute training. The training programme is looking promising though it will take time to get off the ground.​

​

Back to our contrarian sharpshooter with the broken leg. Collating 'Dva's, Chtey're's, 'Piat's and my own sources, I have managed to establish where she has ended up (the easy part), and also why. Her lover, Starshina Sergei Kharkov applied, and has been accepted for a position in Leningrad. There, he will be amongst the first VVS Mechanics to get hands on with the American Airframes that have started arriving from the US. Following the Starshina to the Leningrad area, Major Goleniewsky has applied for a teaching position at the M.V. Frunze Red Banner Higher Naval School. This will likely give her the option to transfer to the Naval Infantry with some additional training. Thanks to her valuable front line experience, more than Lt.Gen. Popov's limited connections in the Navy, she's been approved for the job. She will likely find herself teaching young Naval Infantry cadets all about handling sharpshooters in the field, whether they are on our side, or the enemy's. Despite this clear move away from the Red Army, and the intelligence and state security apparatus, she continues to be under non-NKVD (most likely OSS) surveillance. My own people have had to back off somewhat to avoid rousing suspicions, however unfounded, that 'Odinatsat' is doing anything other than being a Red Army (soon to be Naval Infantry) Officer and Instructor. These are tense times.​

​

It looks like 'Odinatsat' is doing her own thing, once again. I don't mind, but it does seem to rub some people the wrong way. I guess we'll have to wait and see where she ends up once her leg is healed, and she's back in shape. For now, teaching some Marines seems like the sort of thing she'd be good at.

Let's now go to the War Reporting for the last 10 days:

Arctic Front (NOR): XXXIV GSK / 1st AG / Leningrad HQ:
Our Mountaineers have all but reached the limits of Norway's Arctic Infrastructure. It looks like an overland passage towards Tromso will not be feasible without the construction of a new road through frozen, inhospitable, terrain.

Finland (FIN): NKGBF / Leningrad HQ:
With all of the NKGBF now bearing down on the fascist insurgents, the Finnish traitors were in trouble. On the 11th, Sr.Maj.GB Skvortsov's 1st mounted brigade started pushing the 2nd Finnish Partisans out of Varkaus (1). By 3pm the next day, the province was cleared of rabble. Meanwhile, the other mounted brigades took full advantage of their speed, recovering a lot of ground.

4 NKGBFKB managed to separate the 3rd Finnish Partisans, in Rautavaara, from the rest of the rebels by taking Siilinjärvi on the 15th. A brief skirmish (2) ended almost as soon as it started as the Finns found themselves outmatched, and in danger of being encircled. On the 18th, Sr.Maj.GB Maligin's 3rd Mounted Brigade charged into Rautavara from Iisalmi, to it's West (3). This allowed 4 NKGBFKB to take Juuka unopposed, trapping the 3rd Finnish Partisans in place. They were methodically rooted out, and by 11am on the 20th, Rautavara was once again under our total control. 2.870 Partisans were captured, and 130 were killed.

This morning 1 NKGBFKB moved into Kuusjärvi, trapping 1st Finnish Revolters in Othari, to it's South. The other ca. 6.000 Partisans have been corralled into a three-province area. Skvortsov's Mounted Brigade came under attack from all of them, but the Partisans are already disorganised, and the NKGBF have had more training, they have better weapons, and horses. This uprising will soon be over, and the Finnish people will again be safe from foreign agents and enemies of the state.

​

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners (of War)
Finnish Insurgents	8.996	213	2.870
Soviet Union	18.000	15	0

​

Denmark (DK): XXXIII SK / Leningrad HQ:
"First Italians, then Bulgarians. When are we going to get to shoot some actual Germans?" - Maj.Gen. Simoniak after the 5th battle of Slagelse, aka the 1st Danish Bulgarian Turkey Shoot.

Bulgarian General-maior Hadjipetkov tried his hand at forcing a crossing of the Great Belt. His binary Infantry Division, 12ra PD, fared no better than the Italian one that had come before it, only Hadjipetkov proved to be more stubborn. Between 6am and 6pm on the 21st (today), over 1.000 Bulgarian troops were shot out of the water, with just a single casualty on our side to show for it. Our position in Denmark remains strong.

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners of War
Bulgaria	7.960	1.056	0
Soviet Union	43.976	15	0

Main Front Overview:

Evolution of the main front of the GPW over the last 10 days, divided into 9 sectors.​

Latvia Sector (LAT): 2 AG & Arm AG / Moskva HQ:
After the loss of Riga, things calmed down here. The Axis left Jelgava in the hands of a disorganised 1 Pesi Divize. MajGen. Cheremisov didn't let the opportunity slip, having his 102 SD charge into the province at 11am on the 12th. The well-rested riflemen had pushed Kubela's men out with relative ease by noon.

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners of War
Slovakia	9.000	17	0
Soviet Union	10.999	16	0

No bombing missions, nor aerial encounters in this area.

Lithuania Sector 1 (LITH1 / North of the Memel): 2 AG & Arm AG / Moskva HQ:
"Gentlemen, we have been fighting for days on end, proudly liberating Panevezys from the Hun. But now is not the time to rest. We will press on, and hit the Germans fast and hard in Raseinai. We will shock their infantry with the speed and violence of our advance. The enemy won't be allowed to catch his breath until he has been evicted from the premises, you'll make sure of it." - Maj.Gen. Dratvin firing up his troops for the 2nd Battle of Raseinai (3).

A three-pronged 4-Division Red Army offensive into Panevezys (1) got started at 10pm on the 11th. GenLt. Behlendorff's 4 PzD valiantly resisted for 36 hours before retreating at 10am on the 13th, the Panzer IV's having taken a beating from our 100mm Anti-Tank guns. 1.150 German tankers and grenadiers lost their lives, for fewer than 350 riflemen.
That wasn't the end of it, though, as before the area could be occupied, 4 ID arrived in Panevezys at 5pm on the 14th, prompting another battle (1), which was won by 6am the next morning. Genlt. Haase C.'s infantrymen lost over 400 of their number, for barely over 100 of MajGen. Dratvin's riflemen.

The momentum of the victory in Panevezys (1) was carried forward into an attack on Raseinai (3) at 10am on the 18th. Dratvin's 120 SD took the lead along with 105 SD. Genlt. Straube's 2 binary Infantry Divisions stood their ground stubbornly and things were further complicated as von Kempski's 36 ID hit Panevezys (4) at 4am on the 19th. The pressure on Raseinai (3) was maintained, and it was decided in our favour when a pair of Motorised Rifle Divisions attacked the enemy flank (5) from Kaunas on the evening of the 20th. Raseinai (3 & 5) fell at 1am on the 21st, and the German attack on Panevezys (4) was called off at 9am. It was a bloody pair of battles for both sides with over 1.300 Soviet and close to 2.500 German casualties.

9 TD in Jurbarkas came under attack (2) from 3 sides at 3am on the 12th. Genlt. von Hubicki's force consisted of 7 PzD, attacking from across the Memel river, and 3 Infantry Divisions. MajGen. Beloborodov's men fought tooth and nail to hold their ground, but with no forthcoming reinforcements, they were forced to retreat to Kaunas amidst mounting casualties after two days of fighting. They left behind over 1.200 of their tanker comrades, having taken about 500 enemies with them.

STAVKA is going back on the offensive, having launched two more battles today, one into Ariogala, and another into Siauliai.

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners of War
Germany	65.754	4.563	0
Soviet Union	185.176	2.978	0

	Air to ground damage	KIA air crew	Fighters deployed	Fighters lost	Bombers deployed	Bombers lost
Germany		286	184 x FW-190 (Ftr)	50 x FW-190 (Ftr)	339 x Ju-88 (Tac)	59 x Ju-88 (Tac)
AXIS	1.629 KIA
Soviet Union	188 KIA	94	494 x Yak-7 (Int) 247 x La-7 (Ftr)	50 x Yak-7 (Int) 8 x La-7 (Ftr)	248 x Il-10 (CAS) 200 x Yak-4 (Tac)	12 x Il-10 (CAS) 6 x Yak-4 (Tac)

Over 150 Ju-88's and 100 FW-190's were intercepted over Pasvalis at 5am on the 12th, by LtGen.Av. Astakhov's II IAK. The 482 Yak-7's arrived before Gen.dFl. Dörstling's FK VI reached it's target and the Junkers' had to jettison their bombs. On the ground, our forces were free to continue their charge into Panevezys (1) unperturbed. The ensuing dogfight claimed 18 Yak-7's and over 50 enemy aeroplanes.

During the following battle of Raseinai (3), Gen.dFl. Kesselring's FK IV hit Panevezys at 9am on the 21st, inflicting close to 200 casualties on the ground. They were intercepted by Astakhov's Yak-7's while they were dropping their bombs, and close to 60 German aircraft were downed for 32 of our fighters.

In an ultimately futile attempt to save our hold on Jurbarkas (2), LtGen.Av. Golovanov's Yak-4's hit Ariogala 4 times on the 12th and the 13th.

IV ShAK flew 4 missions over Raseinai on the 19th and 20th. The Il-10's flew a further 2 missions over Ariogala on the 21st.

Lithuania Sector 2 (LITH2 / South of the Memel): 2 AG & Arm AG / Moskva HQ:

	Air to ground damage	KIA air crew	Fighters deployed	Fighters lost	Bombers deployed	Bombers lost
Germany	10,85 Infrastructure 347.820 t of Supplies 5.132 m^3 of Fuel	35	259 x Me-109 (Int)	35 x Me-109 (Int)	0	0
AXIS	572 KIA
Soviet Union	0	74	372 x Yak-7 (Int) 124 x La-7 (Ftr)	42 x Yak-7 (Int) 4 x La-7 (Ftr)	248 x Il-10 (CAS) 162 x TB-3 (Str)	7 x Il-10 (CAS) 7 x TB-3 (Str)

With no ground combat in this sector, LtGen.Av. Kalinin's 162 TB-3's had clear skies to fly Logistical strikes on a series of provinces to the South of the Memel river. After 2 final missions over Mariampolé on the 11th, the province's infrastructure was thoroughly reduced to medieval standards. Tilsit was up next, with 8 missions over 5 days achieving the same result. Now, the operation has shifted to Kybartai with 4 missions flown before today.

Further from the front, LtGen.Av. Astakhov's II IAK intercepted Gen.dFl. Klepke's Me-109's over Königsberg on the 14th. After 3 hours, the Germans broke off the engagement. Losses on both sides were minimal.

On the 20th, flying to the very edge of the Yak-7's range, II IAK chased JK I's 200 Me-109's all the way to Gdansk (Danzig / not on the map), intercepting them at 2pm over their own bases. Despite fighting with one eye on the fuel gauge and having to evade heavy Anti-Air Artillery, our losses were relatively low: 19 Yak-7's were lost for 16 of Gen.dFl. Klepke's Messerschmitt's.

Poland Sector 1 (POL1 / Nyoman/Memel bend): 2 AG & Arm AG / Moskva HQ:
Two attacks into Grodno were called off shortly after they started. The first, at 8pm on the 11th was cut short because our T-34s were getting stuck in the marshy ground when they attempted to circumvent the first AT position they encountered. As all three participating Soviet Divisions were Tank units, this was a serious problem that would significantly slow down their offensive and cause many casualties.
The second attack, at 6am on the 16th, was better suited for the treacherous terrain. It consisted of a Motorised Rifle Division, including sappers, but it came too late, as the enemy had reinforced the province with WSS troops and King Tigers, more than tripling the number of defenders. It was called off mere minutes after it started. Grodno remains in German hands, as a rather annoying enemy beachhead on our side of the Memel river.

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners of War
Germany	32.461	39	0
Soviet Union	43.987	43	0

​

Poland Sector 2 (POL2 / Nyoman-Prypyats): 2 AG & Arm AG / Moskva HQ:
"The teutonic invaders have drenched the soil of Domonovo in Soviet blood. Now is our chance to return the favour once again. We will attack from four sides, with overwhelming numerical superiority, and extreme prejudice. For our slain comrades, and for the people of the Soviet Union." - MajGen. Fillipovsky adressing his own 109 MSD before the massive attack on Domonovo (5)

Here too, the Red Army went on the offensive, with 3 KavD and 81 MSD charging into Rozana (1) at 8pm on the 11th. They faced some serious opposition, SSD (mot) 'Reich' & 5 ID were dug in and ready for a fight in the forest. The result was a toss-up, and by 6am the next morning MajGen. Shumilov, frustrated with the lack of progress, called it quits.
3 KavD relocated to Zelva, and on the 16th, another attack on Rozana (3) started, this time 135 MSD was supporting the MajGen. Kurochkin P.A.'s armoured cavalry from Slonim. They found only SSD (mot) 'Reich' was still there. Thanks to these superior numbers, the two-pronged attack hit home by 8pm that same day, as Genlt. von Randow's elite WSS withdrew.

In the meantime, the 7th battle for Domonovo (2) continued, as 131 MSD held out against an increasing number of enemy units. The battle had started on the 8th of August with Genlt. Koch-Erpach's triangular Infanterie-Division attacking from the South-West. At 6pm on the 11th, as the previous report was sent out, 15 ID was added to the mix, and by 10 am on the 12th, 1 PzD, equipped with PzIII 'Light' Tanks reinforced by attacking our Motorised Riflemen from Slonim to the west. The battle looked lost, then and there, but at 3pm 18 ID withdrew from the fighting, and at 6pm, 36 MSD managed to reinforce the defence. The celebrations were short as 35 ID joined in on the attacking side minutes later, and 131 MSD broke at midnight. Despite the best efforts of MajGen. Maslennikov's outnumbered riflemen, Domonovo (2) fell to the Axis at 8am on the 14th. The stubborn defence cost us close to 2.000 casualties, and about half as many of the enemy.
At 4am on the 16th, MajGen. Filippovsky launched a Soviet attack on Domonovo (5). Charging in with 4 Divisions at the same time, from three sides, he wasn't messing around. Initially, only 5 ID was present, having just arrived after their own victory (2). The defenders were reinforced by 1 PzD at 7pm, a mere three hours before their Infantry broke under the pressure. Genlt. Schmidt R.'s 1 PzD proved to be tougher, and they still had quite a bit of fight in them 24 hours later, when 35 ID joined the defence. The Panzer III's broke at 3pm on the 21st. In the panicked chaos, 35 ID fled with them, and victory was ours. The price was steep: The red army lost close to 1.800 riflemen and the Wehrmacht over 2.500 soldiers, and plenty of Panzer III's.

1 GvSD came under fire in Janow (4) at 6am on the 17th. MajGen. Zhadov's Guards riflemen were not dug in, and they faced two binary Infantry Divisions lead by Genlt. Böttcher F. They held out in the face of superior numbers, foiling Böttcher's Shock attacks by drawing them into ambushes on the 18th. After holding their ground for four days, they could take no more, throwing in the towel at at 10am on the 21st, having killed fewer than 700 attackers and suffered over 1.500 casualties of their own.

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners of War
Germany	122.686	5.147	0
Soviet Union	139.774	5.926	0

	Air to ground damage	KIA air crew	Fighters deployed	Fighters lost	Bombers deployed	Bombers lost
Germany		34	265 x Me-109 (Int)	34 x Me-109 (Int)	0	0
AXIS	7.464 KIA
Soviet Union	0	182	496 x Yak-7 (Int) 372 x La-7 (Ftr)	17 x Yak-7 (Int) 5 x La-7 (Ftr)	496 x Il-10 (CAS) 201 x Yak-4 (Tac)	73 x Il-10 (CAS) 7 x Yak-4 (Tac)

II BAK flew 6 bombing missions on Bereza (11th to 13th) in support of the battle of Domonovo (2). From the 17th, they hit Dywin to it's South for 9 missions in support of the battle of Janow (4) over 5 days. LtGen.Av. Yakovlev's Yak-4's caused over 2.800 casualties in the process.

Marshall Av. Novikov's Il-10's supported our attack on Rozana (3) by flying 7 ground attack missions on the province over 4 days (14th, 16th-18th). A single attack on Swislocz, on the way there, on the 14th supported the battle for Domonovo (2).

At 11pm on the 18th, II ShAK's assault planes were intercepted over Rozana by Klepke's Messerschmitts. Despite the near-simultaneous arrival of LtGen.Av. Khudyakov's Yak-7's, Novikov's Ilyushin's were hit hard. Over 50 bombers, and 16 fighters were lost for 34 enemy aeroplanes.

Meanwhile (16th-18th), the Il-10's of IV ShAK were bombing Domonovo in support of the Red Army offensive into the area (5). LtGen.Av. Rudenko's men flew a total of 6 missions, before IV ShAK was pulled away for operations in Lithuania.

Luckily, two full-strength Assault aviation Divisions were in reserve as the battered II ShAK returned from Rozana. After some nightly reshuffling, Marshall Av. Novikov's unit was ready to go out to bomb Domonovo (5) on the 19th, flying 6 missions in the last three days.

Poland Sector 3 (POL3 / Prypyats-Zakhidnyu Buh): 3 AG & Arm AG / Brjansk HQ:
"It's very simple really. There will be no retreat. We will keep killing each and every kraut that tries to cross the Bug. Until they stop coming, or we're all dead. The river line must be held." - MajGen. Dement'ev as the Wehrmacht attacks Luboml from three sides

Luboml came under attack from three sides on the morning of the 11th. 2 ID and 13 PzD were attacking from Chelm, and Zamosc, across the river Bug. 36 ID (mot) was charging across the plains, coming from Switaz, on the Eastern side of the Bug. Luckily, the province was strongly held by three fresh rifle Divisions (23 SD, 75 SD, 45 SD), under overall command of MajGen. Dement'ev, a decorated veteran of the Winter War. He was still less skilled than his German counterpart, Genlt. Heissmeyer. The enemy commander couldn't change the facts on the ground, and on the 14th, first 13 PzD, and later Heissmeyer's own 2 ID withdrew from the fighting having suffered countless casualties. Genlt. Hänicke's 36 ID (mot), now hopelessly outnumbered, stubbornly continued the attack, until 7am on the 15th, when they too finally broke. The 6th battle of Luboml was an unmitigated success. No territory was lost and the Germans suffered over 3.400 casualties for less than 1.650 on our side.

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners of War
Germany	24.986	3.440	0
Soviet Union	21.987	1.641	0

	Air to ground damage	KIA air crew	Fighters deployed	Fighters lost	Bombers deployed	Bombers lost
Hungary		54			185 x Ju-86 (Tac)	27 x Ju-86 (Tac)
AXIS	343 KIA
Soviet Union	145 KIA	6	496 x Yak-7 (Int) 124 x La-7 (Ftr)	6 x Yak-7 (Int) 0 x La-7 (Ftr)	248 x Il-10 (CAS)	0 x Il-10 (CAS)

Hungarian Genlt. Rapaich's 185 Ju-86 bombers dropped their payloads on our forces in Luboml on the 13th. The Yak-7's of LtGen.Av. Rog arrived too late to stop them, but they did down 27 enemy planes for 6 of our own after the damage was done. Over 140 riflemen were killed by Axis bombs.

LtGen.Av. Zhigarev's Il-10's continued bombing Zamosc in support of the battle of Luboml, flying two missions. (12th & 13th)

Poland Sector 4 (POL4 / Zakhidnyu Buh-Dniestr): 3 AG / 4 AG / Brjansk HQ:
"We may have lost this battle, we may be exhausted, but we will return to the front stronger than ever once we finish lickling our wounds. You have fought bravely, you have given your all in the face of worsening odds and slowed the enemy's advance to a crawl. This has allowed Rogachev's men to take over the positions we vacated mere hours ago before the Germans could get to them. You may rest easy in the knowledge that the enemy has gained nothing." - MajGen. Rivkin after withdrawing his exhausted troops form Krasne after 4 days of intense battle (4 & 5)

The 7th battle of Sanok (1), starting at 8pm on the 11th, was a multinational operation with Hungarian Genmaj. Nagy V. in overall command. His binary Division, 6 Gly, was attacking from Debica, and the triangular Bulgarian 3-ta PPD was attacking from Gorlice. Both were crossing the river San under fire from MajGen. Panfilov's 2 Rifle Divisions. 24 hours in, the Axis international cooperation broke down as the Bulgarians called it quits, having suffered over 500 casualties. Likely cursing the Bulgarian cowards, Nagy had his men continue the fight until his own troops could take no more. The last Hungarians withdrew at 9am on the 13th, leaving behind over 800 casualties. Soviet casualties were below 60.
Buoyed by their defensive success 139 SD and 189 SD took turns charging across the river into Gorlice (2) that same day. MajGen. Panfilov's 139 SD at 10am, and 189 SD at 2pm. Luckily neither attack lasted longer than an hour. Over 400 lives were wasted for a mere 11 Axis killed and no ground gained.

Just as short-lived was the 12th battle of Turka (3), a German attack across the San, originating from Gorlice at 7pm and ending after 1 hour.
The 13th battle of Turka (6) was a different beast. 4 PzD attacked at 6pm on the 14th, from Uzhorod, between the San and the Dniestr. Despite not having to deal with a river crossing, Genlt. Pfeffer's Panzer IV's were still facing 4 well-rested, dug in, rifle Divisions, all with dedicated Anti-Tank Regiments. The results were predictable, and after a full 24 hours, they simply stopped coming, leaving behind over 1.300 dead, and numerous burnt out Panzers. Our own losses were below 200.

MajGen. Rivkin lead a single-Division attack into Zolkiew (4), starting at 2pm on the 11th. The target province was initially defended by Genlt. Müller An.'s 10 ID (mot) alone, and Rivkin managed to foil the enemy's delaying tactics through shock attacks. But, at 10am on the 12th, the defenders were reinforced by 8 ID. With no reinforcements on our side, Rivkin was forced to halt the offensive at 9am on the 14th, as his troops were becoming rather too disorganised. Casualties were rather close at over 850 Soviets and over 750 Germans KIA.
A brief counterattack (5) by 8 ID then forced Rivkin's 49 SD out of Krasne, but before 8 ID could occupy the fortified province, MajGen. Rogachev's 62 SD arrived to do the same. The 4th battle of Krasne (5) started at 5pm on the 15th, it looked like a toss-up right until 9am on the 17th, when 77 GvSD joined in, bolstering the defence.
Then, at 10 am on the 18th, a two-pronged Soviet attack on Zolkiew (7) started with MajGen. Tiulenev's 104 SD attacking from Wlodzimierz Wolynski across the Bug, and 10 TTGvD from Lwow. 8 ID was forced to halt it's attack on Krasne (5) within the hour, but it wasn't enough, and at 9pm Genlt. von Sponeck pulled his Division out of Zolkiew. Casualties for both battles (5 & 7) amounted to over 1.100 German and fewer than 700 Soviet KIA's.

Following the liberation of Zolkiew MajGen. Obukhov pushed his luck at 1pm on the 19th, attempting to dislodge 3 ID (mot) in Przemysl (8). The commander of 181 SD had only his own Division, and Genlt. von Roques was more skilled than he was. Things quickly started to go wrong when the initial Soviet attack was met by a violent counter attack. Instead of changing tactics, Obukhov doubled down ordering a reckless assault, which was, in turn, blunted by more German counter attacks. Making little progress, and with his troops now markedly less organised than the enemy, Obukhov had to call it a day at 3pm. Losses were about 650 of ours for about 530 of theirs.

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners of War
Bulgaria	25.787	544	0
Hungary	5.996	847	0
Germany	120.327	3.888	0
AXIS	152.110	5.279	0
Soviet Union	196.768	2.937	0

	Air to ground damage	KIA air crew	Fighters deployed	Fighters lost	Bombers deployed	Bombers lost
Hungary		4	0	0	186 x Ju-86 (Tac)	1 x Ju-86 (Tac)
AXIS	343 KIA
Soviet Union	96 KIA	16	248 x La-7 (Ftr)	2 x La-7 (Ftr)	248 x Il-10 (CAS) 201 x Yak-4 (Tac)	5 x Il-10 (CAS) 2 x Yak-4 (Tac)

At 8am on the 13th, Hungarian bombers, on their way to Luboml (see above), decided to drop some of their bombs on Sanok (1) along the way. Our own fighters were taken by surprise, as our intelligence indicated their target was Luboml and they had just taken off and were going the wrong way. They had to get back to base, and refuel in a hurry to make it to Luboml in time. 96 casualties were counted on the ground.

LtGen.Av. Zhigarev's I ShAK flew 7 missions over Zolkiew over 4 days, from the 11th to the 14th, in support of the battles of Zolkiew (4) and Krasne (5).
Returning to this sector, his Il-10's hit Jaroslaw twice today. (21st) in support of the ongoing defence of Jaworow.

The Yak-4's of LtGen. Av. Golovanov took over from I ShAK, bombing Zolkiew 6 times over three days, starting on the 16th.

Hungary Sector 1 (HUN1 / West): 3 AG / 4 AG / Odessa HQ:
"4ya Armiya's ColGen. Volskiy has a stone in his shoe, and you have been given the privilege of removing it. Volkmann's troops have far overstayed their welcome in Drohobycz. You will now throw them out with the same vigour a capitalist slumlord's enforcer displays when evicting his proletarian tenants for being late on rent." - MajGen. Ermakov, riling up his troops for his big offensive into Drohobycz (2).

4ya Armiya HQ was given new orders to be more assertive, as Col.Gen. Volskiy seemed to indicate that he could more than handle the Hungarians with the troops he had. The first Soviet attack was a one-Division one into Uzhorod (1), The province was held by three Hungarian binary Division, and 4 PzD, under the overall command of Hungarian Genmaj. Miklos. The attack went in at 4am on the 16th, and despite the early withdrawal of the German Panzers, MajGen. Mitorfanov's riflemen never really had a chance. The whole operation was called off at 6pm, with over 400 Soviet casualties, and fewer than 150 axis ones.

Also on the 16th, starting at 1am, a much better planned battle started. Finally, 4ya Armiya was serious about evicting the Germans from Drohobycz. 4 rifle Divisions, under the overall command of MajGen. Ermakov, attacked simultaneously from 4 different directions (2). Genlt. Volkmann's 2 Infantry Divisions tried to hold back the onslaught, with some limited success at first. The next day, things turned decidedly in our favour, as Volkmann's Masterful Delay tactics were effectively countered by a vigorous Assault. By 8pm on the 17th, all resistance had ceased. Drohobycz was ours again at a cost of over 700 dead riflemen, and over 1.300 killed German infantry.

A second single-Division attack into Turka, at 1am on the 19th, was no more successful than the first. This time around, Miklos had the support of 8 PzD, and they did stick around. MajGen. Purkaev S.F. called off the attack at 3am that night, leaving behind close to 400 of our own and having eliminated fewer than 150 of the enemy.

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners of War
Hungary	47.064	248	0
Germany	32.296	1.389	0
AXIS	79.360	1.637	0
Soviet Union	64.889	1.525	0

	Air to ground damage	KIA air crew	Fighters deployed	Fighters lost	Bombers deployed	Bombers lost
Hungary		116	333 x CR.32 (Int)	28 x CR.32 (Int)	97 x Ju-86 (Tac)	44 x Ju-86 (Tac)
AXIS	618 KIA
Soviet Union		43	496 x Yak-7 (Int) 122 x La-7 (Ftr)	1 x Yak-7 (Int) 10 x La-7 (Ftr)	244 x Il-10 (CAS)	16 x Il-10 (CAS)

The Il-10's of I ShAK struck Uzhorod at 11am on the 15th, but as they strafed and bombed the enemy troops, they were intercepted by over 330 CR.32 biplanes. Genlt. Rakosi had come to spoil the party. VI. IAK was quick to respond, and LtGen.Av. Rog's Yak-7's downed 28 biplanes before Rakosi called it a day. 14 Assault planes and 10 La-7's were lost.

As I was finishing this report, I got news that Genlt. Hellebronth's 97 Ju-86 tactical bombers had been successfully intercepted over Drohobycz. The battle started three hours ago, and it has now ended in a victory for LtGen.Av. Rog and his 496 Yak-7's. 44 Hungarian bombers were downed, and only a single of our fighters was lost.

LtGen.Av. Zhigarev's Assault Bomber Corps struck Uzhorod again on the 19th, and twice on the 20th.

Hungary Sector 2 (HUN2 / Stanislawow): 4 AG / Odessa HQ:
"We attack, they counter-attack, and we hold our ground with ease. Rinse and repeat. They've not even started to make a dent in our numbers, let alone our resolve."
MajGen. Larichev's cynical remarks after his 5th defensive victory in 10 days in Stanislawow. (1 & 2)

Stanislawow came under attack once again at 11pm on the 11th. Hungarian Genmaj. Ternegg K. was presiding over a three-Division, two-pronged, attack (1 & 2). 121 SD, MajGen. Larichev's defending Division had it's work cut out for it, or so it seemed. The riflemen were dug in in the forests, and after a mere three hours, the Hungarians pulled out.

After a few quiet days, MajGen. Larichev's riflemen charged into Rachov (3) at 4am on the 15th. After 2 hours the probe was called off, just in time for a Hungarian attack on Stanislawow, starting at 7am, and lasting 2 hours. MajGen. Schlemin's 51 SD arrived in Stanislawow and doubled the number of defenders. He pushed on into Rachov (3) at 1pm, with only his Division, against 2 enemy Divisions under Genmaj. Heszlény. The Hungarians were disorganised from previous fighting and our riflemen were fresh, but the Moutainous terrain was working against them. Some progress was made, until 4am the next day, when Genmaj. Brunswik spoiled the fun with a two-Division attack on Stanislawow (1), from Volove. MajGen. Schlemin called of his attack two hours later to properly join MajGen. Larichev's defense. In turn, Genmaj. Brunswik ended the battle of Stanislawow (1) at 9am. In all of these skirmishes over 250 Soviet and over 320 Hungarian servicemen lost their lives.

On the 19th, MajGen. Larichev decided the time was ripe for another attack on Rachov (3). At 4am, his riflemen moved into the mountains, backed up by their regiment of SU-100's. They soon found out that the province had been reinforced with 5 PzD. It would have been interesting to see Panzer IV's and SU-100s go toe to toe in mountainous terrain, but it was not to be. Genmaj. Brunswik was back at it, attacking Stanislawow (1) at 7am. 121 SD pulled out of Rachov at 9am, but the Hungarians held fast in their attack for another 6 hours before retreating at 3pm. In total over 200 Soviets, close to 260 Hungarians, and 4 Germans, lost their lives on the 19th.

	Forces engaged in battle:	Forces killed in action	Prisoners of War
Hungary	171.444	684	0
Germany	14.987	6	0
AXIS	186.431	690	0
Soviet Union	142.025	604	0

	Air to ground damage	KIA air crew	Fighters deployed	Fighters lost	Bombers deployed	Bombers lost
Italy		205	0	0	112 x CZ.1007 (Tac)	41 x CZ.1007 (Tac)
AXIS	1.920 KIA
Soviet Union	96 KIA	37	496 x Yak-7 (Int) 247 x La-7 (Ftr)	1 x Yak-7 (Int) 10 x La-7 (Ftr)	402 x Yak-4 (Tac)	13 x Yak-4 (Tac)

112 Italian CANT Z 1.007bis tactical bombers made an appearance over Stanislawow at noon on the 15th. They were immediately intercepted by LtGen.Av. Rog's fighters and forced to drop their bombs prematurely. Gen.D.A. Briganti's 4 DBT is suspected to have flown in from Albania, and they quickly turned tails. Regardless, the 496 Yak-7's of II IAK made short work of them, shooting down 41 enemy bombers for a single lost fighter.

LtGen.Av. Yakovlev's II BAK flew 3 missions over Volove, and a single one over Rachov during the skirmishes on the 15th & 16th of August.

I BAK started flying missions over Rachov on the 19th. The first mission was flown in support of the battle of Rachov (3), the 4 that followed were in support of the ongoing low-intensity battle for Jablonow.

Baltic/North Atlantic Naval Command: Leningrad HQ:

"The Germans have landing craft?!" feigning utter shock "Sorry, my mistake. They 'had' landing craft." - VADM Kuznetsov as the last of the German landing craft-carrying ships slips below the waves.

With the Norwegian coast and the German-held Baltic coast covered by Red Navy units, German convoys to Sweden & Norway had no choice but to try and slip the net. It turned out that supplies bound for Norway are being shipped into Oslo and Kristiansand. Moreover, they are also shipping supplies from Stettin to the front to alleviate the road and rail networks. (Which are being deliberately reduced to rubble by the VVS to cut off supplies to the area north of the Memel river).

At 2pm on the 16th, an La-7VM from the Carrier Leningrad (CVL) spotted 10 specialised German transport ships (2 flotilla's) carrying landing craft in the Kattegat. Il-10VM's were scrambled, and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet moved towards the spotted vessels, making contact at 3pm. The ensuing battle was brief and one-sided, ending by 6pm, with the sinking of the last of the enemy transports. The final shots were fired by the Battleship Oktyabrskaya Revoluciya, VADM Kuznetsov's flagship. (and that of the Soviet Navy). It's not clear what the transports were doing there.

More intelligence was gathered by our fleets about German land and Naval assets in the area. A large German Fleet is present in Fredrikshavn, our radar operators on board the Destroyers of the RBBF determined the presence of a Battleship, presumably Tirpitz, amongst several smaller units. Two small fleets were also detected, one in Stavanger, and the other in Narvik. The Southern ports of Norway are much less heavily guarded than Narvik, none of them has more than a single Infantry or Garrison Division holding it. A Southern invasion now seems more likely to succeed than a Northern one. If the Kriegsmarine can be kept at bay. The Black Sea Fleet is already on it's way North with additional transports. The main front seems to have stalled, and 7 new Divisions will be deployed within the next 20 days. STAVKA is seriously considering pulling XXIII SK from Tallin for a Norwegian operation. With the Mountain Rifle Corps up north, the VDV in the mix, and German supply convoys under constant harassment, we could probably take the Southern ports before the Panzers can make their way down.

Black Sea/Aegean/Mediterranean Naval Command: Odessa HQ:

IV FP continues it's convoy raiding in the Central Mediterranean, and RADM Golovko's Carrier Fleet has taken over patrols in the Aegean from the Black Sea Fleet. No remarkable events, except for a slight uptick in the number of convoys sunk.

Totals losses:

Last 10 days	Engaged in Battle	Killed in battle	Killed by bombs	Air Crew KIA	KIA at sea	Total KIA	Prisoners of War
Slovakia	9.000	17	/	0	0	17	0
Bulgaria	33.747	1.600	/	0	0	1.600	0
Hungary	224.504	1.779	/	172	0	1.951	0
Italy	0	0	/	205	0	205	0
Germany	413.497	18.472	/	355	3.836	22.663	0
AXIS	680.748	21.868	15.462	732	3.836	41.898	0
Soviet Union	849.581	15.671	429	491	0	16.591	0

GPW (60 days)	Engaged in Battle	Killed in battle	Killed by bombs	Air Crew KIA	KIA at sea	Total KIA	Prisoners of War
Slovakia	34.932	2.792	/	108	0	2.900	0
Bulgaria	69.532	3.381	/	33	310	3.724	0
Hungary	1.239.086	16.349	/	760	0	17.109	0
Italy	33.732	642	/	255	1.003	1.900	0
Germany	4.014.386	131.206	/	4.625	5.116	140.947	18.294
AXIS	5.391.668	154.370	82.674	5.781	6.429	249.254	18.294
Soviet Union	7.338.540	129.039	1.772	4.437	1.131	136.379	57.778

Aeroplane losses:

GPW (60 days)	Fighters	Small Bombers	Medium Bombers	Large Bombers	Transports
Slovakia	/	36 x A.304	/	/	/
Bulgaria	33 x He-51B	/	/	/	/
Hungary	160 x CR.32	203 x Ju-87B-2	270 x Ju-86K-2	/	/
Italy	/	/	41 x CZ.1007bis	/	11 x SM.75bis
Germany	692 x FW-190A-3 469 x Me-109G-5	42 x Hs-129B-2	924 x Ju-88A-4	45 x Ju-290	8 x Me-232D-1
AXIS	662 x Int, 692 x Ftr	281 x CAS	1.235 x Tac	45 x Nav	19 x Tra
Soviet Union	624 x Yak-7 792 x La-7 233 x La-7VM	731 x Il-10 234 x Il-10VM	374 x Yak-4	26 x TB-3	47 x Li-2

In general, things are looking up. The Red Army is taking back a lot more ground than it's losing, especially in the South. If the current trend continues, our forces will venture into enemy territory sooner rather than later.
The North remains a stalemate, with small gains on both sides, though the recovery of Jelgava's Industry is certainly welcome.
In the South, the Red Army has been pressuring the Germans and the Hungarians relentlessly, pushing them both back to their pre-war borders.
The naval blockade around Norway is complete & intelligence gathered. The South of Norway, which proved to be lightly garrisoned, now seems the better target for an invasion when compared to Narvik.
The Carrier Fleet has taken over Aegean patrols from the Baltic Fleet as the latter has started to make it's way North to assist in a possible operation in Norway.

As always, your input is valued,

Greetings,

'Odin'

Edits: syntax & spelling errors. Size issue with two of the maps. (POL3 & POL4). Filling in Aircrew KIA in the sector Air combat tables.

 

[nuclearslurpee]

Good to see another update for this increasingly massive AAR! Seems that overall things are going well along the front and we should have a free operational hand sooner than later.

As far as the maps, these are the best yet I would say, though still requiring some getting used to but I can generally follow the broad strokes without having to squint at letters and numbers, which is the main thing. I really like the little divisions at the top, well done there. If I have a complaint, it is that the coloration remains iffy - most importantly, the Soviet counters look brown to me instead of glorious Soviet Red as they ought to be, which is quite disconcerting.

Back to our contrarian sharpshooter with the broken leg. Collating 'Dva's, Chtey're's, 'Piat's and my own sources, I have managed to establish where she has ended up (the easy part), and also why. Her lover, Starshina Kharkov applied, and been accepted for a position in Leningrad. There, he will be amongst the first VVS Mechanics to get hands on with the American Airframes that are arriving from the USA. Following the Starshina to the Leningrad area, Major Goleniewsky has applied for a teaching position at the M.V. Frunze Red Banner Higher Naval School. This will likely give her the option to transfer to the Naval Infantry with some additional training. Thanks to her valuable front line experience, more than Lt.Gen. Popov's limited connections in the Navy, she's been approved for the job. She will likely find herself teaching young Naval Infantry cadets all about handling sharpshooters in the field, wether they are on your side, or the enemy's. Despite this clear move away from the Red Army, and the intelligence and state security apparatus, she continues to be under non-NKVD (most likely OSS) surveilance. My own people have had to back off somewhat to avoid rousing suspicions, however unfounded, that 'Odinatsat' is doing anything other than being a Red Army (soon to be Naval Infantry) Officer and Instructor. These are tense times.

This should be interesting, and I expect we'll hear tell of Odinatsat in a landing craft soon enough!

Evolution of the main front of the GPW over the last 10 days, divided into 9 sectors.

Small historicity suggestion: you might consider using the term "front", which historically was the Soviet designation for the army group-level HQs. Of course, here you seem to be using the AG naming and your AG-level HQs control formations along a broader section of the line than a historical Red Army front would, but perhaps here where you've split into "sectors" a switch of terminology might add a bit of extra flavor.

 

[Cromwell]

A move into the naval infantry eh? The true elite of the Soviet war machine. Somehow I suspect it won't be a training role for long...

 

[Bullfilter]

when we were working together in France two years ago

Only two years - it seems a lifetime!

this is still highly irregular

That’s 11 for - you’d think Shest would be used to it by now! Odin clearly is.

Our position in Denmark remains strong.

If the Axis wants to send troops like lemmings off a cliff into the cold waters, they will be accommodated, I’m sure.

Evolution of the main front of the GPW over the last 10 days, divided into 9 sectors.

Nice clear overall summary map. The situation seems to have settled down, with the trend mildly positive in terms of territory, but the Axis suffering a level of casualties they surely can’t sustain.

disorganised 1 Pesi Divize

It’s Slovakian, so of course it’s disorganised! I’m sure @El Pip has them armed with sharpened pencils or some such.

the enemy hade reinforced the province with WSS troops and King Tigers

WSS - overrated as soldiers. But the King Tigers? Nasty if you’re in a T-34.

7th battle for Domonovo

Atruly blood soaked piece of ground.

The 6th battle of Luboml was an unmitigated success. No territory was lost and the Germans suffered over 3.400 casualties for less than 1.650 on our side.

A great victory! At least the blood soaking the ground there is mainly the enemy’s.

Rog's Yak-7's downed 28 biplanes before Rakosi called it a day. 14 Assault planes and 10 La-7's were lost.

Those CRs are surprisingly effective, even against the newer Yak-7s.

The battle started three hours ago, and it has now ended in a victory for LtGen.Av. Rog and his 496 Yak-7's. 44 Hungarian bombers were downed, and only a single of our fighters was lost.

But the Hungarian bombers were not so lucky. That will show them what happens when they attack without escorts.

IV FP continues it's convoy raiding in the Central Mediterranean, and RADM Golovko's Carrier Fleet has taken over patrols in the Aegean from the Black Sea Fleet. No remarkable events, except for a slight uptick in the number of convoys sunk.

No real opposition there, it seems.

As far as the maps, these are the best yet I would say

Agree. A lot of work going into evolving the graphics - maps and tables. Something in there for those who like pictures, numbers or words!

The VVS in particular is having a field day - those Axis casualties are just not sustainable. They will shrivel if that keeps up.

 

[Wraith11B]

Those graphics are amazing... Glad to see that my recommendations were taken into consideration and met with approval! I really need to learn how to get that map that you have for the overall situations and how you shaded it appropriately!

 

[roverS3]

Good to see another update for this increasingly massive AAR! Seems that overall things are going well along the front and we should have a free operational hand sooner than later.

I took on the herculean task of writing a detailed Soviet AAR knowing full well it would likely become rather big. That said, it has grown significantly larger than I anticipated at the start. I feel like that's a good thing, though it does make it ever more time-consuming. (hence a slowdown in the rate of updates, even in periods where I have a lot of free time.)

As far as the maps, these are the best yet I would say, though still requiring some getting used to but I can generally follow the broad strokes without having to squint at letters and numbers, which is the main thing. I really like the little divisions at the top, well done there. If I have a complaint, it is that the coloration remains iffy - most importantly, the Soviet counters look brown to me instead of glorious Soviet Red as they ought to be, which is quite disconcerting.

The (dis-)coloration is deliberate. I toned down red values in the background map to make the red arrows easier to pick out. This means the soviet counters do shift from red to a variation of bordeaux. I personally wouldn't go so far as to call it brown, there's still too much red in it for that. I might tinker with it a bit more, but I'm not sure I can do much better without making the overlaid arrows and lines less readable.

Agree. A lot of work going into evolving the graphics - maps and tables. Something in there for those who like pictures, numbers or words!

Those graphics are amazing... Glad to see that my recommendations were taken into consideration and met with approval! I really need to learn how to get that map that you have for the overall situations and how you shaded it appropriately!

For the maps I tried to both simplify their production and find a way to implement the recommendations. I discovered the addition of tables to the forum, making the clean presentation of the numbers much easier, another time-saver. Of course figuring out the new colour balance, the new position of the Division counters, how to make the divisions between the sectors readable, etc. took some doing. I'm going to keep this presentation now (aside from some minor tinkering), which should allow me to cut down on the time I need to make the non-text elements of the next GPW update. @Wraith11B If you're really serious about this, I would be willing to explain it to you, or at least attempt to. (send me a private message to discuss the possibility)

Only two years - it seems a lifetime!

I know, it's definitely been more than two years in OTL. With all she's live through, I'm sure it does seem like a lifetime away for her as well.

This should be interesting, and I expect we'll hear tell of Odinatsat in a landing craft soon enough!

The main caveat with that proposition is that we have yet to develop landing craft, let alone built them. It is on the shortlist for the next Naval technology to be researched though. (after CV Engine 1)

A move into the naval infantry eh? The true elite of the Soviet war machine. Somehow I suspect it won't be a training role for long...

I'm not going to rush her recovery beyond what's medically possible. No spoilers on what happens after that.

Small historicity suggestion: you might consider using the term "front", which historically was the Soviet designation for the army group-level HQs. Of course, here you seem to be using the AG naming and your AG-level HQs control formations along a broader section of the line than a historical Red Army front would, but perhaps here where you've split into "sectors" a switch of terminology might add a bit of extra flavor.

What a great suggestion. I don't know why I didn't think of that. I'm doing it in the next GPW update.

Nice clear overall summary map. The situation seems to have settled down, with the trend mildly positive in terms of territory, but the Acis suffering a level of casualties they surely can’t sustain.

The casualties are truly horrendous on the Axis side. If we fail to win by push through their line and/or outflanking it, we will surely win the war of attrition.

Seems that overall things are going well along the front and we should have a free operational hand sooner than later.

With the reserves we have, and the troops in production, we should be able to open up two more fronts by the end of the year (unless Lend-Lease drops off significantly and/or we start losing ground at an alarming rate on the main front). 1 in Norway, and 1 in the Balkans, and all while we continue to hold the main front. The future Balkan front, in particular, will cause countless additional headaches for the Axis. Norway being more of an isolated operation to grab some prime North-Atlantic real estate and take away the Heavy Water production facilities from the Axis. Of course, once Norway is ours, a push through Denmark would be a logical follow-up.

If the Axis wants to send troops like lemmings off a cliff into the cold waters, they will be accommodated, I’m sure.

It's great target practice for our riflemen.

It’s Slovakian, so of course it’s disorganised! I’m sure @El Pip has them armed with sharpened pencils or some such.

Seems like an accurate description. That said, it didn't seem so disorganised when it forced a Rifle Division to surrender some time back, though there was no need for them to fight to secure that particular victory.

WSS - overrated as soldiers. But the King Tigers? Nasty if you’re in a T-34.

The WWS, I guess it depends on the unit and the moment in time. In-game they're pretty powerful though. And yes, the Germans in this ATL seem to have built a positively alarming number of King Tigers compared to the OTL total, and they achieved this by mid-1942.

A truly blood soaked piece of ground.

The soil in Domonovo has been more affected than most other areas along the front.

A great victory! At least the blood soaking the ground there is mainly the enemy’s.

Yes, though I'd expect most of the blood ended up in the Bug river.

Those CRs are surprisingly effective, even against the newer Yak-7s.

Those Hungarian pilots can be absolute maniacs with their biplanes.

But the Hungarian bombers were not so lucky. That will show them what happens when they attack without escorts.

It looks like the VVS has become significantly more adept at shooting bombers than they are at shooting down fighters. This makes sense if you consider that in most of the aerial fights they've had as a whole, they've faced mostly, or only bombers.

No real opposition there, it seems.

Yes, the Royal Navy has done quite the number on the Regia Marina. If only they had the confidence to move most of their Mediterranean forces to the far east, they might be able to swing the war against the IJN in their favour. The Red Navy is probably strong enough to handle what remains of the Italians on it's own. Maybe we should use the Carrier Fleet to do port strikes all over the Med to destroy remaining Italian fleet units ourselves. Then again, we will likely benefit from any British naval losses, after the war. Especially if the cold war were to become very hot.

I'll try to, once again, up the tempo of the updates. Though, every time I think I have the time to churn out updates in relatively rapid succession, it seems like some real life event or commitment takes me away from the AAR for a week or more. As much as I love working on this AAR, the updates require a lot of energy, time, and focus. A 10-day period in-game takes me 10-12 hours of play-time, which I try to do in one go, and several times that for the 2 'regular' updates to be completed, and that's if I'm not tinkering with the presentation. If I just have one day, let alone half a day, in-between real life commitments, I don't get much done on this AAR as I first have to get back 'into it'. I'm seriously considering starting a second AAR (without stopping this one) which would be much smaller in scope, made up of short updates, and low on images. Thanks for reading.

 

[Finshades]

I join my voice to those lauding these new maps - they are excellent!

Fortunately 11 wasn't with the RBBF - I can just see her trying to commandeer a German landing craft. Somehow. You'd think Shest and the others would be kind of used to this; it's been nothing but irregularity after irregularity with her.

Happy to see our brave forces pushing back the invading hordes. The Polish and Hungarian fronts in particular took quite a bit of ground and a push into Hungary now seems likely. Romania is a bit of a concern for me as it will end up on the eastern flank of the Hungarian 2nd front and will need guarding which ties up extra troops. Baltic fronts should also start making progress soon as the supply lines are strangled by both the strategic bombers and the submarines. With some luck, we might be able to cut off some troops in Latvia. A potential invasion of Norway would be risky - the crew of Tirpiz and her escorts would no doubt like nothing more than to sink their rotten teeth into a fleet of transports carrying brave Soviet marines - but would add significantly to the chaos. If a landing were to be effected in the south, we could be virtually guaranteed of the destruction of any German forces in Norway, small as they are, and would gain bases in the North Sea as well as more industry and raw materials. More occupation troops would be needed, however. It would also give us more options if Sweden can't be swayed to see things our way - after all, Sweden did provide material assistance to Finland against our liberation - and we simply couldn't allow a nation where workers are oppressed to remain as an enclave between our territories. Baltic shall be an inland sea of the USSR; that way never again can it be used to threaten Leningrad and the Baltics.

 

[roverS3]

Fortunately 11 wasn't with the RBBF - I can just see her trying to commandeer a German landing craft. Somehow. You'd think Shest and the others would be kind of used to this; it's been nothing but irregularity after irregularity with her.

Seems like something she would attempt. It would be very interesting to find out how exactly she would pull this one off with her leg in a cast...

Happy to see our brave forces pushing back the invading hordes. The Polish and Hungarian fronts in particular took quite a bit of ground and a push into Hungary now seems likely. Romania is a bit of a concern for me as it will end up on the eastern flank of the Hungarian 2nd front and will need guarding which ties up extra troops. Baltic fronts should also start making progress soon as the supply lines are strangled by both the strategic bombers and the submarines. With some luck, we might be able to cut off some troops in Latvia. A potential invasion of Norway would be risky - the crew of Tirpiz and her escorts would no doubt like nothing more than to sink their rotten teeth into a fleet of transports carrying brave Soviet marines - but would add significantly to the chaos. If a landing were to be effected in the south, we could be virtually guaranteed of the destruction of any German forces in Norway, small as they are, and would gain bases in the North Sea as well as more industry and raw materials. More occupation troops would be needed, however. It would also give us more options if Sweden can't be swayed to see things our way - after all, Sweden did provide material assistance to Finland against our liberation - and we simply couldn't allow a nation where workers are oppressed to remain as an enclave between our territories. Baltic shall be an inland sea of the USSR; that way never again can it be used to threaten Leningrad and the Baltics.

The Soviet Union decided to let Romania keep Bessarabia in TTL, but the Germans did force them to hand Transylvania to the Hungarians and some territory in the South to the Bulgarians. This means that they're very unlikely to ever end up in the Axis, and that they don't have an immediate case for fighting the USSR. In any case, I expect that it will still take a long time for our forces to advance deeply enough into Hungary for that to be a real problem. I'm also currently building up forces for a new front in the Balkans. This force will grow to a full Army, including infantry, Mountaineers, Light Motorised forces, and Marines, over the next couple of months. If the Romanians were to cause significant problems, it can be redirected to strike into Roumania from the North, the South, and from the Sea. Thanks to our Radar Stations in Bereza and Sevastopol, and their poor level of radio encryption, we can see the exact position and composition of Romanian forces, giving us another edge. And then there is a Rifle Corps in Kyiv which can be activated.
Our Armoured forces are concentrated in, and on the Baltic. 2ya Tankovaya Armiya (all of the T-34's) has Memel as it's main objective, and 11ya Mot. Armiya is covering a wider area, putting pressure on German forces to it's South. All of the Motorised, and Mechanised forces are up north. The Southern area 'only' has a few HArm Divisions to help the Infantry hold the line.
As for Norway. I've now played ahead 10 days, and it's definitely going to be an interesting sideshow. (no spoilers) Because of the whole complexity of the Norway situation, on top of the usual madness of the main front, it took me about 18 hours to get through it all. (I had to split it up into two days).

I'm leaving on a short holiday now, so the next update will likely be for late next week. Have a nice weekend.

 

[Cromwell]

Enjoy your holiday, don't party too hard. @roverS3

 

[El Pip]

As always a monster sized update (but in a good way) so it's taken me a while to find the time, but as always it was worth the read. I agree with my esteemed colleagues the new maps are wonderful things, certainly I prefer them to the previous versions and as you say the tables underneath do aid clarity. The colour seems fine to me and your reasoning makes sense on why, so I personally wouldn't change it, but I feel confident that you will not make a change unless it will improve things.

I mourn poor Kubela's defeat and hope he bounces back. He was a horrific person and utterly unqualified as a general (he was a school headmaster before joining the Hlinka Guard), yet I do find myself taking a special interest whenever Slovakia pops up. Years of excessive study will do that to a man. I suppose Slovakia also operates on a sensible scale, it's a few divisions and leaders, not the colossal armies, army groups and fronts of the main combatants. A single death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic as Stalin said.

Marine training is tough normally, add in the famous Soviet approach to human life (die quietly or we will liquidate your family as well) and the Soviet Naval Infantry training could be a bit grim. Odinstat will be in her element.

 

[roverS3]

Enjoy your holiday, don't party too hard. @roverS3

If by partying you mean cutting down trees for firewood, playing music on the terrace, and going for long walks in the forest, I'm afraid I did party a bit too hard.

As always a monster sized update (but in a good way) so it's taken me a while to find the time, but as always it was worth the read. I agree with my esteemed colleagues the new maps are wonderful things, certainly I prefer them to the previous versions and as you say the tables underneath do aid clarity. The colour seems fine to me and your reasoning makes sense on why, so I personally wouldn't change it, but I feel confident that you will not make a change unless it will improve things.

As stated before, it takes me a while to find the time to write/complete such a monster sized update. I'm glad you found the time to read it. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

I mourn poor Kubela's defeat and hope he bounces back. He was a horrific person and utterly unqualified as a general (he was a school headmaster before joining the Hlinka Guard), yet I do find myself taking a special interest whenever Slovakia pops up. Years of excessive study will do that to a man. I suppose Slovakia also operates on a sensible scale, it's a few divisions and leaders, not the colossal armies, army groups and fronts of the main combatants. A single death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic as Stalin said.

I'm sure Kubela will return to the fight. I can't guarantee he will win though. The Soviet Union does operate at a rather ridiculous scale. With more than 1.000 brigades, the game can't even display the total in the statistics screen...

Marine training is tough normally, add in the famous Soviet approach to human life (die quietly or we will liquidate your family as well) and the Soviet Naval Infantry training could be a bit grim. Odinstat will be in her element.

The history of Soviet Marines is rather interesting. Before ww2, the Soviet Naval Infantry consisted of surplus Navy personnel with some Infantry training. Early in the war, they were deployed mostly on the land front. They had no naval landing training of any kind. Only during the war did they start to create elite Naval Brigades. This smaller cadre of elite Naval Brigades was trained in Amphibious warfare. Only after the war did they remove this confusion by reforming the 'Soviet Marine Corps' as an elite amphibious force closer to what the USMC was at the time, eliminating the purely land-based Naval Infantry. I'm sure the training was grim.

 

[roverS3]

The 27th of August 1942, Vologda, 7,6°C, 10 am Moscow Time,

Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten-day period between the 18th and the 27th of August 1942,

by 'Odin'

Army:

In a freak occurrence, the rank and file of 46 GSD (Mtnx3) disappeared during the night of the 23rd of August. They were being transported by sea off the coast of Norway, and the officers were hosted on the warships of the Black Sea Fleet, and the transports with the rest of the Division disappeared into the fog for 4 hours, returning empty and with the crews none the wiser. Luckily, despite it's scale, the strange event could be covered up rather quickly as a Mtnx3 Division finished training on the 25th. MajGen. Gerasimov A.V. and his cadre of officers quickly took command of this new 46 GSD (Mtnx3). (I merged a transport fleet with the Black Sea Fleet, at sea, while the Mtnx3 Division was embarked in the transports, and it seems to have disbanded the Division... The Division didn't have any combat experience. Luckily, there was only one Division on board, I'm playing as the Soviet Union, and it's only a drop in the bucket.)​

66 KP & 69 KP are now fully equipped with GAZ half-tracks. Both Regiments will now rejoin 12 KD. Now all of our Cavalry Divisions have been upgraded to Armoured Cavalry.​

Army numbers (Brigades/Personnel) Reserves included (these numbers don't include regiments being upgraded):​

Front line troops: 696 / 2.088.000
Support troops: 369 / 369.000​

Total fighting troops: 1.065 / 2.457.000​

Headquarters: 64 / 64.000​

Total Army Personnel: 1.129 / 2.521.000​

Officers: 106.714 + / 112.100 needed / 185 KIA / 95,195 % +​

Active Leaders: 282 / 2 POW / 214 more available​

A new Mountain Rifle Division has started training, 125. GSD (Mtnx3).​

No changes to Army Leadership.​

Air Force:

No change in VVS numbers, nor Navy Air Fleet numbers for the last 10 days.​

No changes to VVS nor Navy Air Fleet leadership.​

Navy:

No changes to the Navy for the last 10 days.​

Politics / International:

Battle of Britain​

The Luftwaffe continued it's attacks on Dover and Portsmouth, succeeding a mere 4 times in actually hitting something (once in Portsmouth, three times in Dover). They were intercepted 22 times by the RAF.​

Over the continent, Aerial battles took place over Paris (60), Reims (18), Montargis (8), Nantes (8), and Lille (1). No strategic bombing over Germany took place.​

Battle of the Atlantic​

At sea, the Kriegsmarine has increased it's convoy raiding, sinking 20 Allied convoys in the North Atlantic. British submarines and surface units took advantage of a boom in Axis merchant activity, sinking a total of 189 Axis freighters. The Red Navy continues sinking German Merchant shipping off the coast of Norway, adding to the pressure on Axis shipping as a whole.​

France​

After 16 bombing runs, the last US-supported uprising which controlled Arras, St. Quentin, and Compeigne at one point, was snuffed out. The RAF worked hard to keep the Luftwaffe at bay here, with a total of 26 aerial battles in this area alone.​

Yugoslavia​

​

Still no progress on this front​

Athens - Greece​

​

Despite halfhearted attacks by the Italians, Athina remains firmly in British hands. The RAF redeployed Beaufighters to Athina to bomb Nafplio, which they did a 6 times in support of the battle.​

North Africa Front:​

United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 1,9 / 87,1​

Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 5,9 / 79,2 =​

The British 1st Army (5 Divisions on/near the front) in Libya circumvented At Tamimi, taking Ra's at Tin. An Italian Division of Mountaineers was caught encircled in the process, and forced to surrender, having been the target of 90 RAF bombing runs.​

16 bombing runs were flown over Ra's at Tin in support of the Royal Marine's attack into the province. Now, the RAF's Wellington's are focusing on Melchili. Only 2 bombing raids on Al Tamimi were intercepted by the Regia Aeronautica. The Front is closing in on Bengasi, and Italian resistance seems to be melting away, probably through a combination of a lack of supplies and relentless RAF Air Strikes.​

143 Axis Freighters were sunk by the Royal Navy, in the central Mediterranean and the Adriatic. (This on top of the convoys sunk by the Red Navy in the area)​

A single Yugoslav merchant vessel was lost off the coast of Dubrovnik.​

The RN Coastal Naval Command focused it's attention on Reggio di Calabria, and the Straits of Messina where they flew 10, and 20 missions respectively. The Malta-based Naval bombers sunk the Light Cruiser Eugenio di Savoia, 22. Flotiglia Torpediniere (DD), and three Italian transport squadrons. (Squadrone 'Enrichetta', 'Lussino', & 'Vallelunga').​

Attempts by the Strategic Group of Halifaxes based in Athina to bomb Bulgaria continue to be intercepted before reaching their targets, with 6 aerial battles over Karterini, and 6 over Kozani, both in the Salonica area.​

No naval battles in the Med.​

South East Asia Front​

United States of America (Surrender Progress / NU): 8,5 / 85,1​

United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 1,9 / 87,1​

Japan (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 70,1​

Netherlands, France (Government in Exile)​

The Japanese Division on Java continues it's slow trek to take control of the island. Now, Purwakarta, on the northern coast was taken. There is nothing of value in this province. No Allied troops have arrived on the island as the clock continues to tick on most of the Netherlands' remaining Industry and resources.​

A Japanese landing on the north-Eastern tip of Sulawesi, saw them take control of both the Naval Base, and the Air Base at Manado without firing a shot. With only a single Division, and a Navy that is still rebuilding it's supply stores, there is little the Dutch can do to counter these incursions.​

Things are going from bad to worse in Malaysia. The Japanese forces are rapidly expanding their territory, as the British have now lost Kuala Lumpur, and are about to loose the naval base at Kota Bahru. No reinforcements seem to be forthcoming, and the fall of Singapore now seems to be only a matter of time.​

A total of 47 Japanese bombing raids on Singapore and the Singapore Strait have damaged repair infrastructure and Royal Navy vessels, though no large naval units were sunk in the process.​

Convoy Raiding increased again, with 116 Allied merchant ships sunk by the IJN, and 60 Japanese freighters adorning the seabed courtesy of the Allies.​

Two small naval battles, one in the Straits of Malacca, and the other in the Straits of Karimata ended in favour of the IJN. HMS Galathea (CL) was sunk by 8. Kuchikukantai (DD), and the British 1st Destroyer Flotilla was sunk by the Heavy Cruiser Chokai.​

Top Left, HMS Galatea, a 6,655 tonne Light Cruiser of the Arethusa-class. She was commissioned in 1935. Her Main armament was made up of 6 BL 6" Mk.XXIII Naval guns in 3 twin turrets, two super-firing fore, and one aft. 4 QF 4" Mk.V guns (anti-ship and anti-air) in single mounts and 8 QF 0,5" Mk.III Vickers Machine-guns (AA) in quad mounts provided some more firepower. 2 triple 21" torpedo launchers completed the armament. In 1940, 8 single Oerlikon 20mm AA Cannons and 2 quad 2-pounder Pom-Pom's were added to increase it's AA defence. 4 3-drum boilers provided 64.000 shp, propelling the vessel to a top speed of 32 knots. Armour wasn't too bad for a Light Cruiser, with a 2.25" belt, 1" deck and turret armour, and the 3" magazine protection. As it happened, the vessel was sunk by 2 direct torpedo hits from the old Minekaze-class destroyers of 8. Kuchikunantai.​

Top Right: The Minekaze-class of Japanese Destroyers are getting a bit old, having been ordered during the Great War, and commissioned in 1920-1922. 15 were built, each displacing 1,650 tonnes. Their armament consists of 4 12 cm/45 Type 3 naval guns on single mounts, 2 single 7,7mm Type 97 Machine-Guns, 3 twin 21" torpedo tubes, and 20 mines. Some of the class have since been modified to be convoy escorts, with depth-charge-launchers and Type 96 25mm AA Guns taking the place of the two amidships main guns and two of the twin torpedo launchers. Propulsion is provided by 4 heavy oil-fired boilers powering a pair of Mitsubishi-Parsons Geared steam turbines, giving a power output of 38,500 shp through 2 shafts. The top speed upon launch was 39 knots, but some modified versions with added depth charges and AA guns are limited to 35 knots. Still fast enough to catch up to an Arethusa-class Cruiser.​

Bottom: Chokai is a Takao-Class Heavy Cruiser displacing over 15.700 tonnes, commissioned in 1932. It's main armament consists of 10 20 cm/50 Type 3 naval guns mounted in 5 twin turrets, two super-firng forward, two super-firing aft, and one Q turret directly behind the forward guns. As a secondary armament, she sports 4 12,7cm (5") Type 89/40 naval AA guns in twin gun mounts, and up to 66 25mm Type 96 AA Machine-Guns. 8 24" torpedo tubes give her some extra punch. 130.000 hp is provided to 4 shafts, by 12 Kampon boilers through 4 geared steam turbines. This results in a top speed of over 35 knots, respectable for a ship of her size. Her armour is decent, with a 102mm (4") main belt, 127mm (5") protecting the magazines, up to 37mm (1,5") of armour on the main deck, and up to 12,7mm on the upper deck, and 25mm on the turrets. 76-100mm armoured bulkheads, and torpedo bulges, make her more survivable still. The old A-class destroyers of 1st Destroyer Flotilla were quite outmatched, and quickly dispatched by the same 200mm (7,8") guns that sunk HMS Repulse.​

Pacific Front​

Things have gone quiet in the Pacific, with no fleet actions nor any landings taking place.​

The Convoy war slowed down here too with Japanese submarines sinking 20 Allied freighters, mostly to the East of Nauru. Allied convoy raiding is down too, with 27 Axis merchant vessels sunk in the Pacific, mostly around Johnston Island. A further 5 were sunk in the Caribbean.​

Industry:

Working Industrial Capacity / available domestic capacity / available capacity with Lend-Lease: 234 - / 427 - / 563 - The Industrial complexes in Jelgava (1 IC) were lost to the enemy.​

Lend-Lease aid has decreased recently to about 136 IC/day, the average over the last 10 days was about 150 IC/day. There have been 10 days were aid was delivered for a total of 1.505 ICdays.​

The Air Base in Bornholm (Level 2) has been lengthened and paved and a small control tower has been built.​

Smolensk Air Base is now amongst the very largest in the Soviet Union (Level 10), with 5 paved runways, elaborate maintenance, refuelling, and rearming infrastructure, lodgings and dining facilities for thousands of personnel, and VVS office buildings.​

Production of a new type of Naval Base has started. This new system consists of a floating dry-dock and movable floating docks that can be deployed quickly to any appropriate coastal area. This will give us the capacity to create a new Naval Base where needed.​

IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )​

Upgrades: 86,4 / 103,06​

Reinforcement: 30,80 / 30,83 - The need for reinforcements varies wildly but remains over 20 IC.​

Supplies: 70,00 / 58,57 - Supply stockpiles were starting to get dangerously low, so more supplies were ordered from the US.​

Production: 342,02 / 342,02 - The recovery of lost factories, and another increase in Lend-Lease aid have allowed us to increase production again.​

Consumer Goods: 33,78 / 33,78 - Some of the Lend-Lease aid trickles down to the population, this concerns mostly luxuries, like food.​

Stockpiles:​

Energy: Maximum tonnes +​

Metal: 98.228 tonnes -​

Rares: 48.983 tonnes +​

Crude: 92.742 cubic metres -​

Supplies: 31.566 tonnes +​

Fuel: 98.346 barrels +​

Money: 1.370 +​

Intelligence:

Spy numbers, spies in (active / added / lost / caught by us)​

France (Supporting our Party / Counterespionage): 5 / 0 / 0 / 0​

{ Germany (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 }​

{ Japan (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 }​

{ UK (/) : 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }​

Other: 0 / 0 / 0 / 1​

Total: 5 / 0 / 0 / 3​

Reserves: 7​

Spy training leadership expenditure: 0,21 = (a new spy every 29 days)​

A spy from Hungary was caught in the Soviet Union, along with one from Germany, and another from Japan.​

Research:

The Carriage and Sights (Level 7) for the new M-10 Howitzer (see previous update), are finally ready for production.​

Funding has been increased for research at our Military academies. With data from the ongoing war at hand, an improved version of the Delay Doctrine (Level 5) will now be developed by our best Red Army theorists. This should also result in increased morale for our Artillery crews.​

Leadership distribution:

Research: 20,60 (-0,15)​

Espionage: 0,21 =​

Diplomacy: 1,02 =​

Officers: 12,00 = (72 Officers/day)​

Total: 33,82 (-0,15) Loss of Jelgava.​

Statistics:

National Unity: 83,229 - foreign spies are back at it​

Neutrality: 0,00 =​

Dissent: 0,00 =​

Manpower:​

Available: 2.059.000 (-16.000) The reduction in manpower remains manageable, most of it is due to the recruitment of a new Mountain Rifle Division.​

Men To reinforce(need): 14.700​

Men To mobilise(need): See above​

Monthly gain: 70.900 Men + (1 fully mobilised Infx3, Art, AT Division every 5,35 days)​

No changes in Party Organisation, nor in Party Popularity.​

This Information is accurate on the morning of the 27th of August 1942, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.

'Odin'