The 6th of September 1942, Vologda, 1,1°C, 10 am Moscow Time,
Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten-day period between the 28th of August and the 6th of September 1942,
by 'Odin'
Army:
3, 37, and 52 Diviziya Opolcheniya (Garx3) have been deployed to Rezekne, Izborsk, and Pskov in the Baltic SSR's. They are now waiting for the delivery of their support Brigades (Art, AT). They will later be retrained into regular rifle units, and eventually plug the gaps left by the loss of 3, 37, and 52 SD.
2 new Garrison Divisions (Garx3) have been delivered in Leningrad. 18. and 19. Garnizon Diviziya will likely be used to guard larger Naval Bases in Scandinavia.
Upon delivery of a Motx2, TD unit, it was placed directly under a new Corps HQ, XXXV MSK, placed under 11ya Motorizovannaya Armiya, Arm AG, STAVKA. The TD Regiment (43 SAUP) will be swapped for the SP Art Regiment of 135 MSD (102 SAP) to give the latter more punch against armoured vehicles.
44. SAUP, a new regiment of SU-100 Tank Destroyers, was delivered to XXXV MSK. It is slated to reinforce 129 MSD, as soon as that Division is not in combat.
Army numbers (Brigades/Personnel) Reserves included (these numbers don't include regiments being upgraded):
Front line troops: 713 / 2.139.000
Support troops: 371 / 371.000
Total fighting troops: 1.084 / 2.510.000
Headquarters: 65 / 65.000
Total Army Personnel: 1.149 / 2.575.000
Officers: 107.241 + / 113.050 needed / 193 KIA / 94,862 % -
Active Leaders: 289 / 2 POW / 207 more available
With a growing need for Garrisons, the go-ahead was given for the training of a new Garrison Brigade (Garx2). It will be deployed, either to one of the smaller Black Sea Ports, or possibly to Norway, if all goes well with Op. Tundra Wolf.
A new Motorised Rifle formation has started training. 145. MSD (Motx2, AC, Eng) will be swapping the Armoured Cars with one of the HQ brigades, for SU-100's and an existing Motor Rifle Regiment.
An assessment of the wartime usefulness of brigades attached directly to Corps level HQ's has shown that they don't often see combat. Maybe our Lt. Generals prefer not to place their HQ in harm's way? In the case of Motorised Corps HQ Brigades ( currently Motx2, SP-Art / Motx2, TD). The 'retired' Generals have proposed reducing the size of these HQ-attached brigades to one Motorised Rifle Regiment, and one Armoured Car Regiment. This will free up one Motorised Regiment and a Regiment of either Tank Destroyers or SP Artillery. As there is a war going on, this will be a gradual process, each of the next 4 new regular Motorised Division will be trained as "Motx2, AC, Eng" instead of "Motx3, Eng, TD/SP Art", and will then be brought up to strength with elements of the HQ-attached brigades. This will save time and cost, allowing us to deploy them sooner and to spend more in other areas.
Army Leadership:
After some consideration, the commander for the new XXXV MSK, 11ya Mot. Armiya, Arm. AG, STAVKA was selected. Newly promoted LtGen. Petrov M.P. (SK3, LW, BM) has proven himself, leading 74 SD, his former unit, through many battles since the war started off. Always looking for ways to learn and improve, he has become highly capable and is respected amongst his peers. What makes this even sweeter is that he only just avoided being relegated to second line duty before the war. He was SK1, but with 2 good traits, and thus should have been replaced as soon as a suitable SK2 commander with a good trait was available. However, in the 1941 review I somehow missed him, and thus left him in place despite the availability of suitable SK2 commanders. As he was involved in heavy combat on the Hungarian border from the start of the conflict, he had gained too much experience to be replaced by the time I noticed. Now that he's SK3 (not maxed out), with 2 valuable traits, he's the best we've got for a step up to Lt.General, outside of the elite Guards units. Who knows how far the man will rise through the ranks if he keeps improving?
Of course this transfer left a gap. Former Sr. Major of State Security Skvortsov (SK2, LW, BM) was transferred from the 1. NKGBKB, back to the Red Army, where he was promoted to MajGen. and put in charge of 74 SD. Having been at the forefront of counter-insurgency operations in Finland for both major insurgencies (the one in late 1940, and the current one.), he picked up a few tricks which could come in handy, especially in forested terrain and/or cold weather.
A newly commissioned General officer, SMajSec. Pavlov A.V. was sent to Finland to replace Skvortsov (SK1, LW, BM). As is always the case with these appointments, the man has potentially valuable skills and interests, but his overall test scores were too low for him to get a command in the regular forces. Maybe he will be able to emulate his predecessor, if the Fins rise up again.
To command the three new Opolcheniye Divisions (Garx3), three unremarkable Major Generals were called back from retirement. MajGens Apanasenko, Juravlev, and Stepanov (all SK2, no traits) were put in charge of 3 DOp, 37 DOp, and 52 DOp respectively. There's no point in wasting exceptional or particularly promising Generals on second line units when there are still many more powerful units in the pipeline. Of course, when the Opolcheniye Divisions get retrained and reshaped into regular Rifle Divisions, their commanders may well be replaced.
For the 2 new Garrison Divisions, two more Generals were called back. This pair was selected for being sub-par commanders (the reason why they were retired in the first place), with a special knack for defensive operations as their one redeeming quality. (SK1, DD) Perfect for second-line, purely defensive formations. MajGens Karmanov, and Zverev were placed in command of 18 GarD, and 19 GarD respectively.
Air Force:
No change in VVS numbers, nor Navy Air Fleet numbers for the last 10 days.
No changes to Navy Air Fleet leadership.
VVS Leadership:
Newly Commissioned MajGenAv. Reshetnikov has been put in charge of 2 DBAD after I. DBAK (Strx2) was broken up as 2 DBAD suffered heavy casualties and it's remaining TB-3's were needed in Norway. MajGenAv. Kalinin (formerly in command of I. DBAK) retains command of 1 DBAD. As Heavy Bomber support is now needed in several places at once, this arrangement has been made permanent, with the long term aim of eventually transforming both formations into Heavy Bombardment Corps by doubling, or even tripling, their number. But that process will only start in November as the production lines for large planes are currently churning out La-2's for the yet to be deployed 4. TrAD. Other considerations make it unlikely we will convert more factories for the production of large aeroplanes anytime soon.
Navy:
No changes to the Navy for the last 10 days.
Politics / International:
Battle of Britain:
The RAF's air war calmed down a lot. 2 air battles over Dover, and a single battle over Korbach (SW of Kassel). This is likely connected to a flare-up in Luftwaffe activity over our own forces.
Battle of the Atlantic:
Things calmed down dramatically, with 3 Axis convoys sunk to the North-West of Scotland and no allied convoys lost. Maybe our Norway operations have distracted the Kriegsmarine from their convoy raiding?
Yugoslavia
Tito's indigenous Yugoslav partisans were rooted out as Germany took control of Dubrovnik, Ljubinje, and Cevo. As these areas were under Italian control before the uprising, I can't imagine the Italians are too pleased with that, nor are the cartographers who now have to deal with an even longer, more wavy border. A bit further to the north, US-sponsored partisans have risen up in Zvornik, SW of the confluence of the Drina and Sava rivers. This means that whatever units the Germans deployed to the area will have to stay there to deal with them as well, which is good news for us.
Athens - Greece:
United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 4,9 / 87,1 +
Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 5,9 / 79,2 =
The Italians seem to have given up trying to take back the Greek Capital. Of course, STAVKA keeps hoping they will get it together and evict the Britons, both so the Italians pull some troops from their Eastern front, and so the Red Army has the possibility to liberate it later.
North Africa Front:
Here too things have stalled.
7 Italian merchant vessels were sunk, by the Royal Navy. No Allied convoys were hit by the Italians.
A few bombing missions by No.16 RN 'Coastal Naval Command' over Reggio di Calabria finished off the last ship of 11. Squadrone Transporti, but after that there was no action in the air around the Med.
South East Asia:
United States of America (Surrender Progress / NU): 8,5 / 85,1
United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 4,9 / 87,1 + (Loss of Kota Bharu)
Japan (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 70,1
Netherlands, France (Government in Exile)
Indonesian Front:
The slow single-Division trek to take over Java continues, with the IJA asserting control over the Mountainous province of Bandung. The small town at the core of the province has one of the highest concentrations of Art Deco Architecture in the world. All built by the Dutch during the inter-war years.
Here too, the convoy war calmed down a lot, with 9 Axis and 4 Allied freighters sunk. All of the Allied losses were around the Eastern end of Java. The new ultra-modern Suffren-Class Destroyers, based in Haiphong, have gone out to investigate on their own. We'll have to see if that works out well for them. This gives them the dubious honour of being the only French Navy vessels actually doing something.
Malay Front:
More Japanese units seem to have arrived on the Malay peninsula, with the IJA continuing to move in a North-Easterly direction, unopposed, save for the officers of Far East Theatre Command, which fired a few shots as they were ousted from Kota Bahru. The latter Naval base, on the Eastern side of the Peninsula, allows for a shorter naval connection for the Japanese to bring in supplies, and maybe even more forces. It's only a matter of time before the Japanese turn South towards Singapore. An attempt by the Singapore Garrison to take back Teluk Anson ended in failure as the Japanese regulars made short work of the lightly armed conscripts, forcing them to flee back towards Singapore. Luckily for the UK, Siam grants the British Military access, but not the Japanese. Of course, the Indian Army doesn't have the forces to do anything with that, but at least it's better than the reverse.
In the Straits of Malacca, another small British Fleet seems to have been caught by Japanese Carrier planes with both HMS Curacoa (C-class), and HMS Dehli (Danae-class) being sent to the bottom by torpedo bombers from Kaga and Akagi, respectively.
Commissioned in February 1918, HMS Curacoa was initially a 4.200 ton C-Class Light Cruiser of the Ceres sub-Class. It's original main armament consisted of 5 BL 6" (152mm) Mk. XII Naval guns on single mountings, 2 QF 3" (76,2mm) Mk. I AA Guns and 4 twin 21" torpedo launchers. In this shape, she was the flagship of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron, part of Harwich Force, for the final 9 months of the war. She was refitted in late 1939, into an AA Cruiser. Her 6" Naval guns were removed to make place for 4 twin QF 4" Mk.XVI dual purpose guns. The 3" weapons were swapped for 6 QF 2-pounders (40mm), two singles, and one quadruple mount. 2 quadruple Vickers .50" AA MG's were also added, and the torpedo tubes were removed. Additionally, a modern High-Angle fire control System (Mk.III) and a Type 279 radar were fitted. After refit, she weighed in at over 5.400 tons. Propulsion is provided through 2 shafts, powered by 6 boilers and Parsons geared steam turbines, providing 40.000 shp. Armour is scarce, 3" on the sides of the machinery spaces, 2,25" around the magazines and 1"deck plating amidships over the most vital areas. Her original top speed of 29, already slow by today's standards, was cut down to about 25 knots by the alterations, which left the power-plant untouched. OTL she sank due to a collision with the Ocean Liner RMS Queen Mary, while the latter was sailing in zig-zag at top speed (28.5 knots) to evade a submarine attack, HMS Curacoa continued sailing straight ahead and ended up sliced in two. ATL, she sunk due to a collision with a pair of Japanese Air-launched torpedoes.
Pacific Front:
9 Axis merchant vessels and 4 Allied ones were sunk in the Pacific. 1 Axis Merchant ship was caught off the coast of Hispaniola. Another record low.
Industry:
A group of high ranking Apparatchiks have proposed a comprehensive plan to relocate factories Eastward. The idea in itself wasn't necessarily a bad one. However, their proposal was clearly overly defeatist, as the westernmost factories to be moved following their proposal were over 250km from the front, and there was no suggestion to evacuate industry from Kaunas or Lwow, for example. When this was pointed out to them, they muttered something about railway gauges and the plans being made up before the recent Westward expansion. Needless to say, the proposal was rejected as the factories in question are clearly not in imminent danger and the cost and production time loss from moving any number of them would slow down vital production. (By declining to move Industry to Siberia you get +200 manpower, not that the Soviet Union is running out of able-bodied men anytime soon.)
235 + / 428 + / 566 + Factories in Bergen (1 IC) have started producing supplies (mostly canned fish, and fish oil products, including Glycerine) for the Red Army forces in Norway.
Lend-Lease aid was increased a little to 138 IC/day, that was also the average over the last 10 days. Aid was delivered every day with no interruptions for a total of 1.378 ICdays.
The recent scuffle with the Regia Aeronautica shows that the Red Navy could really use a forward Air Base in the Aegean. Construction of a basic Airfield (Level 1 Air Base) has started on Mythiléné.
IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )
Upgrades: 95,8 / 122,27 +
Reinforcement: 37,9 / 37,91 + The need for reinforcements varies wildly but remains over 20 IC.
Supplies: 70,00 / 58,32 = The supply stockpile has remained stable and there were no major supply issues, so the production and purchase of supplies has remained constant.
Production: 328,35 / 334.64 - With 350 units still waiting for the latest equipment and no increase in Lend-Lease aid to match, production spending was cut down. The construction of our Rocket Test Site also had to be slowed down a little to avoid impacting more pressing wartime production.
Consumer Goods: 33,96 / 33,96 +
Stockpiles:
Energy: Maximum tonnes +
Metal: 98.031 tonnes -
Rares: 49.074 tonnes +
Crude: 93.128 cubic metres +
Supplies: 33.758 tonnes +
Fuel: 99.951 barrels +
Money: 1.372 +
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 / 0
Total: 5 / 0 / 0 / 1
Reserves: 7
Spy training leadership expenditure: 1,03 + (a new spy every 7 days)
A spy from Germany was caught in the Soviet Union.
A temporary increase in espionage expenditure has been allowed as plans are being made for a new operation in Sweden, to increase the population's Support for Communism, and make an alliance more palatable to it's politicians. Where our diplomats have failed, maybe our spies will succeed? Or possibly a combination of both.
Research:
A new Armoured Car Gun (Level 5) is ready for mass production, as part of a new Armoured Car Design.
Our car-based Armoured Cars have been a major focus of development in recent years: The BA-20 was soon followed by the BA-30 (Half-track prototype, too maintenance-heavy), and eventually the excellent BA-64 currently in service. The same can be said of our specialist amphibious armoured cars, with the BDRM-1 & BDRM-2. (These are actually 1950s and 1960s vehicles, but Paradox put the BDRM-2 in the game as a 1940 Armoured Car and I mentioned it before, so let's just roll with it.) These latter vehicles proved impractical to build in large numbers, only a couple 100 were produced, they are mostly deployed to Engineer Regiments.
But as useful as these have proven to be, the heavy armoured cars had fallen by the wayside. So naturally, even before the war, there was a call for a modern armoured car with a big gun instead of the omnipresent 7.62 Machine-Guns, with the production of a prototype starting in May. This assessment was only confirmed by the recent fighting on the front.
The 1937 BA-6 heavy Armoured cars, based on a three-axle Ford lorry chassis (similar to that of the GAZ-AAA), with a T-26 turret on top, have proven surprisingly useful in recent months. However, they are getting a bit long in the tooth, and there aren't enough of them to go around.
Initially, the designers at the Izhora Plant (Leningrad area) went with what they knew, evolving the BA-6 concept. They started with a revised GAZ-AAA chassis as a base, upgrading the suspension, and fitting a modernised K-20 45mm gun into the T-26 turret. The first prototype, the BA-10, was rushed out by late June. It proved disappointing in testing. It would have been fine as a direct follow-up to the BA-6 in 1938, or maybe even before the war started. But, as the review board included Armoured Cavalry and Guards Rifle officers with experience in the field, it was sent back to the drawing board. It needed a new turret design with sloped armour instead of the steep, almost cylindrical, design of the T-26 original. The 4-cylinder engine was a bit sluggish and barely an improvement on that in the BA-6. They wouldn't be able to keep up with the Armoured Cavalry columns in their shiny Half-tracks.
So, back to the drawing board they went. Meanwhile, at the Moscow Automobile Plant No.1 (ZiS cars and lorries), engineers have been tinkering with the ZiS-5 (4x2) and ZiS-6 (6x4) chassis and accompanying drive-train for years, all in an attempt to fit the capable platform to an ever more varied number of roles. The ZiS-6K, a shortened three-axle variant, fitted with a powerful low-mounted 6-cylinder engine, was selected as a basis for the new vehicle, and with a few tweaks, the ZiS-34 chassis was born. Integrating lessons learned from the BA-10 prototype, the Izhora Plant engineers designed an armoured body and a new turret fit to the platform. The BA-11 is now ready for mass production. At over 8 tonnes fully loaded it is quite a beast, sporting up to 10mm of sloped armour, a modern turret with a 1938 45mm 20K gun (114 shells), and 2 7.62 DT LMG's (one co-axial, and one in front of the commander, with over 3,000 rounds) for good measure. It carries it's bulk rather well thanks to sturdy leaf spring suspension, and that powerful ZiS inline-6, tuned up slightly to produce 93hp. A top speed of 64 km/h can be reached on paved surfaces, the vehicle can also ford 60 cm of water, and climb slopes up to 22°(depending on the surface). To navigate tricky terrain, tracks can be fitted around the driven wheels, linking them up and creating a makeshift half-track.
LEFT: Testing of the wheel-mounted tracks on the BA-10 prototype, somewhere in Karelia. RIGHT: Side profile of the BA-11 prototype. Note the shallower slope angle of the turret on the BA-11.
OTL The BA-10 was produced in the thousands starting in 1938, and it's successor, the BA-11 didn't make it into mass production as the production of light and medium tanks took priority to replace the losses incurred in the early days of the GPW. ATL, I expect the BA-11 to make it into service in large numbers because the war started a year later, and thus the kinks with the design would have been ironed out. We also didn't loose anything close to the number of tanks the OTL Red Army lost in the early months of the war. This means there is space for the production of these beauties. If the focus in the late 30's was on lighter Armoured Cars, and revolutionary river-crossing amphibious vehicles, the BA-10 would likely have remained a design on paper until 1940, when here was a re-surging interest for the creation of heavy armoured cars. It should aso be noted that the armour on the ATL BA-11 is slightly thinner than on the historical one as Ive been purposefully skipping AC Armour upgrades to make them faster.
As a follow-up, our Artillery researchers have been given the green light to team up with rocket scientists (some of whom were pulled off the construction of the Rocket Test Site) in order to create a workable Rocket Artillery design. It is expected that a motorised variant would be able to keep up with our Armoured Cavalry, as opposed to the regular SP-Art, which would only slow them down.
Our Naval designers have delivered a new 66.000 hp turbine for our Carriers. With the new Engines, and a redesigned hull with more fuel tanks, the next Carrier classes will be slightly quicker, and have a longer operating range.
They have now started work on the development of specialised Landing Craft for the Naval Infantry, and faster military transport ships that can keep up with the Battleships, to carry them to their destination.
Leadership distribution:
Research: 20,67 (+0,07)
Espionage: 1,03 (+0,82)
Diplomacy: 0,21 (-0,81)
Officers: 12,00 = (72 Officers/day)
Total: 33,92 (+0,1) A few Norwegian scientists and diplomats based in Bergen have agreed to work for us.
Statistics:
National Unity: 83,229 =
Neutrality: 0,00 =
Dissent: 0,00 =
Manpower:
Available: 2.228.000 (+169.000) Not having to move factories means more men are available for military service.
Men To reinforce(need): 12.300
Men To mobilise(need): See above
Monthly gain: 70.900 Men + (1 fully mobilised Infx3, Art, AT Division every 5,35 days)
Party Popularity:
- Communist Party: 61 =
- Trotskyite: 6(-5)
- Bukharinite: 0 (-5)
- Social-Revolutionary: 4 =
- Trudoviks: 6 (+3)
- Kadets: 6 (+2)
- Octobrists: 3 (+3)
- Tsarists: 8 (+1)
- NTS: 1 =
- POA: 5 =
There has been a slight resurgence of Capitalist tendencies amongst the population, possibly due to the influence of US spies which have trickled in alongside the legitimate diplomats and military liaison officers. As support for these capitalist ideas is coming from an all time low, it's nothing to worry about, yet, as none of the Capitalist factions are close to the 10% popularity that would allow them to really cause trouble. While support for the Communist Party's Stalinist doctrine remains overwhelming, especially within it, sympathies for alternative (wrong) versions of Socialism have hit a new low. Trotskyism has been reduced to a small fringe of the Communist party, while no one is even thinking about Bukharin's ideas anymore. On the right, there has been little movement, with a slight increase in support for a return to Tsarist rule. German spies were unable to enact a rise in fortunes for the National-Socialist POA movement, as they got caught by the NKVD's counterespionage efforts.
No changes in Party Organisation
This Information is accurate on the morning of the 6th of September 1942, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.
'Odin'