Taking On the Bear
The Diplomatic Front
Finland formed an alliance with Poland and revoked its non-aggression pact with Soviet Union. The situation is clearly heating up. It is beneficial for us, because the Soviets will be forced to guard the Soviet-Finish border. Finland may yet serve as a diversion...
Persia became endangered and asked for our help. We supported their cause and Persia joined the Axis. This opens up a front with India and forces the Italians to fight a two-front war, but considering the fact that India is also hostile to the Soviet Union, it may serve as another diversion.
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Defence of Poland
Soviet progress is slower than expected, which means that their army is not of the greatest quality. We are holding the line in Eastern Prussia (although we have some supply problems there), but Polish army is about to be encircled. Therefore, our light tanks will protect Polish the flank.
More and more troops are arriving from the West. Judging by the enemy's combat performance we expect that the Soviets will not be able to get past our defence line on the Vistula River.
The Soviets reached our defence line on 15th of June 1942, but they did not dare to advance further. It has been decided that the Wehrmacht needs to take the initiative in its own hands and plans for first major encirclement were made. Soviets were vulnerable on their flanks, which meant that it could be possible to cut off part of their army near Vistula river.
A combined armoured and motorised force completed the task in less than two weeks. The pocket still needs to be cleared of enemy soldiers, but it was concluded that our first major operation in the war against the Soviets was a success.
Another armoured thrust was made with the intention of encircling Soviet forces near Lwów. Major enemy forces were present in the region, so stiff resistance was to be expected.
However, by 17th of
July 1942 Lwów region was effectively cut off from Ukrainian regions. Our bombers started logistical bombings in the region in order to deprive the Soviet forces stationed there of supplies.
The remnants of the Soviet forces from the first encirclement fled to Lublin. The siege of the city would be long and bloody. Still, their surrender was just a question of time.
We need more soldiers, so new draft laws were enacted. Our manpower reserve is significantly smaller than the Soviet one, so we will not win this war by attrition warfare. Therefore, we will concentrate on decisive strikes and encirclements.
The Lvivian pocket has finally been cleared of enemy forces on 10th of
August. Unfortunately, the Soviet defenders of Lublin are still holding the city in their hands...
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Plans for further operations
As it is still summer, new operations are already being planned for this year. Firstly, we intend to encircle the Soviet forces in northern-eastern Poland and Lithuania (
RED). Secondly, we will attempt to encircle the bulk of the enemy forces near the Pripet marshes (
GREEN). Thirdly, should the circumstances allow us, we will attempt to attack Moscow directly (
YELLOW. If it proves to be impossible, we will attempt to form an another encirclement in Lithuania(
PINK).