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Great update, as always. From what I remember, rocket sites cost an arm and a leg, so a smart call to postpone it, in my opinion.
The choice is between a Rocket Test Site (6.084 ICdays), 2 Tank Divisions, 3 Carriers, 6 Rifle Divisions, 6 Int/Ftr Wings, or 7 CAS wings... just to give you an idea...

From what I can tell, that's pretty much the gist of it. There were also ballistic capped APHE shells, with improved long range performance, that apparently could penetrate 108 mm at 90 degrees from 3000 meters away. Anything lighter than Tiger Ausf. B could be penetrated from "long range", which I believe we can presume to mean at the very least 2 km and probably more like 2500 meters or more. Apparently it was mainly used for AT purposes, but the Soviets did like to use AT pieces as field guns when they weren't preoccupied with AT work, and apparently was quite successful in that too, given the mobility and quick rate of fire. Some sources actually indicate maximum range as 20 km (12.42 mi) for the BS-3 field gun, and 14,600 meters or 16,000 meters for the D-10 tank gun. Probably from Jane's pocket book of towed artillery, but I don't own that so this is all third-hand.
Thanks for this additional information
From what I read, the Soviets often used guns interchangeably for AT, direct fire and Howitzer purposes, regardless of what they were designed for. The SB-3 was quite a capable howitzer (the D-10T lacked the elevation for that role). The 152mm ML-20, especially in the shape of the Su-152, slaughtered tanks (even elephants) at short range, even without AP ammunition.
I should specify, I own none of the books cited, and I took the information of forums and wikipedia, who cited the mentioned books. Jane's pocket book of towed artillery was also cited somewhere, I think on wikipedia, but it wasn't referenced in the text, so it's quite probable that's where the numbers come from.

Also, very cool to see a Finnish book cited! We did use the D-10 as a coastal gun in the 60's, by taking the entire turret assembly (sans stabilizer) of a T-55 and slapping it on a coastal artillery bunker. We bought the turrets from the Soviets, and TBH I don't know what they thought we were going to do with them, but they didn't expect us to use them for THAT and were apparently quite surprised. They were eventually decommissioned in 2012.
I love how the Fins combined a balanced order book of both Soviet and NATO weapons systems with this kind of madness. A T-55 turret as a coastal gun, epic.:cool:
 
I love how the Fins combined a balanced order book of both Soviet and NATO weapons systems with this kind of madness. A T-55 turret as a coastal gun, epic.:cool:

You don't know the half of it! We did have to balance the orders and that lead to some quite creative solutions, and as a result we still have a lot of Soviet hardware, like MT-LBs. There's a lot of other weird stuff, too; look up the Marksman anti-aircraft system if you doubt me :p
 
You don't know the half of it! We did have to balance the orders and that lead to some quite creative solutions, and as a result we still have a lot of Soviet hardware, like MT-LBs. There's a lot of other weird stuff, too; look up the Marksman anti-aircraft system if you doubt me :p
All right, that's impressive on another level... A pair of Swiss rapid-fire guns mounted on a turret in combination with high-tech British Radar, a combination only the Finns bought. They originally mounted it on a T-55 (of which I presume they used the original as a coastal gun), now the turrets are being transferred to German Leopard 2A4s...o_O Who needs fancy Patriot Missiles when you can do that?;) More than 50% hit percentage, with guns against jets.. that's really impressive when you think about it.:rolleyes:
Thanks for bringing this unique weapons system's existence to my attention.
 
All right, that's impressive on another level... A pair of Swiss rapid-fire guns mounted on a turret in combination with high-tech British Radar, a combination only the Finns bought. They originally mounted it on a T-55 (of which I presume they used the original as a coastal gun), now the turrets are being transferred to German Leopard 2A4s...o_O Who needs fancy Patriot Missiles when you can do that?;) More than 50% hit percentage, with guns against jets.. that's really impressive when you think about it.:rolleyes:
Thanks for bringing this unique weapons system's existence to my attention.

Actually, the coastal turrets were bought separately from USSR, and the T-55 chassis for Marksman systems were purchased from Poland. The T-55 turrets were installed in -69 and the Marksman were built in the 90's, hence the name ItPsv90. We saw what the Tunguska did, and made our own ghetto version, I guess? :cool: We do weird shit (just ask any Marines who have been training arctic fighting with the Finns ;)) but somehow it has so far worked out well for us. Except when we built probably the worst LMG of the latter 20th century. :(
 
Actually, the coastal turrets were bought separately from USSR, and the T-55 chassis for Marksman systems were purchased from Poland. The T-55 turrets were installed in -69 and the Marksman were built in the 90's, hence the name ItPsv90.
I figured as much, that was meant mostly as a joke. (though you never know with you Fins...)

We saw what the Tunguska did, and made our own ghetto version, I guess? :cool:
That's exactly what it looks like... and I was scratching my head trying to remember where I had seen that kind of twin AA-gun turret design before... As long as it all works out...
 
I figured as much, that was meant mostly as a joke. (though you never know with you Fins...)

Ah. Sorry, should have informed you we have very little sense of humour up here. Some might say we have very little sense at all, considering we choose to live in a country where even in the south the temperature drops below -20 C every winter (which is why I grin a little every time you write a report where a character complains about the cold when it's -5 or -10 :D), but I assure you we have some other great innovations besides the ghetto-Tunguska. We're just misunderstood. And like weird things, such as salmiakki.

Sorry for all the off-topic. Back to bringing the revolution to the ill-treated workers of the world!
 
That's correct, it's theoretical range, so optimal elevation, no wind, etc.
The shells used most with this weapon in WW2 seem to have been an HE fragmentation shell (F-412, 15.6kg), and an Armour Piercing High Explosive shell (BR-412). I guess the first was used against overwhelmingly soft targets, and the second, when tanks were expected. I don't know which one was the primary round, but both seem to have been widely used.
Later 1944 tests revealed that a Panther's Glacis could be breached from 1.500m. It's not clear which shell was used in either test.
Nowadays there are a lot of more powerful rounds in use, of course.
For the SB-3 variant, it seems that it could disable a TigerAusf. B with well aimed shots at no more than 1.600m, most other tanks could be neutralised at longer range.
I don't know how much sense this all makes, as I am by no means an expert when it comes to guns, I just know what I read on the internet...
All from second hand information, the cited sources for the bits I used were:
  • Enqvist, Ove (1998). Itsenäisen Suomen rannikkotykit 1918-1998/Coastal guns in Finland 1918-1998. Helsinki: Military Museum of Finland. ISBN 951-25-1033-2.
  • Shunkov V. N. - The Weapons of the Red Army, Mn. Harvest, 1999 (Шунков В. Н. - Оружие Красной Армии. — Мн.: Харвест, 1999.) ISBN 985-433-469-4

Great update, as always. From what I remember, rocket sites cost an arm and a leg, so a smart call to postpone it, in my opinion. The discussion on AT weapons is extremely fascinating, and of course, I'm happy to see the Army given some more hitting power! Keep up the great work!

From what I can tell, that's pretty much the gist of it. There were also ballistic capped APHE shells, with improved long range performance, that apparently could penetrate 108 mm at 90 degrees from 3000 meters away. Anything lighter than Tiger Ausf. B could be penetrated from "long range", which I believe we can presume to mean at the very least 2 km and probably more like 2500 meters or more. Apparently it was mainly used for AT purposes, but the Soviets did like to use AT pieces as field guns when they weren't preoccupied with AT work, and apparently was quite successful in that too, given the mobility and quick rate of fire. Some sources actually indicate maximum range as 20 km (12.42 mi) for the BS-3 field gun, and 14,600 meters or 16,000 meters for the D-10 tank gun. Probably from Jane's pocket book of towed artillery, but I don't own that so this is all third-hand.

Also, very cool to see a Finnish book cited! We did use the D-10 as a coastal gun in the 60's, by taking the entire turret assembly (sans stabilizer) of a T-55 and slapping it on a coastal artillery bunker. We bought the turrets from the Soviets, and TBH I don't know what they thought we were going to do with them, but they didn't expect us to use them for THAT and were apparently quite surprised. They were eventually decommissioned in 2012.
Thanks, I had a bit of professional interest from my former career. Without researching further and just making an educated guess, I think the major limiting factor in ‘effective range’ for either a towed or TD set-up would have been the aiming and ranging rather than the shells. Much like in a tank, they would use HE frag against soft targets (light vehicles, infantry, etc) and the APHE for hard targets (AFVs, perhaps a bunker if used in the assault).

I can tell you that on a Leopard 1A4 (which we operated before getting M1 quite a while back) you considered 2-2500m your max range against another tank. And that’s with a late model (compared to these guys) 105mm tank gun, Amour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot round* (ie kinetic with a tungsten-carbide penetrator, so like a big rifle bullet), laser rangefinder and gunnery computer (plus stabilisation if you were on the move). And if the terrain gave you that distance to see them. And then worrying about the ‘two-way shooting range’. Battle range was probably more like 1-1,500m. I’d be surprised if these guns would have been realistically useful against a hard, moving target at much more than that 1,000m you mentioned.

With all that stuff I mentioned above, and a good, well-trained gunner, I remember being really pleased at us hitting a 1m square steel plate target, shooting stationary, at about 2,800m, with a first shot. But soft targets, with HE, we’d have a go out to 4,000m.

*Edit: though I now recall at the time, it was only an APDS round. If they ever developed an APFSDS round for our Leopards, it was after my time. We never had DU (depleted uranium) ‘long rod penetrators’ either. You can tell these names were invented by men! :rolleyes:
 
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Sorry for all the off-topic. Back to bringing the revolution to the ill-treated workers of the world!
Considering Finland does not exist, as such, anymore (in this ATL anyway), that was pretty pointless... but it was fun though... maybe we will get some mad ideas from our recently integrated Finnish Scientists. It's unlikely that their spirit died with their sovereignty.

Thanks, I had a bit of professional interest from my former career. Without researching further and just making an educated guess, I think the major limiting factor in ‘effective range’ for either a towed or TD set-up would have been the aiming and ranging rather than the shells. Much like in a tank, they would use HE frag against soft targets (light vehicles, infantry, etc) and the APHE for hard targets (AFVs, perhaps a bunker if used in the assault).

I can tell you that on a Leopard 1A4 (which we operated before getting M1 quite a while back) you considered 2-2500m your max range against another tank. And that’s with a late model (compared to these guys) 105mm tank gun, Amour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot round (ie kinetic with a tungsten-carbide penetrator, so like a big rifle bullet), laser rangefinder and gunnery computer (plus stabilisation if you were on the move). And if the terrain gave you that distance to see them. And then worrying about the ‘two-way shooting range’. Battle range was probably more like 1-1,500m. I’d be surprised if these guns would have been realistically useful against a hard, moving target at much more than that 1,000m you mentioned.

With all that stuff I mentioned above, and a good, well-trained gunner, I remember being really pleased at us hitting a 1m square steel plate target, shooting stationary, at about 2,800m, with a first shot. But soft targets, with HE, we’d have a go out to 4,000m.
Thanks for sharing your personal experience, it adds some real depth to the figures, makes me better understand how these guns were used (probably), and may preclude me from making errors in possible future narrative updates, once the shooting starts, again.
 
Thanks for sharing your personal experience, it adds some real depth to the figures, makes me better understand how these guns were used (probably), and may preclude me from making errors in possible future narrative updates, once the shooting starts, again.
No problem - if you can find a decent battlefield account from tank or any anti-tank memoir or official history etc of the time it could really be useful if that’s the kind of narrative insert you’re considering. Then you get the actual accounts of how they were used (by those who survived, so they must have been good, lucky or both), which is always a better guide than the specs of what they can technically do in ‘test bed’ conditions. :)
 
No problem - if you can find a decent battlefield account from tank or any anti-tank memoir or official history etc of the time it could really be useful if that’s the kind of narrative insert you’re considering. Then you get the actual accounts of how they were used (by those who survived, so they must have been good, lucky or both), which is always a better guide than the specs of what they can technically do in ‘test bed’ conditions. :)

At least all American and Australian units' war diaries are publicly available. Wehrmacht war diaries are too, IIRC, but probably only in German. Red Army ones are probably available in Russian. Plus there are a lot of individual soldiers' war diaries and memoirs, which could prove helpful. You could also probably find a lot of material about the Soviets from the Finns, which I would be more than happy to translate if needed, but of course that's from the other side of the front mostly which may limit the usefulness.
 
18th of February 1941, Kyiv goes Training, and scouting, in the Mediterranean.
The 18th of February 1941, Sevastopol, 10.8°C, 3pm Moscow Time,

After 6 days of training in the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, I. Avianosets Flote, our brand new Carrier Kyiv, and our Chief of the Navy have just returned to Sevastopol. It was an interesting trip, and inevitably it has been used to gather intelligence on the Warring nations of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Many foreign vessels were met, and even more spotted in various ports. Of course, a folder with documents, pictures, and maps, was waiting for me in one of our Sevastopol dead drops. So without further ado, here is what happened on the Kyiv's first outing:

On the 13th, after an uneventful trip through the Black Sea, a squadron of the Kyiv's LaGG-3VM fighters caught a pair of submarines by surprise in the Sea of Marmara. Upon further investigation, the vessels were identified as the two French-built Yugoslav submarines of the Osvetnik-Class. After some waving back and forth, the voyage continued towards the Western Aegean Sea, which was reached by 2am Moscow Time the next morning. Notes were made of Radar-detected fleets and land units along the way. The bulk of the Greek navy was spotted in Athina, but a small fleet seemed to be rebasing to Mytiléné.
Dardanelles_WestAegean41-02-13-min.png

These were delivered in 1929, and are thus only 12 years old, which is older than our newest class of Submarines, but close to the average age of our entire submarine Fleet. Built in France, these had German MAN Diesel engines coupled with French Nancy Electric Motors. The Osvetnik are believed to be the only subs of any relevance in the Yugoslav Navy.
After some more flight training along the way, 1. Avianosets Flote made it's way up the Adriatic, all the way up to the Northern Coast of Dalmatia, which it reached at 5am Moscow Time on the 15th. Some Italian Motorised Infantry was spotted charging seemingly unmanned Greek lines in Mesolongi. A small 4-unit fleet was detected in the Port of Dubrovnik, and a the 7-unit main Yugoslav Fleet was spotted at anchor in Split. Surprisingly, Yugoslavia does seem to have an Air Force, with a wing based out of Split, right next to the action. Deeper inside Yugoslavia, coded radio transmissions from a German Panzer-Division were intercepted.
Adriatic41-02-15-min.png

An unidentified Regia Marina Unit was spotted in the port of Ancona.
On the way out of the Adriatic, some Italian Aeroplanes were detected in Tirane. On the 16th, at 1am Moscow Time, off the Coast of Cape Matapan, contact was made with a large British Fleet. HMS Queen Elizabeth was lightly damaged, but otherwise the ships were in good shape.

CoastOfCapeMapatan41-02-15-min.png

Noble commands an interesting task force. His flagship, the Queen Elizabeth (mid left), a 1913 Battleship, is surrounded by a host of ships. HMS Hermes (mid right), an Escort Carrier similar to our Moskva-Class, HMS Kent (top right), an interwar Heavy Cruiser. Most notable amongst the escorts are the Tribal-Class Destroyers (bottom right) and the ww1 light Cruiser HMS Cairo (bottom left).
It soon turned out that 1. Avianosets Flote had actually stumbled upon two fleets, as the British group split up before disappearing over the horizon. Upon arrival in the Gulf of Bomba, a couple of hours later, at 8 am, a group of about 3 LSI ships, carrying LCA landing craft were spotted, one of them was severely damaged. The ships looked empty, and all of them had seen better days. They were escorted by five brand new and improved Tribal-Class Destroyers. This seemed a bit thin, but then again, the Med is crawling with British ships, and we haven't seen an axis ship in the open seas.

GulfOfBomba41-02-16-min.png

No ships in the port of Tobruch, one of the dedicated LSI ships, this one is the Royal Ulsterman.
The next British Fleet that was encountered was first met in the air, when our pilots were greeted by a squadron of Hawker Sea Hurricanes that popped over the horizon. by 11pm Moscow Time, the British fleet was well within view, and while it was initially believed that this was the same fleet that had been met in Coast Of Mapatan previously, it was confirmed to be a different Fleet, under Command of Admiral Tovey.

CoastOfEgypt41-02-16-min.png

Hawker Sea Hurricanes, photographed from an Il-2VM torpedo bomber. Tovey's Task Force is similar to Nobles. It's flagship is HMS Valiant (Bottom right), a Queen-Elizabeth Class Battleship, Air Support comes from the old Escort Carrier HMS Unicorn (Bottom Left). For Escorts, 10 Destroyers were counted of the A-Class and Tribal-Class. That makes this fleet significantly smaller than Noble's fleet.
Once the Royal Navy was on it's way, and our pilots stopped playing around with their Royal Navy counterparts, feeling out each-other's machines, the fleet got closer to the coast, and a clear picture was formed of the forces present in Egypt. It should be noted that playing around with pilots from another nation with wildly different aeroplanes is a great way to train for our pilots. On the way back to Sevastopol, Radars picked up Italian Aeroplane radios over Rodi, suggesting a significant Italian presence on the island:

CoastOfEgypt41-02-17-min.png

Note the Royal Marines Division, which seem to be the main factor of recent British successes on this front. In El'Iskandariya 9 Royal Navy Units lay at anchor, including a Battleship and Heavy Cruisers. two RAF wings are present on the city's Air Base. On Rodi, two wings of the Regia Aeronautica were counted, whatever they are there for, I'm sure the Allies, and especially the British don't like it...
The rest of the trip was uneventful, and nothing new was noted.

What does all of this mean? These are my guesses...
The Royal Navy probably dominates the Mediterranean, especially around active Allied fronts and shipping lanes, this is inferred from the fact that no Axis fleets were encountered. The damage on some of the RN ships suggests that the Italians still manage to do some harassing once in a while, but the sheer number of British ships in operations implies that the vast majority of engagements are probably pretty British-sided.
It is unclear how things are going in relation to supplies, the British seem to be doing all right, but the Italians, having to supply several overseas front, through Royal Navy infested waters, must be suffering very heavy losses.


We can realistically hope to learn more about the situation from 'Odinatsat', but I'm still waiting for that promised next report, I'm sure you are too. Let's hope everything is all right with her, and it's just an issue related to the communication channels. Submarines are on their way to see if any coded distress signals are being sent out... We're all getting rather worried...

Anyhow, I hope you find this intelligence helpful, I need to get back to Moscow and Vologda, and I have a report to write.

Greetings,

'Odin'

 
Unless the Axis can cut off the Mediterranean the UK is going to pretty much dominate it from Gibraltar to Jordan. I assume Malta is still in British hands.
 
These naval recons usually provide some useful info. You (the Secret Committee) could always do a check of the naval sinking reports to get an idea of Italian naval losses to complement the recon report.

On a technical note, I noticed a new style for the pictures: looks good with what appear to be either transparency or groups of pictures. Do you mind briefly explaining the methodology or program you’ve used for that? I only have very basic graphics knowledge/programs. As yet, I’ve only used MS Paint and PowerPoint for my pictures, but have admired the classier graphics in some other AARs.
 
At least all American and Australian units' war diaries are publicly available. Wehrmacht war diaries are too, IIRC, but probably only in German. Red Army ones are probably available in Russian. Plus there are a lot of individual soldiers' war diaries and memoirs, which could prove helpful. You could also probably find a lot of material about the Soviets from the Finns, which I would be more than happy to translate if needed, but of course that's from the other side of the front mostly which may limit the usefulness.
That's quite interesting, I might read/skim some of those free war diaries, especially Wehrmacht ones from the Eastern Front. I can read Dutch, French, English, and German. You have graciously offered to translate Finnish. Russian might be more tricky, on the other hand...

Unless the Axis can cut off the Mediterranean the UK is going to pretty much dominate it from Gibraltar to Jordan. I assume Malta is still in British hands.
Malta is still very British

These naval recons usually provide some useful info. You (the Secret Committee) could always do a check of the naval sinking reports to get an idea of Italian naval losses to complement the recon report.
I believe that information will be coming from our spies in the UK...

On a technical note, I noticed a new style for the pictures: looks good with what appear to be either transparency or groups of pictures. Do you mind briefly explaining the methodology or program you’ve used for that? I only have very basic graphics knowledge/programs. As yet, I’ve only used MS Paint and PowerPoint for my pictures, but have admired the classier graphics in some other AARs.
To get these kinds of effects, and to possibly tinker with colour balances etc. I tend to use Gimp, which is freely available image treatment software.
To create a 'group' of pictures like those seen above, I create a new file of the desired size, then I import all the pictures I will use as layers. Then starts the process of resizing, cutting and positioning. To achieve the transparency between the images, I remove the standard background, and then export the whole as a single .png file. (.jpg will replace transparent areas with white...).
To make sure the page will still load, it's a good idea to compress the .png, as online compression tools can shave off anywhere between 25% and 60% of the file size, for little to no noticeable loss in quality.
 
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To get these kinds of effects, and to possibly tinker with colour balances etc. I tend to use Gimp, which is freely available image treatment software.
To create a 'group' of pictures like those seen above, I create a new file of the desired size, then I import all the pictures I will use as layers. Then starts the process of resizing, cutting and positioning. To achieve the transparency between the images, I remove the standard background, and then export the whole as a single .png file. (.jpg will replace transparent areas with white...).
To make sure the page will still load, it's a good idea to compress the .png, as online compression tools can shave off anywhere between 25% and 60% of the file size, for little to no noticeable loss in quality.
Thanks for that. When I get the chance (maybe next month when I will have more time) I may have a play around. I’ve deliberately not been using the .png file types because of their size (for the sake of viewers of the AAR) but if they can be compressed and maybe only used sparingly when I am after some additional effects, that might work ok. :)
 
Great update, and especially great pictures! Regarding the Finnish war diaries, just let me know by pm if you'd like something, and preferably have at least an idea of what that something is, considering there are approximately 26 000 war diaries :confused:
 
23rd of February 1941, 'Odin', 10-day report #151
The 23rd of February 1941, Vologda, -10,5°C, 10am Moscow Time,

Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten day period between the 14th and the 23rd of February 1941,

by 'Odin'

Army:
50. SAP, including it's Su-152 Self-Propelled Artillery was deployed to Maj. General Shumilov's 81. MSD, XIV MSK, Armoured Army Group, STAVKA
Army numbers (Brigades/Personnel) Reserves included (these numbers don't include regiments being upgraded):
Front line troops: 610 / 1.830.000
Support troops: 229 / 229.000
Total fighting troops: 839 / 2.059.000
Headquarters: 59 / 59.000
Total Army Personnel: 898 / 2.118.000
Officers: 81.516 + / 89.810 needed / 90,765 %
Active Leaders: 246 / 177 more available
Production lines continue churning out beastly Su-152s, the next batch will be deployed to 84. MSD, the last of XIV MSK's Divisions not to have a regiment of Su-152s.
More 152mm ML-20 Artillery Pieces are being produced, the next Regiment will be sent to one of our many Rifle Divisions in the West that lacks the firepower these guns offer.
Air Force:
No changes in the VVS nor in the Navy Air Fleet for the last 10 days.​

Navy:
No changes in the Navy for the last 10 days.​

Politics / International:
The Norwegian Front
Norway (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 85,0
Germany (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,0 / 83,2 -0.5 in 10 days... what's going on in Germany?
GNW41-02-23-min.jpeg

The Germans seem to have regained the initiative, taking Honefoss, for the fourth time in this campaign, or is it the fifth? I'm losing count... Norway's government continues to live on, with the Wehrmacht on the outskirts of their Capital. It's anyone's guess how long this standoff will continue to last...
British North Africa Front
United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,0 / 77,7
Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 79,5
index.php

This Front here seems to have stalled, there has been no movement in the last 10 days. At least EL Iskandarîya and the Suez-canal seem secure for now...
French North Africa Front
France is a Government in exile.
Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 79,5
FNAF41-02-23-min.jpeg

Previous assumptions about units moving East seem to have been overblown, as Italian Units captured Oran and two provinces West of it. The French ships in Oran fled to Casablanca, where they wait, with barely any supplies, for the next inevitable relocation. Casablanca Naval Base is now officially overcrowded...
East Africa & Ethiopia Front
Ethiopia (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 76,0
France is a Government in exile.
United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,0 / 77,7
Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 79,5
EEAF41-02-23-min.jpeg

Ethiopia seems to have broken the encirclement of Jimma. This is not necessarily good news for Ethiopia, as they may have weakened the defences of their capital to do this. That's it for now.
The Greek Front
Greece (Surrender Progress / NU): 28,60 / 87,2
Bulgaria (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 71,8
Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 79,5
GRF41-02-23-min.jpeg

Greece's Army is now officially being routed, Italy and Bulgaria captured two provinces each. Italy continued it's coastal advance, taking Mesololongi, from where it's soldiers could cross southward into the Peloponnesos. On the Eastern Coast, the Bulgarian Army continued it's march towards Athina, taking Volos and Lamia. The regio esercito did widen it's advance by taking the mountains in Trikala. It's a close race, with both Axis members still in the running to capture the Greek Capital.
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (Surrender Progress / NU): 43,6 / 65,5 loss of Zagreb.
Germany (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,0 / 83,7
Bulgaria (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 71,8
Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 79,5​
North-West Front
YNF41-02-23-min.jpeg

As expected, both German fronts merged, and the Wehrmacht took Zagreb, more unexpected was the 70km the Germans pushed on after capturing it. Closer to the coast, the Germans have started pushing towards Sarajevo, or Dubrovnik. Italian troops in Zara finally sprung into action, heading North-East, seemingly avoiding Split. I'm sure Yugoslav Pilots appreciate the courtesy of leaving their Air Base alone...
South-Eastern Front
YSF41-02-23-min.jpeg

Here, the Italians have started pushing again, they retook Shokder, and moved towards Pristina. The Bulgarians are still mostly concentrating on their Yugoslav front. They beat the Italians to Pristina, and more importantly the resources and Industry in the province. More to the north, they pushed on, taking more and more territory East of the Sitnica River. They are slowly closing in on Beograd. Italy gained 3 provinces, and Bulgaria 5. Yugoslavia is shrinking, being devoured from two sides.
Industry:
The second hardened Runway of Tumnin Air Base has been completed (Level 4)
In both the Air Bases of Vinnytsya in the South-West and Aksenovo Zilovskoye in the Far East a hardened taxiway and a secondary dirt strip (Level3) are ready for use.
In both bases, the new airstrips will be hardened and made into real runways now, some more maintenance hangars will also be built. (Level 4)
The Air Bases of Demjansk and Smolensk now have 4 runways each, as well as brand new underground Ammunition storage. (Level 8)
Berezan and Novomoskovosk Air Bases will now both receive the same upgrades. (Level 8)

Working Industrial Capacity / available capacity: 238 / 321
IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )
Upgrades: 41,40 / 41,41
Reinforcement: 0,70 / 0,72
Supplies: 40,76 / 36,69
Production: 209,25 / 211,21 (the Licensed MP remains unfunded)
Consumer Goods: 28,89 / 28,89​
Stockpiles:
Energy: Maximum tonnes =
Metal: 94.390 tonnes +
Rares: 33.880 tonnes +
Crude: 97.524 barrels -
Supplies: 24.490 tonnes +
Fuel: 98.884 barrels +
Money: 2.309 +
Intelligence:
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 (None) : 6 / 0 / 1 / 0
Other: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Total: 11 / 0 / 1 / 0​
Reserves: 0
Spy training leadership expenditure: 0,24 (a new spy every 25 days)
We have so far recruited 16 like-minded Covert Operatives in our French sleeper cell.
British counter-espionage was not as calm as expected from their low numbers and our spies in the UK are laying low again. This might have something to do with the lateness of 'Odinatsat's report... Spy training expenditure was increased slightly to make up for the loss.
Research:
VVS theorists have come up with more efficient Ground Attack Tactics (Level 3), handbooks have gone out to all of our pilots in the field, and the theorists will be teaching these tactics to new officers.
A team of engineers and mechanics was gathered by the VVS to develop a better Small Fuel Tank (Level 2), once developed, this should significantly increase the range of all of our small Aeroplanes.

LS Distribution:
Research: 19,00 =
Espionage: 0,24 (+0,04)
Diplomacy: 2,10 (-0,04)
Officers: 10,00 = (50 officers / day)
Total: 31,33 =
See Intelligence

Statistics:
National Unity: 83,133 (+0,01)
Neutrality: 0,00 =
Dissent: 0,00 =
Manpower:
Available: 2.092.000
Men To reinforce(need): 1.920
Men To mobilise(need): See above
Monthly gain: 48.200 Men (1 fully mobilised Infx3, AT Division every 7 days)​
No changes in Party Popularity:
Party Organisation:
- Communist Party: 76,40 (+0,48)
- Trotskyite: 10,10 (-0,1)
- Bukharinite: 5,20 (-0,1)

- Octobrist: 5,70 (-0,1)
- Trudoviks: 2,50 (-0,1)
- Social-Revolutionary: 0,00 =
- Kadets: 0,00 =

- Tsarists: 0,00 =
- NTS: 0,00 (-0,1)
- POA: 0,00 =​

This Information is accurate on the morning of the 23rd of February 1941, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.

'Odin'​
 
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Thanks for that. When I get the chance (maybe next month when I will have more time) I may have a play around. I’ve deliberately not been using the .png file types because of their size (for the sake of viewers of the AAR) but if they can be compressed and maybe only used sparingly when I am after some additional effects, that might work ok. :)
I'm actually compressing all of my pictures, even .jpg images, as the loss of quality is minimal to non existant, and it really does make the page easier to load... I only use .png, when I need part of the image to be transparent, as even compressed it's still quite a bit heavier than .jpg.

Great update, and especially great pictures! Regarding the Finnish war diaries, just let me know by pm if you'd like something, and preferably have at least an idea of what that something is, considering there are approximately 26 000 war diaries :confused:
I was never going to make you translate every single Finnish War Diary (though that might be interesting for posterity....). When I know what I'm looking for exactly, I'll let you know by pm.
 
24th of February 1941, New Heavy AA Guns, Infrastructure update #11
The 24th of February 1941, Vinnytsya Air Base, 2,7°C, 2pm Moscow Time,

I hitched a ride on one of II BAK's Yak-4's, to their new base of Vinnytsya. When I arrived, workers were busy preparing the ground to transform the second Airstrip into a hardened runway. But that's not why I'm here. The VVS has just started taking a new design for a 76mm Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun into service, and in Vinnytsya there was a demonstration to show what it is capable of:

flak-73mm1931-min.jpg

Here we see a rapid fire exercise the picture is clearly showing how our Anti-Aircraft Gunnery crews have been training to attain the highest possible rate of fire with the new guns.
After the impressive demonstration, I was joined by 'Devyat' and we went into a meeting on the progress of the infrastructure improvements programme. 24 infrastructure projects and second stage fortification works in Izborsk have been completed today. Another round of projects needed to be decided upon. However, it was made clear that the amount of projects would be reduced, although only marginally, as every department was told to send some of their people, machinery, and resources to increase the output of our Armament factories. A few days ago, in my absence, Air Base expansion was reduced from 5 dedicated construction teams to 4. The freed up resources allowed for an increase in the production rate of the 152mm ML-20 Guns for the Red Army's Artillery Regiments. Here are the completed projects:

-Transsiberian railroad, Kuybyshev-Omsk:
Infrastructure will be upgraded to 'Level 6' in
Magnitogorsk and to 'Level 7' in Oktjabr'skij.

-Lake Ladoga East Coast, Tihvin-Sortavala-Viipuri-Leningrad Railroad
Infrastructure will be upgraded to 'Level 3' in
Pryazha and to 'Level 5' in Vidlica, and Salmi.

-Lovat East Bank Demjansk-Vitsyebsk Railroad:
Infrastructure will be upgraded to 'Level 8' in
Sumilina and Vityebsk.

-Dniepr East Bank Vityebsk-Smolensk-Homel-Kyiv-Dnipopetrovsk Railroad:
Infrastructure will be upgraded to 'Level 8' in
Dubrouna, Horki, Chavusy, Slawharad, Karma, Chachersk, Homel, and Ripky.

-Moskva peripheral railway network:
Infrastructure will be upgraded to 'Level 7' in
Yegoryevsk and Zagorsk, and to 'Level 8' in Podolsk, Istra and Taldom.

-Nikolaevsk na Amure / Tumnin Air Base side-branch of the Trans-Siberian Ralroad:
Infrastructure will be improved to 'Level 4' in
Obluchye, Sofiysk, Imeni Poliny Osipenko, and Chegdomyn.
It was decided that the construction team from the Izborsk Fortifications would be re-assigned to Armament factories as the Red Army needs more men and weapons to man existing fortifications. Moreover, this round will have 4 fewer Infrastructure projects. These savings allowed for Armament production to increase sufficiently for the Red Army to start training another Rifle Division, confident that it will be fully equipped on time. After some discussion, the next round was decided upon. In the following 20 provinces work will begin (16) or continue (4) adding more tracks and hardened roads to the existing network:

-Transsiberian railroad, Kuybyshev-Omsk:
Infrastructure will be upgraded to 'Level 7' in
Magnitogorsk, Kyshtym, and Zlatoust.

-Lake Ladoga East Coast,
Tihvin-Sortavala-Viipuri-Leningrad Railroad
Infrastructure will be upgraded to 'Level 4' in
Pryazha and to 'Level 6' in Svirstroy.

-Dniepr East Bank
Vityebsk-Smolensk-Homel-Kyiv-Dnipopetrovsk Railroad:
Infrastructure will be upgraded to 'Level 8' in
Slavutych, Desna, Boryspil, Berezan, Voznesenske, Chornobai, Hlobyne, Kremenchuk and Kozelshchyna.

-
Moskva peripheral railway network:
Infrastructure will be upgraded to 'Level 7' in
Nagore, and to 'Level 8' in Yegoryevsk and Zagorsk.

-
Nikolaevsk na Amure / Tumnin Air Base side-branch of the Trans-Siberian Ralroad:
Infrastructure will be improved to 'Level 4' in
Mordaga, Nikolayevsk na Amure, and De Kastri.
The 'Level 8' objective for our Leningrad-Novaya Ladoga-Vityebsk-Homel-Kyiv-Dnipopetrovsk-Zhaporizhzhya-Mykolaiv Defensive line is getting closer, including the current projects, the line will be 'Level 8' all the way from Leningrad to Dnipopetrovsk. In Finland, the rail network all around Lake Ladoga is now 'Level 5' , work is now split between linking up this network with the Northern Railway line to Murmansk, and slowly improving the network around the lake to 'Level 6'. The network around Moskva is improving, this should increase the versatility of our very centralised Armed Forces logistics. The idea is to gradually improve the infrastructure from the capital outwards, soon it will sport a double 'Level 8' ring of railways, depot's and roads. Infrastructure three nodes away will be improved to 'Level 7', and possibly logistics hubs 4 nodes from the capital will see infrastructure improvements to 'Level 6'. This round of Infrastructure projects should be completed by the beginning of June at the latest.

I need to get a train to get back to Vologda as the flow of Aeroplanes is mostly one way right now, with many VVS Divisions deploying from Moscow and its surroundings to Air Bases close to the Western Border, just like this one. I suspect the train will be empty, as after it unloaded its cargo of soldiers, pilots and supplies, it will most likely return to
Moskva with very little on board. I'll be able to worry about 'Odinatsat's fate without being disturbed... this radio silence is starting to really get on my nerves... well, off I go, I'll be having lunch on the train, wouldn't want to miss that,

Greetings,

'Odin'
 
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