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It's a shame the Winter War isn't modeled correctly in HOI3. IRL, the Soviets suffered 320k casualties compared to 70k suffered by the Finns, although that would mean bad news for you. :p
 
It's a shame the Winter War isn't modeled correctly in HOI3. IRL, the Soviets suffered 320k casualties compared to 70k suffered by the Finns, although that would mean bad news for you. :p

The real casualties ratio was indeed very unfavorable for the Soviets. I think, that there were several factors contributing to that, most importantly gravely disorganized state of the Red Army due to the Great Purges. Besides of a severe decrease in the officer corps size (especially in the top-level command), the overall troops morale was seriously hit. There were "enemies of the people" everywhere, and every order could be questioned as treacherous.

From my playing perspective, I assume that the purges did not give the political commissars god-like powers to stick their noses everywhere :closedeyes: This should let the remaining professionals do their job properly. And after all, I didn't research all those infantry and artillery doctrines for nothing :p

Speaking of correct modeling ... perhaps it would be more realistic to decrease the number of officers by 30% in case player opts for Great Purge?
 
The real casualties ratio was indeed very unfavorable for the Soviets. I think, that there were several factors contributing to that, most importantly gravely disorganized state of the Red Army due to the Great Purges. Besides of a severe decrease in the officer corps size (especially in the top-level command), the overall troops morale was seriously hit. There were "enemies of the people" everywhere, and every order could be questioned as treacherous.

From my playing perspective, I assume that the purges did not give the political commissars god-like powers to stick their noses everywhere :closedeyes: This should let the remaining professionals do their job properly. And after all, I didn't research all those infantry and artillery doctrines for nothing :p

Speaking of correct modeling ... perhaps it would be more realistic to decrease the number of officers by 30% in case player opts for Great Purge?

Well, the Soviets had about 80,000 men in the officer corps when the purges began and about half were dismissed/executed/sent to shovel **** in Siberia. Maybe the game should just "take away" those 40,000 men from the officer pool when the player opts for the purge and, as you said, decrease officer recruitment by 30-40%. That should make for a tougher Winter War. Then, much of the effects can be somewhat reversed when the Germans fire Barbarossa and are deep in the Soviet Union.
 
January 1940 - September 1940

General Events

On February 10th we have established the power of the working people in the Baltic States. After a brief but intense diplomatic pressure the petty authoritarian governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia held a special election in which the Communists won a landslide victory. The newly established Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Soviet Socialistic Republics joined the friendly family of workers of the Soviet Union. Horse breeding farms in Ukmerge became a very valuable asset to the national economy, and Red Navy got bases at Riga and Tallinn under its disposal.

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Demonstration in Riga, dedicated to the adoption of Latvia into the USSR


At the beginning of August we have presented Romania an ultimatum to turn over Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. They decided to avoid confrontation and agreed; thus, Moldavian Soviet Socialistic Republic was created on August 10th.

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Soviet map of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina

Situation in Europe steadily turned in the favor of the Axis. By the beginning of February, Germany had completely overrun the norther part of the Maginot line and captured Metz.

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German progress in France, February 1940

The rest was just a matter of time. By the end of March Germans controlled about 40% of the continental France and captured Paris. Then, on March 21th, Italy decided to join the war alongside Germany against the Allies, seeking to drive British from the Mediterranean. On March 3th marshal Petain took over the French prime minister position from Paul Renaud and immediately sought an armistice with Germany. The German peace terms were very harsh - most of the French territory, including Paris, had to be ceded to Germany. France became a puppet state of the German Reich with the capital in Vichy. Immediately after that Germany declared war on Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, which were all conquered by the ned of May.

The next target of the Axis aggression was Norway, with its important naval bases at Trondheim and Narvik. Royal Navy did little to interfere German landings near Oslo, and as a result Norway fell on July 18th.

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Germany conquers Norway in July 1940

War in the Mediterranean had some setbacks both for the British and Italians. The former managed to advance deep into Libya and Ethopia, capturing Tobruk in the process, and the latter declared war on Greece and conquered them by September 1st.

Armed Forces

Red Army continued to grow even faster compared with the previous year. From January to September we have deployed 21 infantry divisions, 12 artillery brigades and 1 tank division. Most of the army corps in the western military districts had now 4 infantry divisions, which was set as the standard number after evaluating the Finnish Winter War experience.

Northern Fleet got another 2 Series XIV submarines; it will slightly increase our naval presence in the Atlantic.

Fedor Tokarev, a talented weapons designer working at the Tula Arms Plant, designed the first Soviet semi-automatic battle rifle, SVT-38. The weapon had great potential and was immediately put into production; comrade Tokarev received the Hero Of Socialist Labor award. Other novelties were 7.62 GS obr. 1943, 76.2 Pushka obr. 1936 and 45mm PTP obr. 1938 - Red Army continued to have the most modern weapons in the world!

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Infantry technologies, September 1940

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One of the first Red Army soldiers equipped with the SVT-38 rifle

The General Staff continued to work on the advanced doctrines, that would better prepare our forces for the modern ways of warfare. Our experience of Finnish Winter War, coupled with the observation of German campaigns in Poland and France shows that armored units coupled with strong aerial support would be able to break the enemy defensive lines, spelling an end to the days of positional warfare. New land and air doctrines should be developed to adopt these changes.

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Land doctrines, September 1940

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Air doctrines, September 1940

Industry

In January our engineers finished development of improved manufacturing equipment and agriculture equipment. The new tractors and combine harvesters will come very handy during this year's sowing and harvesting campaigns, which will have a positive impact on the manpower reserves. And the new machines will increase our industrial output, which will be very helpful in the Red Army rearmament program.

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Soviet industrial technologies in January 1940

After that, our brightest mathematicians and electrical engineering design bureaus were tasked with the development of new computing machines and cryptography methods. They have worked hard and successfully finished these tasks at the end of May. It should also be noted, that a research team from Leningrad Physical-Technical Institute had designed more efficient radars; if further research in this direction could make radars less cumbersome, we would be able to put them on our aircraft.

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Our industrial technologies in September 1940

In the meanwhile, we have finished the last phase of the grand Industrialization plan, when we have finished new factories construction at Cajkovskij, Pervouralsk, Orsk, Aktobe and Magnitogorsk at the beginning of July. Coupled with the plants from the recently acquired Baltic States and Bessarabia we have got 256 factories under our disposal, which were provided an output equal to 345 factories.

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Blast furnaces of the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine.

The situation with resources, the fuel of our industrial might, is also generally positive - the statistics are presented in the table below.

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Resource statistics as of September 1940

As we can see, while daily balance for energy, metal and rare materials is negative, our industry can be sustained with the available stocks for more than a year before we run empty on rare materials. However, in such case we can always suspend some trade agreements. It would also be useful to research better resource production technologies in the future.
 
September 1940 - May 1941

General Events

The Allied forces successfully continued their offensives in Africa. By the end of January 1941 they have defeated Ethiopia and gained complete control over the Horn of Africa. They had also gained complete superiority on the Libyan front; after the Italians lost Tobruk and Benghasi, it was just the matter of time till they would reach Tripoli.

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Situation on the Eastern Mediterranean Theatre, May 1941

The Axis somewhat compensated for these setbacks by conquering Yugoslavia, most of its territory divided between Germany, Italy and Bulgaria. This has led the United States to declare a national emergency - clearly a sign that they were waking up from the isolationist policy of the last 20 years.

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Partition of Yugoslavia at the hands of Axis.

Armed Forces

As much as the Soviet people would like to live in peace, everyone realized that the world was growing closer to a global war. After Germany crushed the Allies on European mainland, they were free to wage war for Lebensraum in the east against us. And while the nonaggression pact between us and Germany was still in effect, our western borders had to be strengthened just in case - after all, a nonaggression pact and 600 army brigades are way safer than a nonaggression pact and 500 army brigades ;)

Because of that, during this timespan our mighty industry was almost completely dedicated to military buildup. We have deployed 15 infantry divisions, 18 artillery brigades, 36 anti-tank artillery brigades, 12 anti-air artillery brigades, 1 cavalry division and 3 tank divisions. The forces of our western military districts have completely finished transition to the new organizational structure. Now each army corps consisted of 4 infantry divisions, with at least one of them strengthened by an ART/AT/AA brigade. The armored and motorized divisions were also consolidated according to the plans devised by marshal Shaposhnikov; there were either mechanized corps with 1 tank and 2 motorized divisions or tank corps with 2 tank and 1 motorized divisions.

The entire Red Army, Soviet Navy and VVS were assigned to 4 Groups of Forces (in western military terminology they would be called Theatres): Severozapadnaya Gruppa Voisk, Yugozapadnaya Gruppa Voisk, Sredneaziatskaya Gruppa Voisk and Dalnevostochnaya Gruppa Voisk. Each one of them was comprised of at least one military district, fleets (when appropriate) and air corps.

Northwestern Group of Forces, comprising of Minsk, Riga, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk and Smolensk military districts, was commanded by Marshal Shaposhinkov and covered our borders with Finland and Germany. Arkhangelsk Military District consisted of 14th Army (4 infantry divisions) and was responsible for defense of the Kola Peninsula. The forces of Leningrad Military District, made up of 7th Army (4 infantry divisions) and 23rd Army (8 infantry divisions, 2 motorized divisions, 1 tank division), were deployed alongside the line from Vyborg to Kuolismaa, protecting Leningrad and Petrozavodsk. Riga Military District forces protected the recently created Baltic Socialistic Republics; 8th Army (12 infantry divisions) and 11th Army (8 infantry divisions, 2 motorized divisions, 1 tank division) stood up in 2 echelons on the Palanga-Kaunas line. Minsk Military District was the strongest one in all the Northern Group of Forces. It consisted of 3rd Army (12 infantry divisions, 2 motorized divisions, 1 tank division), 4th Army (12 infantry divisions, 2 motorized divisions, 1 tank division) and 10th Army (12 infantry divisions), that covered the border between Byelorussian SSR and Germany. Smolensk Military District was the reserve of the Northern Group of Forces and was tasked with training new troops.

Our Northern and Baltic fleets also belonged to the Northwestern Group of Forces. Northern Fleet consisted of 3 recently built Series XIV submarine flotillas, that should disrupt the enemy shipping in the Atlantic and Northern Sea in case of war. Our submarines in the Baltic were more numerous (9 flotillas) but of much older Series II design. These submarines have already proven themselves quite well during the Finnish Winter War, and were expected to inflict significant losses to the enemy shipping in the Baltic Sea. The surface vessel under the Baltic Fleet disposal were 2 aged battleships, Marat and Oktyabrskaya Revolyuciya, coupled with 2 destroyer squadrons of post World War design. They were sufficient for little else than coastal defense. It should also be noted that our only transport flotilla was recently transferred from the Far Eastern Fleet to the Baltic Fleet;

The VVS forces of the Northwestern Group of Forces amounted to 10 fighter divisions, 24 tactical bomber divisions and 2 CAS divisions, basing on the airfields of the Riga and Minsk Military Districts.

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OOB of Minsk and Riga and Leningrad Military Districts

Southwestern Group of Forces was assigned with defending our borders with Germany, Hungary, Romania, Turkey and Persia. It consisted of Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, North Caucasus and Transcaucasus military districts under the overall command of Marshal Timoshenko. Kiev Military District had under its disposal 12th Army (12 infantry divisions, 1 motorized division, 2 tank divisions), 6th Army (12 infantry divisions, 2 motorized divisions, 1 tank division) and 5th Army (10 infantry divisions, 2 mountaineer divisions, 1 motorized divisions, 1 tank division); these troops protected the western border of the Ukrainian SSR. Odessa Military District was made up of 9th Army (11 infantry divisions, 1 mountaineer division, 1 motorized division, 1 tank division) and 13th Army (12 infantry divisions) that were deployed in Bessarabia. North Caucasus Military District, consisting of 2 infantry divisions and 3 mountaineer divisions stood on the border with Turkey. Transcaucasus Military District forces consisted of 2 mountaineer divisions and 3 cavalry divisions, that were deployed on the border with Persia.

The Black Sea Fleet was almost in the same state as the Baltic Fleet: it consisted of battleship Parizhskaya Kommuna, 1 heavy cruiser, 3 light cruisers and 1 destroyer squadron, with each of them dating back to the 1914-1918 Imperialist War. However, it was easily the most dominant naval force in the Black Sea. The only threat to it could be Regia Marina and Royal Navy, in case Turkey would align either with Axis or with Allies.

Southwestern Group of Forces had also under its disposal 9 fighter and 4 tactical bomber divisions, basing in Ukraine.

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OOB of Kiev and Odessa Military Districts

Far Eastern Group of Forces was less numerous than the previous two, having in total 17 infantry, 3 motorized and 1 mountaineer divisions. However, their quality well made up for the lack of quantity - all these divisions were completely manned and equipped, and were among the most experienced in the entire Red Army. It also had under its disposal the Far Eastern fleet with 3 Series V-bis submarine flotillas and 2 fighter divisions.

Middle Asian Group of Forces was the weakest of all. It had under its disposal only 2 mountaineer and 3 cavalry divisions; although for the time being neither Perisa, nor Afghanistan or Sinkiang presented any threat in that region.

Our military design bureaus kept up the good work; in November a team from the Kharkov Comintern Locomotive Plant led by led by Mikhail Koshkin developed the A-32 medium tank prototype, that would later become the T-34 medium tank. This machine had 40 mm sloped hull armor, was armed with a 76.2 mm high-velocity gun and possessed an excellent balance of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness. Unfortunately comrade Koshkin contracted pneumonia on a tank's test-drives. He was posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize for his efforts and dedication.

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Mikhail Ilych Koshkin, chief designer of the T-34 tank

Another important development was that of self-propelled rocket artillery, designed by a group of RNII (Reactive Science Research Institue) engineers. Essentially, it was a multiple rocket launching system mounted on a truck. While these weapon systems were more fragile and less accurate than conventional artillery, they had a tremendous firepower and were much cheaper. After thorough examination of the test examples, several brigades were ordered into production to augment the motorized divisions.

The only fly in the ointment was the noticeable lack of officers - our officer schools could not keep up with the growth of the armed forces. By February 1941, we had only 63677 officers, while there were needed 75050 to properly cover all our forces. To rectify this situation, by the spring of 1941 some research projects were cut back, and the funding was allocated to create new schools with a shortened education course.

We have also started a road construction program in Western Russia, aimed to improve our troops and supplies transportation. In April 1941 first phase of this program was complete.

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Infrastructure network in the western part of the Soviet Union, recently built roads are marked in red
 
You should make a the Pripet Marshes area more transitable to better move your troops, but not too much as it can make a very good defense against the germans.

Interesting idea :) I've thought about it, but decided to leave them as they are. I believe that for now Wehrmacht шы superior to the Red Army in mechanized troops, so the areas with high infrastructure will give them a strategic advantage.
 
Interesting idea :) I've thought about it, but decided to leave them as they are. I believe that for now Wehrmacht шы superior to the Red Army in mechanized troops, so the areas with high infrastructure will give them a strategic advantage.

You can always upgrade those level 1 provinces to level 2. Mechanized units are almost useless in marshes and you're on friendly territory, so attrition will be minimal.
 
War with Germany: Introduction

The date of May 28th, 1941 will always be remembered in the whole socialist world. It has divided the period of the uneasy peace and war with the world imperialism. On that day, German forces attacked the Red Army all along the German-Soviet border at 1 AM. The declaration of war from German embassy in Moscow came several hours later, but it hadn't matter. Our troops have long been preparing to defend the Soviet Union and now stood against the tide of German aggression.

As the country entered into war, several political changes have been made. Now all the nation's industry was mobilized for wartime production, and all people of eligible age and health very oblige to report to their local voenkomats.


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Wartime laws enacted on military service and state economy

The sharply increased production capabilities were immediately focused on producing more weapons to counter the Nazi invaders.


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New units put into production, May 30th 1941



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Kirill Afanasyevich Meretskov was appointed as the Chief of the General Staff at the outbreak of war

At the very beginning of war Sinkiang joined the Comintern, and Romania finally joined the axis several days later. However, we were still at peace with the other Axis countries except Slovakia. The time will tell how long they should stay neutral in this conflict.
 
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To Berlin in six months! Let's go! :p
 
As much as I would like to do so, I'll have to wait for now. I know nothing of the OKH plans and reserves dislocations, and besides Wehrmacht is about equal in strength to the Red Army. I'd better let them bleed for a while in the futile attacks on the Motherland - in time they should feel the wrath of the working people ;)
 
Border Battles (May 28th, 1941 - June 15th, 1941)

Overview

Our troops were simultaneously attacked in all provinces alongside the German-Soviet border. The Germans had the advantage in choosing the time and place of attack while our divisions were still understrength and had to be mobilized yet. To counter these factors each one of our army corps in Riga, Minsk and Kiev Military Districts had at least one division kept in reserve, in a province right behind their main dislocation. As the war started, they were generally ordered to perform a fighting retreat to these fall-back positions in case of unfavorable battle odds. On the other hand, if their position was tenable, our divisions had to fight where they stood, thus buying more time for the others to mobilize.


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Some of the initial defeats and victories

In some cases, like in battles of Kalvarija and and Turka, our losses were due to the superior tactical choices of the Wehrmacht generals. Hopefully this situation will improve in the future, when our divisional and corps commanders will gain more experience.


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Defenders of Kalvarija and Turka made the same mistake, attempting to ambush Panzers on breaktrough

Overall, the border battles ended up with mixed results both for us and Germans. While we have retreated in most of the areas by 20-40 km, the Red Army remained cohesive and continued to put up fierce and organized resistance. More importantly, total losses ratio was in our favor - we had suffered 44517 losses (37016 casualties and 7555 POWs), while the Germans lost 60112 men (53042 casualties, 7070 POWs). It can be said that both sides have bruised each other, took some unlucky blows and were going to the second round.

Ukrainian Front

By the end of May 31th a threatening situation was developing in the 12th Army zone of defense. 5th Panzer-Division and 10th Panzer-Division, having defeated the forward echelon of the 30th Corps in Luboml, launched an attack on Rozyszcze, with an apparent intent to intercept the retreating divisions of the 17th Corps. 1st Tank Korps, led by Major-General Katukov, performed a flanking attack on Luboml to relieve the hard-pressed 111th and 112th Infantry divisions. Although the 1st Tank Korps did not manage to drive the Germans from Luboml, the first attack on Rozyszcze was called off. This gave the time to the 42nd, 164th and 195th Infantry divisions to safely retreat in Rozyszcze, but the Germans did not relent. They have brought more reinforcements, namely the 1st Heavy Armour Division, an launched the second attack on June 5th, which was yet again parried by our attack on Luboml, this time performed by the 30th Corps. The third German attack, however, was successful - the 17th Corps had to retreat to Luck.


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Tiger I tank of 1st Heavy Armor Divisions refueling during the attack on Rozyszcze

But the German advance against the Ukrainian Front was mainly directed on Lwow, that was defended by our 6th Army. After they have captured Zolkiew, Przemysl and Jaworow, they have launched several assaults and the 36th Corps was able to repel the first two. The third one was strongest and better coordinated, and even the 5th Mechanised Corps attack on Zolkiew was not able to hold off the inevitable - Lwow fell to Nazis on June 9th. On June 14th the 8th Corps attempted to retake Lwow, but had to call the attack off as the Germans had brought 12. Panzer division to its defense. The battles for Lwow were the most bloody since the beginning of the war - 2392 Soviet and 3389 German soldiers lost their lives fighting for the city.


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Battles around Lwow during the first decade of June, 1941



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Soviet troops on a counter-attack near Krasne

Germans have also managed to take Sambor, Stryj and Shodorow, creating a gap between our 5th and 6th Armies. 15th Corps, 27th Corps and 8th Mechanized Corps were tasked with retaking of those provinces, and the battles still raged on.


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Situation on the Ukrainian Front, June 15th 1941


Byelorussian Front

Things went on slightly worse on Byelorussian Front - 2 divisions of German heavy tanks operating on its flanks had a considerable impact. Both 3rd, 4th and 10th Armies were under constant pressure and fought hard to fend off the Nazi invaders.

On the northern flank of the front the enemy attacked our 3rd Army, that was defending Grodno and Wilno. Under the attacks of German Panzers and supporting motorized divisions the 4th, 21st and 47th Army Corps had to retreat to the Wester Dvina. General Chibisov, commander of the 3rd Army, correctly chose the time and place to use the 2nd Mechanised Corps - it was sent to relieve the hard-pressed troops of the 21st Corps at Merech. The battle went on from June 9th to June 13rd and ended with a major German defeat.


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The costliest battle of the Border Battles for Wehrmacht

At the central sector of the front, which was held by the 4th army commanded by General Vassilevsky, our forces retreating in relatively good order towards Bialostok and Wolkowysk. Here Germans attempted to create a gap between our 3rd and 4th Armies at Sokolka, but were pushed back after a 4th Mechanised Corps counter-offensive.

The worst news came from the 10th Army that was defending the southern flank of Byelorussian Front. Its infantry corps were almost at the verge of breaking, retreating on the general direction to Narew. 33rd Corps lost the 235th Infantry Division as a result of poor coordination. It was separated from the main forces of the 33th Corps and retreated to Dywin instead of Kobryn. From Dywin they have attempted to reach Bereza, but were overrun by the advancing German forces.


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Byelorussian Front, June 15th 1941


Baltic Front

The Baltic Front forces were the first to launch a sustained counter-offensive operation. On June 1st 24th Corps led by Lieutenant-General Vatutin and 3rd Mechanized Corps led by Lieutenant-General Kurkin launched a coordinated attack on Taurage. The battle lasted till June 2nd and ended with a major German defeat.


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Battle of Taurage, June 2nd, 1941

Afterwards they have been strengthened by the 16th Corps, and were ordered to continue the offensive with general direction on Pogegen and Memel. While Pogegen fell relatively on June 8th relatively easy, tenacious defense of Rietavas by several German divisions and timely redeployment of reserves helped them to hold Memel. On the brighter side of the things, the forces of 10th Corps managed to encircle and defeat the German 181. Infanterie-Division at Liepaja.


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Encirclement of the 181. Infanterie-Division at Liepaja

Another important victory has been won at Jurbakas, where the Germans were driven back to the southern bank of the Western Dvina. For now the troops of the Baltic Front mostly stood on a good defensible positions, protected by the Western Dvina from the possible German attacks.


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Baltic Front, June 15th 1941

VVS

VVS was right in the heat of action from the very beginning. All our bomber and CAS aircraft were sent on interdiction and logistical missions at the key areas of the German offensive. While they have operated virtually unopposed in the south, they have met a fierce resistance in Eastern Prussia, where Luftwaffe had concentrated about 12 fighter wings. After several tightly contested clashes, we had to scale back the bomber operations along the Baltic and Byelorussian Fronts.


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First bombing operations and clashes with the Luftwaffe



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Our brave pilots return from a successful mission
 
Thank you comrade :) Actually I micromanage all the troops by myself. That means, I should pay more attention to the defensive battles and break off till it's not too late.

The AI can never be trusted. :D

Maybe it's an enemy of the State? :p
 
I had the same suspicions. After all, hasn't it been created by capitalists? :rofl:

Then the only option is to send the AI to a re-education camp where it shall embrace Socialism. :D