Turn 17, October 9th 1941

In the north Leningrad is taken!

Not only will the loss of the city weaken the Soviets' ability to rebuild their army, the capture of Leningrad has also led to Finland agreeing to a more aggressive stance. Finnish units will now be able to operate south up to a line north of Novgorod, securing 100+ miles of front line and freeing a bunch of German divisions for other tasks.

Also the victory at Leningrad will now free the 10 divisions involved in the assault to bolster my lines.

Immediately after the end of the fighting in Leningrad I withdraw Panzergruppe 4 south of Novgorod for refitting. 1st Panzerdivision is down to 48 serviceable tanks.





In the centre Moscow falls!

After a month of heavy fighting the infantry of 4th and 9th armies finally clear out the last pockets of resistance. The Soviet capital is in our hands.

Having secured the city I start pulling back my Panzerdivisions for refitting around the railhead at Smolensk. I start with the weakest divisions, 12th, 17th and 19th Panzerdivisions which are down to 45, 74 and 62 tanks, with the number of serviceable tanks actually less than half these figures.

I barely can scratch together enough infantry divisions to relieve all my mobile formations around Moscow. There's a corps moving up from Orel, a reserve division coming from Smolensk, but I need at least another corps or two to really secure my positions here. The elimination of the 'Velikie Luki Bulge' would really solve many of my problems, but the meteorologists already warn of heavy rain the next days...



In the 400-mile stretch from Tula in the north to Voroshilovgrad in the south Army Group South pushes on towards the Don. The troops are weary but they know that soon they'll be resting in their winter quarters. The Red Army is withdrawing on a large scale in the whole sector, with the German divisions ever on their heels.



Further south Panzergruppe 1 continues its push on Rostov, with 16th Panzerdivision finally reaching the outskirts of the city! 16th, 9th and 11th Panzerdivisions with this move have cut off all Red Army units west of Rostov. I just hope the Soviets won't be able to evacuate most of those formations across the Azov Sea.



On the Crimea 11th army and the Romanian mountain corps advance south against heavy resistance towards the fortress of Sevastopol. I would like to clear out the Crimea before winter but the fortifications at Sevastopol really looks like a tough nut to crack.