Update Time!
Turn 33, February 2nd 1942This week saw 14 major Soviet attacks, with half of them getting repulsed by my divisions. Despite the relative 'calm' losses have almost doubled compared to last week, to over 100.000 men again.
A quick 'operational strength' (=ready) comparison:
Germany: Troops: 2.265.000 Artillery 27.879 Tanks: 1.574 aircraft: 2.498
USSR:Troops: 4.618.000 Artillery: 45.604 Tanks: 3.057 Aircraft: 7826
Positive: OKH has granted me two new infantry divisions,
201st and
83rd, and the 205th security division. God knows I can certainly use them.
Army Group North:Yup, you guessed right: unchanged situation. No Red Army attacks, the Finns sitting in their fortified positions having a good time and everyone happy to be still alive. I'm slowly starting to suspect the Finns have kind of a secret non-agression pact with the Ruskies...
But I won't complain. I'm pretty sure that without the Finns I wouldn't have been able to hold Moscow.
The
Vyzhnyvolochek-Kalinin sector once again saw fierce fighting.
In a brave counter-attack
132rd and
123rd infantry divisions, despite their air support cancelled due to bad weather, routed a Soviet tank brigade and shattered the 16th Cavalry division. I'm still holding the line but the weakness of my troops in this area is a great problem. So far I've managed to pull 5 Panzerdivisions and 3 Motorized Infantry divisions out of the frontline, all of them are in desperate need for refitting. I still have 3 Panzer and 2 MotInf divisions engaged in the front line, their strength melting away like snow on a summer's day... Kalinin is still in grave danger, if the two Panzerdivisions defending the city are pushed back I doubt I have the strength to immediately re-take it.
Both new reserve infantry division are headed for this sector. I still have no idea how my mobile formations in this area are supposed to be ready to resume the offensive in two months...
In the
Moscow sector my forces are not only holding their positions, a series of local attacks inflicted substantial losses on the Red Army. The most important battle in this area was fought south-east of Moscow at the
Oka river, where repeated attacks by
87th and
88th infantry divisions and
10th and
SS Das Reich motorized infantry divisions defeated two powerful Soviet infantry divisions and a tank brigade.
The Moscow sector is the only area of operations on the whole
Ostfront where I actually have two full-strength
Panzerdivisions in reserve.
In the centre the counter-attack at
Tula ends with the destruction of the
15th Cavalry Corps, 9.000 Russians are captured. The timely intervention by 20th Panzerdivision, despite suffering serious casualties, has saved the city. For the time being at last. In the fighting around Tula the Red Army has lost more than 50.000 men and 250 tanks in the last three weeks. German casualties are about 1/5 of those numbers. All in all the divisions in this area have done quite well in the last two months.
3rd and
4th Panzerdivisions in reserve west of
Voronezh are already back to ~100 tanks each. I've created a fallback position along the
Oka river, 50 miles to the west but so far there was no need to pull back that far. Still, knowing there's a string of lvl 2 fortification to the rear is a good insurance for disasters.
In the Kharkov sector only minor fighting occurs.
A special citation at this point goes to the
XXXIX Mountain Corps, led by
Colonel General Mattenklott. Its divisions,
68th and
257th infantry and 4th mountain, have held the southern cornerstone of the
Voronezh defence against a numerically superior enemy in terrible weather for two months, fighting off a dozen Soviet divisions and inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.
In the South the counter-attack to stop the Russian attack towards
Stalino is in full swing.
While
Voroshilovgrad is doggedly defended by the divisions of
LI Corps my armoured strength is unleashed upon the Red Army spearheads. From the North
9th and
14th Panzerdivisions break through the enemy lines and advance thirty miles through heavy resistance. From the South
16th Panzerdivision,
2nd Hungarian Armoured Division and the
Wiking SS Motorized Infantry division smash through the front and advance 20 miles. In the course of this action 3 tank brigades and 4 rifle divisions have been routed. The manoeuvre is completed by
Leibstandarte division who makes contact with 9th Panzer, cutting off 2 tank brigades and 3 rifle divisions. Now if I only can keep this
Kessel sealed...
On the
Crimea not much new to report.
Reinforcements continue to trickle in, my divisions continue to dig in and sit tight and a Russian rifle division has been thrown back at the isthmus of Feodosiya.
Despite the rather heavy losses a 'good' week. The front is still stable and except for the
Vyzhnyvolochek-Kalinin sector in rather good shape. The counter-thrust East of Stalino so far went well, if I can keep the pocket closed this will become a major victory.
Three more weeks of Blizzard.... three more weeks of terrible cold, massive casualties due to frostbite and sickness and severely reduced combat value.