Thanks for your patience, guys.
Turn 39, March 12th 1942German (operational) troop strength at the beginning of this turn has increased again, to about
3.1 Mio men, with the number of tanks ready for action increasing to
1.814 as well. The number of operational aircraft on the Eastern Front has been pretty stable the last couple of months, hovering at ~
2.800.
Army Group North:Operation MaiglöckchenIn the early morning hours, the forests and marches still shrouded in dense mists, assault groups from the
Finnish IV Corps and the German
XXVIII Corps broke into the Red Army positions north of
Nebolochi. Devastating air attacks by the Finnish Air Force and the Luftwaffe caused heavy casualties among the Russians and soon the front line crumbled under the relentless assault.
60th Motorized Infantry division quickly deepened the penetration, handing over the momentum to
SS Totenkopf division which completed the planned movement for the northern pincer by swinging south.
At the same time to the South XXIII and XXXVII infantry corps, attacking between
Bologoe and
Vyzhnyvolochek blast a 30 mile gap through the Russian front line. Having cleared a way through the Red Army positions
Col.General Hoepner unleashes his XXXXI and LVI Panzerkorps.
1st and
6th Panzerdivision drive through the remaining Soviet troops like a hot knife through butter and
36th MotInf division finally links up with
Totenkopf after heavy fighting, closing the trap! 9 rifle divisions, 10 rifle brigades, 1 cavalry divisions, 4 cavalry corps and 3 tank brigades are caught in the
Kessel!
150 miles to the South-East the great
Battle of Kalinin has been won! More than a
100.000 Russian soldiers surrender,
2.000 guns and
100+ tanks are captured! Among other formations the
1st Shock Army has been wiped out to a man. Our losses have been light, although several of my Panzerdivisions are still in dire need of refitting.
10th,
12th,
17th and
19th Panzerdivisions count less than
30 thanks on average. Thankfully, the other 6 Panzerdivisions in this sector are back to well over 100 tanks each.
To the East of Moscow the small
Kessel at
Ramenskoe has been liquidated,
35.000 Russians have surrendered.
The number of fresh Red Army formations appearing on the front is a tad disconcerting though, although most of these new brigades and divisions have only very low combat value.
To deal with that problem I'm thinking about yet another limited offensive thrust,
Operation Rheingold. In the Moscow area I have a Panzerdivision, two MotInf divisions and the elite Regiment
Großdeutschland, while I could easily muster three Panzerdivisions in the Tula area for a raid towards
Ryazan. I need about two weeks to prepare for this operation, we'll see how the situation looks by then.
All along the front from
Kaluga to
Voronezh I conduct 20+ carefully orchestrated attacks, causing another 50.000 Red Army casualties and routing two dozen formations of brigade and division size, my own losses about 1/10 of the enemy's. The Soviet forces in this area are by now very weak, quite an inviting opportunity for a Panzerarmy...
In the South
Operation Abendrot ends with the complete annihilation of the encircled Soviet troops! More than
80.000 Russians surrender, 1.500 guns and 150 tanks are captured.
On the Crimea the situation is unchanged. Other than starting to transfer artillery regiments from all along the front to
11th Army there's not much to do right now. 6 infantry divisions are on their way to the Crimea, once they're in place I can start worrying about taking
Sevastopol.
This was a very good week. The Red Army lost almost
300.000 men, while my casualties are a mere 10.000.
Red Army operational (ready) strength at the end of my turn has dropped to
4.166.000 men and
2.600 tanks.