Will do, Ssnake.
There hasn't been much change to the front line recently but I'll post an update at the end of March/beginning of April.
Turn 40, March 19th 1942Troop ready strength on the Eastern Front has increased again slightly to about 3.137.000, and the number of operational tanks has increased to
2.100!
Also the OKW has blessed me with a brand-new Panzerdivision, the 22nd! The division was immediately ordered on trains and is already heading towards the
Stalino area.
I have started this turn with some serious reorganizing of my forces. Many of my divisions and corps have become horrible mixed up in the desperate winter fighting, and it took me quite a while to reorganize most corps into reasonable formations again. With the corps structures (more or less) in place I can now start on reforging my armies, especially the Panzerarmies that will lead my future offensives. I also need to start my strategic planning, most importantly deciding what armoured formations will be transferred South and which ones will stay back with Army Groups North and Centre.
Northwest of
Vyshnyvolochek the divisions of XXIII and L infantry corps start attacking the trapped Soviet forces. In the first week of fighting more than
80.000 Red Army soldiers are captured, along with 1.000 guns and almost 100 tanks. I estimate that another 50.000 Russian troops are still in the
Kessel, with no chance to escape.
In the
Kalinin area I restrict myself to a few limited attacks and continue to dis-entangle my divisions. 4 Panzer and 2 MotInf divisions are resting/refitting near
Rhzev, slowly regaining their fighting strength after months of desperate combat.
On the Northern
sector of the Moscow front the same: a few limited attacks against weak Red Army units but nothing serious.
To the West and South-West of Moscow though I got a little surprise for comrade Stalin:
The more I thought about
Operation Rheingold the more I got convinced that the sooner I launch this strike, the better. The ability of the Red Army to churn out seemingly unlimited numbers of new troops means that the longer I wait the more difficult it will become to pierce the layers of Soviet brigades and divisions.
I did a lot of re-organizing and railing units and managed to get together a limited force for this operation: 3 Panzerdivisions, 2 MotInf Divisions and the Großdeutschland Regiment for the Northern pincer that would strike from the Moscow/Ramenskoe area, and 3 Panzerdivisions, a MotInf Division and an SS Motorized Brigade that form the southern pincer to attack from the
Tula area.. Especially the southern pincer severely lacks an infantry corps to secure the penetration, but I don't want to postpone the attack.
"Who dares wins!", as the Tommies say...
In the North the
LIII Corps assaults the Soviet lines and pushes them back in heavy fighting. Still, no breakthrough is achieved until I commit both
7th and
8th Panzerdivisions. Against the combined strength of two almost full-strength Panzerdivisions the Russians fall back in panic, with 8th Panzer taking the important town of
Kolomna. With the town secured
SS Das Reich once again takes the lead and crosses the
Moskwa river, establishing a bridgehead.
10th MotInf Division soon follows and together with
Großdeutschland widens the penetration.
29th MotInf advances further down the
Oka river and comes to within 20 miles of the operation's objective,
Ryazan.
South of
Tula meanwhile the divisions of
XII and
XLII Corps tear a 40 mile gap into the Russian front. Several Red Army tank brigades have the misfortune of getting into the way of
XL Panzerkorps, with predictable outcome. These tank brigades count 20-40 tanks each, half of them useless light tanks, crewed by green troops, commanded by officers who've known only defeat.
During the battle
2nd Panzerdivision manages a special feat: the rapid, 120 mile advance catches the Red Army Air Force completely by surprise. 2nd Panzer overruns half a dozen airfields to the South of Ryazan, capturing or destroying more than a
1.000 Russian level bombers and vast quantities of fuel! The division then captures Ryazan and sends a regiment across the
Oka.
The trap is closed! The 'walls' of the encirclement are still rather thin, but what a prize awaits us! 15 rifle brigades, 8 rifle divisions, 15 tank brigades and a Guards cavalry corps! If I can keep this
cauldron closed tight for a week or two it will be another severe blow for the Red Army.
The feeble resistance of the Red Army in this area and an 'unemployed'
Panzerkorps north of
Voronezh that didn't make it for the southern pincer of
Rheingold in time gave me another idea: why not expand
Rheingold into a double-envelopment? The risk involved should be rather low since the Red Army still lacks the hard-hitting, mobile mechanized and tank corps needed to deliver powerful counter-attacks. And the prize again would be worth the risk: 8 rifle brigades, 2 rifle divisions, 6 tank brigades, 2 cavalry corps and 2 cavalry divisions.
I order the attack for
Rheingold II.
Again the stalwart infantry divisions, this time of
IX Korps, smash through Soviet positions and open the way for the Panzer and motorized divisions. My strike force is rather small this time, only 2 Panzer and an Italian MotInf division, so I don't expect to complete the encirclement. Still, I manage to capture
Lipetsk, 50 miles behind the front line and 3rd and 4th Panzerdivisions reach the
Voronezh river, 60 miles behind the original front. There's still a 30 mile gap to the North, but even if the Russians manage to extract their troops from the forming trap it will further unhinge their defences in this sector.
We'll see...
From
Voronezh to
Voroshilovgrad I again only conduct a few limited attacks to maximize enemy casualties and gain advantageous positions.
In the
Stalino-Rostov sector I complete the extraction of my Panzerdivisions and continue to build up my forces. With 3 fresh infantry divisions having arrived this turn I'll probably make another limited attack to recapture
Rostov while preparing for the big spring offensive. Right now I have 5 Panzer and 4 MotInf divisions here, with another Panzerdivision en-route. I also plan to move
Guderian's 2nd
Panzerarmee South soon to take part in the attack towards the Volga.
On the Crimea, no changes.
Another good week. The Red Army suffered another
150.000 casualties while German losses are 1/10 of that.
Rheingold looks like a great success and maybe even
Rheingold II will work out. And despite some major fighting involving Panzerdivisions the (ready) tank strength is still at ~2.000.
If I start the spring offensive after the mud period in April my forces should be rather decent shape for an offensive. Of course, a 4-week mud period will enable the Red Army to field a gazillion of new divisions... that can't be helped.
