Thanks guys!

I've said it before but you guys commenting on my progress and following this thread really keep me motivated. And by writing this AAR and forcing myself to formulate plans and organize my ideas I've learned a lot about the Eastern Front.


And then there was...

"Ach Gott, der Schlamm!"

Or: how to wage Blitzkrieg during the Rasputitsa. (Hint: not all).



What to do during the "time without roads" in Russia:

1.) [x] get boozed on local spirits
2.) [x] try to score with one of the ladies of the Fronttheater from Berlin
3.) [x] bribe the Luftwaffe guys for a trip to Paris in that Ju-52
4.) [x] regret not being in Africa with Rommel where lately ALL the fun seems to be
5.) [ ] fight a war

For those who voted 2.) I present Erika and Anna. They love kittens, afternoon walks, drinking games involving amphoras and comforting lonely Landers far away from home.





In a word: mud. Yeah, I got a bit surprised, thought I'd have another week. So much for that. The officer in charge of weather forecasts will get quite a bit of experience in clearing mines soon.

So, all operations have been put on hold, there's simply no way to move or fight in the mud. The combat value of my divisions has dropped to a fraction of their normal stats, and any movement (except on rail) has become severely restricted.

I've done a further bit of reorganizing, freeing another corps HQ to move South, shuffling divisions to and fro, and I even got another brand-new Panzerdivision with 161 tanks from OKW, the 23rd. Other than that there's nothing to do. Any attack under these conditions only causes massive casualties with little gains. I restrict myself to contain the trapped Soviet troops as best as possible and...wait...

There's no point in detailed update shots, so instead I'll post another strategic overview of the Eastern Front. Not much changes since February in the front line, but I've actually done some serious damage to the Red Army during the last four weeks.

Soviet casualties have exceeded 6 million men, with German losses at ~ 1.6 mio. An important difference in these figures is that a very large part of the Red Army casualties are actually 'total' losses, mainly due to capturing entire formations, while a large part of the German casualties are WIAs that (to some extent at least) do in fact return to their divisions over time.

To illustrate my point: so far all axis forces together have lost exactly one division, a Rumanian infantry division that surrendered during the blizzards.

The Red Army OTOH has lost 246 infantry divisions, 39 armour divisions, 20 motorized divisions, 57 cavalry divisions, 8 cavalry corps, 52 armour brigades, 165 infantry brigades, 20 airborne brigades and a host of other minor formations.