@Purolator: Yeah, the plan looks kinda over-ambitious, but with regard to the current weakness of the Red Army I think it's doable.
And because I've let you guys waiting so long: another update! For free!
Turn 55, July 2nd 1942In the North Operation Roland is in full swing. The Red Army tried to block the advance of the northern pincer but the handful of rifle divisions and corps desperately thrown into the fray could only slow down my armoured forces, not stop them. Despite the resistance and some supply problems the northern pincer managed to advance another 80 miles, with the infantry divisions already securing the corridor.
The southern pincer meets less opposition with
2nd Panzerdivision reaching the outskirts of
Gorky and
20th Panzerdivision advancing as far as the Volga, a mere 30 miles from its objective,
Kostroma.
The Red Army by now only has a minimal chance of managing to extract its forces from the forming
Kessel. A 120-mile gap and a single rail line is all that stands between the utter annihilation of what amounts to no less than the entire Soviet North-West front and the off-chance of a military miracle.
In the
Voronezh region I suddenly realized that the Russians had actually thinned their already weak lines, most probably to get some sorely needed reserves. I quickly capitalized on this situation by launching an all-out assault by
XXXV,
IX and
XLIII corps. 10 infantry divisions with close to 150.000 men in savage fighting broke through the Russian lines and blasted apart the Soviet front on a 170-mile stretch! Half a dozen rifle division have been destroyed, two rifle corps cut off. Now my infantry corps can strike into the rear of the Red Army forces holding the northern bank of the Don and threatening the northern flank of my attack on Stalingrad.
The Battle of Stalingrad7 Panzerdivisions, 1 Rumanian and 1 Hungarian armoured division, 4 MotInf divisions and 27 infantry divisions. More than 550.000 men and 700 tanks, supported by more than 1.000 aircraft are about to strike at the city that bears Stalin's name. Defending against the attack are 25+ rifle divisions and half a dozen rifle corps plus several cavalry formations.
East of
Kletskaya 5 Panzer and 2 SS MotInf divisions crossed the Don and pierced the Russian defences like a hot knife going through butter. And it is
13th Panzerdivision with its remaining 90 tanks that manages to cross the
Volga river 40 miles north of Stalingrad!
South-East of the city
XIV Panzerkorps has to fend off some minor Russian attacks and with the infantry divisions of VIII and XVII corps finally arriving the 23rd Panzerdivision with 139 tanks forces a crossing of the Volga! The bridgehead is soon reinforced with the 2nd Hungarian armoured division and should be able to withstand all counter-attacks.
With the Volga defences breached on both flanks of Stalingrad the situation for the Red Army is getting more desperate by the hour.
In the Caucasus region my mobile divisions roll across the plains ever eastwards, with barely any halt.
18th MotInf division had a brief clash with a Soviet rifle corps that had the misfortune to get into the division's way and got cut to pieces in a brutal and rather one-sided battle. And along the Kumat river 2 Russian rifle brigades got annihilated by my screening infantry divisions. Other than that it's "
Vorwärts!" all the way. 14th MotInf division has closed to within 20 miles of Grozny, having covered almost
500 miles since breaking out of the Crimea a month ago.
It's starting to look grim for the Red Army.
Operation Roland in the North threatens to destroy basically a whole army group and the 2nd major concentration of Soviet forces around Stalingrad is facing the same danger. If the Red Army loses both these forces it's over for the USSR. The Soviet front line at the moment is the thing military nightmares are made of. It's either dangerously thin, in danger of getting cut off or simply not existing anymore.
OTOH my forces are still in good shape and I got a bag full of reserves. My Panzers have suffered quite a bit (operational tank strength has dropped to 2160 at the end of the week) but so far they have done a magnificent job of securing my operational objectives and cutting apart the Red Army.
