M60A3TTS
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Joined: 5/13/2011 Status: offline
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3-9 September 1942 (64th week of the war) Marshal Shaposhnikov is advised by STAVKA that General-Leitenant Vladimir Kurdyumov, Deputy Commander of the Crimea Front is Zhukov’s replacement and is being reassigned to command of Southeastern Front. 8th Air Army commander, General-Leitenant Aviatsii Fyodor Falakeev, was promoted to General-Polkovnik. 10-16 September 1942 (65th week of the war) General-Leitenant Kurdyumov was no Zhukov, nor did he pretend to be. He relied heavily on his Chief of Staff Antonov for guidance on Front operations. Antonov was already well respected by the STAVKA and it was felt he would be able to keep the new front commander largely out of trouble. Although he was totally unaware, Kurdyumov had already narrowly averted losing his 3rd Shock Army to Stalin's whims. With Zhukov now dead, the Supreme Commander was of a mind to replace Chernyakhovsky with the previous army commander, Danilov. At the same time, he would then have the 3rd Shock re-assigned under STAVKA control. Before making the decision however, Stalin contacted Nikolai Vatutin to hear his opinion. As Chernyakhovsky's senior while commanding 8th Army, Vatutin insisted that his former division commander was capable of commanding any army and that there was no need to transfer 3rd Shock away from Southeastern Front. The conversation lasted over half an hour, the end result that Stalin relented and agreed to leave things alone. In the Moscow sector, German tank divisions hammer away at Red Army positions, slowly gaining pieces of ground. Over 62,000 men of the Voronezh Front are surrounded along the River Vorona by elements of four German tank corps. 1st Shock Army commander, General-Maior Leonid V. Bobkin, was promoted to General-Leitenant. Commander of 4th Shock Army, Nikolai Krylov was replaced by General-Maior Pavel Rybalko. This week, northwest of Vyazma, Fliegerkorps I was subjected to a series of airbase raids by elements of 1st and 2nd Air Armies as well as the Long Range Air Command which met with mixed success. Over 40 enemy aircraft were reported as destroyed on the ground or in the air. General-Leitenant Konev's 16th Army supported by Chernyakhovsky's 3rd Shock attacked enemy forces in the area of Novo-annenskaya. Similar attacks were conducted by General-Leitenant Bagramyan's 50th Army.
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