boldairade
Posts: 722
Joined: 1/15/2005 Status: offline
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September 10, 1943 Greece-US land forces are being withdrawn from Greece. Uk forces will take over, along with the Canadians, in an effort to streamline command and supply. Plans have been drawn up for an extensive operation here, involving Engineers, amphibious ops and mass airdrops, but we currently lack the formations to make it a reality. The goals is to not only break out, but perhaps envelop German formations. Establishing supply, however, even if the op is successful, is a difficult proposition. I am starting to understand why other players do not attempt to open a major front in Greece. East Front North-The Russian surface fleet finds Axis convoys and sinks 4 MM. Unfortunately, again, unlike Allied forces, the Axis has no trouble locating the Red Fleet in raider mode. Naval air strikes find us immediately, and score a staggering 4 hits in one attack on the Kirov cruiser group. German surface ships then are able to immediately find us as well, landing hits on their attack, scoring 2 hits on BB Marat. We do manage to land 2 hits on CA Hipper. German subs then also immediately find us and achieve surprise, landing a hit on CA Voroshilov. Overall, it is very frustrating, with the Axis able to locate our raider group on EVERY attack and doing heavy damage. Our ships limp back to Kronstadt. We are lucky to not lose any groups. Around Leningrad, we are moving up extra infantry, hoping to sustain some type of infantry offensive vs the northern most sections of the German line. It will take many assaults to displace them-they are in garrison mode and heavily entrenched. Center-The slugfest continues here. German air superiority is undeniable, but the Red Air Force is still contesting the skies where possible. Ground strikes prep the Russian infantry, and then, as before, the Panzers roll forward. LVI Corps, 1st Pz Grenadier, LVI Pz, and heavy air support target 35th army, inflicting 10 step hits while only suffering one and driving us back. More ground strikes are sent to the south, vs 44th Army. The Red Air Force is bled dry, and cannot contest these. Finally, II Corps, LVI Pz and 6th Pz Grenadier slam into 44th Army, dealing a whopping 13 step hits while suffering only 4, and drive that formation back. The Germans are not content to push forward regular infantry corps any longer. Knowing we must use armor for offensive punch, they instead move up XX Corps, which has been upgraded with extra anti tank guns. On XX Corps southern flank, they move up the powerful 4th Pz Grenadiers. Stavka's intentions last turn was to cease offensive ops this turn. However, the prospect of these strong formations digging in is very unpleasant. Somewhat reluctantly, Stavka again sends forward her formations. Although facing the strong anti tank XX Corps, we must employ armor to generate offensive force. 3rd Guards Tank and 5th Tank(fresh from the south) grind forward into the the German AT gunners, supported by 8th and 12th Air Armies . Again, it is incredibly bloody. The opening assault sees the Russians take 7 land step hits and 4 air, inflicting 6 hits vs XX Corps and 5 air hits vs Axis air forces. The Russians attack again, losing 4 steps, inflicting 5 hits. The third attack stings the Germans, we take only one hit, and score 6. XX Corps is severely reduced, Stavka sees this as an opportunity. The battered tank corps are pulled back and replaced with the relatively fresh 6th Army and 5th Guards Tank. The fourth attack overruns XX Corps! Stavka now has to decide whether or not to challenge the 4th Pz Grenadier. We have strong if worn down formations available, and decide to attempt it, but will break off the attack immediately if we are suffering heavy losses. The opening attack is again heavy, utilizing the strong 2nd Siberian Army, 2nd Mech Corps, 5th Guards Tank and 28th Mech Corps, and supported by 26th Air Army-the Axis is out of air formations. The opening attack sees both the attackers and defenders lose 8 steps. The second effort sees the Russians lose 5, the Germans 5. A third attack, utilizing the fresh 34th Army and 2nd Ukrainian Army suffers only 2 hits while inflicting 4. Finally, the fourth assault drives pack 2nd Pz Grenadier, though we suffer 4 hits while inflicting just 2. Stavka's frontage in the SLEDGEHAMMER kill zone is occupied by 28th Mech and 68th Army. Not ideal-but wear and tear on German formations here is now noticeable. Axis forces are not losing nearly as much as Russian ones-but they ARE bleeding. Stavka rails in the last available armor corps from the southern front-the green Soviet 7th Tank. From here forward, no winterized tank formations can be used. They must be refitted for the winter offensives. We may have already used them too heavily, with their effectiveness ratings as low as 14%, they may not be able to recover. RED-The battle rages BLUE-Extremely attrited Soviet formations Black-Even the Germans are battered South-Very little occurring here. Rokossovsky repositions some assets to the south. Meretskov takes over the northern section of this front. The Axis could probably push forward here, with only outdated mech formations and infantry in reserve. But perhaps they are feeling the losses of SLEDGEHAMMER? I find myself constantly wondering how things look from the other side. Is Nirosi feeling pressure? Or is he comfortable defending vs what have been admittedly pretty clumsy efforts to pressure his Axis stranglehold on Europe and Western Asia? An odd occurrence for the Allies is, US industrial might is beginning to fail. Even with 466 PP/turn, the US cannot maintain the Russian convoys, naval builds(mostly MM and escorts, some landing craft), supply trucks(needed both in Africa and for the heavy bombers), upgrades, and also replacing heavy losses for her forces in Africa and the brutally expensive losses to strategic air forces. I did not expect the US industrial might to fall short, but that is exactly what's happening-thus the grounding of US air forces over Germany.
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