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hooooper_slith -> RE: A tale of three cities: Soviets on the brink of defeat (hooooper vs Bomazz) (11/5/2012 11:51:22 AM)
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Looking at the front, it is clear that if the Germans had had two more weeks of fine weather, Stavka would be spending the autumn in Ulyanovsk and most of the Red Army would be advancing on Germany in long columns of unarmed men. But the weathermen are forecasting a whole month of rain, so the Soviet side has the chance to reorganise its defences and possibly exploit some weaknesses in the German deployment.
The main weakness on the Soviet side is lack of depth on most of the front, and the grotesquely swollen bag of units to the west of Moscow, a pocket already half-formed. In the next four turns we will aim to move the mass of those troops between the Moscow pincers so as to prevent them meeting during the snow turns. We will also aim to thicken the rest of the front line and form a series of reserve armies for commitment during the blizzard.
In Leningrad, we are going to do our best to hold the city: the manpower there is scarcely less than Moscow, and the Red Army is still desperately short of men. To that end, Tolbukhin is promoted from 20th Army to the Leningrad Front. Two fresh Siberian divisions, both with 60 morale, are put on rails to Osinovets, the port where Leningrad receives supplies from the eastern side of Lake Lagoda. And the whole of the VVS' transport planes are concentrated just east of the Volkhov so as to form an airlift force if the worst happens. Meanwhile, in other news, Zhukov is brought to the Stavka from SW Front, swapping places with Shaposhnikov.
In terms of offence, we will aim to eliminate 2nd Panzer Division, which is now hopelessly cut off behind Soviet lines, and we will try to exploit gaps left in the German line, particularly that one to the east of Kursk. Further offensive designs are contemplated, but are, for the moment, classified.
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