Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: Crackaces
The Finns advance one hex forward at a time. This front is expensive in terms of Manpower, but soon .. very soon there will be a breakout.

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Soviet South Commander
run, abandon Kiev etc, try to cut off some spearheads...my major retreat with green front will move eastwards enough (like, Kharkov east!), so will yellow and purple...get a holding front ahead of his tanks, otherwise he will just keep turning my flank again and again, and create pockets we cannot afford...There is nothing between Kiev and Kharkov worth losing troops for. Retreat has little negative consequence, not doing so, and ending in pockets, does.
Furthermore, moving troops eastwards might with time hopefully allow getting ahead on his spearhead, instead of being 200 miles westwards of them...Once the major river line breached, it serves no further purpose...We gain nothing by a west-east frontline. We need to keep it North-south as much as possible, i.e. the front as short as possible. And please, we must stop getting pocketed.

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Soviet Supreme Commander
We have no more reinforcement to give South, or North.

I dont particularly agree with abandoning more ground though, personally.

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We should do our best to consolidate a position where we can hold the Caucasus and the Volga cities.

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Axis Ground Commander
There is a hole in Moscow to bypass a strongpoint ... Nope! they expected it darnit. Got a unit with 46 CV [which... ] recon did not pick up. Placements are a massive improvement. Only pushed 12 hexes and have to go for the only other weak point next turn. Which will then be fortified and is over a minor river.

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Soviet Supreme Commander
NEW ORDER OF THE DAY
I want every single division to hit every German troops in front of them. Do not advance and capture territory if gains are made. Hold your defensive position ... but attack the enemy as much as you can as well. ... I want the Germans to consume their supplies like fire, ... The more we get the Germans to consume their supplies and get broken/destroyed vehicles, the better we are off.

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Soviet Ground Commander
I don't think we get resupplied before the Germans have their turn, while they do... we may end up being the ones at a disadvantage... we should probably limit this to formations we can recognize are not already fully supplied, and thus the attacks are likely to keep them under 100% on the following turn. Taking a 100% unit down to 80% will probably still see them at 100% ammo by the start of their next turn, while we will be at reduced levels.

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ORIGINAL: Beria

T009 Soviet

Meanwhile the Soviets continue to refine their approach.

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Soviet Supreme Commander
NEW ORDER OF THE DAY
I want every single division to hit every German troops in front of them. Do not advance and capture territory if gains are made. Hold your defensive position ... but attack the enemy as much as you can as well. ... I want the Germans to consume their supplies like fire, ... The more we get the Germans to consume their supplies and get broken/destroyed vehicles, the better we are off.

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FORMER Soviet Ground Commander
I don't think we get resupplied before the Germans have their turn, while they do... we may end up being the ones at a disadvantage... we should probably limit this to formations we can recognize are not already fully supplied, and thus the attacks are likely to keep them under 100% on the following turn. Taking a 100% unit down to 80% will probably still see them at 100% ammo by the start of their next turn, while we will be at reduced levels.

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ORIGINAL: Zorch
Fixed that for you.

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Soviet Supreme Commander
send some division to try to cut out the German supply and cause a little bit of chaos, this will, in turn, take away some of their troops for the assault on Moscow, maybe they will think we are trying a huge rescue operation behind enemy lines for that pocket we have there and put the attention somewhere else than on Moscow for the time being. I dont think they kept any reserve units in there, and you will most likely encounter very small resistance.

Your task would be to capture Misnk and Mogilev ( shown in Black ). And then retreat back to your own position (shown in red)

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Soviet Centre Commander
Interesting...but I think they're running their rail line from Vitebsk, based on looking at their units and the changes in range to rail as I move around. Still it might cause some chaos, and I can displace an airbase possibly.

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Soviet Centre Commander
It turns out AGS has cut the rail line. Meaning I can't rail straight in. As a result, I don't think we'll be able to sneak in, particularly as the marsh should be pocketed by next turn. So I've decided not to go ahead with the swamp attack.

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Soviet Centre Commander
Northwest of Tula i've retreated behind the river.

The reinforcements this turn were largely cavalry and AT brigades. I think the German Panzers are on the end of a HQ buildup so hopefully they won't be able to mount a push this turn. If they have full movement points, then I don't know what might happen, our fortification levels are too low, and many of our troops too inexperienced to stop them...

I've currently evacuated factories exclusively in Moscow as Leningrad is almost empty, and the Southern front doesn't have anything directly threatened...

Currently I have Moscow, Tula and Bryansk all possibly having adjacent units within three weeks, and potentially captured or surrounded within the next 4-6 weeks. Hopefully we'll hold out longer, but this is a likely scenario.

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Soviet Supreme Commander
Loosing Moscow is not a game breaker. We can always retreat and capture it back during the winter. One avenue we could go is retreat everything and leave the Germans fighting for supplies.

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Soviet Centre Commander
overloaded, considering it does not provide a natural avenue of advance for the Wehrmacht...plan is to retreat all mechanized and motorized units from this sector to help with the defense of Moscow. A token force of four infantry divisions ... will be left behind ... Additional infantry forces will be placed around Bryansk and Tula early on. While token defences will be placed along the river lines further south to slow the German advance towards Kursk etc.

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Soviet South Commander
suggest a joint up defensive line that runs along the Oka to Orel and beyond, then following the Tuskar river past Kursk, then via the patches of forests west of Belgorod, on to Kharkov...There is nothing of value west of that line, it shortens the line and frees up troops...

The Kursk sector will only be defended lightly ... I doubt the Germans will send their tanks that way. And their infantry will take 4-5 turns to reestablich contact with our lines again...

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Soviet South CommanderI am anxious about a sudden southern swing of their armour spearheads southwards towards Orel and Kursk which could bag a lot of our forces.

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Soviet Centre Commander
I doubt they are planning to go much further than Bryansk & Tula from Centre to South. Their supply lines would be too long with a rail line back in Vitebsk. If AGS starts grouping panzers on the northern part of their sector, I'll start to get more worried about an actual encirclement, at this point I'm expecting a minor thrust and then a redirect back towards Moscow.

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Soviet Centre Commander
...slowly create increasing lines of defense and slow down the infantry advance, with the hope of maintaining lines in front of Moscow come winter, providing us with a salient with which to counter-attack during the blizzard.

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Soviet South Commander
continue to fall back north of the river to conserve my forces, and thus have enough to move the entire line eastwards... hopefully will have enough to guard Kharkov. I will try to hold the Stalino tricity area for a few turns.
Odessa will be evacuated as best as possible to rescue those good divisions there.

This overall shortening of my front... will free up some forces we bitterly need...