jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2 >> After Action Reports >> jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign

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jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/27/2021 3:39:55 PM

jubjub

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Settings

* 1941 Campaign No Early End
* Server Game
* FOG of War: On
* Movement FOW: On
* Lock HQ support: On
* Automate AI air assist: Off
* Enhanced Player TB control: On
* No Motorization
* No Paratrooper drops

I followed HYLA's early AAR's a while back, and he seemed to just roll over his Soviet opponenets by turn 5, and I think this was quite common at the time. Since then, I think the meta has shifted a bit towards favoring the Soviets slightly. I think it is mostly due to Soviet players becoming more experienced: they make fewer mistakes, get fewer men encircled, and play a more aggressive and active defense. I also think M60 and other players deserve a lot of credit for showing everyone how they manage the Soviet army. Hopefully I can add to this body of knowledge and show everyone an interesting game!

A couple things I will be looking out for this game:

Where does HYLA send his panzers? We'll be looking out for a north/south approach, northern blitz, PG 1 to AGC, or a 'default' approach (highly unlikely imo).

I'm very nervous about HYLA's ability to keep his panzers topped up on fuel. In general, I'll have to assume that they consistently have 40+ MP each turn. If you are struggling as an Axis player in this regard, I would highly recommend studying his logistics.

I don't want to give too much away, but I have a thread in the war room where I outline part of my approach to the Soviets, and we should see some of those concepts on display here.

Post #: 1

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/27/2021 11:02:08 PM

jubjub

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Germans Cross the Border in Force

The Germans invade the Soviet Union, opting to blow away the front line of defense. The German assault embarrasses the Red Army, as only two engagements with the enemy are held successfully. I expect to sack a lot of generals for their gross incompetence. In the meantime, STAVKA is in a frantic state of panic as high command decides where to allocate the remainders of the Red Army.

quote:

Where does HYLA send his panzers? We'll be looking out for a north/south approach, northern blitz, PG 1 to AGC, or a 'default' approach (highly unlikely imo).

Looks like it's the 'northern blitz' strategy, with most, if not all of PG 3 going north. The plan is to keep him out of Leningrad as long as possible and bleed out the bonus points from the rest of the map.

Very solid pockets, and it looks like he was able to keep most of the routed units from routing out of the pockets. The only attacks going on for me this turn are to scout and see which panzer and motorized elements are going where.

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 7/27/2021 11:44:12 PM >

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/27/2021 11:14:01 PM

jubjub

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Air Phase

I've found that the 24 plane missions don't always get the job done in bad terrain like swamps and hills, so I fly 50 plane missions. I normally fly interdiction on the right bank of the Dvina, but he advanced along too wide of a front to be practical.

The idea in the south is to interdict all of the swamps/hills that he has to pass through. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite get the job done in the south. Guess I should've flown more missions. HYLA's reinforcements will be advancing through a bad terrain hex regardless.

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 7/27/2021 11:44:44 PM >

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/27/2021 11:30:20 PM

jubjub

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Losses

My ground losses are fairly mild considering he blew away the front line. I suspect I'll have over 500k casualties next turn. A good sign is that he only lost 47 tanks this turn. This is a clue that the German player is skilled.

Confirmation comes with his air losses. I'm honestly baffled how he kept his losses so low when going for the 'no airfield bombing' approach. I've tried that approach before and now opt to bomb the airfields because my losses were too high.

My bomber losses are shown for the interdiction I ran. Just the price of doing business.

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 7/27/2021 11:46:23 PM >

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/28/2021 12:00:12 AM

jubjub

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Housekeeping

* Delete as many artillery regiments with the wrong TOE as we can. (See M60's AAR on how to do this)

* Set armies to level 4 supply priority and place them on depots. We want as many of these to get reinforcements before we run out of the initial manpower reserve.

* Set all support levels to 0. We'll lock this next turn.

* Send low morale (<40) artillery to the reserve.

* Group air units by aircraft model. I don't bother grouping the biplanes, they just go to Moscow air command until they get upgraded.

* Move units adjacent to airports and transport them supplies. This helps immensely at this stage, especially if you're sending them into combat.

* Set all high morale (>49) infantry to refit. This helps me identify strong units (that I don't want captured), and we also want reinforcements to flow to them.

* Panzer/motorized count: ~12 AGN. ~9-10 AGC. ~11 AGS. I don't have good intel on them yet, but I'm keeping a list of them.

< Message edited by jubjub -- 7/28/2021 1:44:31 AM >

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Post #: 5

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/28/2021 5:11:11 AM

Q-Ball

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Interesting...if you're going to run interdiction, try running it in your own hexes, which you can do. Because you don't have to recon those hexes first, you get much better results. Obviously you have to pick hexes the Axis has to move through....

_____________________________

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/28/2021 7:31:15 AM

loki100

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Interesting...if you're going to run interdiction, try running it in your own hexes, which you can do. ...

which you can't do under any circumstances, this exploit was stopped about a year ago in the late alpha stage of game development

_____________________________

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Post #: 7

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/28/2021 3:50:38 PM

OberGeneral

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Yes! Squash those exploits.

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/28/2021 4:01:17 PM

Rosencrantus

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My thoughts on this opening is if the bid for Leningrad fails, then you end up with a 1941 GC where there is much less terrain captured in AGC and maybe AGS. A 1942 offensive would be very likely towards Moscow as if the Axis does not capture enough ground in the Centre and South, then they won't have a good enough springboard even with a spring 1942 offensive to launch an effective summer offensive into the south. However, if Leningrad falls you free up many, many divisions (10+) to do so how ever you like. Lots to consider in an opening like this.

< Message edited by Rosencrantus -- 7/28/2021 4:02:56 PM >

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Post #: 9

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 7/28/2021 7:46:05 PM

Beethoven1

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Rosencrantus

My thoughts on this opening is if the bid for Leningrad fails, then you end up with a 1941 GC where there is much less terrain captured in AGC and maybe AGS. A 1942 offensive would be very likely towards Moscow as if the Axis does not capture enough ground in the Centre and South, then they won't have a good enough springboard even with a spring 1942 offensive to launch an effective summer offensive into the south. However, if Leningrad falls you free up many, many divisions (10+) to do so how ever you like. Lots to consider in an opening like this.

That reminds me of my first game (and AAR) against Bread, where he tried to go for Leningrad with 2-3 Panzer groups.

I think Soviets can stop this move, but the key is that you have to get troops into position in the north quickly to do so. It becomes more difficult later to move more troops to the north (partly because of the rail lines), so you have to recognize it from the very first turn and react quickly. But once Soviets start to get density and depth of troops sitting in the heavy forests and swamps, it becomes very hard for the Panzers to dislodge them, and it takes a lot of movement points to move forward when you combine the bad terrain, ZOC, and combat delays.

It does appear most likely that HLYA is going to Leningrad, but I don't think it is 100% sure so far. It looks that way, but it could be misdirection. The turn 1 movement rules let Germany move using less MP if they go to the north than if you go east of Minsk (east of Minsk costs more MPs than west of Minsk). So to some degree it makes sense for Germany to gobble up as much territory in the north as they can on turn 1, even if ultimately they are planning to head into the center on turn 2. Especially if you can fool the Soviets and get them to put too many troops in the north and an inadequate defense in the center. So Soviets should watch out for that possibility as well.

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/2/2021 10:43:57 PM

jubjub

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Turn 1 Leningrad Defense:

The Leningrad direction is confirmed. We've counted at least 12 motorized and panzer divisions going north, and minimal to no progress in the Center and South. This strategy is quite the gamble, since, if it fails, HYLA will almost certainly be doomed this game. However, it's going to require a huge effort to hold on to Leningrad.

Quick aside for defending as the Soviets. Basically, the goal is to identify the best/easiest routes for the Axis to advance, and increase the cost of moving along these routes as much as possible. On the contrary, area with bad terrain (Kalinin forests, Pripyat marshes) already have prohibitive cost movement, so we don't need to defend those areas strongly. We also only want to defend across rivers and/or in good terrain. The routes I identify as the best, and the ones I want to stop are shown as red arrows. There's always chokepoints or good terrain along these paths to defend. These chokepoints are identified in pink, and we typically want to put our best men in them. By focusing our forces in this way, we can defend a lot more territory with the same amount of troops. The most inefficient defense is a straight line across the map, which doesn't take these movement costs or defense advantages of the map into account. ANYWAY, enough rambling from me..

Shown here is my defense from last turn. There's just not enough units to cover every approach when the Axis player gets so far the first turn. Ultimately, I think the approach on the right through clear terrain is more dangerous because it expands the front and threatens the double rail line, so I deployed my best units in that direction. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a few divisions becoming trapped in Pskov. In the grand scheme of things, it's only about 5-6 divisions, but locally, it hurts pretty bad, since I don't start with much in this direction.

Fortunately, Pskov was not isolated this turn, and will likely hold out until turn 4. In hindsight, I should've swapped that security division in the rough terrain with one of the infantry divisions.

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 8/2/2021 11:56:26 PM >

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/2/2021 11:03:24 PM

jubjub

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Turn 1 Smolensk Defense:

I wanted to share this because I thought there are some interesting aspects to my defense here. The first thing you notice is that the Dnieper is barely defended. This is because it is impossible for his motorized units to cross the Dnieper as long as I have ZOC in each hex on the left bank. If you count the MP cost for the closest/best approaches to the nearest river crossing, the MP cost is over 50. A big mistake in this situation is to put your units on the riverside hexes. In this case, they can be attacked from across the river with a hasty attack. If they rout, the German can cross the river. However, you need a different approach if the first turn puts the panzers closer to the river.. It's still worth bearing in mind to see where the panzers are able to cross.

The key to defending the land bridge are the swamp and hills that are circled in pink. At least one of these hexes has to be taken to continue the assault. Assaulting these hexes with motorized divisions is kind of a headache for the Axis, and then they have to continue to the assault the land bridge itself. It's also pretty inefficient to encircle divisions in this area because of the rivers. Overall, I was able to get a way with a very light defense here since HYLA is directed towards the north.

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/2/2021 11:18:07 PM

jubjub

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T1 southern defense

The first turn defense in the south depends on how far the panzers advanced. However, the first line of level 1 forts should never be defended because the next line is far superior. This defensive line takes advantage of the minor rivers in the area, and has some nice rough terrain anchoring the center. It's also 5 crucial hexes further away. However, this line south of Yuzhny Bug is not really defensible if they advance to Proskurov in T1.

The most common pocket area is circled in yellow. If you defend the first line, you are almost guaranteed to get everything in this direction surrounded..

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 8/10/2021 3:30:48 PM >

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/2/2021 11:33:25 PM

jubjub

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T2 Freight:

Freight backlog cleared after T1. My efforts to get my armies' TOE up paid off. I now have 13 armies with a TOE over 90%. We need to continue this effort this turn before our manpower pool runs out. In particular, Southwestern Front didn't get replacements and is sitting ~40%...

I don't know if anyone would be interested, but I saved my depot configuration in case anyone wants to see it.

Attachment (1)

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/2/2021 11:49:24 PM

jubjub

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Dead Leaders - Disaster!

The biggest loss this turn was the loss of Nikolai Vatutin, who died after replacing another dead leader. I'm pretty sure he's the best leader behind Zhukov, and his death will make a huge difference down the line. We lost 5 others this turn (who we don't really care about). Usually 0-1 leaders die turn 2 for me, and this is by far the most deaths I've ever had. Admittedly, one of these deaths was from performing a displacement move to free up command points for the Western Front.

The leader replacement mechanic seems rather poorly thought out. I think the AI should replace leaders at random instead of selecting the best leaders to be suicided into the front lines. I also think displaced HQ's are bugged in that they retain the 50% leader death chance because the replacement leaders die at a very high rate. Once they are displaced out of the pocket, they should be subject to the normal 15% death chance on displacement. If it's not a bug, it's definitely a flaw.

Also, the logistics phase report is bugged for me this turn because it didn't show me the leader deaths. This makes it hard for me to see who replaced who :(

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 8/3/2021 4:05:16 AM >

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/3/2021 12:11:42 AM

jubjub

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Axis Advance:

Like I mentioned, little to no progress in the center and south. It's hard for me to believe, but so far, I've only counted about 2 corps worth of panzers/motorized divisions in the south. I don't think he has anything hiding in reserve because I've counted 26 motorized divisions across the map, which is just about all of them. I'm still wary, but it doesn't look like this front will need reinforcements anytime soon. Also, Das Reich has gone missing and we haven't seen the Wiking division yet.

Similar situation in the center. I have a feeling HYLA is reserving the option to send the rest of PG 2 to the north.

The situation in the north is pretty bad. The panzers managed to advance 3 hexes deeper than I would have liked. Pskov is cut off but not isolated.

It seems HYLA is a big fan of splitting out his divisions. I'm personally not a proponent of this tactic as axis and try to keep my divisions together as much as possible.

Edit: Forgot to include a capture of the Axis T2 in the north.

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 8/4/2021 5:23:18 PM >

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/3/2021 2:24:42 AM

jubjub

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T2 Air Phase

Quite a disaster I must say. I ran huge bombing runs on his forward elements with Leningrad and LRAC. I just learned from Beethoven's AAR that these can drastically reduce the MP of the motorized elements if done properly. These bombing runs are normally out of air superiority range of his airbases, so I flew them unescorted. He must have used drop tanks to extend the range of his air superiority missions, because he got tons of interceptions. Not only that, but the air directive switched from bombing units to running interdiction halfway through (wtf)! The bombing runs that targeted the units are shown, while you can see the effect of the interdiction missions..

Those bombing runs did disrupt around 900 men per unit they bombed, so I hope that his MP's are impacted. I think most of those are regiments, so that's like 1/5 of the men in each regiment that got disrupted. Still not worth it. Those long range bombers take forever to replace.

First time I've seen anyone use drop tanks. Painful lesson. I did a little bit of investigating, and it looks like Bf 109's normally have 10 hexes of range, and the drop tanks extend it to 16. However, the drop tanks degrade the performance of the bf 109-2's pretty significantly, making them worse than Yak-1's and Mig-3's in speed and maneuverability, while still retaining an advantage in climb rate.

At least the gulf of Riga is still in our control...

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 8/4/2021 4:12:57 PM >

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/3/2021 2:45:11 PM

AlbertN

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I learnt it late BUT Axis can rebase fighters during the ground movement phase.
And then air supply the airbase with the forward fighters.

It took me some MP games with my mind being boggled as the VVS was dominating the skies (since the Luftwaffe was keeping behind of the first turn advances), and my panzers and motorized components were bombed massively anywhere.
Alternatively one can set the BF110s to perform Air Superiority over the armoured spearheads locations. Albeit they won't perform adequately against Soviet fighters, they'll mince unescorted bombers.

So trying and reading around netted me some results!

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/3/2021 3:12:51 PM

jubjub

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quote:

ORIGINAL: AlbertN

I learnt it late BUT Axis can rebase fighters during the ground movement phase.
And then air supply the airbase with the forward fighters.

It took me some MP games with my mind being boggled as the VVS was dominating the skies (since the Luftwaffe was keeping behind of the first turn advances), and my panzers and motorized components were bombed massively anywhere.
Alternatively one can set the BF110s to perform Air Superiority over the armoured spearheads locations. Albeit they won't perform adequately against Soviet fighters, they'll mince unescorted bombers.

So trying and reading around netted me some results!

I don't think this isn't the case here. The Bf 109-2's were flying air superiority missions, not intercept missions. As far as I know, air superiority missions have to be flown from an airbase that was controlled at the beginning of the air phase.

Intercept sorties are automatically flown in response to enemy air missions from any airbase that your planes are currently in. Compared to air superiority missions, they have a very small chance of intercepting bombers unless the bombers are flying deep into enemy territory.

< Message edited by jubjub -- 8/3/2021 3:48:04 PM >

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Post #: 19

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/3/2021 4:30:16 PM

M60A3TTS

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quote:

ORIGINAL: jubjub

Losses

My ground losses are fairly mild considering he blew away the front line. I suspect I'll have over 500k casualties next turn. A good sign is that he only lost 47 tanks this turn. This is a clue that the German player is skilled.

There's not much evidence required to show how skilled he is. That's been proven numerous times.

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/4/2021 10:25:43 AM

GibsonPete

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Thank you for your tips on river defense. It has given me something to consider. You are right about drop tanks. A useful tool for the Axis and a nasty surprise for the Soviets. I am enjoying this AAR.

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Post #: 21

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/4/2021 1:24:04 PM

jubjub

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quote:

ORIGINAL: GibsonPete

Thank you for your tips on river defense. It has given me something to consider. You are right about drop tanks. A useful tool for the Axis and a nasty surprise for the Soviets. I am enjoying this AAR.

Glad to hear it! Yeah it's a lesson I won't forget soon lol

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Post #: 22

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/4/2021 1:34:08 PM

jubjub

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T2 Counterattacks

Pretty hilarious result against some Romanian infantry regiments, so I thought I'd share it. The attacking units in the first battle is isolated too.. Just goes to show that the Romanians need special treatment.

No other attacks besides some minor probing.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by jubjub -- 8/4/2021 1:40:44 PM >

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Post #: 23

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/4/2021 2:04:11 PM

freeboy

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re basing during gm turn phase who knew ???
thank uuu for the aar

< Message edited by freeboy -- 8/4/2021 2:16:18 PM >

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Post #: 24

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/4/2021 2:38:25 PM

jubjub

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T2 OOB and Losses

This is our EOT OOB, which includes units in transfer. So we're a little low at the moment, and we need to desperately get that number up. Hopefully we can get over 3 mil by T5, but that might be a stretch against my current opponent...

Our forces in reserve will start ballooning to 500k+ over the next couple of turns as we receive half strength reinforcements to the reserve, so it's important that I work to keep this number down and get boots on the ground.

Also, to note, a lot of the Luftwaffe has gone to the reserves. Unfortunately, so have the axis allied air forces :(

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 8/4/2021 2:51:36 PM >

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Post #: 25

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/4/2021 3:21:11 PM

jubjub

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Housekeeping

* Panzer/motorized count: 11 AGN. 8 AGC. 8 AGS. This pretty much accounts for all of them, and these numbers should be pretty accurate. I am expecting to be surprised with units in the south, as there's just too many VP's to only send 8 south imo..

* Note that these designations denote more or less their position on the map, and not the actual command they're attached to.

* Command Points: All of the CP was used to make Western and SW Fronts assault HQ's T1/T2, and the remainder went to making depots. We'll start replacing our nincompoops next turn.

* Delete as many artillery regiments with the wrong TOE as we can. (See M60's AAR on how to do this)

* Everything is set to supply priority 3 except armies without full TOE's. Priority 4 really tanks MP when the trucks are still low.

* Locked HQ support levels, and transferred stragglers to STAVKA.

* Send low morale/xp (<40) artillery to the reserve. Start refitting high morale art in reserve.

* Not much to do in the air phase this turn. Upgraded a couple of air groups, but we're really waiting until turn 5 or 6, when the group size comes down.

* Move low supply units adjacent to airports and transport them supplies. Not as many that need it this turn.

* In addition to refitting high morale/low TOE infantry, I've started refitting 2-3 tank divisions on the map in high supply areas. Hopefully these convert to the 41b TOE.

* Organize HQ's. In general, I'm avoiding changing HQ as much as possible this turn in the assault HQ's. Everywhere else, we're trying to optimize our chain of command as much as possible with our high TOE armies.

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Post #: 26

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/10/2021 4:19:05 PM

jubjub

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Turn 3 OOB and Losses

Turn three sees the Red Army rebound in strength on the map, although most of these newly deployed men are sitting in Moscow and need to make it to the front. There's also ~150,000 men trapped behind enemy lines. Losses this turn aren't so bad, but that will probably change next turn as the pockets are liquidated. As predicted, hundreds of thousands of comrades arrived in the reserves this week to get outfitted with rifles and vodka. Some of the 16 rifle divisions I'm refitting in the reserve won't get their full TOE in things like mortars or artillery. On map refits will probably be pretty starved for ground elements as well this turn, but it's more important to get soldiers out of the reserves and on the map ASAP.

Leningrad finally started spawning militia units, which can be used to plug the holes until better divisions arrive. If anyone knows if there is a schedule for militia troop arrival, I'd really like to see it.

There's a common theme so far from the German high command. They are intent on surrounding units and prioritize this objective over a more rapid advance in some areas. At this point, STAVKA is mostly trying to avoid large-scale encirclement and infiltration, and is willing to trade a few divisions for time.

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< Message edited by jubjub -- 8/10/2021 4:23:24 PM >

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Post #: 27

RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/10/2021 4:45:43 PM

jubjub

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Turn 3 Air Phase

Lots of recon flown by the Luftwaffe. VVS flew a few small interdiction missions in addition to a bombing run on 9th Pz. No air superiority missions from the Germans this week, although a flight of SB-2's was caught and blown out of the sky regardless.

VVS flew a couple of recon missions in the south to find lonesome panzer divisions. No luck this turn.

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/10/2021 5:00:11 PM

jubjub

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Turn 3 Leningrad

It's raining in the north this turn and the next, and Axis tanks advance 7 hexes in the main direction of Leningrad, but 2 rows of hexes are retaken. Pskov is isolated and doomed for immediate liquidation on the historical date for 3 bonus points. The double rail line is currently not in any danger, and we want to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Reinhardt's XXXXI Motorized Corps takes Tallinn for the full bonus after two hasty attacks by Tokenkopf and 1st Panzer. Unfortunately, the 2 divisions in the city were pushed out of the city and isolated.

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RE: jubjub (Soviet) vs HYLA (Axis) '41 Grand Campaign - 8/10/2021 5:25:10 PM

jubjub

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Turn 3 Western Front

The motorized elements of Army Group Center/North bypassed the land bridge to the north. STAVKA is encouraged by this development, and expects the holy city of Smolensk to hold out for many weeks. As you can see, there was almost no resistance in that direction, as high command believes the terrain defends that axis of approach well enough. The hope is that these panzers become bogged down fighting in the terrain north of Smolensk. Veliki Luki is the only decent railyard in that direction, and it's surrounded by poor terrain. This move has never worked out in previous campaigns, but we'll have to wait and see before passing judgement.

GENM Lelyushenko commanded a counter-attack against 19th Pz division in an attempt to relieve the trapped units in the land bridge. While the attack just narrowly failed, 57 enemy panzers were incapacitated as a consolation prize.

High command is currently in intense deliberations on whether to continue to defend the land bridge and risk encirclement or fall back to Smolensk.

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