DC3: Barbarossa Barthheart vs JasonPratt - No Jason

[Barthheart]

Lastly is the South where the focus now is. Rostov doesn't look that far away so maybe we can pull this off. 1st PG, orange, needs to slide south without giving too much away while 17th Army, yellow, moves into the hold the line north. 11th Army will try to contain any Russians in the south that might get frisky.

[Barthheart]

Finally I thought you all might be interested in the manpower levels of our two armies and the casualties so far. i need to kill more Russians... still too many of them....

[Barthheart]

August 9, 1941

Not much to report except I may have made a huge blunder....  :P
Seeing Leningrad had only a Front HQ and 2 infantry divisions that were out of command because the rest of their army was marching towards Tallinn, I launched the Finns at Leningrad. And Failed to take the city. So now having 3 Finn divisions across the border could cost me a pile of PPs... next turn might be very hard.

I did manage to take Tallinn so that cut off some more of his troops, but he's got a pile of stuff there and more headed that way....

In the middle I managed to extend the break through but not break off the finger which has gotten wider.

Down south 1st PG is driving hard for Kharkov then on to Rostov, while 17th Army drives up towards Moscow and 11th Army pins the southern troops.

[Barthheart]

13 August, 1941

Do these steppes never end! Crap but this is a huge country......

Anyway good weather again helps with the panzer Groups. And my Finnish expedition achieved nothing and cost me 30 PP...F$@&!

The situation in the North is now a complete cluster... Russian troops are appearing at an alarming rate near Tallinn. I managed to kill a few while they tried to join up but there's more coming to the rescue. I've decided to pull 4th PG back to the north now that the Central breakthrough is fully achieved.

[Barthheart]

In the Center 2nd and 3rd PGs have made it to Smolensk! Now.... to drive on Moscow just to keep the Russians off balance or to swing south and try to close the largest pocket in history? This is an actual question to any one reading this. What do you think?

[Barthheart]

Down south 11th Army continues to try and crush the pocket that leads to Sevastopol, while at the same time push the conscript armies, that appear like cockroaches in a cheap apartment, back across the river. 17th Army is moving as fast as it can to take the place of 1st PG. Meanwhile 1st PG swings a bot south but must stop here for rest and refit. Tanks need fixing and troops need some rest if we're going to get to Rostov before the mud.

[Sir Slash]

Can your supplies sustain a drive on Moscow? If not, I'd go for the Pocket. Your lines in front of 2nd Army look awful thin. And what will Comrade Jason expect you to do? The Russians don't seem to be very mobile in this game so there maybe plenty of time to grab those.... 6 armies or is it 8?

[-budd-]

I'd pocket, dont think you can bag them all unless you can cross some units from AGS over the theater line. I am curious to see what he has on that road to Moscow, could it be open or lightly defended?

[Cyrano]

Pocket.  Weather's still good and likely to remain so.

Also hedges the bets against just what he's got there deep.

Great stuff...finally caught up with this!

[Barthheart]

AH, people are reading... good stuff.

Interesting that you all said pocket as that's what I was leaning to as well. I need to break up the "finger" and the 2nd and 3rd PG can start to extend the breakthrough towards Bryansk then Orel. I want to go that far out as I know that the Russians are still having C & C issues and can't move far or fast. Although they seem to be able to create Conscript Armies and place them about any where....
17th Army will be tasked to push up from the south towards Kursk. Then it should not be too hard to close the pocket.

Now if Jason figures out what's happening then maybe then the wall of Red will come apart and we'll get some movement there. 4th Army there is still on Blitzkrieg and their fatigue is building but I can't pull them out to the line to rest and refit with all those Russians piled in that line....

Should be an interesting few weeks in the East.......

[Barthheart]

Aug. 17, 1941

More great weather this week. Time for some tank action!

In the north, 4th PG transfers back to Army Group North and immediately strikes a weak spot held by a few conscript divisions, crushing them easily. Units from 18th Army then strike and close the noose. Another pocket is formed.

[Barthheart]

Way down south we can see that 1st PG is still in their rest and refit so can't move... for 2 more turns! Hopefully this doesn't become too obvious...

17th Army continues it's rush to fill the gap north of 1st PG and then push towards Kursk.

Elements of 11th Army have pushed the Russian 45th Conscript Army into some hills with their backs to a river... should make supplies harder to get. Also Going to push towards Stalino to see what's in the way on the road to Rostov.

4th Army of AGC is finally going to abandon the Russians starving in the swamp and move towards the solid line of Red..



Further south the rest of 11th Army with help from the 4th Rumanian Army are trying to clear the way to Sevastopol. They need to capture a small town, lightening bolt, to cut off supplies to the rest of the troops in that pocket.

Meanwhile 3rd Rumanian Army is slogging it's way to the front.

[Barthheart]

Now for the good stuff, AGC.

2nd Panzer Group preforms a major breakout! 17 Panzer Div. takes Vyazma and then keeps on driving because the Russian have abandoned the highway. They stop less than 100 km from Moscow!!

4th and 10th Panzer Divs head off towards Orel and also find no opposition... if they can reach Orel they will severely hamper the supply route to the Big Red Line.

18th Panzer and Das Reich Divs head off looking to see if there are any backfield enemies and find nothing. They will continue to push south to help seal the pocket.

1 Cav Div is going to probe north so we don't get surprised....

3rd PG and 9th Army are going to continue to reduce the Finger and lock down troops so they can be used to break out of the coming pocket. 3rd PG HQ is a little exposed but I think the Russians will be panicked enough so as to not be a problem... I hope.



If we can close this pocket it will surely break the Russians!

[Barthheart]

Progress for the first three weeks in August.

[-budd-]

Cant wait to see the russian reply, they look like there in deep sh*t.