View Full Version : Barbarossa Tactical Polynike vs Vidrimaros
A slow summer breeze drfited down the Unter der Linden in Berlin. The war was won, or so the German public thought. The Fuherer had promised and he had delivered. Only Britain and her far flung empire resisted the New World Order brought by National Socialism. The cafes were full and at night the cabarets made a roaring trade any threat from the RAF strategic bomober force was deemed insufficient to worry an increasingly confident civilian population. The pages of Signal magazine were full of pictures of bearded U-Boat commanders with the Ritterkruez gleaming at their necks and of fancy pictures of cocky fly boys in their flas ME 109's.
Indeed it seemed that the Fuherer had conquered Europe in a series of Blitzkrieg campaigns with minimum bloodshed. The Whermacht stood watch from the Artic Circle in Northern Norway to the Bay of Biscay in the south. Late June 1941 was an idyllic time. Decorated veterans from the campaign in the West chatted up women with their daring exploits against the hated French, or how they had chased the British from Europe. Indeed the only inkling of war was the daily reports in the Volkischer Beobachter on the ongoing Italian Campaign in Africa.
Early morning 22nd June 1941. As the Kripo night shift heads home bleary eyed after a nights work and the headhunters pack away the last drunks from the local brothels, the radio blasts out marshall music so consistent with important military news. Had the Italians captured Tobruk? Had the gangster Churchill finally come to his senses and sued for peace terms?
"As of 3:00 am this morning units of the Whermancht, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine and the Waffen SS are engaged with units of the Soviet Red Army..." The announcement shocked many. Wern't we allied with the Soviets? Others welcomed the struggle as the ultimate clash of ideologies where the bolshevic threat would be forcibly removed. Others sat in quiet contemplation. When was the last time Russia was successfully invaded, the haunting campaign fought by the Le Grand Armee was paramount in many minds.
When the Fuherer spoke he talked about the endless struggle, about the constant need for Lebensraum in the East and about how Soviet Russia was the real enemy of the Western Civilised world. Germany was leading a crusade against Bolshevism. Amid the applause and cheers many World War I veterans in the Reichsatg questioned the wisdom of this move. Was Germany capable of fighting a war on two fronts? Could Britain now be defeated. What the Fuherer was correct about was that the world indeed held its breath, well everyone except one Winston Churchill who amid a cloud of cigar smoke allowed himself a wry smile in the depths of the War Rooms in Westminster. Perhaps the outlook was not as bleak as he had thought, was the tide about to turn?
The quiet warm night was violently disturbed by the firing of salvo after salvo of artillery rounds as the German Army advanced east from Memel to the Romanian border. 3 million axis soldiers faced the rising sun knowing they stood on the threshold of history. Soviet foward postions were caught totally surprised as they were not expecting their allies to be firing on them. The mobile and armoured units sped eastwards bypassing the main points of resistance leaving them to the following infantry divisions.
General Heinz Guderian supervised the crossing of the River Bug and the encirclement of the strong fortress of Brest-Litvosk, a place where he had shook hands with Soviet officers in September 1939. As a soldier he was sworn to do his duty but as a man he was not convinced of this latest venture.But as his grey panzers snaked thier way into the rays of the new sun he had total faith in his men who had brought France to her knees int he space of two weeks. Already Schnelle Heinz had set his eyes on the Beresina River.
Adolf Galland along with Reichsmarshall Goering could not believe the figures been reported by the frontline Jagd and Zerostroer squadrons. By all accounts the Red Air Force had been caught totally surprised, Despite fighter pilot exaggerations a massive ammount of soviet material had been destroyed in the first few hours of conflict, many on the ground.
Valery Sokosski radioed his last message from his bunker in Brest. " We have done our duty for the Motherland the facsists lie at my door. I have put in my last clip inm y gun and grabbed my last grenade. Tell my father i died bravely with Russia in my heart, Long Live the Motherland." With these words Valery put a bullet through the radio set and left the bunker to die defending the last enclave of soviet resistance in Brest. Moments later a signalman from the 341 Infantry Division radioed the following message from the same room to OKH HQ in Rastenburg.
"All Russian resistance is over. The Reichskriegflagge flies of the Brest citadel. Long Live Germany Heil Hitler". For his ingenuity Schutze Hemmellmann was awarded the EK II by Reichminister Goebells as the first soldier to send a victory message from Soviet Russia.
General Heinz Guderian could be well pleased 2 days into the campaign. Brest-Litovsk had fallen without the prtotracted siege the OKH planners had envisaged. Indeed casualties for the whole operation had been 2% of the total committed. He had spent the second day with the SS Das Reich Division and had a lunch of iron rations with the SS troopers.
In his HQ vehicle the signal team was busy,
"...aufkl abteilung 4th Pz Div at Zabluduv..."
"...4th Pz regiment at Kyanovka..."
"...45th pz engineer abteilung at Lapy..."
Suddenly the monotony of daily reprots was broken by a very excited and nervous signalman from the Hq of the 18th Panzer Division,
"New unseen panzers encounterd today. Sleek 76mm(lang) gun armed tank with sloping armour 45mm thick. Christie type suspension. 37mm anti-tank shells bounce off armour. Only effective attack flank or rear attack by Pz IV's. Immediate effect on morale of Pz crews.
47 ton monster with a 76.2 mm gun. Immune to all our anti-tank weapons. One knocked out by an 88 at 100 yards
Request inspection of battlefield wrecks."
Guderian read the wire with some concern. He bade his SS hosts farewell and moved his Hq towards the battle area of the 18th Panzer Division pondering what effect these "new" panzers would have on the campaign.
Svetlana Klinsky had been a party member all her life. First a member of the comosols then a commisar in her local party area. Last February she had been transferred ti Lvov to coordinate the young communists movements in the area. Unlike most of the population Svetlana had heard of the fascist attack almost imediately through her Party connections. However she very firmly believed the party line that the Red Army was holding on the frontier while masses of reserves were pulling up to the front. She wondered if she would be spending Christmas with the Berlin young communists.
All of a sudden a silver streak in the sky caught her eye, a flashing arrow that drove staright down the main highway. As it came closer she could see a yellow nose and dark crosses under its wings. Wings? she thought. Suddenly little bouts of flame erupted from the things wings and nose and all around her she could hear screams and the impact of the bullets on the floor. The machine roared above her head and she stood there watching. The roar of more engines made her look up. More and more yellow nosed airplanes filled the sky as fire rained down upon the city of Lvov.
Svetlana ran off thinking of how to organise air raid shelters and aid stations for the wounded. For the first time in her life she began to question her faith in the party. If the Red Army was winning the war what were German fighter planes doing here. The war had arrived at Lovov and this was only the beginning.
AChmielowski
29 Sep 03, 23:59
Nice AAR`s - keep up the good work !!
piero1971
30 Sep 03, 04:22
Nice to see this. Be sure you use latest version however...at least 4.0. ciao
PS. I never managed to make Brest as impregnable as in reality...
viridomaros
30 Sep 03, 05:15
good background polinyke, by now i'm not able to move most my units
may be in 2 or three turns, i will be able to move more units
it is the latest version piero its 4.1 and i must say its a great job you have down as a history techer i appreciate the historical accuracy with the units
polynike
Theodore Eicke, his staff officers and several Whermacht officers poured over maps of Lithuania and especially the immmediate area around Kaunas. The signal troops of the 56th panzer Corps had already recevied news of the fall of Bialystock and Lvov, and General Hoepner was eager to claim a first prize for the 4th Panzer army. The Lithuanian capital of Kaunas was to be the first glittering prize for AGN. So far grateful Lithuaninas had greeted the German troops as liberators from a hated Soviet occuaption. Liberating their capital might cement this cordial realtionship into one of active collaboration.
Staff officers composed a two pronged pincer attack spearheaded by SSTK and elements of 56th Panzer Corps in the north and elements of the 6th Infantry Corps to the south. In thier way stood the remnants of the USSR's 11th Army, but aereal recon had picked up armoured and mehcanized units entrenched in good defensive ground around Kaunas.Whilst armoured formations sped eastwards on either flank of the pincer movement the slower infantry units would mop up pockets and strongholds of resistance, classic Blitzkrieg.
Shortly before the start of the assault Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler telegraphed Theodre Eicke urging him to get the SSTK into Kaunas ahead of the army units. The army did not hold the Waffen SS in high regard and as such the Reichsfuhrer SS wanted a coup in order to raise his prestige in the eyes of the Prussian officer class. Eicke received the cable with a sardonic smile and swore that no matter how high casualties were the SSTK would storm and conquer Kaunas. He quickly called all regimental and battalion commanders to his CP and set out the plan of attack. The SSTK was about to be blooded for the first time.
piero1971
08 Oct 03, 09:39
Thanks. I am interested to see how this game will go.... so far it seems many plays have seen a blanced outcome, albeit either a full victory of the germans (seizing Moscow in autumn, as per the excellent Hitler's Panzers East: World War II Reinterpreted -- R. H. S. Stolfi;) or the soviets smashing the german spearheads in the winter...
as per the accuracy of units, well... that was tough, especiall for the soviet ones!!! there would be debate on some start disposition of units on both sides, but sources conflict.. i wish i could read russian ... so i must rely on Glanz's books and german sources (biased in favour of German doctrine)...
interested to see how far east will Theo Eicke go...
Vlokischer Beobachter 26th June 1941
"Our brave armed forces have taken the fight to the Soviet horde. Armoured spearheads are as far as 200kms into soviet territory. The Red Army wilts away in the face of the sotrm of steel and fire we have unleashed. Long columns of POWs head for the Reich and a vast amount of material has been captured. Already numerous divisions have been wiped off the Soviet order of battle and many divisional standards were presented by Field Marshal Keitel to the Fuhrer yesterday at Rastenburg.
Our brave boys march eastwards with stout hearts pushing the bolshevicks aside as if they swatting away an annoying fly. Recently released battle maps from OKH show how the Soviet 10th Army is being strangled by the efforts of our troopers. "
STOP PRESS: Just in from AGN HQ 5th Panzer Division reports capture of Vilnius
SS Untersturmfuhrer Scholl reported to Obergruppenfuhrer Eicke.
"Sir the soviet bastards hold strong and we have been pushed back with some losses. request support"
Eicke looked up and smiled, "Untersturm i couldnt give a monkeys ass if they hold, you and your men will blow them off that hill and capture Kaunas by the morning is that clear. Dachau awaits if you fail. Heil Hitler."
Scholl saluted and turned around. He recalled the hill in which the soviet unit was dug in, and the high number of camfalouged bodies that were once his men that now covered that accursed lump of earth. SSTK had been assaulting the defences NW of Kaunas but had not loddged the Soviets. What was worse was the the army units North and South of the city were already fighting in the suburbs. Untersturmfuhrer Scholl had another hard days fighting ahead of him.
Marshal Antonescu looked at the situation map laid out on the table in front of him. Around him stood the generals of the Romanian army and a few German general staff officers, the red stripes on thier grey trousers disappearing into jet black boots.
The words of the Fuhrer were still echoing in his mind. The regaining of Bessarabia from the hated soviets and the promise of more land to the East upto the Dniepr River as well as control over Odessa. Anotonescu had not needed much convincing to attack the Soviet Union having lived in the shadow of the Red Beast since 1917. The rape of Bessarabia, so nicely put by the pro-fascist Romanian press had shifted public opinion in favour of an alliance with Germany against the Soviet Union.
On the eve of Romanian involvement spirits were high. Operation Barabarossa was only 4 days old and so far spectacular successes had been achieved. If the momentum would continue the Black Sea would become a Romaninan pond. Antonescu stopped his musings and focused on the map and tried to listen to the briefings of his officers and the German attaches. Already German and Romaninan troops were engaing border postions on the River Prut. With Slovakian and Hungarian troops also on the move it did seem as if a European Crusade against Bolshevism had been launched.
SS Untersturmfuhrer Scholl grimaced as he walked towards the tent Obergruppenfuhrer Ecike used as his Field HQ. A soviet bullet had gone into his thigh but the sanitatsoffizier was able to extract it and label the graze as a flesh wound, to Scholl it hurt like hell but was dreading whathe had to do next.
He opened the flap and clicked his heels and filed out his report that the SSTK had failed to take Kaunas and that the army's 61st Infantry Division had stormed and captured the city from the South. Eicke did not even look up from his upper of soup, he simply grunted one word; Dachau. Scholl saluted and marched out. He walked to his companies billets and gathered up his stuff. He handed command over to SS Oberscharfuhrer Strosky and headed toward the staff officers to confirm his redeployment. Concentration guard duty was a despicable duty for an officer proud to wear the uniform of the Waffen SS, a veteran of France and Poland. Such was the price of failure, at least he was still alive and not at an SS penal battalion.
Next morning Obergruppenfuhrer Eicke made a dawn visit to Oberschafuhrer Strosky informing him of his promotion to Untersturmfuhrer. With a quick salute Stronksky rasied his weary troops and faced east again.
To the tankmen of AGN it seemed as if the Red Army had disappeared. They were running through the baltic states meeting only limited opposition and only at Kaunas had the Reds stopped and fought. Confidence was sky high. Village after village was been overrun and a grateful population was decking the tanks and soldiers in flowers and all sorts. In the near distance the blue shimmering line of the River Dvina could be seen, the fist major natural obstacle to be crossed. Already armoured and motorised elements sped towards this wide and fast flowing river.
The engineers of the 57th Pionere Abteilung were repairing the blown bridge at Jelgava, a small village just south of Riga. Behind them the 6th Panzer Division waited to cross. No Soviet troops had opposed the advance and the panzertruupen were eager for a fight. The talk was of spending late August bathing in the promennades of Leningrad resting before a southerly push on Moscow. Though morale was high the lack of Soviet oppositon in this sector allowed the soldiers to be excessively confidence.
However all was not so clearcut. Local counter attacks were succuessful, most embaressingly the partial reoccupation of Kaunas, an event kept secret even from OKW. Furthermore the HQ of the 41st Panzer Corps had received photographs from recon planes with evidence that the soviets were beginning to dig in and around Riga. the 6th Panzer would soon get its eagerly awaited fight.
The engineers of the 6th had barely just laid down the pontoon bridge when across rushed the panzergrenadiers and little further south down the river the 11th panzer regiment engaged the 180 Rifle Division. Recon had already detected another infantry unit backed up by an armoured division on the road north to Riga.
Schutz Maloiwka, a sudetendeustch, wiped the blood and dirt of his forehead. He sat in a dugout formely of the Red Army to the NE of Jelgava. The room was full of the flotsam of a retreating army. Mess tins, ammo cases and bandoliers, propaganda posters and so on. To the north he could here the tank guns of the 11th Panzer Regiment pummelling the retreating Russians. What irked him the most was the tenacity with which they had fought. If the NS officer was correct then why did these untermenshen fight like devils. He took off his boots and closed his eyes. It was going to be a long hard fight contrary to what the generals believed. He sighed…
General Guderian put down the phone and grinned. His adjutants had heard the conversation he had just had with the commander of Panzergruppe 3 General Hoth. Following the encirclement of the Soviet 10th Army at Bialystock Schenelle Heinz had now devised the surrounding of Minsk in the jaws of a mighty steel pincer movement. The 19th and 2nd Panzer Divisions of his own corps spearheaded the drive from the south while from Hoth’s group in the north the 7th and 3rd panzers had already swept away the initial screen of defenders. He spread out the situation map on the desk of his armoured command vehicle and got his signalmen to relay orders to the commanders in the field.
The blue shimmering line of the Dvina River glistened in the summer haze of late June. The first big natural obstacle had been breached and the success of capturing the bridge at Daugavpils was paying its dividends as the 8th Panzer and 36th Motorized Divisions sped across and onto some very good tarmac roads. A bit further North a deadly struggle was being fought on the Road to Riga and already many crosses had cropped in the roadside cemeteries. Soviet resistance had stiffened with the presence of an NKVD Rifle Division. According to interrogated POW’s those men retreating were being fired on by the police troops. Terror tactics that were paying dividends as the Soviets were offering a fanatical resistance.
Oberfeldwebel Flosten was a gunner in the 616th PAK Abteilung. His PzJg I vehicle was coated in dust from the dash across the Baltic states. His unit had crossed the Dvina that morning and there was no sign of the enemy other than the remnants of the parachute infantry that had defended the river crossing. The company CO had called a halt until HQ had forwarded the next objectives. From the North West he could hear the faint rumble of artillery while overhead the silver grey machines of the Luftwaffe returned from the East. One of the machines lagged behind trailing black smoke from its left wing. He watched as the plane, a Heinkel 111, lost altitude and speed. Eventually the crew bailed out sprouting white parachutes that looked like white mushrooms. The aircraft fell into a steep dive and exploded in a massive fireball not far off. He ran off towards were the crew had landed with the rest of his crew. As he shook hands with the fliers and exchanged stories he was forced to think that despite the absence of the enemy, he was still there and was determined and willing to defend his country and his people
Volkisher Beobachter June 30th 1941
“The Whermacht continues its drive East swiping the Red Army away. Our Panzers cut into the Soviet Union like a knife through butter and soon enough this immense country will be crushed under the irresistible iron fist of the German Army. Only now our Finnish comrades in arms have taken up the flag of anti-communism and have joined in the sacred struggle to rid Europe of the Red Beast. On the Leningrad Front the Finnish Army advances while in the extreme North of Karelia Army Group Norwegen under the command Dietl have began assaulting Soviet Border positions. Our brave mountain boys from the Tirol fight in hard unfamiliar terrain but push back the untermenshen and onward to victory. Sieg Heil!!”
Juha Hyppia, a rifle man in the 4th Divisionaa had just read the Finnish version of Volkischer and couldn’t help but smile sardonically at the propaganda its pages spouted. He couldn’t care less about Europe or the Crusade many at home preached about. He was more concerned about wronging the injustices the USSR had foisted on Finland after the 1939 winter conflict. To him regaining the lost territory and teaching the Reds a lesson was more important than any political ideology. Indeed he hoped for a quick campaign now that the Finnish Army was being supplied with German war stock. Once Finland’s reputation had been restored the Germans could have the rest of the Soviet Union!!!
From the war Diary of 4th Panzer Army…
With the River Dvina protecting its right flank the 1st Panzer Division cut across country and struck the flank of the Soviet 27th Army defending the road to Riga. By the end of the days action our troops lay outside Riga airfield and had brought the suburbs and its environs under direct artillery fire. Colonel Alois Laksoch, commander of the 1st Panzer Grenadier regiment was awarded the Ritterkruez, the first of the campaign for his successful attack in dislodging the soviets form their positions. The Fuhrer himself telegraphed Laksoch with his personal congratulations. 18th Army reported the fall of Ventspils and reports have come in of a murderous fight in Minsk.
Misha Gotruchev was a conscript rifleman in the workers battalion of the Minsk defence garrison. Since yesterday the axis hordes had been assaulting the city but the massed artillery of the Western front had kept the baying wolves at bay. Armed with his rifle and a sack full of motlotov cocktails he defended what was once the affluent area of the city, its western most fringe. The landscape around him was in ruin. That last German assault had almost overrun the city. Indeed the defenders had only just hung on to the heaps of rubble that had once been the pride of Byelorussia. For the Motherland we die Misha had cried as he personally consigned an axis armoured car to a fiery death with a Molotov. It had felt good despite the deathly cries of the burning crew. But he could not ignore the bleak reality of the position. The Germans were investing the city from three sides and more and more troops were surrounding the city. If they could hold out for one more day they would provide one more day for a front to be constructed to the East. A noble sacrifice he thought as he heard the rattle of tank tracks, the soft thud of falling mortar shells and the crackle of machine guns… here they come again he thought…
The Battle of Minsk (1)
Colonel-General Guederian’s master pincer stroke had cut off Minsk from the rest of the Soviet front. Though the Reds had amassed an enviable amount of artillery in support of the defenders of the city, the Axis forces had invested the Byelorussian capital with strong forces. The initial assaults on the city on the early hours of July 2nd 1941 had been unsuccessful with only elements of 4th and 2nd Panzer Divisions making progress by capturing the southern suburbs and the adjoining airfield defended by anti aircraft units firing over open sites. Dismayed by the lack of progress Schnelle Heinz drove right up to the burning city to inspire his troopers for one last push before nightfall. With news that Hungarian, Slovak and German troops had broken the front in the South and that the 1st Panzer Division was fighting in the suburbs of Riga, Guderian asked his forces to be the sharp point of Germanys thrust and asked them to deliver the city by nightfall.
Situation midday July 2nd 1941
The Battle of Minsk (2)
The smell of burning hung in the air. Brown clad bodies were strewn across the street. Vehicles on fire cast an eerie glow that mixed with the blood red of the setting sun. The wrecks of personnel carriers, anti-tank guns, filed artillery, trucks and tanks with the odd aircraft lined the streets of Minsk. Valery Kapkan sat by the road waiting to join the long line of crestfallen men marching to the West. He had fought defending the city of his birth, a city now in German hands. For two days they had held out, even when they knew they had been cut off. Despite the thunderous barrages from the supporting guns the Germans had marched into Minsk. Could they be stopped? How soon would it be before the Ukraine and other areas of Russia suffered the fate of Byelorussia? His thoughts were broken by the rough push of a rifle butt that belong to a fresh faced blonde haired infantryman dressed in field grey with a bandage round his head. Valery stood up and joined the line of human misery treading westwards.
MINSK GESFALLEN – the radios of the Reich rattled with martial music. Indeed the best day for German arms since the fall of Paris and the collapse of France barely a year ago. Tomorrow’s issue of Signal would have eyewitness’s accounts of the battle and already war correspondents were clambering for an interview with the hero of Minsk, Germany’s most feted soldier Heinz Guderian. Nevertheless the General would not speak, for no matter how significant a victory the cost had been high. Many young men had made the ultimate sacrifice for Fuhrer and Fatherland on the grey streets of proletarian Minsk. Thus it was with little joy that he received his adjutant’s congratulations when the Fuhrer awarded him the swords to go with his Knights Cross and Oak Leaves. His tanks would need a few days repair and significant enemy elements still clung on to the eastern end of the city. Let the home front rejoice he thought as he passed burial details carving the wooden crosses that would serve as a marker for the resting place of a fallen hero.
Situation Midnight 3rd July 1941
It was a pleasant summer afternoon and the birds twittered in the mild sunshine. Had it not been for the mass of men and material lining the roads south of Riga one could have enjoyed this Baltic summer interlude. After breaking into the suburbs of Riga the 1st Panzer Division now began the assault on the city centre from 3 sides. The Grenadier Regiment assaulted from the East delivering an almost decisive blow but by sunset a unit of fanatical militia still held onto Party HQ and Red Square. However more alarming were the reports of troops sighted to the regiments rear. A detachment was disengaged from the battle and dug in the eastern fringe of Riga its guns trained onto the city approaches. Gradually the rattle of trucks and armoured vehicles could be heard. The exhausted troopers shouldered weapons and waited. Through the hazy dusk they could begin to make out silhouettes and gradually the outline of vehicles.
“Wait for the command,” uttered Leutenant Grossman with his arm raised.
Suddenly a cry rose…. “Kameraden, kameraden nicht schisssen!” A Waffen SS soldier with Totenkopf lapels emerged from the encroaching darkness and behind him the recon abteilung of the SS Totenkopf followed. The Leutenant shook hands with the blonde solider and looked rather dumbstruck, according to his intelligence his unit was the only one this far North East of the Dvina. It had transpired that the SSTK had rushed over a pontoon bridge further south and had begun to outflank Riga. The Leutenant ordered his radioman to signal HQ with the news, there would be no doubt now, Riga would fall.
Adolf Hitler received the officers and men due to accept decorations in his personal chambers in his HQ at Rastenburg. The Fuhrer shook hands with each man and took particular interest in the wounded. After the medal ceremonies he gave a little speech on the political importance and relevance of the campaign that these men were fighting. This was followed by salutes and farewells after which Hitler retired into his operations room followed by some Luftwaffe liaison personnel carrying large folders under their arms.
The aerial recon debrief begun forthwith. Long range recon aircraft had shown that Leningrad was being surrounded by strong defences and that large numbers of trains were heading westwards towards Narva. At least twelve different trains had been identified. The reports from Luftflotte 4 in the south had been that the Russians were giving up ground to the Romanians, especially the 3rd Corps, and digging in substantial numbers around Odessa. In front of Army Group Centre there appeared to be no significant troop concentrations up to the Dniepr River. The Fuhrers attention, however, seemed to be wholly fixed upon a series of photographs brought in by Luftflotte 2. He paid particular interest to the Kiev area in the Ukraine persistently going over the photograph with a magnifying glass and then quietly conferring with General Jodl who would then jot things down in a black notebook. Was the next major objective being decided?
Two weeks into the campaign and German High Command could not be disappointed with the results. AGN had captured Riga and had successfully crossed the River Dvina. The 12th Panzer Division has captured Pskov and had secured the southern bank of Lake Peipus while SSTK was trundling forward on the highway to Parnu. AGC had captured Minsk and some of its unit were on the western bank of the River Dniepr. The 5th Panzer Division had invested Vitebsk, a stones throw away from Smolensk. AGS had broken the Soviet front and was conducting mopping up operations while consolidating its advances. The Romanian 4th Army and 3rd Corps were assaulting the main crossing point of the Dniestr at Tiraspol, the last natural obstacle before Odessa. Casualties had been relatively light and already local volunteers free from the Stalinist yoke had taken up arms against the soviets. But as of yet, and perhaps worryingly, the Red Army had not been met in a pitched battle.
The following message had been intercepted by the signal troop of the 2nd Panzer army,
“… STAVKA awards Marshall Pavlov the Order of the Red Star of Lenin and proudly announces him as a Hero of the Soviet Union. He has fought to the death defending the Motherland and fallen at the head of his troops fighting the fascists…”
A pleasant summer’s breeze drifted in from the Baltic Sea. A picturesque road lined with sandy beaches with rolling dunes led to Parnu from Riga. It was only the thunder of engines that broke the silence on this July afternoon. The engines of the vanguard of AGN fresh from the capture of Riga. At its point was the aufklarung battalion of SSTK. In its path was a unit of Soviet irregulars hastily digging in order to stem the fascist advance. SS Obergruppenfuhrer Eicke was grumbling about the delay to the unit commander lecturing the Standartenfuhrer on the obvious superiority of the Aryan over the Asiatic untermenshen. In order tomake his point he pointed to the seemingly endless brown stream of prisoners heading south-west.
“Move that scum off the road Colonel, I want my soldiers moving northwards and Hoepner needs this road for his tanks. There is to be no failure…any questions? Good, Heil Hitler!”
Many of the soldiers of the Third Panzergruppe had reason to recall their last campaign in France with fond memories, for the had already defeated the French by this point of that particular campaign. They were almost 500 kilometres into the Soviet Union and its point, the 5th Panzer Division, could claim the deepest penetration after 15 days of war. Its commanding officer had just reported the capture of Vitebsk while a regiment of the 95th Infantry Division had began investing Orsha. With the capture of these two cities the German Army would have an excellent staging off point to assault Smolensk and the Moscow highway that sped to the heart of the Soviet hinterland from that city. The only problem was the pace at which the infantry advanced. The generals of AGC soon hoped to be in a position to blast open the way to Moscow.
From the diary of Franz Mueller radio operator 31st panzer regiment
15th July 1941
“… since 22nd June we have fought our way 525 kms into the enemy’s lair. Our stron Krupp steel keeps us safe and the skill of our gunners has left many an enemy tank a blazing hulk. According to the O/C the regiment has taken 24,000 prisoners and currently is the eastern most unit in the German army, an accolade to be very proud off…”
The main crossings on the river Dnper where in German hands. Vitebsk, Orsha and Mogilev had been occupied and the vanguard units of AGC waited for the infantry to catch up. The question the German commnders now had to address was what next? The SSLAH had dug in on the outskirts of Kiev while point units of AGN drove hell bent for leather towards Narva via Pskov and Parnu. The most obvious choice was a pincer attack on Smolensk before the Russians had time to construct a defensive line but the panzertruppen needed rest. Reserves form the Minsk area were being brought up and the rollbahn units were working flat out to ensure a steady flow of supply reache dthe units at the front. The campaign had reached a critical point. Following the orders set out in the Barbarossa directive might have meant an overstretching of resources and units that perhaps the German army could not have coped with. Von Bock, OC of AGC, was an advocate of Moscow first and it was with attitude that he appraoched the Fuhrer in a conference in Minsk held on the 17th July 1941...
Extract from "Total War" by A.N.Other 2004.
A grim tension had gripped the staff at AGS HQ, near the polish village of Mostika. Field Marshall von Rundstedt absentmindedly fingered the Ritterkruez at his neck. He had never lost a battle but his thoughts were fixed on the forthcoming great battle about to be fought in and around the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. As a military cadet he had visited czarist Kiev and had loved the city full of onion domed orthodox churches. His forces had begun to muster on its western edged for a couple of days and soon his artillery would rain death on Kiev. The Fuhrer had said Kiev was to fall and the Fuhrer’s word was law. It would indeed be the greatest prize in the eastern campaign so far. ‘If only the damn Romanians could isolate Odessa as well then the enemy’s position in the South would be untenable and he would have to withdraw to the Donets.’ His musings were interrupted by his orderly bringing in him some tea, the booty from an English supply train captured in France during the summer of 1940.
“Herr Feldmarshall, the daily reports.”
“Thank you Schmidt, dismissed.” The tea tasted good and the reports made good reading, more destroyed Russian formations, more territory gained, even good news from the Romanian corps attached to Strauss’s’ 11th Army. One report from the 123rd IR, 50th Infantry Division complained about illegal shootings being carried out by SS and security units behind the lines. Talk of masses of women and children. Unsavoury reading he thought. These SS fellows are thugs but make good soldiers at the front. Hopefully we won’t need them once we defeat the Russians. His Prussian mind could not see, or perhaps would not allow him to see the dark and sinister edge to the sword he wielded. He pulled on his boots and rose leaving the reports on his desk.
Outside Kiev the Aufklarung abteilung of the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler was being addressed by its CO, Kurt ‘Panzer’ Meyer.
“My friends the Red Monkey has finally decided to stand and fight. At the gates of this city of Kiev the most glorious page in our unit’s history will be written. On our cuffs we bear the name of our Fuhrer and all we do honours his name. When you go into battle remember that you are the cream of National Socialism and you bear the banner of our fight against socialism. We fight to rid Europe of this scourge and it will be with your blood that victory will be achieved. But die in the knowledge that your blood will be spilt in a noble cause and your death will be celebrated in Valhalla where we shall all meet eventually. I leave you men with this thought on the eve of battle, our honour is loyalty and no matter the cost the LSSAH will capture Kiev. Sieg Heil!"
The return salute was loud and powerful followed by the crush of boots. Panzer Meyer smiled. He knew some would fall but he could not have asked for a better bunch of men.
Heinz Guderian and Gunter von Kluge met in the ex-trade union house in Mogliev. From there they directed the great armoured clash that was about to develop south of Smolensk. For weeks the red army had fled eastwards but now around Smolensk and Kiev the first great battles of the campaign were going to be fought. Half of AGC’s strength was concentrated to strike at Smolensk and secure a staging point for an attack on Moscow. The soviets had committed substantial armoured reserves with thousands of tanks and mechanised vehicles covering the steppe. Russian bulk in numbers was going to be pitted against German élan and technology. Further to the south the Romanians and other axis forces were concentrating on the Black Sea port of Odessa and in the North Tallin and Narva were threatened. The Finns were pushing on Leningrad
The southern arms of the German pincer had been locked in battle for the past couple of days with hordes of Soviet mechanised and armoured formations. The 7th and 25th mechanised corps had already been identified by the intelligence corps and they were putting a spirited defence. The northern pincer, though somewhat pressed had fought its way to the suburbs of Smolensk. These units were veterans of the Battle of Minsk and they knew exactly how doggedly the Russains defended their major urban centres and Smolensk defended the Moscow highway. Field Marshal von Bock was eagerly awaiting news of the outcome of the battle as in his mind eye he could see himself as the conqueror of Moscow and was sure that History would remember him as the hammer of the Soviets.
July 16th 1941
OKW briefing
Smolensk Front
Hard fighting across the front. Recon has established a long Soviet left flank. 6th Panzer Division has pushed forwards and several Soviet units have been encircled behind our lines. 5th Panzer Division still holds onto NW of Smolensk. 1st Cavalry Division has taken Roslavl and cut off the railway.
Kiev Front
Decimated Soviet defences NW of the city centre. Gen Goering Regiment and 1st SS Regiment LSSAH instrumental in dealing Russians a heavy blow. Their positions still hold but with only with the remnants of a weak MG battalion. Dniepr has been bridged and the defences of Kiev flanked. Elements of 11th Panzer division already in eastern suburbs. Lost contact with 25th Motorized Infantry Division, presumed destroyed, commanding officer has been court-maritaled in absentia.
Odessa Front
Assault lines have been constructed and the attack on the first line of defence has begun. Romanian 5th Corps and the recon battalion of 14th Panzer Division now occupy former Soviet trenches and we now fire upon their flank. Aerial recon shows a very heavily defended port area.
July 17th 1941
“Long are the summer days on the Eastern Front….”
The fighting was so vicious that no where in the collective memory of the fighting men in Russia could parallels be drawn. The Germans had a technical and operational superiority that the Russians countered with overwhelming numbers and tenacity in defence, so stubborn that in Kiev, for example, hundreds died over a street. In Kiev the Soviet position was in dire straits. Surrounded on three sides, the 13th Panzer division had managed to cut the city’s only rail link left with the Soviet hinterland. Its outer defences had taken a battering and the suburbs had been breached. From the German lines it appeared that the Soviets were prepared to die at their posts, as they had done at Minsk. Kiev would be the first major city, indeed the industrial hub of the Ukraine, to fall.
In the North Leningrad was slowly being encroached by Axis forces. Finnish forces had been able to recapture most of the Karelian Isthmus lost to the Russians after the winter war of 1940. The city of Narava had to be evacuated after a determined assault but the Soviet guns had prevented Axis forces from occupying the city. The port of Tallinn had been repaired and supplies now flowed from this Baltic deep water port to AGN.
The Battle of Smolensk raged through the July heat. German field commanders were amazed at the sheer bulk of material amassed against them. Unit after unit came up to the line and were battered back. A counter-attack was under way against the German left flank but covering units were holding the line as the main bulk of AGC’s infantry followed up. A pocket of 3 divisions and a motorised regiment awaited destruction. The push on Moscow depended on the fall of Smolensk, the soviet high command seemed to realise this as well and kept pouring in reinforcements.
“Long are the summer days on the Eastern front…”
Coded message to Maj General Schaal, 10th Panzer Division...
"...Bryansk lightly defended, one NKVD regiment and a corps HQ currently in city...soviets moving heavy armour to support and troop trains following from N...advise take city on the march and hold..."
Oberfeldwebel Heinze was very proud of his standing as a Brandenberger. The long months of hard trainnig, all the privations suffered in Sennelager, in northern Finland and even in the secret trainning grounds in the Soviet East (he allowed himslef a wry smirk) were more than worth it in order to become a member of the Whermachts elite special forces. The drop had gone like clockwork. They had dropped into the forests north of Bryansk last night and their immediate task had been to cut the railway into the city to block the reinforcements arriving to bolster the cities garrison. a few timely placed charges later and the rail tracks went sky high. they then rallied in the woods with Major Scmidt taking temporary command as the colonel was still unaccounted for. throguh the night they dug in and heard svoiet forces move around them. at first light recon confirmed what they had suspected, surrounded. but brandenbergers expect this. from the south west they could here the sounds of battle. the major had asked for volunteers to raid an artillery detachment that was pounding the panzer troops of the 10th attacking Bryansk. 20 men came foward and heinze was put in charge. they set off into the encroaching darkness and a few hours later a serious of powerful explosions lit the night sky to the south east. a few hours later 14 men emerged from the trees, none of them unwounded. Heinze approached the major and gave him 6 id disks taken fromt he fallen. the battery of heavy artillery had been completely nuetralised and all guns spiked or blown up. the lack of support units had even allowed for the total anihilation of all soviet troops. this behind lines job was a grisly business as prisoners could not be taken. scmidt asked about our wounded but heinze shook his head. the major left it at that, he well knew the doctrine no one was to be left behind and those who could not walk would have to deal with themselves, above all they could not fall into enemy hands.
their converstaion was interrupted by the noise of a plane overhead, they all recognised the familiar drones of old tante Ju 52. More paras thoguht Hienze. a few minutes later, Falter, the signals guy handed the major a message...
"stand fast Kameraden Brysank has fallen we are coming to get you sieg heil..."
the message had come from 10th Pz HQ with the compliments of Maj General Schaal
Major Scmidt shook hands with Major General Schaal in a kolkoz south west of Bryansk, after the succesful outcome to Operation Retrieve. His Brandenberger commnadoes had played a crucial role in the quick and almost bloodles capture of Bryansk, a substantial gain strategically speaking. The major was to be commended for the Ritterkreuz and most probably promotion to colonel as the original commander was still missing in action presumed killed. His force had resisited two determined armoured assaults and many of his men performed acts of insane bravery going up against armoured giants of the KV2 kind with magnetic mines and hand grenades. But such was the lot of a soldier trained for special operations. He now looked foward to some behind the lines rnr, thoroughly deserved.
He was told how Colonel Geyer's detachment had carried a similar detail SW of the city, but had met substantially less oppositon. Scmidt met this with an ironic smile. He was thankful for the relief by the tankers of the 10th as he doubted very much his unit could have resisited one more assault.With another shake of the hand, a salute and a clasp of the shoulder General Schaal dismissed him and Scmidt headed towards his units billets and then onto the rear...
List of decorations earned by I Brandenberger 800th ABT at Bryansk:
Major Scmidt Ritterkreuz, promotion to Colonel
Oberfeldwebel Heinze, Assault Badge in Silver
Gefrieters Klinsmann and Goether EK I
Shutze Stollmam EK II
Front situation 22.7.1941 - esp for Kraut :D
North Karelia
Gebrigs Koprs have run up aginast soviet defence line on river Litsa. terrain makes manoevers very difficult ot carry out.
Central Karelia
Kandalaksha secured and Murmansk rail road cut. 6th SS Nord in good defensive positions around that town.
Southern Karelia
Finnish limit line has been reached. several Korps now converging on Sortavala
AGN
River Narva reached and city occupied. storng forces have deployed ready for assault on Leningrad itself. russians entrenched on river luga. lines being formed around staraya russa and velikeye luki.
AGC
most of its strength is centered on a titanic battle for the smolensk area. city will fall soon. a good battle of attempted encirclement on my part and counterattacks on his. roslavl and bryansk secured
AGS
Kiev and Odessa have been isolated far behind the lines with no possibility of reprieve. Romanian army now fighting in main defence line at odessa while fighting goes on in the city if Kiev. have several panzer divisions in position in the south. most of AGS has almost reached the line of the river dniepr
front line roughly runs Narva-Starya Russa-smolensk-river desna-dniepr-cherson
piero1971
05 Oct 04, 05:38
The Gazette of Lausanne of Switzerland comments:
German troops are advancing at phenomenal speed in what seems to be the defining battle of this war. The accounts of the german officers on the german news speak of impressive advances and countless prisoners. Soviet Pravda states that the fascist invader will soon face the massive soviet reserves. It seems to our Swiss correspondent that German advanced more than expected and that the accounts are of great quality.
viridomaros
05 Oct 04, 09:37
to the designer
a few things i have noticed in this scenario
- sometimes russian have a 70% interdiction on this huge map and it seems the lutwaffe cannot do anything to prevent this, i turned my bombers on rest and it seems to be better now
- reconstituted units often appear in the rear of the german ( poland, baltic states) we have agreeded upon the rule of disbanding such units, otherwise it's too hard for the german.
- it seems new armies cannot enter the teather as written on the schedule, not enough entry hexes or such ( it reminds me a scenario when at the end the reinforcment pannel was showing like 100 units to come for next turn) this might be a problem due to the huge number of units the russian receive but if they don't get it that's a bit useless to me.
- riverine units for the axis, this is very annoying as those units have high movement capacities and can destroy the railway network so easily, i suggest to ban those
If it's possible i'd like you ( poly) that you stop going further with that riverine unit.
for the AAr
- Staline is proud to announce the destruction of a panzer division east of kiev which was encircled then destroyed.
- The encircled cities are going to hold the time needed for the reinforcement to come
- An axis formation is encircled since several turns in the north
and will be soon destroyed :devil:
piero1971
05 Oct 04, 11:56
a quick note from the designer (me).
- a lot of house ruls should be done and added to the scenario. Riverine usage is one...
- interdiction. that seems to be due to the huge map, and as such German planes cannot cover it all (only y small part) and so interdiciton is stronger for russian (as it has air units spread all over)
- reconstruction of units. some of it are mistakes, but some are meant to be partisans (some soviet units that reorganised in the woods continued fighting as units and as partisans.
- reinforcement: true, there may be casses where units are scheduled to arrive on the same hex. wouldn't they then arive on the nearest hex?
thanks for the info. I dont' know if I will attempt to do a version 4.2 but if I have the time this winter I'll add those comments. thanks.
piero
i thoguht id use the riverine unit as you would use the countless partisan units you wil get, you will notice viri that i always, unless im cut off, leave the unit in a river that has friendly hexes all the way back to my lines. if its cut off i always try my best to get it back to my lines asap, eg turn before last when after being on special ops behind the lines ;) for two turns i managed to get it back to my lines.
polynike
ps BTW it wasnt a panzer division it was a motorised division. revenge will be visitied upon thee a thousand times
pps most viewed AAR by a mile. thanks for the support guys
viridomaros
05 Oct 04, 20:48
sorry for the mistake polynike :hail:
but regarding riverine movement what annoys me is the ability to destroy the rail network so fast with this, to me the speed of those units is so high, for me a boat doesn't go 10x faster than a tank but it seems taow think it is possible :laugh:
when you come on a hex with rail you automatically destroy the railway so to me it's very annoying that's why i suggest those to be banned.
Very nice AAR. It will be interesting to see how it goes in the last six months.
Shadow and I are playing this scenario. We are only three turns into it but on German turn three have discovered a 66% Soviet air interdiction. At this time it has not seemed to have a negative impact as far as German movement. My main concern is what it does to German supply. Perhaps clipping some of the map would help eliminate this if it's cause is as Piero says. I believe we will push on.
I must say, the turns in this scenario take much less time than the turns in FiTE or DNO.
Sorry for interrupting your AAR. :o
viridomaros
06 Oct 04, 09:05
yes the soviet player has to put his bombers on rest otherwise the interdiction will be huge and i can grant you that's a big annoyance for the axis.
piero1971
06 Oct 04, 09:44
what I know is that I put the units of the Soviet air forces as they were (after first day strike) and the reinforcemnts as they came (from my source at least) so I guess it is hard for TOAW engine to simulate the continuous slaughter of Soviet planes by the lufwaffe as in reality... hmm. in the games I played, the interdicton was note worse thatn what I expected anyway from the long supply lines.... it SHOULD be that after entering Russia of a thousand miles supply is VERY tough for the Axis.
viridomaros
06 Oct 04, 10:07
fair enough
but problem is that interdiction strikes can be deadly especailly for the artillery, it is possible to simulate the slaughtered of russian air force if axis bomb russian airports ;) , but the thing is that those bombers have a very very long range and it seems the lutwaffe doesn't annoy them when doing interdiction missions which is strange, i'll have to make an enquiry about that
piero1971
08 Oct 04, 03:29
FROM NEW YORK TIMES CORRESPONDENT
News from russia, where the German invasion is rapid and massive. However, it seems the Russian armies have surrounded a German division and are to destroy it. This could be a serious setback for the German invasion forces, as we predict the autumn and winter will see a unsupplied and overstretched German army in need for these fast mooving troops.
The pages of the Berliner Zeitzung blazed with the latest combat reports drafted by the Kriegsberichter on the Eastern Front. Today, July 25th 1941 the Luga Front took the limelight away from Smolensk and the siege of Kiev. After a week of repositioning von Manstein had managed to encirle and cut off enemy units in front of the Luga and obtained bridgheads on two points of the river that guarded the approaches to Leningrad. As the panzertruppen waited patiently the landsers inched their way through the russian lines. The fighting was hard and bitter with the terrain favouring the defender, but with the infantry divisions finally catching up with the armoured spearheads the balance was being addressed. A hail of fire finally cleared the russians off the west bank of the Luga and engineer units were rushing foward with their pontoon bridges. The forests to the north however hid the russian defences. Having been cahsed all the way across the baltic states they now stood to defend the city that gave birth to their revolution.
In further news the Zeitzung reported the arrival of an italian expeditonary corps that was driving eastwards and nominally under the command of AGS. "A conglomeration of European states determined to stop Red barbarism and kill it at is source for the preservation of Western Culture" An over enthuisatic Kriegsberichter so described Mussloini's contribution to the "Eastern Crusade". Many in OKH werent so enthuiastic especillay after recent debalces in Abyssinia, Albania, Sidi Barrini and Greece.
"The horizon was bathed in flame. The sound was terrifying. Hell had visited earth and was not about to leave. The regiments, companies, squads of the Whermacht slammed themselves against the Russian line. Making up the general conflict were countless individual local skirmishes that resulted in local breakthroughs and counter-attacks. Acts of bravery went unaccounted as they became normal day to day actions of desperate soldiers. Fleets of armoured vehicles clashed head on while the infantry fought hand to hand with bayonet, entrenching tool and even their bare hands and teeth. The ground was torn up by vehicle treads and was full of blood and gore. As the enemy positions were taken there was little time to remove the dead bodies as the battle raged on. The stench of death seemed to hang over the landsers as they bedded down for the night. The constant rumble and flashes of the artillery contrasted with the clear July night sky. The black canopy of the sky was covered by thousands of stars that lay silent witness to the slaughter going on below. The sun would always rise red and hungry, hungry for more blood that the armies of the two totalitarian countries were laying at the altar of war. The smell of charred bodies inside the hulk of knocked out tanks got into the very pores of your body. The simple question was why? What had caused the Fuhrer to launch Germany into such a kernel house? When would it end, when the row of Wooden Crosses led straight to Berlin itself or would von Bock march to Moscow on a road of corpses. Why?........."
The censorship officer of the SD attached to AGC reread the article written by the Kriegsberichter covering the Battle of Smolensk. He could not believe the guy actually believed that this was going to be printed. The impact on the Home Front would be immense. He reached over to his rubber stamp and stamped a large red VERBOTTEN across the page and put it on a large pile of similarly stamped papers on his desk. He then looked at some of the operational maps the OKW had propsed for publishing in order to let the people at home what was going on at the front. "This is more like it," he thought. Maps with nice arrows and lines using words like "advance", "encirclement", "panzers vorwats".. thats what the German public needed and not some over indulgist individual view of the fighting. Had this guy forgotten about the volksghemeinshcaftt, there was no individual just the good of the community. He puffed on his cigarette, a russian mahkhorka, and sighed. He would take the Kriegsberichter's number and post him to Paris, he'd be less of a headache there. He got up and left his office and walked into the street wondering where he could find a good whore in Minsk.
Sit Report 26th July 1941
Northern Karelia
Defence line has been constructed on River Lista
Central Karelia
Reinforced positions and pushed soviets back south of Kandalaskaya
Southern Karelia
Almost relieved surrounded force at Sortavala.
AGN
Reducing Narva pockets and occupied Luga. terrain and blown bridges making it very hard going
AGC
Carnage at Smolensk goes on but a solid line has been established and contact made with elements of AGS's left flank
AGS
Dniepr line firmly reached and fortified. Dniepropetrovsk captured. Stop line almost reached east of Kiev. Odessa pocket being reduced.
30th July 1941
Bloated corpses, bits of corpses and the rest of the floatsam of war drfited down the River Luga. Exhausted troopers got some kip how and where they could. The mighty Luga defences had been breached by the sea coast and at Kingistep, soon the reserve formations would be exploiting the breach made by the landsers at great cost. The smell of kordite hung strong around the German artillery parks and the piles of spent shell cases were high as mountains. Few prisoners had been taken as the reds had fought to the last man and few acts of mercy were shown by the battered regiments of AGN. The cracks of pistol and rifle shots could be heard in the eerie silence that follows an intesive battle. The roar of engines could be heard behind the front and soon the units of the Totenkopf could be seen moving foward to relieve the infantry and exploit their successes. The SS troopers saluted their comrades sulenly knowing the great cost at which these priceless bridgheads had been acieved, but victory does not come cheap.
The Luga front was not the only place were German arms had triumphed. After weeks of endless fighting AGC had captured Smolensk, rather the ruins of Smolensk. Both sides had been slugging it out like to gigantic boxers and it seemed to many German commanders that finally the Red Army was beginning to give way here and at the siege of Kiev whre the russian pocket was gradually getting smaller.
At home in the many Kaserne in Germany the solemn tones of Ich hatt' einen Kameraden sounded among the bunks now full of recruits ready to fill in the ranks of the regiments in the east. Though a victory had been achieved the units involved had suffered hard.
Ich hatt' einen Kameraden,
Einen bessern findst du nit.
Die Trommel schlug zum Streite,
Er ging an meiner Seite
|: Im gleichen Schritt und Tritt. :|
2. Eine Kugel kam geflogen:
Gilt's mir oder gilt es dir?
Ihn hat es weggerissen,
Er liegt mir vor den Füßen
|: Als wär's ein Stück von mir :|
3. Will mir die Hand noch reichen,
Derweil ich eben lad'.
Kann dir die Hand nicht geben,
Bleib du im ew'gen Leben
|: Mein guter Kamerad! :|
Sit Report 30th July 1941
Northern Karelia
Murmansk is being approached while Lista line has been reinforced
Central Karelia
Tentatively probing eastwards from Kandalaskaya
Southern Karelia
KG Sortavala still surrounded but holding strong, finnish reserves have arrived at frontline.
AGN
Luga crossed at three points and Kingistep taken
AGC
Smolensk has fallen and now reducing units on its flanks. Frontline established around and south of Bryansk.
AGS
Kiev pocket reduced. AGs stopped at Dnepr line to rest and refit after a very long march. Kremenchug had been isloated and SS Wiking has a bridgehead across the Dnepr
Sit Report 3rd August 1941
Northern Karelia
River Lista line reinforced
Central Karelia
Approaching Murmansk from the south
Southern Karelia
Finnish reserve mobilised and now having an effect in the area
AGN
Battle of the luga River alomst won. Breakthrough achieved along the Baltic coast.
AGC
Lines have solidified as panzer units refit. Skirmishing North and South of the city continue
AGS
Kiev Gesfallen!!! Dniper bridgeheads established and expanded. Kharkhov Gesfallen!!!
With the fall of Kiev the planners at OKW could now consolidate their rear lines and give the troops some rest. Panzer engines had travelled for many miles and the landsers were tired after relentless marches east. the only thorn in the rear was the surrounded garrison at Odessa invested by roumanian and german troops. The remaining soviet troops around Kiev were being finished off and soon odessa will fall as well. The Duce, Benito Mussolini had asked for his Italian Expeditionary Corps to be included in the final assault. The italian troops had recently deployed in the area of operations of Army Group South.
AGS: several consolidated bridgeheads over the Dnper and point units were approaching the crimea
AGC: consolidation of lines and rest and refit after capture of smolensk
AGN: battle for the area behind the luga river rages on. hope to outflank strong river positions. SSTK broke up a large concentration of artillery laying down support fire for Luga line.
Finalnd/Karelia: Leningrad and Murmansk lines consolidated. Sortavala pocket relieved and some redployment of Leningrad troops.
OKW BULLETIN 5-8-41
The Fuhrer has commissioned a Sortavala arm shield to be issued to German and Finnish troops involved in the Sortavala battles. Our divisions held out bravely while the attacking force has now encircled the soviet forces. Sieg Heil
GFM W.KEITEL
Corrierre de la Serra 4.8.1941
Avanti Celere e la Expeditione Italiana en Rusia
"our boys are bringing glory to italy and are recalling the glory days of the roman empire when the legions fought off the barabrous horde. our troops are finally engaged in action in Odessa. along with our german and romanian brothers they are teaching the red horde a lesson. odessa will be the first battle honour of il Duce's army in russia. for fascism and a free europe, we are aiding our brothers in arms. it can be truly said that a united europe will rid the world of the red threat. viva italia"
Recon units of the 14th Panzer Division report a clear front before them in the southern area of the Ukraine. Melitopol has been surrounded and cut off while the Red Army seems to have evaporated in this sector of the front. OKW has drawn up the plans to exploit this
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