Turn 47 13-May-1942 Air
During the Soviet phase of particular note are two very large interdictions on the same hex for 6th and 7th guards cavalry corps. These disrupted about 7,500 of our opponents men. But the interdiction on a rail hex behind the front lines indicates some strategic redeployment of their forces.
The Red Air Force is back - and they have a shiny new configuration. This time their airbases with aircraft are grouped into 4 clusters (plus a solitary airbase further to the rear on the Volga). Three clusters have one hex containing airbases with fighters and one with two. But reconnaissance finds they will not intercept more than one hex away from their airbase. We are now playing Wite1.11.03 which has introduced a per airgroup range cap for the first time allowing this to be done. The area this fighter interception covers is shown in the map above with a red hexagon for each hex containing airbases with fighters. This is a very minimal interception cover, but it does cover all other aircraft in these clusters, and also Gorky.
They are outside escort range for our single seat fighters -so for this turn turn it is down to just the bombers. We want to hold down expansion of the Gorky T-70 factory so we need to continue raising the damage levels. So we decided to concentrate all our force there. Our first raid is indeed a bloody affair as we lose 41 bombers while the enemy loses 67 fighters. But by the second raid we lose none while our opponents lose 3 of the 4 interceptors they can scramble. By our third raid this time on the T-70 factory itself there is no interception at all.
Also shown in the map above is the Hungarian spam ground bombing described previously.
Our multi turn tracking of Soviet airbases found 68IAD and 26DBAD seemingly hiding in the Caucasus mountains until turn 44. By last turn we noted 68IAD had moved into Krasnodar while 26DBAD had a fighter and recon group just out of range of our Heinkels east of Grozny. So having called out our longest range Polish bombers from the Rumanian air force at the end of last turn to get them we were eager to see where they had gone. We find that they had flown reconnaissance missions in our area just north west of Rostov and are now in 68IAD on the Volga river.
We can only speculate on what the Soviet turn was. But given the distances travelled with airgroups having flown multiple missions 68IAD must have been moved by rail. It is quite possible it was left loaded on rails the previous turn for this purpose and 256 ORAP was air transferred to 68IAD and flew air missions from it while the airbase was actually packed up for transport on a train! These reconnaissance missions flew without escort but met our interceptors and heavy flak - sometimes with none of the mission returning at all. Afterwards it was railed to its current location on the Volga river. At some point 196IAP was air transferred in to 68IAD too. We noted last turn the airgroup was not flying interceptions. This turn to remove any doubt it has been air transferred to an airbase moved into a swamp. Thus for our Rumanian ultra long distance bomber airgroups easy pickings. Not a good week for 256 ORAP reconnaissance group, or indeed 196IAP fighter group.
For fans of the Kabuki it appears there is a Soviet equivalent which we guess must be the Ballet Russes. Unlike the German Kabuki involving tactical movements, the Ballet Russes is an intricate dance of airgroups and airbases on a continental scale using the railways. But at the end of it no Soviet fighters were prepared to take to the skies to give battle to our bombers. Instead their spring rites were staying firmly on the ground, looking up to the sky, and shaking their fists firmly!
Air losses for the turn