Balancing Act

[popejohnpaul]

It's still T22 round 4 and this is what is going on near Kiev right now. I'm squeezing the Axis units between my two front lines and soon they will trap a lot of Axis units in a pocket. Meanwhile there are other units south of this image that are pressing to the west.

temp.jpg (554.69 KiB) Viewed 1119 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's still T22 round 4 and I've just now captured Minsk, finally. There's some mopping up going on in my backfield because my progress has been rapid and I'm bypassing a lot of Axis units.

temp.jpg (646.47 KiB) Viewed 1117 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's still T22 round 4 and this is what it looks like south of Minsk right now. I've just now captured a crossing near the bottom of this image, but it's broken and I don't have any engineers nearby so I need to get one to hussle over here and fix the bridge. I've located my RR engineers but 2/3 of them are equipment in units that are yellow-banded and can't move. So I'm left with about 7 or 8 engineer units that have RR squads as equipment which means that RR repair has been hit or miss and not much is getting repaired. So I may have to go slower on the advance than I would like. I'm going to gather up all the RR repair resources and pick one route to fix so that at least one place on the front lines can advance.

temp.jpg (627.8 KiB) Viewed 1111 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T23 round 1 and this is what it looks like west of Riga right now. I've cleared out most of this AO and most of the troops are either mopping up or moving south mostly along the coast to get linked into Konigsburg, which I captured in a previous turn. Then I can start the fighting over river crossings to get into Poland.

temp.jpg (525.8 KiB) Viewed 1084 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T23 round 3 and this is what it looks like south of Minsk right now. I'm advancing slowly because the supply level in this area starts at 5 in downtown Minsk and none at all at the tip of the spear. I'm going to have to repair the rail a lot to get some supply to these folks.

temp.jpg (622.41 KiB) Viewed 1061 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T24 round 4 and this is what it looks like east of Konigsberg right now. I've cleaned out everything north of this image. These few Axis remnants will be gone this turn or early in the next. All the Axis units are cherry red in health which makes them easier to take down. I'm making a lot of rapid progress. Now I just need the supply situation to cooperate.

temp.jpg (571.25 KiB) Viewed 1044 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T25 round 1 and this is what it looks like east of Konigsberg right now. I'm on the verge of linking up with the group at Konigsberg's port There's no supply coming out of the port so it's important that I link with them ASAP. I'm repairing the broken bridges but the RR engineers are busy elsewhere.

temp.jpg (629.47 KiB) Viewed 1031 times

[Cpl GAC]

Dude, it's September '41 and you're advancing into The Reich?! I'm happy that my lines stop evaporating by September '41.

I am horrible at this game...and you are a Hero of the Soviet Union;

Hero_of_the_USSR_Gold_Star.png (238.68 KiB) Viewed 993 times

(can a Pope accept that?)

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T26 round 1 and here's something you might find interesting. I've driven the 37/56th Rifle Regiment almost all the way to Berlin and it's severely depleated in equipment. It's got only 2 of it's 60 Rifle Squads, 1 SMG Squad, and 1 horse team out of all it's allowed equipment. It's just captured an airfield and I can move an aircraft unit there if need be. Elmer probably has a unit or two in the capital itself that are invisible.

temp.jpg (502.36 KiB) Viewed 987 times

[popejohnpaul]

Dude, it's September '41 and you're advancing into The Reich?! I'm happy that my lines stop evaporating by September '41.

I am horrible at this game...and you are a Hero of the Soviet Union;

(can a Pope accept that?)

I am only able to do this because Elmer bypassed some of my units and they were free to wreck the Axis supply lines and put the Axis side at a tremendous disadvantage. And if I was playing a real human being none of this would be possible. And the real pope would probably accept the medal from the Soviet Union greatfully.

explosion-animated-gif-34.gif (1.9 MiB) Viewed 983 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's still T26 round 1 and here's a view of the Minsk area right now. A lot of the Axis units in this image are aircraft units and the actual Axis ground units are few. And they are all cherry red in health. On the other hand my supply situation isn't the best I've ever had. I'm having trouble repairing the rails fast enough to keep the operational tempo high.

temp.jpg (632.96 KiB) Viewed 981 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's still T26 round 1 and here's a view of the area south of Kiev right now. The supply situation is a lot better in this AO than it used to be. It ranges from 22 near the river and tapers off to 4 as you go west. I've got 71.2K Rifle Squads assigned and 28.5K of them on hand. My losses are relatively light.

temp.jpg (526.94 KiB) Viewed 969 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T26 round 4 and here's a view of the area south of Kiev right now. I've cleared out the areas to the east of my units and to the north of this front line. It seems like I spend most of this game fighting over river crossings.

temp.jpg (574.88 KiB) Viewed 956 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's still T26 round 4 and here's a view of the area east of Konigsberg right now. I'm getting across the river in at least three places. Still getting no supply out of the port at Konigsberg so it's still important that I link up with those units south of the river soonest.

temp.jpg (575.74 KiB) Viewed 953 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's still T26 round 4 and here's a view of the area west of Minsk right now and shows the deplorable supply situation. So I'm going to have to put a stop to this advance until it improves.

temp.jpg (711.01 KiB) Viewed 949 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T27 round 2 and here's a view of the area east of Konigsberg right now. Talk about a major disappointment. I've gotten linked up with Konigsberg and the supply situation is still terrible. So this area too must be stopped in it's advance because of the supply levels not being adequate.

temp.jpg (795.85 KiB) Viewed 920 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T28 round 1 and here's a view of the area southwest of Kiev right now. I've decided to keep going in spite of the low supply because the Axis units are probably starving from lack of supply as well. And as poor as it is it may be more than the Axis forces are getting. I'll have to check that. We've had a cold front pass through so the weather is getting slowly worse.

temp.jpg (565.77 KiB) Viewed 898 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T28 round 2 and here's a view of the front lines right now. I'm approaching the border of Poland on the west side. The supply levels are pretty much zero everywhere and I'm having to rotate units in and out of the front line positions to get any progress at all. I've repaired some bridges in my backfield and I'm hope-ing that the supply level will creap up a bit because of that.

temp.jpg (1.29 MiB) Viewed 881 times

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T29 round 1 and I won the scenario. I did this by moving a small infantry unit all the way to Berlin and capturing the city.

temp.jpg (607.57 KiB) Viewed 840 times

[Cpl GAC]

You, like Vasily Chuikov, are awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for taking Berlin.

Hero of the Soviet Union.jpg (4.75 KiB) Viewed 822 times