OKH plans for the campaign are to capture 16 objectives in USSR :
- AGN will capture 3 in the Baltic states :Ventspils , Riga , Tallinn
- AGC will go as far as Smolensk and seize 4 of them : Vilnius, Minsk, Vitebsk and Smolensk
- AGS will take Kiev and then the whole Dniepr curve for 5 objectives : Lvov , Kiev, Odessa, KrivoiRog and Vinnitsa
After these easy goals , AGC will turn south and reach Orel and Kharkov while AGS will cross Dniepr and capture Dniepropetrovsk.
Setup : A zoom on the turn track :
Set up of the troops . Campaign is about to begin
1st turn actions :
In AGN and AGC , things went hard for German troops as Stalin issued orders to make counterattacks after carefull preparation ( move + counterattacks chits pulled in a row, before logistics) . As a consequence, large pockets were resupplied.
Ventsipils and Vilinus are taken .
2nd turn (July ) :
3 objectives conquered : Riga , Minsk and Lvov => 19 objectives .
In Ukrainia , Soviet mechanized corps are doing a great job to stop panzers advance . Direct drive to Kiev is diverted to the south.
2nd Pz Army falls OOS . Very bad use of this key formation that lose it's superior reactivity due to this major fault.
3rd Turn ( August ) :
1 Pz Army crosses Dniepr and trap the whole Kiev armies ( 2 consecutive 1Pz chit ) . This succesfull movement could be the key to great success in Ukrainia , and probably to all the Barbarossa campaign .
during the actions around Kiev, 2nd and 3rd Pz armies fight to surround Vitebsk and Smolensk . Due to perfect coordination ( all chits in a row followed by logistic chit ) , surrounding movement succeed. Stalin launch concentric counterattacks coming from inside and outside the pocket . But again , a final reaction from german troops succeed in closing the trap :
chits pulled :
total casualties of the first 3 months of campaign, including mechanized USSR removals :
4th turn ( September ) :
Here is the situation after 1st initial chit ( movement ) :
Vitebsk, Smolensk and Kiev have fallen . It means that all the initial objectives of AGC and AGN have fallen.
In the south , Krivoi Rog and Vinnitsa will soon fall and Odessa will begin to be besieged this month.
For the next phase , AGS and AGC will now make a south-East turn to reach their final objectives.
As an opening move, Hoth succeeds in pocketing russian armies west of Vyazma
Guderian exploits the breach and complete the encirclement
But Stavka has seen the underbelly and deliver a strong counterattack that repulse the german lines and break parts of the encirclements
5th turn ( October ) :
in the south, Ukrainian plains are largely open but AGS is short of supply . Odessa is well garrisoned, and not sure it will fall .
In front of Orel and Moscow, russian armies are depleted , but mud , bad terrain and loss of panzergruppe chits will probably pose difficult problems ...
Mud has arrived, Blitzkrieg has gone . German armies regroup their forces and attempt an assault against Orel ( 3Pz / Move/ Combat combined ) . Hoth and Guderian punch a hole in opposite defenses , with threat of advancing divisions arriving from AGS.
Again Guderian exploits and reaches the outskirts of Orel.
Kharkov is assaulted by a large force of AGS , but Zhukiv resists . They shall not pass !
Good News : Odessa has fallen . It now makes 25 objectives in the Axis hands.
Turn 6 (November ) :
This is the month where Barbarossa will be decided . The arrival of snow makes panzer movement once again possible . All out attacks will be launched to capture the last needed objectives .
But after one month of efforts , Orel still resists ...
In the south , situation is just a little bit better : Dniepropetrovsk is surrounded and a large breach has appeared in defensive positions, thanks to little pockets created by infiltration , but priority of defense was given to Kharkov that resists to another 3 assaults .
very poor supply situation killed the axis efforts in the south .. The arrival of snow will undoubtly stop Axis successes in the zone.
Turn 7 (December) :
After the definitive arrival of Russian winter , tide is reversing .
Stavka urges Shock armies in Kharkov and counter offensives in front of Orel and Kharkov take unprepared panzer troops by surprise . This is an onslaught of panzer troops that lose more or less 6 of their divisions . Zukov and Stalin are now considering invading Germany next summer ... but it will be another story
Situation in front of Orel after emergency withdrawals :
and in Ukrainia :
Turn 8 is not played .
Final result : 27 objectives are held by Axis , giving a clear Soviet victory.
None of the second phase objective were reached excepted Dniepropetrovsk.
Some of the lessons to remember from axis point of view :
- Never Never forget to clear rail paths to rail supply units. This added to poor dies rolls in advance of rail supply probably saved Kharkov from an easy conquest.
- Same remark with 2PzGruppe : never lose any of its 2 activations per day due to poor supply .
- Have to think about a strategy to win the stalemate around Vyazma in front of the growing resistance and nice defensive terrain.