Fire in the East - 1941-1945.

[Pegasus]

.....................Ctd

Map End Turn 18


I have restored a better defensive position in Novgorod. Although not quite in a critical zone, I have dug in a fairly strong force at Betetskiy. Denying the enemy this junction for a while longer will impede him more than it will cost me. I have quite a strong force in my forward depot.

Jumping forward 3 turns to August 31st , the Map Below shows my position at the Start of Turn 21.

Map August 31st 1941 Turn 21


The Axis Forces have launched several assaults. His attacks on Kingisepp were repulsed, but he has crossed the river to the North with a force of SS and supporting infantry. Whilst it is quite a large force, the terrain is poor for manoeuvring, and his supply will be minimal. The 52nd Army finished operations against his beachhead a couple of turns ago and is now well rested and resupplied. I will move them down to contain this force before planning its destruction. As long as I hold the crossings at Kingisepp, anything that crosses the river will be in jeopardy unless they can breakout.
Further south he has also forced a river crossing. Again, anything on my side of the river is in a poorly supplied position. I will move units in reserve to contain and counter these crossings.
Axis forces have managed to take Batetskiy, and he has pushed forward into the weakly defended Marsh area. These units are in poor positions and I will counter attack aggressively here, taking advantage of flanking and rear attacking opportunities. The outcome of my turn is shown below.



Most of my objectives were achieved, especially the counter attacking in the zone between Betetskiy and Novgorod which were very destructive for little loss to my forces.
I have started to build some more reserves. The 55th Army is coming together slowly, and a Second formation of units of the 27th Army with the Volkov Ft HQ are starting to assemble, although these won’t be much use for a while as they are mostly reconstituted units and are arriving on the map in a poor state.

During his turn, the Axis continued his assaults, At the start of my turn, (T22. - 3rd September 41), the situation is shown below.



His assaults at Kingisepp and his river-crossing to the North were repulsed, as where his attacks at Novgorod. He managed to link up with the isolated stack of units stuck in the marshes between Novgorod and Betetskiy, but this ‘link’ looks tenuous at best. I will attack here and destroy these units – considering their position it should be a Turkey Shoot.
Of greatest concern is the river crossing in the centre. He has put a lot of units into this assault and he has gained a bit of ground, albeit at great cost. The units to the west of this bridgehead (yellow) whilst worrying are not my greatest concern. I will contain and put some pressure on here, but my main concern is the bridge North of Luga (Purple Circle).
At the moment, his bridgehead has no meaningful supply route, but if Axis forces capture the bridge hex here, then my whole defensive position is in jeopardy. My priority this turn is to support that bridge hex, and recapture the road/rail hexes marked 1, then 2. I will also move the 55th Army South. It’s not in good shape yet and ideally I would like to give it a few more turns of resupply. In its new position it can respond to any breakthrough and be ready to support the fighting along the road should I need it.
The 43rd Army has decide to reorganise and is not responding to orders, but fortunately, underneath those units there are some more units of the 31st Army and 10th Mech that are in reasonable shape. The outcome of my turn is shown below



I easily wiped out the isolated units in the marshland between Betetskiy and Novgorod, and reinforced the crossing point north of Luga. Although I have made good in-roads into the forces that crossed the river to the NW of Luga, I did not manage to retake the road. Although I forced the enemy to retreat, “Turn Burn” got the better of me. The Enemy units retreated on the last round of combat, leaving me with insufficient mp’s to move into the hex.

The enemy continued to attack across the front, with the outcome shown below



On first impressions, this might look worse than it actually is. He has made a little ground in the Kingisepp area, but his hold on any captured ground is weak. In the centre He has expanded his river crossing and taken the bridge hex, but his units are weak, exhausted and still unsupplied.
I will counter attack aggressively all across the front this turn, committing the 55th Army in the centre, with the outcome below.



This pattern of assault continued for a few more weeks, but the enemy could never hold the ground taken. His forces were becoming ever more depleted, whereas my losses were less and a constant trickle of reinforcements were arriving at every turn to bolster my position. By Turn 28 none of his army was north of the River.

Map – 24th September 1941 (Turn 28)


By October 10th, I retaken Betetskiy and pushed his line back to the river hexes – cautiously, with as little loss as possible. The Rasputitsa would begin next turn, and with my defensive position strong and with plenty in reserve, the Axis would advance no further towards Leningrad in 1941.

Map October 10th 1941 (Turn 32)