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 The summer is coming to a close, and we need to keep up the pace to get to Moscow this year. At the moment we've eliminated resistance at Kiev and are about to close the pocket east of the city.  Cutting off the last roads to the east will be difficult; many Russian reinforcements have been shipped in here to keep it open. But we have our best troops on the job. An armored punch will cut off the road while we apply pressure from the north. Elsewhere, all that's needed to be done is to hold the pocket. Axis Turn 12: September 3, 1941 Overcast(Dry)  Priluki is mopped up, and we prepare to go for Lokhvitsa and Movgorod. There are a lot of forces that are pouring in from the east trying to keep us from sealing the pocket, but they're mostly only of the defensive kind.  The last few units near Kiev don't put up much of a fight, and we get across the Dnepr without difficulty. Allied Turn 12: September 3, 1941  The enemy guns continue to fire on our Stugs. Back at Priluki, another light tank probes to see what we have holding the town. Axis Turn 13: September 4, 1941 Overcast(Dry)  The first line of enemy forces don't have any sort of air defenses, so we're able to use our aircraft to weaken them before attacking on the ground.  We've had the Italians holding the line farther down the Dnepr. As the forces inside weaken, we start to send troops across the river. Allied Turn 13: September 4, 1941  Our infantry takes the heaviest losses in the fight. Axis Turn 14: September 5, 1941 Overcast(Dry)  Fighting through all the guns is simply a matter of grinding it out on the ground. We have more than enough planes in the area, but there are also quite a lot of air defense guns. Allied Turn 14: September 5, 1941  The Soviet artillery seems to focus especially on the Stugs, who have the least experience of any of our units. Axis Turn 15: September 6, 1941 Overcast(Dry) With the road clear, we're shifting our tanks to weaken the rear of the enemy. We are risking the SdKfz again, but we expect the enemy AT guns to stay in their defensive positions.  An attempt is made to bomb the air defense guns, but it doesn't work. Allied Turn 15: September 6, 1941  While no direct attacks come, the artillery is still able to do a number on our anti-air vehicles. Axis Turn 16: September 7, 1941 Overcast(Dry)  At least the guns near Lokhvitsa are the smaller 12.2 cm ones, which the tanks can handle without too many losses.  With the infantry preparing the assault from the north, we send our tanks around to hit Khoro. Allied Turn 16: September 7, 1941  The Russians move whatever units they can to block us from gaining ground. Axis Turn 17: September 8, 1941 Overcast(Dry)  We make a slow push forward past Kiev.  Our tanks break through to the artillery positions and force them to surrender.  With the guns gone, Lokhvitsa is swiftly reduced. Allied Turn 17: September 8, 1941  Our tanks captured the Khoro airbase, but they have a hard time holding against the big anti-tank guns. Axis Turn 18: September 9, 1941 Overcast(Dry)  We push through Lokhvitsa and start to knock out the air defense guns.  With the path clear, the paratroopers infiltrate Movgorod and knock out key defensive positions.  An attempt is made to attack inside the pocket at Nezhin, but the units there are heavily entrenched. Allied Turn 18: September 9, 1941  The Soviet tanks try to chase down our Panzers. They tire them out, but do not inflict any losses. Axis Turn 19: September 10, 1941 Overcast(Dry)  The 48th requisitioned bridging equipment and set up a crossing for our anti-tank units. We destroy the artillery guns and trap the anti-tank guns at the river.  Improbably the Panzer IIIg remains one of our most effective tanks.  We close off the pocket. Onward to Moscow! Another successful result and we're back about where we'd like to be prestige-wise. Making the move up from Kiev was pretty much unnecessary. At this point, few of our units need any additional experience, and it only ended costing us in overstrength lost. 
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| ← # ? Nov 12, 2015 03:02 |
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