Well that was interesting!
From here :
To here:
Images from Turn 4 details below
Continuing from Turn 3, Turn 4 opened as follows:
Weather Clear
Air: Axis 5 Soviets 5
From South to North: The Soviet 51st Army surrounds the 5Cav from Rum. Arty was ineffectual. 24th moved arty forward the 66th Army sought a way to attack the 14th in the Northern reaches of Stalingrad to no avail.
The 65th secured the approaches to Kalach. Further north the Soviet attack engine kicked into high gear. 2nd Rum were attacked by 5th Tank and 1st Guard several units took damage. Leaving some units on the Axis side in supply trouble. Interestingly in 17.20 a DG Out of Supply Romanian unit holds out on a 4:1 with an AR!! (attacker retreat)
The Germans turn consist of the continuation of their orderly withdrawal. Sacrificing weaker units and supply as road bumps to the high speed Soviet units whilst HW’s, arty and all units with a 3 or higher defense run!
Reinforcements arrive. 4th Corp and 24 Pzr along with 16 Pzr and 29th Motor use a DAM marker and air to pound 48.28. the hex directly across from the southern most pontoon bridge in Stalingrad. They achieve a A2 R2!!
The Svoiets are repulsed back across the river.
The units across the Rossoshka river are attacked with 3 air units supporting a 8v 3 attack and a Determined assault. yeilding a 7:1. Boom.
The soviet have suffered some tough losses on good rolls by Axis for arty and then subsequently have had to take losses on high value units. With these losses a problem develops.
The soviets are hard pressed to mass enough force even with a 3 hex access lane to mount a credible attack. SO attacking in and around Stalingrad proves difficult. I think the strategy for the Soviet side is press to cut off the entire army of the Axis and choke via supply attrition. Whilst at the outset the Soviets appear like a frieght train, my play has not generated the steam roller effect I expected. The plan now is to neatly kill what stands in the way and cut off as large a force as possible. I am going to start migrating units to do so ASAP.
Onto turn 5.