By: Roberto Carrosio

Member of Eastern Front Wargamers

EDITOR: Roberto shares his AAR [Please note English is a second language and I have chosen not to edit as it all makes good sense to me .

This is the post of my first turn of the campaign of the game BARBAROSSA by Diffraction Entertainment.

I have used the variable CEV rule hoping that this will not give too many advantages to the Pz Divs (CEV 5, MOT Divs have 3).

This variant begins on May II 1941.

The weather is good along all the Front. ARCTIC: Luftwaffe attacks the airbase near Kandalaksha inflicting 4 hits and the airplanes there located.

The Alpini troops overrun the Soviet troops and advance towards the railroad Murmansk-Leningrado, the German troops and the Finnish III Corps follow them. The Finnish troops attack east of Lake Ladoga and in spite of heavy losses (Hx) advance towards South. The Finnish troops break the line defending the Karelian Isthmus.

NORD : the Infantry Divisions from 16th Army and the 18th Army overrun the Soviet troops all along the border giving the chance to the 4th and 3rd Panzer Gruppe to make a deep breakthrough. Liepaja falls immediately and the ships that were there, they are unable to run away being scuttled, they will be not the only losses of the Red Banner Fleet.

The Luftwaffe sends his fighters to attack all the air bases near to the Frontline, keeping the bombers and dive bombers for better targets (CAS and….). Indeed the Recon planes have discovered the ships in the ports of Riga and Tallin, immediately the planes take off to attack the two Fleets. The wing composed by Ju 88A5 attacks Tallin, it avoids the Soviet fighters and sinks the Oktobriskaya Revolutslya, while 3 wings of Ju87R2 ( not deployed in the Mediterranean Sea) attack Riga and they sink the 2 Russian Heavy cruisers (Kirov and Maxim Gorki) there deployed.

4th Pz Gruppe :41 Panzer Corps overrun everything in front of him and goes straight to Riga. 56 Pz Corps attacks towards Kaunas while the huge 76 Pz Corps (15 Pz, 21Pz, Lehr Pz, 90 MOT) occupies Daugavpils, so crossing the Dvina River. Riga falls letting free the 41PzK to overrun all the other Soviet troops in the area including a big airbase and to reach finally Tartu ( between Tallinn and Narva).

At Riga 2 DD are captured (2 times a 6 has been rolled), while all the other DD’s have been able to run away.

56 PzK goes towards Pskow, while 76 PzK goes towards Vitebsk overrunning a huge airbase. 3rd Pz Gruppe (it begins the campaign under ARMEE Gruppe Nord) : it occupies Kaunas, 40 Pz Corps overrun the defences of Vilnius (Wilno) giving the chance to the 39 and 57 Pz Corps to go straight towards Minsk, reached by the 39 PzK. Minsk falls in spite of the strong Soviet defences.

The OKH forbids the 3Pz Gruppe to advance further because of supply problems and because the Infantry Divisions are too much far from the Pz Divs.

CENTER : 4th Army and 9th Army overrun the Soviet Forces all along the border, but Byalistok and Brest Litovsk resist, slowing down the Infantry Divs and the regauging of the railroad. After heavy fightings, Brest Litovsk falls and Byalistok surrenders but to late to improve the situation.

2nd Pz Gruppe (24, 46, 47PzK, 12K) after heavy fightings around Brest Litovsk, finally the 24 PzK reaches too Minsk while the 47 PzK reaches positions SW of Bobruijsk. SUD : as along all the Front, even here the Infantry Corps overrun the Soviet troops near to the border, above all, east of Lublin, here the troops from 6th Army have been particularly successful, been able to occupy Kovel.

1st Pz Gruppe (3, 14, 48 PzK) : they break the frontline, occupying Kovel, Tarnopol and Rowno connecting at Ostrog with the forces of the 11th Army that started from the north of Rumania, encircling so all the Soviet forces deployed in the Southern Poland. The Slovakian and Hungarian Expeditionary Corps started to enter the Soviet Union doing some small encirclements. RUMANIA: the Luftwaffe,

collaborating with the Rumanian Royal Air forces, attacks the Soviet air bases deployed all along the Dnestr River eliminating the Red Banner Air Fleet from the skies.

The Ground Offensive starts here too. 11th German Army: deployed in the North Eastern corner of Rumania, the troops attack towards North, the Infantry Divisions overrun the enemy troops, the 2 Rumanian Armored divisions and the Cavalry troops make a deep breakthrough and they connect at Ostrog with the 1st Pz Gruppe encircling about 30 Divisions in the Southern Poland around Lwow.

The 3rd Rumanian Army protect this breakthrough from East, while the 4th Rumanian Army crosses in force the Prut River, Chisinau is immediately occupied and the Guards Division occupies a bridge head over the Dnestr. The strong Russian troops are able just to limit the penetration towards East. Kiev is safe and southern Ukraine too. LOSSES : AXIS : the German forces loses 2 SP and the Finnish Army 2SP. SOVIET : Air : 56 wings, half destroyed by the German Pz Troops. (36F, 20 B or A). Navy: 1BB and 2 CAs sunk, 2 DDs captured. Army : 274 SP, mostly overrun.

CONCLUSION: As Soviet, the losses have been huge, but the air forces are still big above all because a big part has been deployed in Ukraine and far from the front line (respecting the rules, of course). As German I am very glad for the Russian ground losses, but I have already reached almost my supply limits and my Infantry is too far from the Pz Divisions.