German Turn:
Weather North /South:
Light Freeze / Mud
Limited Air
Soviets won initiative and let the Germans go first.
The Axis loses 2 trucks, but pick up 20SP.
The Axis forces decide that in order to press deeper towards Moscow and potentially cut off Tula (rather than direct assault), that Kaluga is a key spot for an extender, thus the forces must be marshalled to take the town.
Final movements prior to attacks:
To the far North Rzhev is now properly cut off with forces pressing deeper down the rail line.
The Axis have left themselves in a precarious spot however with limited resources to sustain or defend. This is due to the mad scramble caused by
loss of trucks this turn and during the earlier mud/freeze rolls. Just a few wagons support the Northern efforts to move SP.
Directly East of Moscow the Germans creep forward.
In the EATG map area near Kursk,1st Cav, 29th Mot. and 17th Pzr press East of Kursk towards Korocha southwards, while 25th Mot. links up with AGS in Belograd.
An HQ forms a bridging party South East of Kharkov @ Zmiyev which allows 16th Pzr and 14th Pzr to exploit across cutting of all rail access to Kharkov. Now the Axis can force the starvation of the enemy there.
Here we see the two Pzr formations are across the River and now sit astride the Rail at the end of the exploit phase.
SS:W moves to Valakaleya area which is currently being held by the Soviet Guard division #22. 9th and 13th Panzer do not move.
In the South the LAH and associated forces inch along their tenuous supply route towards Mol.
In the reaction phase the Soviets bomb several units near Kaluga forcing some DG results and foiling a planned attack upon a Soviet HQ. They also attack the 600th AG Bn with the 38th Cav Div. @ 8:1 earning a AL1Do1! Ugh.
The German combat phase sees the assault of Kaluga go poorly. It was nor a surprise to the Soviets and the repulse the attack, taking a step loss and inflicting 2.
10th and 20th Pzr move to Dubna along with 3rd Mot. in the Exploit phase.
In hindsight the Kaluga attacks were not viable and should have relied more on encirclement. Below you can see the Soviets still in position, hopefully the Das Riech can bring some fear to bear!
