Axis July II

I curse at myself for my blundering deployment in the Romanian 4th Army. I forgot that my ZOCs don't extend across the border, thus meaning that Soviet c/m cadres set up on the border can exploit with just enough movement to help overrun a 4-point stack. Otherwise they'd have to set up one hex to the rear and be unable to smash my back line by stacking with the 10- and 11-point Soviet tank divisions. As a result, the Soviets can now prevent my railing directly into Bucuresti or Ploesti due to the presence of two 4-8 motorized divisions adjacent to them.

This, on the other hand, is balanced by Soviet tactical ineptitude in the Romanian 3rd Army region. Two of the three paras that landed on the Transylvanian rail line are disrupted (and thus quartered on defense), and a nearby 6-1 (-2) AS prevented the Soviets from exploiting one of their irritating little mountain cavalry units onto the para stack. This allows me to reestablish a supply line into the Romanian 3rd Army by smashing the Soviet paratroopers, an easy enough task even with my units halved for being out of supply.

But then, I've always said I'd rather be lucky than good. (A whisper in a thick Russian accent is heard across the table, "good thing, considering your abilities, or lack there of.")

I can't say I enjoyed the Soviet lubejob on Hungary. Not only did Joe and Jason manage to run all the way to Debrecen, but they overran 30 points of non-mobilized and very surprised Hungarian reservists along the way. The rail harassment mission over Budapest doesn't help my cause either. But Hungary really is just a side show, and only matters to the Soviets to the extent that it can screw with Romania by flanking it and seizing vital rail lines. AGS reserves and hastily mobilized Hungarians combine to establish a solid front line two hexes east of Debrecen, and even overrun a couple of small Soviet units. German machine gun battalions help form a wall isolating two 9- 5-8 tank divisions. The greatest danger to Hungary is now past; however, the Soviet presence in Hungary still presents problems for Romania.

Imagine my surprise when the Soviets repeat my mistake in Romania in the Kiev MD by only forming 6-point stacks in the back line. Of course, in order to take advantage of this, I resort to the highly inelegant, inefficient, and inartistic solution of forming the 60-point panzer corps, which requires not only breaking down two 11-10s in order to gain their panzer regiments, but a good deal of precious rail capacity in order to redeploy the 12- 10s from 3rd Panzergruppe to join 1st Panzergruppe. This forces me to economize on the amount of German forces I rail into Romania, and still leaves the Soviets with the possibility of actually seizing the oilfields, a potentially disastrous gamble on my part.

On the other hand, it does allow me to both overrun the Soviet back line along with the fort it occupies and place a 40- point panzer corps adjacent to Lwow. This corps possesses only one retreat route occupied by a 33-point panzer stack, however. But I don't believe that the Soviets possess the forces to adequately attack both stacks. The lead panzer corps, moreover, has a truck under it to provide supply in the event the Soviets actually isolate it.

Almost all the c/m forces in AGC abandon this area for greener pastures, since the infantry can push back the small Soviet forces here by itself. Besides, no important objectives other than Bialystok lie in this area, and I consider it a quiet sector. I won't repeat Jason's mistake in our first game of leaving large mobile forces in such a backwater region.

AGN hammers its way forward one hexrow, seeking vengeance for the loss of Memel. The lack of fighter cover in this area allows me to overwhelm the Soviet air defenses and bomb their rail lines. Soviet engineers will undoubtedly be able to fix these hits and prevent me from isolating the Baltic MD, but at least they won't be building forts or airfields. Between the losses I inflicted on my turn and the 32- point exchange at Memel during the Soviet surprise attack (ouch!)

Baltic MD is looking very shaky. Only substantial Soviet reinforcements will prevent this sector from collapsing, and the rail lines in the region don't allow optimal placement of newly railed units. I intend to keep up the pressure and smash my way into Riga, and, who knows, maybe even Minsk. This, of course, is the negative side of the Grand Slam for the Soviets: lower tactical density and small reserves as a result of the wider frontage.

Savage air battles take place during my half of the turn, resulting in 10 Soviet fighters shot down, along with some aborts, along with 4 of my own fighter groups blasted over Poland. I'm not sure if this is favorable to me or not. I must continue to aggressively contest the superior and enormous amounts of Soviet fighters if I hope to bring them down to merely large numbers. The question is: at what price?

Soviet July II

Joe and I made a major mistake in that we had planned to reinforce the fort line near Lwow, but somehow neglected to do so before ending our turn, thus allowing the Nazis to destroy our fort fine cheaply. Flavio's formation of the 60-point panzer corps allowed him to overrun our back line. An unmitigated balls-up! This will require a counterattack to restore the situation.

A surviving Romanian unit blocks my reinforcements from reaching the front line around Ploesti, but pays the ultimate price for its temerity. We launch an impulsive attack on a weak panzer corps adjacent to Ploesti at 3:1, but I only DR the puppies. I now have two hexes on Ploesti and opportunities beckon. I'll have to screen Bucuresti, as Ploesti is more valuable and I can't attack both simultaneously.

Disaster north of Lwow! The only question is who suffered the greater calamity? I lost 70-odd points in two attacks with an AR and an HX. I rolled the AR on the stem of the German advance at 2:1 (-1) forcing me to retreat through Flavio's ZOCs, but my 3:1 (-2) gave me the HX Unfortunately, this counterattack utilized approximately half of my rail capacity to execute, as it required major troop transfers from Hungary and elsewhere. This leaves Hungary rather thin, but sacrifices must be made somewhere. As long as he doesn't get through the mountains next turn I'll be content.

I still block 11th Army's rail line, but my hold is getting tenuous with the continued failure of my attacks in the mountains north of the rail line. I'm not counting on being able to hold it as I've been forced to pull out a good mechanized corps out of Hungary.

I'm getting concerned with the size of my backlog in the Interior MDs. Railing things to Lwow didn't help much by consuming half of my rail cap. Flavio's rail hits in the Baltic MD are annoying, but I've got enough reserves there at present to survive this turn and I've moved engineers there to deal with any more such nonsense.

Total Losses July II
Hungary: 8
Romania: 29 (3 c/m)
Germany: 79 (43 c/m), 6 air
Soviet: 217 (78 Ora), 15 air

Groza II: The Great Eastern Grand Slam A Europa Series Replay

Introduction, Set Up and July I Turn
July II Turn
August I Turn
August II Turn
September I Turn
September II Turn
German and Soviet Commentary