Axis September I

Once again, I narrowly avert a disaster in Romania as a Soviet 6:1 (-l) DRs my lead panzer stack. I SS Motorized Corps in the Carpathians suffered a less desirable result, however, as the humbled remnants of LSSAH and Das Reich reel backwards in the face of a DE. As for Jason's air rolls, either he's enchanted the dice, or the VVS has unexpectedly developed heat-seeking air-to-air missiles. Either way, 7 more German fighter groups join the dead pile.

The Soviets react strongly to my threatening penetration across the Carpathians, effectively shutting me down in this region by shuffling excess forces from Bessarabia northward. The Soviet moves in Baltic MD make less sense to me, however. Rather than forming a line in front of Riga and garrisoning Riga itself, my opponents choose to form a weak line by op railing units several hexes west of Riga and leaving the city without a garrison. This eats up many precious rail points, and prevents the Soviets from railing most of their reserves from the interior forward.

In Romania I DE two infantry stacks, and force a large mech stack to retreat across ZOCs, cadreing two 6-4-8s and one of their monster 10-5-8s. Even so, the Soviets possess considerable armored strength in this theatre (including all the 11-6-8s) and I won't likely get anywhere soon. The now resupplied German-Romanian army south of Cernauti seizes one hex back from the reduced Soviet forces.

In the Lwow region I continue to expand the front and take four hexes from the Russians. The Soviets have committed a large number of RPs and engineers in this area, however, and I can expect to be attacking forts from here on out. This, coupled with the now enormous numbers of troops in the region virtually guarantees a stalemate in this sector, or, at best, a rolling battle of attrition.

The German offensive in the Baltic MD continues to develop favorably as I smash the greater portion of the front line, and overrun a 4-point back line hex, allowing me to both isolate a small Soviet grouping along the coast northwest of Riga and to drive into Riga itself, which is, to my surprise, unoccupied. I've now busted this theatre wide open and can drive eastwards almost unopposed, although the Russians will of course react and rail units from the interior to prevent this.

Still, the rail lines in the Baltic will prevent the Soviets from immediately reestablishing a coherent front, and hopefully further pressure on my part will block Soviet attempts at creating a stable line. If only I had more time, I might actually be able to smash my way into the Leningrad MD, but I fear this cannot happen in the three turns remaining, especially given the high probability of mud in October.

Soviet September I

Stupid me! I forgot to occupy Riga as I needed every point of rail cap to assemble the line that he just overran. Sigh. I probably should have just occupied the rail line with strat-railed units. Just another example of my anti-German bias at work, I guess. I devote most of my rail cap and time to sealing off this fine little mess that I've gotten myself into since everything else looks safe for the nonce. I strip most of my back line away from the central sector to create one for the north, and can probably expect some excitement near Minsk next turn as a result of this.

I send my victorious armor from the Carpathians to Romania and the Cemauti area as Lwow has stabilized despite a successful attack against my 22nd Army with all that DAS supporting it. My casualties in Romania are beginning to add up and I need more tanks to continue the stalemate with the heavily reinforced Germans. I counterattack his stack near Cernauti that foolishly advanced after combat out of the mountains in pursuit of one of my infantry stacks. I attack him at 5:1 (-2) from four hexes and DE 22nd Air Landing and some c/m non-divs.

Foolish mortals. Actually, this is the only sector where any of my attacks are working. Konev and his Carpathian Front are awarded the Order of Lenin for their feats of derring-do.

I attack one of his infantry stacks near Lwow at 3:1 (+2) and DR it, hallelujah. Similarly, a 3:1 (-l) attack near Ploesti DRs a German panzer corps. I am growing frustrated as Flavio has unquestionably seized the initiative despite my many attempts to wrest it away from him. I'd feel better if I was actually inflicting as many casualties as I should be, but I have not rolled an exchange of any sort despite the 1/3 chance of doing so for my average attack since the second turn of the game.

This has given Flavio the freedom he needs to mess with me with little likelihood of my being able to do anything about it. I'm continually reacting to him and am not enjoying it.

Total Losses September I
Germany: 39, 2 air
Soviet: 211 (30 c/rn), 5 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