Ghost of war

Yes they do! In this turn I finished rebuilding the most of my casualties plus I received additional Mechanized Corps and Panzer Corps that were in German production queue since the beginning of the game. So situation will look better for me from now on, though I really wonder whether the Germans need full scale offensive in the coming year. In reality Guderian advised not to attack anywhere in 1943, but rather focus on rebuilding Panzerwaffe potential and strenght. Stupid Hitler didn't listen to the voice of reason and none of the wimps in OKW have guts to oppose him, therefore they planned Zitadelle, which turned out to be the beginning of the end. I don't want to repeat their mistakes but we'll see...

The Bolsheviks decided to use winter to safely approach our positions around Kursk. OKH decided to push them away and sent newly formed Panzer groups to push them away. One of the Soviet armies was destroyed and the pitiful remains of the other escaped the battlefield. We expect Soviets to attack us further in this area, in spite of the winter. Therefore OKH sends additional units to Kursk region. Soviet forces on Leningrad front looks dangerous too. They also carefully approach positions of Army Group ‘North’. We strengthened Gen. Lindemann’s forces with a Panzer Corps. All quiet in the southern areas of the front. The Soviets are surely gathering forces there, but we don’t know where exactly because we weren’t able to use Luftwaffe for reconnaissance due to poor weather. Next turn we will know more. ***** The Soviets are surely gathering forces for the upcoming 1943. In this hard moment the whole nation must double the efforts to help our brave soldiers!

The weather is not very friendly. Ivanov is complaining about it, but I have my reasons to complain too. Anyway, there is not much to do, when the mobility of our troops is limited. What's more, this turn we were unable use Luftwaffe anywhere. Therefore we decided to withheld any offensive actions. Good news is that Führer decided to sent some help for the Army Group 'South': That's right! Fast Heinz arrived to the Ostfront! PS. We are worried about our good friend Erwin Rommel. We haven't heard from him for a long time. Last time he sent us a postcard in July, inviting for an opera in Alexandria: Yeah, tell me about it .

Something must be finally done with those Soviet air raids. First they were bombing our supply lines in the north, now it looks like they moved south to make life harder for von Manstein and his fellows. Our Luftwaffe forces made some reckon flights south-east of Rostov and managed to locate Red Fleet air base near Volgodonsk. After that we decided to concentrate our efforts to make sure that Soviet heavy bombers will not leave the ground again. In spite of heavy anti-aircraft fire we destroyed them! Anyway, concentration of such a numerous air forces in the area make us think that STAVKA is planning some offensive movement here too. Apart from this Soviet partisans are becoming really insolent! This time they seized one of the cities in Central Ukraine. Next turn they will receive a lesson from our troops. Sad news came from Africa. Rommel started to withdraw from El-Alamain towards Tunisia and he was stabbed in the back! Looks like Yankees are eager to fight. Well guess what, come and get some!

Führer is reading this thread in his Secret Bunker in Argentina and he wasn't happy with you joking. This is serious thread because STRATEGY WARGAMES ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS. Now please stop.

He is a mastermind of our tank weapons project.

That's right! What did you expect if our scientist are the best of the best:

Not much to report after my turn. We use the time of bad whether to research new technolgies and we have used all the Research slots: Additionally we increase the number of Fighter Groups on Ostfront. Duce sent the bravest of the bravest Italian pilots to help us in our crusade against communists! *** Maybe our informational activity doesn't make you laugh Kamerad Ivanov, but truly there is nothing to laugh about. The true faces of Bolsheviks are rather scary, not funny. Definitely they are not like the face of the guy from your poster...

No major changes on the front with two notable exceptions. We received this at the end of the last turn: And at the end of this turn it started to snow. Apart from this we continue upgrading our units and strengthening Army Group ‘Centre’ and Army Group ‘North’. OKH Predicts that the Soviets are plotting against us in those areas… *** The Bolsheviks claim that they are vigilant on so-called “liberated” territories. But actually they can reveal their real face of terror. No doubt that NKVD is treating people worse than we did…

Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the situation in Sept/Oct 1942. OKH was not happy with the performance of our forces in the Southern Russia. We were dragged into meat-grinder and we admit that, in spite of some tactical victories, the operational victory belongs to the Soviet. They managed to concentrate the formidable amount of forces and start counteroffensive against us. The bright side of our situation is the fact that until now we avoided the disaster like in real 1942. So the orders for Army Group ‘South’ have been changed. Strategic objective remains the same- Stalingrad. However in the next few months we will change our way of reaching it. Though the winter is coming and it is too late to start another attack, we are already thinking of the summer offensive for 1943. Army Group ‘Center’ under Field Marshall Walther Model’s command and Army Group ‘North’ under Gen. Maj. Gerhard Lindemann, will not start any new offensive actions, as it wouldn’t probably bring any success due to our limited resources in this area. Instead, they will focus on defensive actions against the advancing Soviets and they will withdraw in case it is necessary. There is no point in holding the ground for the cost of too many MPPs. Especially that Northern and Central Russia doesn’t bring any MPPs to our pool. And it is sad, but we need to postpone capturing Leningrad for future.

Well, indeed the Italian Expeditionary Corps was brave but facing such a numerous enemy they must have lost. Unfortunately they don’t possess the tactical ability of withdrawal and they were destroyed. Führer sent his condolences to Berlusc… I meant Mussolini and they made some arrangements for sending additional Italian troops to the Ostfront in the next month. We’ll see how they will cope with the Red Bandits… In series of rapid counterattacks we destroyed another Soviet Tank Group and one army. We also heavily battered another army and made it withdraw. It is also worth mentioning that the Soviet airbase near Volgodonsk was raided again and the Air Fleet lost 70% of airplanes. At the end of my turn the terrain on the whole Southern Front changed into mud which will severely affect the mobility. Well, it’s time to start preparing for the Winter 1942/43. On the rest of the fronts we continue the withdrawal and building new defense lines. Here is the strategic situation. We also ended our great anti-partisan operation in Zhitomir region. We destroyed two Partisans groups and strengthened the region with some additional garrisons. And here is something from our Ministry of Truth. The Soviet POWs are happy that they were liberated by Wehrmacht. I guess they won’t have to fear NKVD shooting at their back anymore.

Omniscient sages in the OKH noticed the obvious weakness of the Soviet Steppe Front south from Morozovsk and ordered two Panzer Corps to attack along with Gen. Manstein’s 18th Army. The result was satisfactory: we eliminated one Soviet Tank Group, one penal division and made about 30km breach in enemy lines. The spearhead of our attack reached Soviet Air bases, just north of Volgodonsk. We also inflicted heavy casualties to several other Soviet armies of the Steppe Front. It is worth saying that we were successful in our attacks due to the air superiority Luftwaffe posses in the South. Their attacks must have been painful this turn… Further north, weakened Army Group ‘Centre’ slowly withdraws, inflicting damage on the approaching enemy. This turn we destroyed one of the advancing Soviet divisions north from Voronezh. The enemy tried to destroy Gen. Model’s HQ… but they didn’t manage to do it. Gen. Model caught the last train from Rzhev to Berlin and of course he will be organizing the defense against Northwestern and Kalinin Fronts. We are also strengthening our defenses in the North, since Abwehr informed us about unit concentration in Leningrad area (they have at least one Mech. Corps). We want to protest against the misinformation that was recently spread by Ivanov’s Ministry of “Truth”. German technological research is in great condition, we have just recently invested another 125 MPPs into… well I won’t tell you what, but here is the proof. The problem with German research is that at the beginning of the scenario it is almost fully invested, there are only two slots available. So until some technological breakthrough the Axis player is unable to invest anything. I really fear what revelations will they reveal in the next turn. Maybe this time the Ministry of Love will issue some statement :eek:?

Alright, here is the situation in brief. In the North we withdrawn 16th and 18th armies from the poorly supplied positions around Leningrad. It was necessary, as continuing the attack on the city in this circumstances couldn’t bring any success. However, we withdraw orderly and performing counterattacks. This turn the elements of 16th Army have eliminated the weakened Soviet army. We had to abandon our positions around Demyansk, leaving one division to defend the city. One of the Soviet armies attacking Rzhev has suffered 90% casualties and retreated. Looks like that the Soviet forces in this area have low morale and readiness. Maybe they still remember the heavy beating they took earlier this summer? In the Centre, OKH followed Gen. Model’s advice and ordered the withdrawal and delaying Zhukov’s offensive. Therefore our armies have abandoned Kozelsk and Yeltis, to extend enemy’s supply lines and give us a time to build new secure, defense line. Army Group ‘South’ appears to be tough nut to crack for the Steppe and Stalingrad Fronts. With the apparent passiveness of the Soviet forces, we destroyed one Soviet division and made two other to retreat with heavy losses. It is worth saying, that Luftwaffe has caused heavy losses of the Soviet Fighters Group. We also continue sending newly produced units to this front and strengthening our forces in this area.

In this turn I will not write long. In the South we continue active defense. The Panzer battle is raging across the steppes around Morozovsk. The enemy lost one of the advancing Tank Groups and the other suffered 60% casualties and retreated from the battlefield! Two of the advancing Soviet armies were pushed off with heavy losses. The loud sounds of machine guns and heavy artillery must be heard at the very windows of Kremlin! Well maybe not the one in Moscow, but… in some other city. OKH is aware that STAVKA is trying to pull our forces into the “meat grinding” battle, in which the Red Army will be victorious, because they can afford bigger losses. That’s why we react flexibly, trying to avoid unnecessary losses, counterattacking only where we are 100% sure of winning. Luftwaffe is a great help here, they are obviously superior in this area. Our technological advance doesn’t let the Soviet fighters do much harm. We continue strengthening the Army Group ‘South’ therefore we have to withdraw on other fronts. The numerous advantage of our enemy, made it impossible to hold the ground in the centre and near Leningrad. That’s why we are reorganizing our forces in these areas and we prepare the delaying defense with an option of abandoning the ground. We will reveal more in the near future. Führer went to Karlove Vary on spa-weekend with Eva Braun, so he won’t oppose OKH’s and OKW’s plans. Well, until he comes back. That’s all for now commanders!

Actually when I think about it now, it wouldn't be a bad idea, to withdraw slowly in the centre (even losing Vyazma, Orel and some other cities) and make the Soviets advance. Definitely in such case I could use less forces there.

Relax SeaMonkey . Not all at one time. I needed more air power in the South and in the Centre. New Fighter Group and Med Bombers are being produced and we need to wait for them couple of turns. For now I engaged all the forces I could in Leningrad area (though Ivanov claims that it was still too much and I should have sent them to the South). Anyway the economy of war is really hard for Germans in this campaign and I must congratulate the author on creating realistic scenario (at least for the Axis side).

Group Army ‘South’ has prepared its line of defense for the upcoming attack. Soviet attacks used to have a form of human wave which usually led to quick collapse. However our enemy proved to be tricky and deceitful, therefore we expect something more… Machiavellian . So far they haven’t started a full-scale attack, limiting their activity to local fights in few places of the front. In response, OKW ordered local counterattacks north-east from Morozovsk in which our troops have erased one Soviet army and made the other army retreat with 80% casualties. We know that it’s just a tactical success but currently we want to focus on defense and rebuilding our numerous and qualitative advantage. New units, including Panzer and Mech. Corps are being produced and we expect them to enter the action in Sept/Oct this year. Army Group ‘Centre’ continues its dynamic and active defense. We managed to heavily batter the advancing Soviet Tank Group. In the region of Vyazma, the enemy withdrew, probably due to problems with supply. What does Gen. Model think about it? “Seems like Zhukov overestimated his logistical abilities”. Well said Herr General, we are truly grateful for your expertise. “My pleasure gentlemen, anything for the strategy games freaks”. Ok, Herr General, let’s end this pleasantries and let’s get back to work. Now, going to Army Group ‘North’, OKH is pleased that enemy engaged a lot of resources to defend Leningrad city. We see that he has three Fighter Groups, one Heavy Bombers Group and one mechanized corps (they could have been used by Stalingrad Front). Ivanov also claims that he sent resurrected Gen. Konev there, though OKH doubts that (according to Abwehr Konev is actually alive and has been recently seen in Kolyma Gulag over the Arctic Circle). Anyway, we have noticed that our tenacious and fierce attacks draw a lot of STAVKA’s attention, which is good. Leningrad actually remained our secondary front, we haven’t used any additional armies there, with the exception of heavy artillery. This turn we attacked their advancing Infantry Division and made it retreat. We also damaged the Mechanized Corps, which probably will have to withdraw in the next turn. We will continue to harass the Soviets in the city area, expecting them to allocate more forces there. In Zhitomir area we suffer from partisan activity. It is the price we have to pay for transferring some units from Kiev-Zhitomir perimeter. German player needs to keep there as many units as possible. That’s all for today. Have a nice Sunday, commanders!

On the southern steppes the Army Group ‘South’ prepares for defense. It is understandable that OKH doesn’t want to reveal the troops deployment and the number of armies, therefore once again we will show you the screenshot from the strategic map. We can confirm that enemy is stronger than we supposed and we needed to withdraw, to avoid a complete disaster. We are awaiting for Ivanov’s next steps. OKH predicts that the main objective of the current Soviet offensive is Morozovsk and then Rostov, but we will see. In the central regions, Zhukov’s offensive got bogged down (“Like we haven’t expected this ”- winked Gen. Model to his aide-de-camp and they both laughed ironically). As you can see Soviet units are pretty much wore out, especially the advancing Mechanized Corps and Tank Group, which lost 50% of their troops and vehicles, after our attacks. The readiness and morale of the forefront units is systematically decreasing due to low supply. OKH is well aware of this and decided to transfer the Tank Corps from Gen. von Paulus’ 6th Army and some newly created units that were stationed in Poland. We are planning once again to cause some turmoil at Zhukov’s flanks. There was heavy fighting around Yeltis this turn. Two Soviet armies retreated after they suffered severe casualties. In Leningrad we have finally managed to rebuild the supply lines and reinforce most of our units. Gen. Hoepner is planning to attack the city as soon as the morale of his troops is rebuilt. You can be sure Herr Stalin, that it won’t be quiet on Volkhov Front!

Meine Damen und Herren, the battle of Stalingrad is not over yet however we need to fall back and regroup our forces. Strategic situation looks like this: The enemy have numerous advantage in the South and in the Centre, so we are withdrawing our troops closer to supply bases, making the Soviets to stretch their supply lines. So far Zhukov haven’t achieved anything significant in the centre. It is doubtful that he manages to do it this turn. In the north, despite our supply problems, the German army still outdoes Red Army. This turn we managed to destroy one Soviet army and one division defending the northern part of Leningrad. Our Finnish allies are very eager to repay the Bolsheviks for the Winter War and they are aggressively pushing on the enemy. We will reveal more screenshots next turn, so stay tuned!

Strategic war games have many advantages over the Real Wars [a superb thought!]. One of them is the fact, that facing enemy advantage, I can easily stop my offensive without major problems. I can even withdraw several hundred kilometers back to where I started (imagine Adolf’s face when his Chief of Staff informs him about it). Anyway, Ivanov as usual played very cleverly, his troops never went to disarray. Even the losses the Soviet armies suffered were not sufficient to break their lines. Looking at screenshot it is obvious that in the South the Soviets are in numerous advantage over the part of Army Group “South” attacking Stalingrad. I couldn’t use larger forces for this attack, because of the Soviet armies south of Don. I don’t know how strong they are, but I assume they are pretty numerous with at least one tank group. It was too dangerous to leave the southern flank to Romanians and Italians only. Knowing Ivanov and his abilities I decided to stop the attack and withdraw to gain some time for rebuilding my forces. In the great panzer battle west of the city of Stalingrad, one of the Soviet Tank Groups were crushed. We also managed to destroy the fortifications north from the city (the ones that Soviet engineers have been building so hard for many months). Soviet technological advance few turns back helped them a lot, my attacks against their infantry were less efficient and I suffered more casualties from their attacks (they deprived me of one tank group and one mech.-corps on the south ). Anyway, this campaign lasts until Jan 1945, so there will be plenty of time to punish Ivanov. In the Centre, Zhukov’s offensive is as rapid as the snail. Gen. Model’s forces have no major problems with stopping their sluggish advance, performing local counterattacks which make them run like hell. Leningrad is still being bombed but no assault on the city has been ordered so far. At the end of the turn I received technology breakthrough in Aerial Warfare (now it’s level 3). It is good news, because I will be able to invest in Anti-aircraft defense. Until now I couldn’t have done it because I reached maximum in technological research. Hopefully in the next few months Soviet Strategic Bombers won’t be flying over German cities with such impunity. In the meantime we sent additional anti-aircraft defense to the south of Leningrad:

Malice and cunningness of our enemy have truly surprised the OKH. In 1941 at this stage of glorious German offensive, the Soviet armies would have retreat in panic and fear. This time they appear to keep a cool head. Our progress in Leningrad area has been slowed down due to problems with supply. Nevertheless we managed to punish the cavalry corps that advance to quickly. Also, in the bold action our submarines sank the “Kirov” cruiser, which was hiding cowardly in Leningrad port. Soviet fleet can run but they cannot hide from the wrath of Kriegsmarine, which didn’t forget that it were Kronstadt Mariners who helped Lenin to gain the power. Continuous attacks of the Red Fleet on our supply lines have bought some time to the Soviet defenders of Leningrad. We are currently in process of rebuilding our supply lines, so the attack on the city will be held. However our heavy artillery has already turned the whole city into a pile of debris. Army Group ‘Centre’ responded to Zhukov’s offensive with a series of counterattacks. They severely weekend the Soviet mechanized spearhead and made three of attacking armies to withdraw far beyond the Soviet lines. It seems like the Red Army has a new modus operandi in treating their soldiers. Normally they shoot in the back of the soldiers who try to withdraw from the battlefield. I wonder where NKVD was this time? Zhukov’s offensive activated the 6th Army. We noticed on Soviet’s flank the possible weakness, which may result in capturing Tula, which is about 150 km south from Moscow. In Stalingrad we destroyed the northern fortification (including the Soviet army defending them). We attack the city from two sides: west and north-east. Soviet days in the city are numbered!

Alright, it was Big Al who started this off-topic so blame him that I have to reply . I have a private theory that after taking the full power, Stalin never intended to start a Proletarian Revolution in the rest of the world (as Trotsky or Lenin probably would want to do). Instead he focused his efforts to rebuild Russian empire as it used to be before the WWI or even expand it further. Therefore, in terms of international politics, there was no difference between Stalin and, let's say, tzar Alexander I, who used to say that either "Russia will be reaching Elbe or it will have to retreat over Dnepr". However there was a major difference in terms of domestic policy, as the Soviet Union started huge-scale repressions towards its own citizens (and all the subject nations). They did it in the name of Marx/Engels/Lenin sick ideas, therefore I claim that USSR was a communist country.

The Mother of All Battles begins! Von Manstein’s and von Kleist's forces are approaching Stalingrad from the north and north-west and they managed to perform a deep reconnaissance of the enemy lines. An unpleasant surprise for OKH were the fact that Soviets created heavy fortifications north-west from the city. Nevertheless, Führer announced that he wouldn’t accept any failure, therefore the battle plan was prepared and we will start realizing it from the next turn. We also eliminated Soviet bridgeheads on our side of the Don river. Soviet armies were heavily battered in the battle of Morozovsk and they will need some time to rebuild readiness and morale. In the Centre, Zhukov started the offensive, as we expected. Gen. Model commented that Zhukov “will have what he is asking for”. Though it is pretty daredevil to start an offensive against our forces in the centre, especially that Stalingrad Front has a wolf at the doorstep. On our right flank two Soviet armies were battered and had to retreat. At this time we cannot reveal our plans in this area, but you will surely see more action here in the next couple of turns. In the North we plan to tire Leningrad defenders by constant bombing and heavy artillery fire. Currently we are in process of rebuilding the supply lines, because for some reason, the Luftwaffe was unable to defend it. Führer was furious and he called Göring… well, never mind how he called him (it wasn’t a decent word).

Yeah, Communism is scary. And this bald guy is even scarier. Imagine that before 1989 in Poland we had to had similiar monuments of Lenin in all the larger towns. This one was in our (mine and Ivanov's) hometown: And this is the glorious moment when it was dismantled and thrown away to the garbage dump . I've heard rumours that later the monument was bought by some crazy swedish collectioner but I have no idea if that's true. You are well informed Strat. Indeed, in Tambow there was a soviet prisoner camp #188 for the German POWs. It served as a transition camp before they were sent further east. Von Bombke reports that most of them are safe now as Russian camp crew escaped as soon as our attack started. When I look at the strategic map, Moscow actually is more vulnerable from the south after we captured Tambov. Hard to say how my opponent reacts to this, but I can surely use this situation in future.

Alright Lads, this time we are going to show you how the general situation looks like at the end of July. Army Group ‘North’ received some serious reinforcements and is preparing the final assault for the city where the worst plague of the 20th Century started in 1917. This time we won’t let them throw us away, once we set our foot in the city! In the Centre, Gen. Model finished reorganizing his forces for the probably upcoming offensive of the Soviets. Also a small ‘Kampfgruppe’ was organized and it was ordered to capture the city of Tambov. They were successful as the city was defended by a Soviet division, which troops were paralyzed in fear as soon as they heard the humming of the approaching German Panzers! I mention about it because the city is an important junction and lies between our two group of armies, Heeresgruppe 'Mitte' and Heeresgruppe 'Sud'. Currently there were no major Soviet forces, but in future Ivanov could use it for attacking us. In the South, OKH believes that we have finally found a way beyond Marx’s dialectic that won’t allow him to draw us back in. We are pushing the Soviet armies towards the Lake Tsyemlansk which actually doesn’t exist in 1942! What now Marx and Engels (and Lenin)? It’s a checkmate for your materialistic world view! And seriously speaking, we hold an attack on Stalingrad and attacked Soviet forces gathered around Morovsk. The city was taken by Gen. Hoth’s 17th Army, we destroyed two Soviet armies and pushed away two more. The Anti-tank unit was destroyed as well. We also cut off the remaining forces from Stalingrad and we expect them to evacuate towards Caucasus. But we’ll see what Ivanov will do. In the meantime he is sending undercover agents behind our lines. They are mainly harassing the juveniles and pensioners. Shame on you Ivanov!