Trial of Strength - Turns 3 to 5

Richard and I continued the game today.  The system is starting to make sense and is proving most enjoyable and intriguing.

 The last turn for July saw the Axis take Krasnodar and further push towards Stalingrad.

 Beginning of August saw some consolidation by the Axis,

while the Soviets pulled back towards Stalingrad.

Mid August and things got interesting.

The Axis made gains on the Caucasus front,

but the Soviets made a number of counterattacks towards Kursk.

Just note that Soviet fortifications counters are grey, same as the German counters!  Soviet aircraft are a similar green to the Luftwaffe and Finns!

The Axis have to do lots of railroad repairs and conversions.  They also have supply problems.  So not like World in Flames.

And now a special dispatch from the British Embassy in Moscow:

With the bringing forward of their supply heads, the Axis forces
continued their consolidation of the break out towards the Caucasus
capturing Krasnodar and the Maikop Oil fields, whilst the 11th Army
mounted an attack across the straits of Kerch assisted by a Panzer Corps
attacking from behind the Soviet defenders.

Meanwhile further North, severely miscalculating the intentions and
strength of Soviet forces in the region, a poorly considered operation
by the 2nd Army from Voronezh precipitated a series of of heavy Soviet
counter attacks. Desperately defending, the 2nd Army suffered very heavy
losses  to both infantry and armoured formations, but repelled the
Soviet counter attacks. The initial gains of its minor operation were
also given up with heavy losses.

After an initially successful attack in the Orel region, a major Soviet
attack by West front on the 2nd Panzer Army at Orel was blunted with
heavy losses to the Soviets after the 2nd Panzer Army  was successfully
reinforced with a reserve Panzer Corps and Luftwaffe assets flying at
the limit of their range from Smolensk .

A reconnaissance in force by the 18th Army besieging Leningrad, resulted
in an opportunistic gain for the Germans after alerted Soviet reserve
armoured formations were unable to intervene due to the swampy ground.
In a major blow to Soviet forces in this area of the front, 2 Soviet air
armies had their bases overrun and required them to conduct an emergency
relocation rendering them unavailable for operations in the near term.
 [EDIT: The above didn't happen]

In an unexpected turn of events, and delaying further operations,
Marshal Khokkey was re-called suddenly by STAVKA.

The NKVD is investigating reports that Comrade Khokkey is attending to
urgent work on his Dasha.....