What was it that Ferdinand Foch said? Pressed on all sides and such? Yeah, that's us, except our situation is not good and we're not attacking.
1100 7 May
We return to the Brest-Litovsk/Slomin pocket, where a lot of Soviet soldiers are presently trapped. Forces in Brest-Litovsk will reach Pinsk (and therefore be able to escape) tomorrow. Half of the forces in Slomin will reach Pinsk on the 10th, and the other half in the wee hours of the morning on the 13th, which is just under a week away. Color me not optimistic.
1700 7 May
The Black Sea Fleet, probably the Soviet military unit furthest away from humiliation or annihilation at this point, fights a naval battle against the Romanians, soundly defeating them.
0100 8 May
The Romanian fleet escapes without losses. This is why Arsenal of Democracy naval battles bug me.
0500 8 May
The Italians land in Turkey again.
1100 8 May
Brest-Litovsk is evacuated.
I'm not particularly hopeful for the units in the Slomin pocket. I suppose it is true that Pinsk (the province we're racing the Germans to) is a marsh, and so their tanks aren't likely going very quickly. We might still make it. Maybe.
2300 8 May
The Axis continues to bomb Finland, despite showing no interest in opening an additional front up there (mind you, I'm perfectly alright with this-- German bombers in Finland means they're not in the Ukraine). I don't know if Germany even has any transports.
The stupid Italians do, though. More of them in Turkey.
0700 9 May
30 hours for the first wave of troops leaving the Slomin pocket.
1800 9 May
We fight a naval battle with... Turkey? Huh? Where are they keeping their ships?
1300 10 May
Six divisions escape Slomin, leaving another six. The first six will fight for a bit to try and hold the door open even longer, but the odds are not in their favor.
1700 11 May
Battles in the north see us falling back from Kaunas and Baranowicze. I'm not sure the Dnieper/Daugava line is going to work. On the plus side, this is starting to look a lot more like a historical Barbarossa.
0000 12 May
26 hours for the remaining divisions in the Slomin pocket to escape. I didn't realize, but (as we retreat) it turns out I had almost 40 divisions holding the salient at Brest-Litovsk, which might make things a bit easier on us going forward.
Stanislawow (just south of Tarnopol) is under attack in the south. It's largely a force of Axis minor allies under German leadership, so we ought to be able to hold for a few days before I reach my retreat threshold of 40 ORG.
In the north, Jekapilis (site of the 26-division stack from last time, and one of our few victories so far) comes under attack again, this time with fewer divisions there (they went south to shore up other parts of the line.
1200 12 May
Falaleev's fighters shoot down some Hungarian bombers.
1700 12 May
Turkey update! Not great. Two motorized corps are rushing to contain the Italians, along with two infantry corps, and nine divisions in two corps are headed up from the Caucasus. It's looking like I'm going to have to garrison the south coast of Turkey, which is a pain.
The race against the clock in Slomin continues...
0200 13 May
And somehow we've made it out alive.
The defense of Jekapilis continues with a counterattack from Riga.
1300 14 May
Jekapilis holds, but I don't know if it'll last. We counterattack into Baranowicze, where some German tanks have outrun their infantry. Getting some damage on those tanks will be helpful, since the Germans really can't afford to fight a drawn-out war.
0100 15 May
That counterattack ends as the German infantry catches up. Losses are disappointingly light on the German side, but no heavier for us.
0500 15 May
Jekapilis is lost, but it was another good defense for us.
Right, so. We took a drubbing today, losing territory and men with only the defense of Jekapilis and the escape from Brest-Litovsk and Slomin to brighten the news. Oof.
The Russian people will never be brought to their knees!
Poll
6 (60%)
Author
Topic: Arsenal of Democracy LP (1 October, 1944: Vperyod!) (Read 95132 times)