Scenario 5: Battle of Smolensk.
I have four KV-1s now, that is enough; the rest of my tank force are/will be T-34s. The T-34 receives timely upgrades and as we know, upgrading from one T-34 to a newer model T-34 is very reasonable in terms of prestige. The KV-1 is okay until the end of 1942, than it is worth upgrading them to IS-1s as soon as this model becomes available.
The Battle of Smolensk is another very intense scenario but the odds are better than in the previous scenario. I did not defend all objectives, it is a waste of resources and it would spread my core units too thin. It is possible to hold Vitebsk, Smolensk (left unoccupied), and Roslavl (left unoccupied). I did not defend Orsha from the very beginning.
My heaviest tanks have their patriotic duty to defend the east bank of the river Dnieper between Smolensk and Gomel. A nice defense is organised at Vitebsk (inf, tanks, artillery, AA) and i leave a few units at Velikiye Luki. I did lose Velikiye Luki but i managed to capture it back before the last turn, and Orsha as well; the Germans ran out of breath and i seized the chance to rectify matters as you will see in the replay.
My political officer must have a rabbit foot or must believe in the ultimate victory over the Germans, because at AI turn 11, the special Ju 87 flew into an ambush and as a result, it was destroyed. Once again, i received badly needed prestige from this interesting side-quest, although i was figuring out how on earth i was going to accomplish that since the Ju 87 is constantly protected by a 15 strength Messerschmitt.
I played this scenario on Zhukov (Rommel), AI level 2, reform units off.
Outcome: Triumph.
1 - Battle of Khalkhin Gol (Zhukov).rar