Slitherine

Turn 77 – 6 August 1944
Weather: cloudy and dry

Ostfront:
Guderian is closing in on Gorky. Artillery is on its way as well.
Can von Kleist break through between Tula and Ryazan? The Tigers are spearheading the attack!
Voronezh has been seized by Finnish infantry. However, further North a brave Romanian AT unit got encircled by Russian forces after crossing the Don River. Will it be lost?

A Russian tank is blocking the banks of the Volga River North of Astrakhan. Von Manstein requested armored artillery units.
Tbilisi South of the Grozny oil field has been seized by partisans. Are the oil fields in the Caucasus in danger again? Paulus left garrison forces behind in both Grozny and Baku.
Middle East:
The heavy Churchill tank moved into the city of Kirkuk. Can it be defeated by infantry now?

The Baghdad oil field remains under Axis control. However, the German paras were killed in action South of Baghdad.
Greece:
Greek partisans are threatening undefended Thessaloniki again.
North Africa:
All US troops on the African continent have been defeated and the Italians are moving East again. Should they try and support Rommel in Egypt or cross the Mediterranean Sea and land along the French Côte d’Azur to support the operations at the Ostfront now?

Scotland:
Von Rundstedt seized Glasgow with tanks now due to the time pressure and the invasion of England has been completed. However, additional British forces still need to be defeated in Scotland. Furthermore, RAF and USAF continue their massive attacks on the Axis ground forces on the British Isles as well as on the major cities in Germany. Does von Rundstedt have to initiate a second amphibious and potentially costly landing in Northern Ireland to seize Belfast airfield as well?

Turn 78 – 21 August 1944
Weather: rain and dry

Ostfront:
Guderian’s infantry captured Gorky. The airfield is still in Soviet hands. Now Guderian needs to decide how to best proceed further East?
Breakthrough at Voronezh, now the Volga River and Saratov might be in reach for von Kleist?
Russian tank attack towards Astrakhan, could this actually help open the path to Stalingrad from the East?

Middle East:
A Russian tank behind Paulus’ lines close to the former Soviet-Persian border around Tabriz?
At the same time, Paulus is attacking Kirkuk with tanks…
…with continued fighting around Baghdad. In parallel, German infantry started to move South along the Tigris River towards Basra/Kuwait.

North Africa:
Rommel seized Alexandria, another very important port city adjacent to the Nile Delta. Now all focus will be on Cairo.
Scotland:
Axis infantry stand in front of Glasgow and Edinburgh. How far can they still reach?

Turn 79 – 5 September 1944
Weather: cloudy and dry

Ostfront:
Can Army Group Center encircle the Soviet units around Lipetsk?
Von Manstein’s units are finally crossing the Don River West of Stalingrad. Can the Volga be reached quickly to cut of Stalingrad from Russian reinforcements coming from the North?
Middle East:
Spies in the Middle East reported a British counteroffensive coming from the Persian Gulf area. Paulus pulled back his infantry on the road to Basra and will send down the tanks that had captured Kirkuk. Urban operations in Baghdad continue nonetheless.

North Africa:
German tanks stand in front of Cairo. However, seizing Cairo is expected to require an infantry attack supported by artillery fire. At the same time, the Luftwaffe started to attack the fort East of the Suez Canal.
Returning Italian forces came under attack by a British destroyer along the North African coast.

East Prussia:
Can this be true, Königsberg has been seized by Polish partisans?

Turn 80 – 20 September 1944
Weather: clear and dry

Overall situation:
OKW is happy about the most recent developments and successes. However, time and prestige pressures remain. Therefore, updated key objectives for the short to mid-term include:

1. Guderian with Army Group North to advance towards Ulyanovsk and Kuybyshev

2. Von Kleist with Army Group Center to move towards Saratov and Kuybyshev

3. Von Manstein with Army Group South to seize Stalingrad

4./5. Paulus with Army Group Middle East to advance towards Basra/Kuwait and Aleppo

6. Rommel with the Afrika Korps to capture Cairo, Jerusalem and Beirut

7. Von Rundstedt with Army Group West to seize Belfast airport

(right click and open in new tab for larger picture)
Ostfront:
Guderian might have to take Saransk before advancing towards Ulyanovsk.
Mobile armored units of Army Group Center are pushing East bypassing Lipetsk and Tambov.

Parts of Army Group South are crossing the Volga Delta around Astrakhan.
Partisans are heading towards Grozny oilfield. OKW reinforced the Grozny garrison units.
Russian tank is attacking Romanian garrison forces at Yerevan.

Middle East:
Baghdad has finally fallen.
Scotland:
Glasgow airfield and Edinburgh have been seized as well. Gebirgsjäger are pushing into the Scottish Highlands.

Turn 81 – 5 October 1944
Weather: cloudy and dry

Ostfront:
The way to Ulyanovsk seems open.
West of Stalingrad, a new SU-100 appeared, most likely also a prototype unit. It’s really an impressive AT that requires quite some effort to defeat.
Middle East:
Tank and AT units are passing by Baghdad on the way towards Basra to proactively engage the British counteroffensive.

Regia Marina is scouting the Palestine coast.
Cairo has been seized.
North Africa:
Italian units are about to embark on their journey to cross the Mediterranean Sea towards Southern France. There they will be loaded onto railcars heading to the Ostfront. Depending on the amount of remaining Russian reserves, they might not be needed anymore but who knows?

Turn 82 – 20 October 1944
Weather: rain and dry

Ostfront:
Given the bad weather and the limited number of armored units with Army Group North, Guderian decided to slow down the advance towards Saransk and Ulyanovsk.
Additional Russian counterattack around Astrakhan.
The Russian tank at Yerevan is still around… not sure what it is up to?

Middle East:
Mosul has been seized by Romanian infantry units.
Continuous fighting around Cairo. The fort East of the Suez Canal has been weakened significantly already.
Scotland:
A British destroyer arrived at Glasgow. So an amphibious landing in Northern Ireland might become tricky not only because of the RAF/USAF…

Turn 83 – 4 November 1944
Weather: rain and muddy

Ostfront:
Due to the mud, almost all combat operations of Army Group North had to be stopped. Nonetheless, Guderian and von Kleist managed to close the front line East of the Oka River.
Same thing further South, Army Group Center is only moving ahead very slowly but closed the front line along the East banks of the Don River up to Stalingrad where it is linking up with von Manstein’s forces.
Parts of von Manstein’s reinforced Army Group South started to move up the East banks of the Volga River, i.e. from Astrakhan to Stalingrad.

So the Russian tank at Yerevan disappeared before it could be defeated… it might show up around Poti again. Nonetheless, the victory objective of Novorossiysk at the Strait of Kerch might need to be garrisoned now!
Middle East:
The first light tank of the British counteroffensive coming from the Persian Gulf area made it along the Tigris River road to Paulus’ troops.
Scotland:
Von Rundstedt is trying to defeat the British destroyer with ground forces. He now also considers attacking Aberdeen and Inverness.

Turn 84 – 19 November 1944
Weather: clear and dry

Ostfront:
German grenadiers captured Saransk and its airport is under attack as well.
Heavy armored units are advancing towards the Volga River and Saratov.
Von Manstein’s new tanks reached the heavy artillery East of Stalingrad. Now the city is about to be encircled and cut off.

Middle East:
Paulus is moving to Basra to clear the situation and to seize the last oil field.
At the same time, some of his troops are leaving Mosul into the desert towards Aleppo.
Rommel reached the Suez Canal.