Turn 7 - July 31, 1941
Army Group North's forward elements are about 60 miles from the outskirts of Leningrad, so it's time to start thinking about what to do with 4th Panzer Group. It's wasted slugging away in a direct assault on the stout city defenses, so we will instead use it to cut off the city and starve out the enemy.
Doing so is not as straightforward as just pushing the front all the way north to a line extending from Lake Ladoga to the Baltic. This was done historically and the Soviets still managed to supply the city in one form or another for 900 days until it was finally relieved by the advancing Red Army. What we must do instead is eliminate (along with land-based connections to the city) all four of the ports that can provide supply by sea. The one to the west (Oranienbaum) is the easiest as it will eventually be cut off by our land units advancing directly toward the city. The other three however become progressively more difficult the further east they get. All of them lie south of the Finnish no attack line so we cannot expect allied help here. Getting as far as Sviritsa will be quite difficult because it means we need to extend our front northeast along poor terrain, while simultaneously concentrating powerful formations around Leningrad itself for the main effort. The enemy will be expecting us to do this and will heavily reinforce, particularly along the Volkhov River. So the options are:
- Send 4th Panzer Group northwest via Luga to Oranienbaum to get the Soviets to shift forces westward, possibly creating a back door opening for the infantry across the Volkhov
- Send 4th Panzer Group northeast across the Volkhov, to slog its way up toward Sviritsa across poor swampy terrain against strong defensive positions
- Concede that the northern sector no longer presents favorable conditions for the use of armored troops altogether and send 4th Panzer Group south to link up with Army Group Center, surrounding the big enemy concentration at Velikie Luki.
Option (3) is appealing because it would simultaneously clear up the pressure on Army Group Center's left wing and set us up nicely for the assault on Moscow with three panzer groups at the forefront. Doing so however may seriously impact our chances of success at Leningrad before bad weather sets in. Thankfully 4th Panzer cannot be pulled off the line this turn so we can delay the decision here for at least another week.
Situation
In the north and center we are mostly occupied resealing and tightening up pockets that were breached by the enemy last turn. The Finns are near the stop line.
2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups are able to re-seal the Vitebsk pocket and extend it eastward to include Smolensk.
In the south, 1st Panzer Group carries out a bold panzer drive to the southeast, capturing Cherkassy and surrounding the enemy defensive line protecting the approach to the Dnepr basin.
Operations - Army Group North
56th Panzer Corps pivots back to the north from its position at Dno, taking up a position along Reinhardt's right wing to reseal the Shimsk pocket. The SS Totenkopf motorized division from that corps establishes a bridgehead on the east bank of the Volkhov that we can use should we decide to send the panzer group along that axis.
Nine enemy divisions remain trapped in the Shimsk pocket which is now completely sealed. Unfortunately the panzers are stuck here holding the line against powerful enemy formations, but next turn 18th Army will try to collapse the pocket and relieve the armor. The axis of advance to the northwest through Luga looks much more promising, but for the time being 18th Army pushes forward in a broad-front advance to secure a potential jumping-off point north of the Plyussa River. Meanwhile two infantry corps (10th and 51st) from 16th Army have pushed east of Dno and taken Staraya Russa. This is basically a reconnaissance in force to test enemy defenses along the riverline extending southeast from Lake Ilmen, to see whether it's feasible to send the panzers on a wide swing to the east of the lake. We could do that to flank the Volkhov line, but we may not have sufficient infantry to extend the line in that direction given the looming threat on the army group's right wing from Velikie Luki. We are in danger of settling into positional warfare with the Red Army if we don't figure out a way to get our panzers rolling.
Operations - Army Group Center
Good progress by the panzer groups this turn means the objectives at Vitebsk and Smolensk are all but sealed but first the growing problem on the army group's left wing:
16th Army (from Army Group North) is strung out on a thin front extending all the way up to Lake Ilmen and the Soviets continue to concentrate on its right, threatening the base of the salient created by 3rd Panzer Group's thrust southeast to Yartsevo.
The panzer groups have thwarted enemy attempts to break out of the Vitebsk pocket and extended it eastward, closing the jaws east of Smolensk and cutting off 30 Soviet divisions. If we can hold the pocket this is a major success for the army group.
Operations - Army Group South
1st Panzer Group begins the drive to the Dnepr basin with a bold double-envelopment of the enemy line to the southeast, with 48th Panzer Corps striking out from the Kiev bridgehead along the eastern bank of the Dnepr and wheeling to the west to capture Cherkassy. 14th and 3rd Panzer Corps break right through the center of the Soviet line and fan out in either direction, linking up with 48th corps to the east and 11th Army to the west. 20 enemy divisions are trapped in these two pockets, but the panzers are a bit strung out on the edge of the ring so there is a chance some units will slip out. We are a bit overextended here with 17th Army still too far behind to close on the northwest side of the pocket, but we bring up what we can to keep it closed. 6th Army is unable to help out as it is fully committed protecting the Kiev bridgehead, keeping the left flank of the army group intact.
Meanwhile the Romanians make good progress toward Odessa as the Soviets try to cope with 11th Army on their right flank:
Enemy Action
A few local counterattacks by the enemy, the majority of which are unsuccessful. Pressure comes from the Velikie Luki concentration on 16th Army's right, as elements the Soviet 27th, 31st, 16th, and 43rd armies hit us with five divisions and nearly a thousand artillery pieces:
A desperate attempt to break out of the Vitebsk-Smolensk pocket is held off by 14th Motorized Division:
Buildup continues at Leningrad, clusters of forward air bases have been spotted by our recon flights east of the Volkhov:
The Soviets somehow seem to be thinner along the Luga-Oranienbaum axis in the north. Maybe they are reacting to 1st Panzer Group's crossing of the Volkhov by moving units to the northeast.
Enemy strength in front of Army Group Center does not get the reinforcement I expected this turn and looks vulnerable:
In the south only one of the two pockets created by 1st Panzer Group remains closed. 11th Army allows a breach which we will have to waste valuable time resealing next turn:
New forces have appeared to the east of our Kiev bridgehead, threatening 1st Panzer Group's left wing. 6th Army will need to push forward to keep these units engaged when possible as we have no other infantry support available to protect our holdings east of the Dnepr.
Casualty Report
Soviet losses have increased about 170,000 since last turn.
