Weather; MUD!

Finally the weather breaks and the Eastern Front is awash with copious amounts of rain turning all to Mud. Only the Rumanian plain escapes; remaining dry. At any other time during the last 2 months the Axis would have welcomed this change but it could not have come at a worse time for the defenders. The Soviets have broken through and surrounded a large part of the German Army in Poland. Normally mobility and Armour Effects would enable German forces a partial, if not full, breakout of surrounded troops. The Mud denies them these advantages and effectively dooms the Army. Any Hope that near Total Victory, Soviet Style can be averted is badly damaged.

Army of Norway;
(1 attack). Despite the crisis on the main front more troops and Res Pts are shipped north. In addition the Luftwaffe increases its presence to combat Soviet GS and provide DAS for the defenders. 2 res points are expended to provide air cover for an attack on the landward Marine brigade as a precursor to an attempt to retake Bardufoss. The brigade is forced back.

AGN:
(1 attack). Units inside the large northern pocket are given permission to breakout. Those that can move southwest towards Warsaw but progress is painfully slow. Others concentrate against a defending 12-8 Gds mech (with DAS cover) but the Mud delays a Panzer division from reaching the jump off point. Help is desperately needed from outside the ring but conditions here are little better and an entire panzer corps holding the line east of Allenstein fails to disengage. Reinforcements and some troops are able reach their start lines and the attack is launched. At 3:1 the attack is too risky so a large amount of GS is called upon to raise the odds to 4:1. This carries a 1/6 risk of an NE and while the Luftwaffe is capable of raising the odds to a “safe” 5:1 the resultant loss of DAS cover elsewhere is considered too great a cost and a risk is taken. The die is rolled and a 1 is the result! The fate of the trapped units is sealed and with them probably the fate of Warsaw!

AGC:
(0 Attacks). Any relief for AGC troops must come from the south but wooded terrain and advancing Soviet units prevent any effective concentration of force. Units can only content themselves in forming a defensive ring around the bridgehead West of the Vistula where a 15-10 Mech has a firm lodgement. Units still in place at Lublin are now at risk of their own isolation so pull out leaving a self-isolated 4-6-6 to stem the Soviet tide.

AGS:
(1 Attack) In Hungary units maintain a good line of defence although have been pushed and/or manoeuvred out of the mountains at many points. The line here is probably the strongest of the entire front particularly as the Soviets have only committed light forces to this sector. However the line is at risk of being rolled up from the south so pulls back abandoning Brasov to refuse the right flank against any move north from Rumania.

The panzer/Rum mot pocket west of Ploesti breaks out with help from a reinforcing 14-10 panzer as mobility is still good here. The Axis force levels are the barest minimum for the task however and because they need to attack from the east side of the river to get the necessary odds cannot surround the defending Tank Corps cadre. The attack does force it to retire under pressure and the surrounded tankers again breakout to freedom crossing the river Dambovija for a last ditch defence.

Air Combat:
Soviet fighter pilots returning from a DAS intercept mission over Lublin are arrested and interviewed by the Base Commissar after lodging a fantastical report of propeller-less aircraft which appeared from nowhere, ripped into their flight and disappeared as quick as they came. They faced execution for dereliction of duty and careless use and loss of equipment but fortunately a response from an urgently dispatched communique by their squadron leader was received just in time; confirming the veracity of their reports. The Me262 has arrived on the Eastern Front.

Combat Report: Attacks = 3.
Losses: Soviet = 3 aircraft.
Rumania destroys two of its own aircraft on the ground (deactivates) to prevent them falling into enemy hands before evacuating Pleven.