TR 42-45 1.5.1 - ALLIED vs Mark - T003/22May42

Okay kids, here we go. Not only am I playtesting this scenario once again as the Allies, but it's against the man himself, designer Mark Dabbs. He's in Odessa, while I'm in DC. So the time difference is pretty stark. But we're getting through with about one turn per day, sometimes more.

I've decided to wait until turn 3 to start this AAR because the first two are pretty boring. It starts out the way you'd expect with this one, with most of the action near Kharkov and Rostov on the Eastern Front. Enjoy...

RUSSIA: 22 MAY 42

Sectors: Velikie Luki-Rzhev-Vyazma
This isn't so much a bad situation and just one I must be careful handling. It's a line "correction," pulling back from the bulge I started with. The 39th Army seems to have been caught by the Germans, but I'm sure a few divisions can get out safely. The rest of the line should be fine, particularly if I can get at least one more army in the region to bolster the reserves.

Sectors: Voroshilovgrad-Rostov
In order to hold Rostov as long as possible--delaying the Axis advance into the Caucasus--I've ordered the 2nd Shock Army down from Lenningrad. The 2nd will defend the city, flanked to the north by the 56th Army. This will be pretty much it for reinforcements to the region, as I've had to send the 44th Army farther north toward Yelets. If I can evacuate the 47th Army off the Crimean Penninsula, it will move toward Rostov. But I fear the city will fall by then.

Sectors: Kursk-Voronezh-Kharkov
The larger region north of Rostov is the most volatile right now along the Eastern Front. Two full armies--6th and 57th--are cut off by the Panzer divisions, as the rest of the line begins to form southward from Voronezh. The 47th Army--shipped up from the Caucasus--is staging in the southern sector behind the 3rd Guards Tank Army. I do not expect this long, thin line to hold very long. But delaying the Germans a few weeks would help things all over the theatre. 

NORTH AFRICA

Tobruk remains in British hands, but that's only because the Germans and Italians haven't yet attacked. I'm expecting that to come next week(turn), as I've spotted the Afrika Korps forming up west of my disheveled line. I'm currently shipping the British V and VIII Corps down from England. They are laying over on Malta, and will arrive in Alexandria next week.