Turn 11 - Clash of the Titans : Across the Dnepre

My pal from the Abwehr has passed along this from General Keating.

"Reinforcements arrive to strengthen the forces and pushing continues against several major centres. The idea is to give the Soviets a lot of things to think about. There are many counter-attack possibilities but my hope is that any of them will place the Soviet forces in a dangerous position."

Strong forces have closed in on DEMIDOV and its fall seems imminent (see above) . Keating has also pushed across the river near ORSHA (see below) and perhaps the fall of ORSHA can now also be predicted. Comrade General Trout would seem to agree. If you examine the map, you will see two Soviet Anti-Tank units near the town of SARA, which is SE of ORSHA. Until very recently they were stoutly defending ORSHA itself, but Trout probably wants to get them out of there while the getting is good.

Commanding the Russians in a situation like this is very challenging, and requires a great deal of skill and finesse. The killing of a single German unit affords a great deal of pleasure to the Russians. How much more satisfying then to be able to go over to the offensive, even if its only in a secondary area of operations (see below). General Keating has only eliminated an inadequate 64 Russian units so far, allowing Trout to play the numbers game at KINO. Most of the Russian units there are pretty wretched, but there’s still enough of them, in terrain where movement and supply is difficult, to give Keating some real headaches.

Further communication from Trout indicate his satisfaction with the situation in front of SMOLENSK, though he has more or less conceded both DEMIDOV and ORSHA. The ritual slaughter of Germans south of ORSHA continues, as yet another shallow bridgehead is returned whence it came, with further losses (see below). The Germans have made much use of captured French materiel since 1940. Perhaps they have mistakenly issued some of their tactical manuals as well.