At last some good news for General Keating. VELIZH finally falls, (see below) and Keating catches some of its defenders in Clear terrain and punishes them. Trout is now compelled to retreat, not just from the immediate vicinity of VELIZH, but all along the Dvina to the NE of the town.
Further South, Keating’s push on SMOLENSK gathers pace. Russian defenders are now being caught in the clear and overrun, just the way that the Germans want to fight this campaign.
The usual push across the river at SHKLOV is repulsed, though this time Keating didn’t lose a unit, which is an improvement. For a hint as to why the bridgehead was collapsed....
Trout has concentrated large amounts of artillery to assist the defence, and gained a very handy six shifts for his counterattack.
Comrade General Trout will probably prefer to leaf through some back issues of Pravda, rather than looking closely at today’s edition. The fall of VELIZH, though inevitable, will be a black mark, one that won’t be completely erased by the destruction of yet another German unit.
If there any Party members left in Smolensk they will undoubtedly be complaining long and loud about the uncomfortable proximity of the Fascist invaders. (Your smarter apparatchiks will already have left on their study tours of manufacturing facilities newly relocated to the Urals).
For an update on the overall situation see below:
