Should we hold Murmansk to Viipuri Line?

[conmcb25]

Well Comrades holding open this line will not be possible if other fronts become a priority.

Should we hold the Murmansk to Viipuri Line? Or should we fall back on Archangel.

Falling back will make Tikvin hard to hold and make delivery of the Capitalist goods much longer.

Holding means we need to devote resources to this front for the Sep turn and into the future.

You decide Comrades the fate of this front commander!

[Shaka Naldur]

buying a few kv1 should be ok

[belisariu]

If Viipuri falls, the german has been acces to leningrad-archangels road, and the UK convoys cannot reach moscow or grozny, make AA,s and 1 KV1

[EZRhino]

Viipuri is a critical city and must be defended. Also unless we inted to reroute the convoys to Archangelsk, we must keep the road to Murmansk open!

[H Tower]

The line needs to be held, it would be preferable if we didn't have to expend reinforcements in the area, but that's just unreasonable. Oh, and if the new front commander fails to protect the line after receiving a KV-1 or two, we'd have our first front commander being sent to the Gulag. The road from Murmansk to Leningrad HAS TO remain open

[conmcb25]

I appreciate all your empassioned words.

But remember Comrades we can not be everywhere all at once. I agree it is very desireable to keep this line open but the Archangel fall back always remains.

And you must admit it is easier to make a bunker out of Tikvin then it is to make a bunker out of Murmansk, Kanalaksha, Kitela and Viipuri AND Tikvin.

It means more units and more resources. And if the River Don Line doesn't hold those convoys wont mean a thing...............In the long run.

Food for thought comrades!

[Case]

Comrades!
Let us abandon the northern wastes to the hated Facists and their Finnish lapdogs. As long as the White Sea remains ice free and the great port city of Archangel is safe in the hands of the people of the Soviet Union, we can still recieve all the capitalist supplies we will ever need.

Comrades, recall that the road from Murmansk south is long and all points along it are vunerable to the treacherous Finns. Any supplies sent down this road would be slow in arriving, if they arrive at all.

Instead, we should focus on a policy of sailing supplies past the loathsome north lands, and concentrate on landing them safely at the convienient and easily secured city of Archangel. While this will delay the arrival of the first Capitalist supplies, once the supply route is functioning properly there should be no noticable difference, with supplies arriving in Archangel every month.

Comrades, we have an easy choice here: let us not waste precious resources securing the worthless Kola Peninsula, but instead let us mock our enemies by making them sit in the snow while supply laden ships sail past their greedy eyes!

[Ben Kenobi]

Hold the line. From what the other posters have put, it seems valuable to sustain the convoy with the Allies.

[EZRhino]

In light of recent events, it is imperitive that we sacrafice the Kola peninsula, for now, and use these units to reinforce Leningrad.

[Ben Kenobi]

Indeed. I posted before reading the Leningrad front.

Best to protect Leningrad and retreat to Archangelsk.

[yop73]

Why not defend Murmansk. If we let that city fall into German or Finnish hands, they will build U-boats or Destroyers and kill our laden transports. This would deprive us of the safe piece of the murmansk journey. It also would provide the Germans with an airport to attack from with Stukas and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
The entire Kola peninsula can't be sacrified. We must hold Murmansk.

[Case]

I sort of agree with Yop - Murmansk is the only part of the Kola which can be held. However, doing even that can be hard work during the first year, and it's not really worth investing a lot of resourses in the place. Defending the entire penisular to keep the road open is impossible IMO and shouldn't even be considered.

[yop73]

In the light of the new events (fall of Narva and siege of Leningrad), it might be better to start a new thread, involving other strategies. I'll start one.