Sinyavino Slugfest

By August 1942, the Soviet city of Leningrad had been under siege for eleven months. With German troops dug in to the south and the Finns to the north, the city was completely cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union. The only lifeline being the short stretch of the southern end of Lake Ladoga to the east of the pocket. In the warm months, this stretch of the lake was traversed by small boats and during the winter the frozen lake provided an open corridor for an ice road dubbed the "Road of Life." Despite these efforts to supply Leningrad, military material and food were at desperately low levels inside the pocket; with daily deaths from starvation measuring in the thousands.

        With the successful German offensives in southern Russia towards Stalingrad and the Caucasus Mountains, the Soviet high command saw an opportunity to break the German lines south of Lake Ladoga and establish a land connection to the Leningrad pocket, breaking the siege. They believed that the Germans were fully committed to that offensive and that what remained near Leningrad was a token force. It was decided that the Volkov Front's 8th Army would carry out the main operation, attacking westward through the narrowest stretch of German held territory. The first objective was the town of Sinyavino, halfway between the Volkov and Leningrad Fronts, less than five miles from either line. Supporting the 8th Army in the air was the Volkov Front's 14th Air Army along with units from the Leningrad Front and Leningrad PVO air defense force. The 8th Army launched its attack on August 27, 1942. They advanced as far as the southern outskirts of Sinyavino by September 5th, but failed to capture the town.

        Opposing the Soviet advance were the German 18th and 11th Armies of Army Group North. The Soviet estimation of weak German defenses could not have been more wrong as Army Group North was preparing for an offensive of its own. Operation Nordlicht (Northern Lights) was intended to finally capture and raze Leningrad, freeing up troops for operations in 1943. Instead of being a token force, Army Group North was at a strength unseen since the opening of Barbarossa in June 1941. The launch of Operation Nordlicht was put on hold to counter the surprise Soviet offensive. Their advance would finally be halted on September 9th and no gains were made by either side in the following ten days. Afterward, the Germans launched a counter offensive to cut off the Sinyavino salient. Bitter fighting continued until the Germans eliminated the last positions held by the Soviet 8th Army on October 15th. Supporting Army Group North in the air was Luftflotte 1. Their most notable unit being Jagdgeschwader 54 with their green hearted Bf 109's. Jg 54 would amass 471 air victories during the Sinyavino Offensive period. 

        The Sinyavino Offensive was a failure for the Soviets as Leningrad remained cut off, but it did succeed in damaging Army Group North to the point that they were incapable of mounting any further offenses. The front stabilized and Leningrad remained under siege until January, 1944.

        This FSO aims to recreate the fierce air battles during the Sinyavino Offensive. Frame one represents the full Soviet offensive of August 27th. Frame 2 represents both sides targeting troop positions on September 10. Frame 3 represents the full Axis counter offensive of September 21.

Side Split: Allies 50% / Axis 50%

Frame 1 (Volkhov Front Offensive)

First Sortie Aircraft

Aircraft After T+30

Frame 2 (Stalemate at Sinyavino)

First Sortie Aircraft

Aircraft After T+30

Frame 3 (Operation Northern Lights)

First Sortie Aircraft

Aircraft After T+30

Ordnance Restrictions:

• Yak-9T will only have the 20mm cannon available to represent the Yak-1b.
• C.205 will not have the 20mm cannons to represent the MiG-3.
• Bf109G-2 will not have 20mm gondolas for balance purposes.
• Drop tanks disabled for all planes.
• Tu-2 limited to 2x 250kg bombs to represent the Pe-2.
• IL-2 will not have 37mm cannons for balance purposes.
• Ju 87D will not have the 1800Kg bomb.
• Ju 88 will be limited to the 4x 500Kg bomb load. 

Event Rules and Clarifications

• Alt Cap is 16K for fighters, 12K for all bomb/rocket carrying aircraft. 
• Minimums, Maximums, and credible force are for the first sortie of each frame. CiC’s satisfy these requirements by assigning squads whose combined minimum commitment level meets or exceeds the stated levels.
• In Frame 2, each side must assign a credible defense force of at least 9 players.
• Bf 110 and Tu-2 must be used in the ground attack role.
• Hour 1 target areas must be bombed before T+60 and Hour 1 targets become invalid after T+60.
• Hour 2 targets are only valid for pilots launching a new sortie in Hour 2 or rearming their Hour 1 plane after T+60.
• Only aircraft with bombs enabled will score points for destroying target objects. 
• Any non-target object that is destroyed will be restored at the earliest convenience by a CM. 
• Air Spawns will be set to a 5K altitude, if used.
• Scoring values will be reduced in Hour 2 to compensate for an increased sortie rate. Aircraft on their first sortie will always score full points against enemy aircraft even after the second hour begins. A player's first sortie ends once they rearm, land, or are shot down. This is to prevent a situation where a last minute strike in Hour 1 can award full bombing points while only risking 1/4 points for a death on the way home. 
• Aircraft launched between T-30 and T+60 are scored with Hour 1 values.

Scoring

Arena Settings 

- Terrain: Russia

- Fuel Burn: 0.8 (to ensure all Soviet fighters have over an hour of endurance) 

- Icons: 3K Friendly/Enemy for aircraft.

- Ack: .3

- Fighter and Bomber warning range: 63360 (about 12 miles)

- Tower range set to 63360 (for display only to match the above setting)

- Haze/Fog: 15 miles

- Radar: Off

- Enemy collisions: on

- Friendly collisions: off

- Killshooter: off

- Time: 1100 (11AM) Game Clock

- Clouds: light5k

- Wind: 

0K-2K: No Wind

2K-12K: NW TO SE - Speed 5

12K-16K: NW TO SE  - Speed 10

16K+: 45MPH downdraft

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