Fire in the Steppe Scenario 2: Across the Bug

A rainy Saturday, wife and kids out of the house, time to break out a big battle on the table. 30 turns and tons of units.

The Situation: Dawn, June 22,1941. Kickoff of what would become WW2’s main event. The Germans will force a rover crossing with plenty of Russians waiting on the other side. The key is the town hexes; the Germans have to take all of them, and they have to clear the one just over the river before the armored reserves are released. For the Soviets, every turn they can delay the Germans brings them one step closer to victory. And if they’re lucky some armor reinforcements of their own will show up.

The setup: The Soviets have to start dispersed with at least 15 units on each board. So I do the obvious and pile infantry up front, artillery in the back, and set up the rear guard infantry at choke points and in the towns.

Recap: The German force is big, and entrenched Russians cover the bridge, so the engineers each lead a couple companies north and south of the bridge. The southern force gets across without too much trouble, getting all units across by turn 10, brushing aside the Soviets in the woods south of town, and setting up a blocking position on the main road. For the engineers to the north, this must have been their first day on the job, as it took them forever to get their force across. It did t help that the Soviets brought up a little infantry and started causing disruptions all over. By mid game the northern crossing was a complete mess.

German bad luck to the north was offset by good luck at the bridge. Here off board artillery and strong leaders cleared the trenches and moved in. It was messy, but the after a series of assaults the Germans had their town and routed a Soviet company attempting to reinforce. The Panzers hit the map on turn 16. With nearby resistance cleared and with an eye on the clock, they push forward.

Russian T-26s finally arrived on turn 20. They had just enough time to reach the crossroads on map 1 and hit the Panzers rushing up the highway coming out of the woods. The old Russian cans got the upper hand, sending the PanzerIV flying back and knocking out half the Panzer IIIs.

The Germans tried one final lunge at the town on map 1. They inflicted casualties but lacked the numbers to shove the Soviets out. In the end the Germans easily won the unit loss victory condition (57-26) but the Commies stalled them out. Soviet victory!

Analysis: A big, wild nasty Eastern Front battle. In the end the trouble at the river in the beginning cost the Germans at the end. A better crossing would probably get them over the top, but this one will never be easy.