Panzer Grenadier Battles on March 28th:
Spearhead Division #15 - Dillenberg
Too cold to fight
Author campsawyer
Method Solo
Victor Soviet Union
Play Date 2012-03-31
Language English
Scenario WoaP004

On the march to Leningrad, the Soviet winter was a shock to the Germans like elsewhere on the Eastern Front. This scenario gives a good flavor of how the Blitzkrieg meet the winter. The Germans need to drive across the boards and keep the roads open, will the Soviets must stop them, but this time the Soviets have the numbers and the winter as allies. The Germans have a good force to face the Germans with plenty of leaders and tanks, plus a good lot of OBA. The Soviets have the setup and the numbers, but lower morale and less quality of leaders.

The Soviets setup to block the road on board 18. All of the Soviets begin in the woods and towns as well as dug in on the road. This should give enough time for the large reinforcements to get on board and get in position to counter attack. The German position a small force to move up the west side along the trail. This should give a force to satisfy the unit to get off board, while the bulk of the Germans will force themselves down the road. With the cold and snow it will make movement slow so the fighting must be quick and decisive for the Germans.

The German advance starts slowly with the the units moving onboard and keeping together to keep command, but immediately run into Soviet mortars and OBA that is on target. Several German INF's disrupt and demoralize. Forcing the road on board 18 will be harder than they thought. Soon they are in the woods around the towns, but Soviet defenders are dugin and tough to break out. Several strong attacks yield little results for the Germans. They need to resort to assaults that kill the Soviet INF's. But still hidden AT guns give the Germans a scare, but OBA disrupts the guns so the German INF's could close. But the assaults yield morale checks that keep the Germans locked in combat. The Soviet reinforcements slowly advance but the KV-1's and T60's move down the road to help the roadblock forces. The German tanks are forced to deal with the monsters, but keep there distance and look for cross fire.

German infantry struggle with Soviet OP fire results and are forced to take time to recover. This allows the Soviets to push more reinforcements down the road and establish more roadblocks on board 45. This means more levels of defense that the Germans need to overcome. With the cold the Germans firepower is ineffective and the Soviets take advantage by holding there ground and having the Germans assault. Each hex on board 18 is contested and it is not until turn 20 that the main force is onto board 49 and meeting the next layer of defense.

To the west, the flanking force had no resistance, except some long range OBA that scores a kill on a SPW251 with INF, but the force continue up the trail. The Soviets send a small blocking infantry force down the trail from the north. Setting up in the woods and the trail the Soviet wait for the German force. The Germans deploy for an attack but another OBA round demoralizes the Captain leading the attack, slowing the attack while the LT's pick up the slack. Soviet fire is accurate but the Germans close on the Soviet line and successfully assault with a combined INF/Armor assault. But then disaster strikes with a hidden 45mm AT firing on the German PzIIIG destroying it, then Soviet fire fire kills the German INF. Now the flanking force is leaderless, while the Captain remained demoralized.

With the main force facing a major Soviet roadblock, the flanking force leaderless and time running out try one more push. A small force will try to force there way over the ice covered swamps while the main force will try to push the road. But this fails as well, when the Soviet OBA hits the leading German Captain in the company pushing there way over the ice. The main force gets lock in assaults on the road and the Germans are stopped in the cold. A major Soviet victory.

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