Author	J6A (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Soviet Union
Participants	unknown
Play Date	2022-01-05
Language	English
Scenario	FitS002

I played this scenario against Terry Simo, who had 1 game of PG under his belt, Scenario 1 of FitS, where he outlasted my Soviets with his Germans for the win. This scenario took us about 13 months of play by e-mail over VASSAL. Sometimes it was interrupted by busy schedules, and sometimes it was just a matter of each turn using a lot of small files.

I set up the Soviets with a strong infantry force in the forward town, and all 3 entrenchments just 1-2 hexes from it. On the middle map I put a small infantry force in the north-west portion of the woods, and a larger combined infantry-AT force blocking the road, figuring they would eventually slow up his armored reinforcements. On the eastern board, I put a mixed tank and artillery force in the town, with a small force dug in on the crossroads, and more artillery and AT guns in the south woods.

Terry's attack started slowly, as he was having trouble getting across the river, although he had most of the force across by about turn 9. He opted to only do a southern crossing, with infantry coming across the bridge under the cover of smoke and machineguns and artillery peppering the entrenchments and town. After getting sufficient force built up, the town came under heavy shelling, however the troops did a remarkable job of making morale checks. There were definitely some casualties, and the Germans did not attempt a major assault on the town itself, preferring to clear out the entrenchments. These troops held on far longer than they had any right to do, making morale checks, and when demoralized, choosing not to rout out of the entrenchments. As such, the German attack really bogged down. The artillery bombardment of the town was mostly ineffective, with lots of 6s, 7s and 8s rolled.

Eventually the entrenchments fell, and the assault on the town began in earnest. Here again, despite massive casualties, the Soviets made the Germans pay for every step of ground gained in blood (not much) and time (lots of this). Seeing how long it was taking, the Germans did start diverting some infantry around the town, and it was becoming clear that time was not on the German side. The town did not get cleared until about turn 22, and it was clear that the Soviets were going to win the scenario. However, Terry wanted to use tanks and get more experience with the system. After he missed his reinforcement rolls on turns 23, 24 and 25 (a 1 in 27 shot of missing all 3), we called it.

The Germans only suffered about 6 step losses in this to something like 34 for the Soviets. Then entire force defending the forward town was wiped out. However, their sacrifice was the key to victory. Terry did say that he learned a lot about the difficulties in assaulting from the scenario. Personally, I would have closed in earlier, even though it would have meant more casualties. The Germans had a numerical advantage, so even if the Soviets could attack some stacks on columns (22 or better), the Germans had excellent leadership and good base morale, so it was going to take X results to slow them down. Given the final casualty numbers, IMO losing another 10 steps in return for getting the armored reinforcements 5 or 10 turns earlier would have been a good try.

I liked the scenario. It is definitely challenging for both sides. For the Germans, in how fast they can cross the river, and how long to wait to assault the town, and for the Soviets, who have poor troops with poor morale and have to do as much as possible to delay the Germans from taking both towns. It worked out well for me here, and could have very easily gone the other way. Definitely a scenario worth another play.