Author	plloyd1010 (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	unknown
Play Date	2022-02-11
Language	English
Scenario	FitS006

This game was played with my rewritten 4th edition rules. As always, I played for a minor victory.

The Germans begin with a formidable force, 3 panzergrenadier companies, a motor infantry company and 3 tank companies. The Soviets have a good artillery force, both on and off board. (Due to a misreading of the Soviet setup, even better than what they started with.) They are however, short on troops and leadership, are largely pedestrian, and have a lot of ground to defend.

My plan was to send 1 PG company, the motor infantry company and a panzer company against the town on board 4. The remainder of the force was to drive deep along the south edge of the map and engage the board 1 town. The board 4 town was held by a Russian rifle company. The board 1 town had another, with engineer support. Another company was on the board 5 hill, with an anti-tank gun covering the road.

Things started off reasonably well. The southern march had a minor traffic jam going around the woods. The board 4 town was approached on 2 sides. Soon Soviet artillery messed up the motor infantry company moving on the town from the north, but they kept advancing while leaving stragglers behind. German artillery took out the AT gun on board 5 allowing the mechanized force to close on the board 1 town with little trouble.

The board 4 town fell mostly to gunfire. A soviet rifle company in the north of board 4 retreated off the hill to join another in the swamps of board 5. Not wishing to expose my troops in the southern drive to artillery fire they waited as half-tracks and German artillery shot up the town. Soviet casualties mounted as I concentrated fire on town hexes exposed on 3 sides. One panzer company diverted back to engage the exposed Russian on the board 5 hill.

The Soviet company tried to get to the board 4 woods and almost made it. The Soviet lieutenant (the son of a politburo member I'm sure), cot into woods and took up a observation position. He called down artillery on the town until a couple of PzII's ran him down. The Germans fighting for the board 1 town eventually shot their way in and took 4 hexes. The remaining one was left pinned down in assault and leaderless.

The 13th Panzer reinforcements entered to make sure board 4 stayed safe as the Soviet tank force entered from the north. A tank battle erupted around the board 4 hill. The Soviet armor got the worse of it, by far. The Germans had reduced the Soviet tanks by more than half while losing 2 steps of their own. On the last turn, the Soviet armor was surrounded and about to annihilated. We never played that last turn. The Germans had killed over 50 steps to the 24 they had lost and controlled 11 of the 12 town hexes, more than securing their minor victory.