Kursk, South Flank: scenario #14: Pushing Hard

This looks interesting on paper but with 18 turns and the German Infantry on foot with a lot Hill terrain and two towns to conquer, I couldn’t just wait around for the German armor to try and out distant shoot dug-in Soviet T-34s & T-70s at range. So I pushed my German armor forward, maybe too soon but Soviets made sure to knockout the long-barreled German PzIVF2s & PzIVHs first and let the weaker German PzIIIJ come to them, as they had the Dug-in Advantage and many times they got the Cross-Fire modifier and these were Soviet Guard tanks, so they also got the Armor Efficiency and got to fire twice.

The Germans needed some Tiger Tanks to help them out but none in this scenario, as they lost all their armor, which was a first for me. Sure the Soviet lost some as well but had enough left over to assist their Infantry and other weapon units. The German Infantry had to try and take the towns and hill without armor support and only their off-map artillery. They manage to take one town hex after getting through the minefields and pushed to the second and could not take in 18 turns or any of the hills for that matter. The Soviets come away with a major Victory in this one.

The Germans made several mistakes on this one. They attacked on too broad of a front, they closed with the Soviet armor too soon and they should have hit one town at a time. Still this is a difficult scenario for them, if the Soviet setup with the correct supporting, defense positions, the Germans will have to roll well if they want to have a chance to win!

I would probably rate this scenario a 3.5 so I rounded it to 4.0.