After a long day's battle the exhausted German soldiers shake their heads. They have once more experienced the amazing tenacity that is developing in the Soviet Army.

The mission was simple and adequate time was given for its completion. A small INF/armor group peeled south to knock off a Soviet forward observation post while the rest of the force stayed on the road and north of it to hit the main Soviet defenses. The deployment facing them was substandard. The Soviet commander ignored the maxim that in Russia one trades space for time and solid defenses. Instead, he opted to try and defend too big an area.

The first contact was at the observation post where the Germans rolled over the Soviets in short order.

Nest came the woods north of the road. To the astonishment of the Germans, the Soviets had committed a large force of INF to meet them. The result was carnage on the Soviet side and a German dash to cross the river, arc south and attack the village. The death of the Soviet commander in the north left their OBA effectively blind.

As the Soviets saw the trouble brewing north of the village, they began to shift AT guns from the south. As they were being transported, German OBA began the astounding feat of picking off the guns and their transports with almost sniper-like accuracy. Meanwhile, the Soviet commander in the village made the decision to trade lives for time. The order was given for every soldier to stand and fight where they were, forcing the Germans to fight house-to-house.

It worked. While German losses were light, their formations were scattered and many units needed rallying before they could proceed with the attack on the woods south of town.

The Germans had plenty of might to clear out the woods. They were being held by a light and depleted force of Soviets. Many units had made a demoralized retreat from the fighting in the village and had yet to rally. It was an easy thing for the Germans to clear out the woods. However at the end of the day, there were still enough Soviet forces remaining for the Germans to claim victory.

On a personal level, I really enjoyed this action. I am quite new to PG, this being only my third completed scenario. I would STRONGLY urge any other recruits to play Spruce Grove ASAP. There are so many basics to the game that are very apparent here-- the proper use of armor and infantry in assault, the tremendous advantage of good leadership, the necessity of trading space for adequate defense are all here. Besides that, it is a fast-paced scenario with just enough challenge and counters for a raw recruit.