It's a typical eastern front quantity-versus-quality situation with the Soviets attacking. They have the advantage of rocket artillery and three platoons of T-34s (as reinforcements), offset by lower morale and below-average leadership.

The Germans set up in the town, with their two StuG platoons dug in on the flank to provide fire support.

The Soviets advanced behind a screen of Penal troops. The Soviet off-board artillery didn't do much to soften up the Germans, and German Opportunity Fire took out half of the Penal troops. Their sacrifice was not in vain, however, as the regular Soviets made it up to the town intact.

A good German initiative roll allowed them to whittle down the Soviets before the assaults went in. The assaults, robbed of much of their power, made no headway against the German defenders, and the Soviets suffered heavy casualties, particularly among the leaders. Two leaders deserted after rolling '12' on recovery rolls. The Soviets were left with only one leader (the Captain) at the end.

The Soviet reinforcements came in on the second turn after they begin rolling for entry, and the infantry advanced to the town while the armor engaged around the edges of the town. The T-34's scored first, taking out half a platoon of StuGs. In trying for good shots, they ventured too close to the town and two platoons were assaulted by a platoon of German infantry. (The third platoon had been disrupted by German off-board artillery and was not in the fight.) The assault cost the Germans half a platoon of infantry, but it tied up the T-34s. This allowed the StuGs to set up a crossfire and take out two platoons of Soviet tanks.

In the end, the Germans held the town while inflicting over 20 step losses (tank losses counted double) on the Soviets. The Germans only lost four steps (one tank loss and two half-platoons of infantry).

German Victory

This was an interesting scenario. The rocket artillery was less effective than I expected, between its scattering and the fact that all the targets were in town. The loss of the leaders was really hard on the Soviets. They just couldn't do anything in the assaults, or bring up their reinforcements fast enough to keep pressure on the Germans. This scenario could easily have gone the other way with some better luck on the Soviet die rolls early in the game.