One of the things that appeals to me with PG is the way that a few random rolls of the dice can do anything from skew historic results to completely rewriting history. The case in this scenario was certainly the latter.

The German patrol had planned to slip around the north side of the town and then divide up. One section, reinforced with HMG's and a 37MM would keep the defenders busy while the other one entered the town. After all, since the beginning of the Russian Campaign eight days ago, the Soviets' performance had been, at best, atrocious. What could possibly go wrong with elements of an elite German outfit going on a patrol against them in broad daylight?

The Germans found out in short order. The Soviet HMG was just effective enough to disrupt approaching enemy units and throw off their timetable. The Soviets also kept reinforcing the town at an alarming rate. Then came the coup de grace: the German HMGs, still loaded on their wagons and contemptious of the Soviet forces, ventured too near the Russian forward position. Intense Soviet opfire eliminated the wagons and with them two steps of German MG's. The final kick in the teeth came a few minutes later when yet another platoon of Soviet INF further reinforced the town.

The German patrol turned back. They had learned a few things the hard way: There were Russians in the town, about twice as many as when the patrol first set out. They could also report back that the intensive on-the-job training that the Soviet soldiers had had in the last week was beginning to pay off; they were learning how to shoot.