An interesting scenario with both sides having equally appalling morale ratings. From the start I really thought this one could go either way. My Soviet strategy was to send some of the units out away from the eastern forests to try to get a foothold in the town before it became swarmed and infested by German troops from the 221st Security Division. Initially I thought that may had been a mistake and early on, the Soviets took two INF step losses at 07:45/turn 4. Not the best way to start out. However, a Soviet Captain and 2 INF did manage to gain control of one of the town hexes before the rest of them became German occupied. In the end this one town hex would continue to resist German assaults; constantly being rallied and reinforced.

It seemed that despite the low German morale and despairing mix of leaders (none of them possessing any morale modifiers) that the town could be easily held and that forcing the Soviets to attack would work in Germany's favor. After all, they were already 2 step losses ahead for victory conditions and all they had to do was wait it out and surely the one Soviet town hex would eventually give under pressure. Well, initially the German urban assault did get some results but no matter what, they could not drive the reds out! By 09:15/turn 10, both sides had inflicted equal amounts of step losses and the battle had reached a stalemate. Also, around this time, almost all other Soviet units had transfered from the eastern forests to the southern wooded area below the town, proceeding with caution but waiting for the right moments of opportunity. Every time Soviet units took step losses or failed morale checks in the one town hex they controlled another Soviet INF was able to slip in and reinforce it.

The turning point came during one German assault attempt that totally backfired leaving the attackers with one demoralized INF and two disrupted ones in the hex. Then, at 11:30/turn 19, the Soviets get the initiative and counterattack inflicting 3 German INF step losses in the town hex, tipping the scales in their favor. From then on, being ahead by 4 step losses the Soviets took more risks and all of their gambles paid off. Now the Germans were the ones on the defense and their morale in every way continued to break. Soon demoralized German units were literally fleeing the town in every possible direction and by the battle's end only the German Major and two units were left in the far western area of the town contemplating their doom. So at 13:45/turn 28 it was a clear and decisive Soviet victory with losses at:

I had no idea starting out that this battle would end up turning into one long and bitter urban assault. I did not originally intend to commit all the Soviet units to attempt to take the town or even go on the offensive but slowly and with less and less abandon that's what resulted. The Soviets did have a few good leaders, especially the Colonel with a 10-1-1 rating and that must of helped a lot. I don't know what went wrong with the German security forces, it seemed that in the beginning they had everything in order but they could not get any further than the town or keep it under control. I imagine in a lot of plays that most of the fighting takes place in the wooded areas and that the Soviets stay on the defensive but in this case they rolled on in to town and sent the hun packing.