If this one was merely a tank battle then in time the Soviets may of prevailed but there is much more required than just winning an armored engagement here. The Soviets had to take control of at least one of the two bridges on the southern portion of the battlefield but in order to do that had to get through a mass of German foot units that chose to dig-in around each bridge area. And before they could attempt that they had to get through a sizeable amount of panzers first. The Soviets had a few platoons of SMG units and just two leaders to support a very large armored contigent and keeping those foot units intact to support an attack on either bridge area proved to be futile. The Germans recieved 3x16 increments of OBA each turn and that artillery support combined with the on-board mortar units quickly took a heavy toll on the Soviet foot units and also managed to disrupt or demoralize a few armored units as well. Rather than wait for an attack the Germans go on the offensive with panzers supported by some infantry platoons. The KV-1s become the prime targets for infantry assaults as they are the only Soviet armored units that the panzers cannot really handle on their own. Early on German OBA was able to disrupt one of the slow moving KV-1 platoons and wipe out it's supporting foot unit and it soon became isolated and chased down by German infantry. Soviet airstrikes were highly ineffective at slowing German foot units down even when they received two aircraft every four turns; in fact, by the time the battle was over all those annoying aircraft had managed to do was eliminate one demoralized German Lieutenant and cause a few failed morale checks but even then much too late to make a difference. As for the actual tank v.s. tank portion of the battle the Soviets did have the upper hand to start. The one good ordered KV-1 platoon easily picked off a few PzIIIGs that had dug-in on the north-south road while the BT-7s that had taken up defensive postions in one of the towns managed to also eliminate a few panzers. However, in time, with Soviet numbers diminishing and after all of their leaders and SMG units were eliminated more German INF units left their dug-in positions near the bridges to successfully assist the panzers at the crucial moments. Soon it became clear for the Soviets that taking either one of the bridges would be impossible. A few platoons of T-26s made it to the outer defenses of the eastern bridge but were checked there before they could press further. Even one of the German 37mm AT guns deployed on the southern bank of the river was able to get one lucky shot in with reduced firepower and extreme range; rolling the needed "12" to knock out one of the T-26 steps. Then with further OBA and infantry assaults those remaining T-26s attempting to threaten the eastern bridge were easily dispatched.

By 10:45/turn 20, there wasn't much left of the Soviets and soon it came down to the Germans chasing around one demoralized platoon of T-26s and a reduced and disrupted KV-1 platoon; all other Soviet units had been destroyed. The SSR #4 states that any units fleeing the board are eliminated and that is exactly what became of the last of the T-26s; chased off the eastern map, fleeing from where they entered and the remaining KV-1 was successfully assaulted and eliminated by German INF. So this battle ends at 12:15/turn 26. All the Soviets have left are air units but they cannot take control of either bridge let alone even take out an AT gun. I don't know what the best strategy for the Soviets to win or even get a draw in this one; the only way is to take control of either bridge and they never even really came close. I suppose they could of entered the more cautiously and further north but eventually both the panzers and German INF would catch up with them anyway. With a potential 50 turns the Soviets can take their time but most of their tanks, apart from the BT-7s, only have a move rate of 5 so they can easily be tracked down. Even then I don't know what the Soviets can do to protect their foot units or armor against German OBA. Triple stacking Soviet units was out of the question as German OBA on the 42 column was efficient enough. I suppose that someone could get a lot luckier with Soviet air-support as to what planes get drawn and actually hitting their targets. It was frustrating enough when single, lower rated aircraft like the Po-2 biplanes were drawn and even more so when more powerful aircraft like the IL-2s missed their targets. It will very interesting to see how further plays of this one turn out through future AARS, especially with potential Soviet wins. In my solo play the Germans brought the battle to the Soviets rather than sit back, yawn and wait for them to attack and that seemed to pay off. At one point I thought all of the panzers would get wiped out and all but one step of the PzIIIGs actually did. But the remaining PzIIIFs held on and even the scorned PzIIs survived this one and managed to take out one step of BT-7s at point-blank range. Not a bad scenario, it gets an average "3" but was really amazed this one was over after just 26 turns out of 50 allowed.