I pulled the plug on this one midway through turn 42/16:15 with 8 turns still left to go but at that point the Soviets had grown tired of dying and the Germans tired of slaughtering them. Actually the Germans paid a very high price for holding the two bridges and it is very hard to imagine this one not ending in a draw considering the carnage.

The Soviet plan was to have the armored units of the 3rd Tank Division (entering from the east) merge with elements of the 111th Rifle Division (entering from the north) somewhere in the middle of the map and then make a decision concerning which bridge or both to attack once they linked up. This well may of worked if the German reinforcements from the 6th Panzer Division hadn't of shown up at 06:15/turn 2. Instead the Soviet tanks were intercepted by armor from the 1st Panzer Division while the horde of foot units were stopped and contained in the fields in the central-western portion of the map from the reinforcements. Like the day before the Soviets held the upper hand in the initial tank battle, this time having 3 platoons of KV-1s but the Germans had superiority in numbers and speed. It took a while but eventually all of the Soviet tanks were eliminated with the combination of crossfire, easily set-up against the T-26, T-28 and KV-1s with their deplorable movement rate of just 5, and infantry assaults.

The 111th Rifle Division held out longer but could not successfully break out from the fields in any significant number and pose a serious threat to either bridge. Soviet OBA and air-strikes did cause a lot of German casualties but German OBA available at 7x16 and 1x20 caused even more Soviet losses. Sometime after turn 20 I knew without a doubt that even a Draw was impossible for the Soviets but tried to be a good sport and continue through the motions as long as it looked like there was enough of a Soviet force left to make even a half-hearted assault. However, once all units of the 3rd Tank Division were wiped out by the eastern sector those freed-up German units came storming the 111th's eastern flank. By turn 42 all that remained of the 111th were 3 reduced INF units in poor order and a disrupted 82mm mortar with one of the reduced and demoralized INF units fleeing back up north towards the safety of a town and the remnants of the 111th were surrounded.

This scenario had it's good and bad moments but really started to lose it's spark after 20 turns. That, and the fact that it may just favor Germany a little too much kept me from rating higher than a "2". This may have been more interesting in a shared match but honestly have no desire for a replay. However, if you like gigantic battles that will consume your playing space and time; don't care about scenario balance and like to blow stuff up, a lot of stuff then by all means give it a shot. The price Germany paid for this vitory after 42 turns was:

1 Colonel, 1 Captain, 4 Lieutenants and 1 Sergeant along with 27 INF, 4 ENG, 4 HMG, 6 MTC, 1 x 75mm IG, 1 x SPW 251, 4 SdkFz 222, 4 P204f, 2 Pz35t, 4 Pz38t, 5 PzIIIF and 10 steps of PzIIIGs. Hard to believe with casualties that high that it was deemed a German win but they held on to both bridges and kept them well garrisoned despite the losses.