This is a very fun little battle between a numerically superior Soviet force against a weaker German force that happens to hold a town at the outset. Soviet forces start along the eastern edge and have as a goal to remove all German presence from the city and the east-west road. The German goal is to hold the city and/or east-west road AND remove 20 steps. The Germans have been ordered to not ask for reinforcements (3 armored units) until the Soviets are in the city. Germans have better morale and much better leadership. Both the Germans and Soviets have OBA (32 for Germany, 36 total for Soviet).

The Soviets start along the eastern border. A three-pronged attack is envisioned: A HMG-led force along the south, a mortar/Artillery force to the north and an infantry force to clear out the woods in the center.

The Soviet advance is unimpeded for about the first hour, with neither the main flaw in their plan nor the main weakness in their force exposed. At about the first hour, the units in the city spot the artillery force to the north. Unfortunately, these forces are on open ground and the OBA starts working its magic. While it doesn't immmediately reduce the units, it does disrupt their plans. The range of the soviet artillery is limited to 10, so approaching from that vantage was not the best of plans.

The Southern force has no such issues and slowly but surely moves toward the woods just outside the town with no resistance.

The central thrust is bogged down in the woods, but is slowly making progress. Time isn't an issue, so they have no reason to rush. After about 90 minutes, the units finally come in contact with the German forces in the woods. The battle rages... but the Soviets have trouble making any progress as they are unable to combine any attacks. This is a fatal flaw in their leadership and coupled with the higher morale of the Germans, the Soviets just aren't able to do any damage. But being loyal to Mother-Russia, they keep trying. They assault one of the german positions and try to feed new bodies throughout the assault. The other German position is kept busy (or so the Soviets think). They are slowly wearing the germans down (down to one reduced squad and the leader left in the assault) when the remaining german stack joins in. The result is devastating. The Germans rout the Soviet assault due in no small part to having a 2-1 Lt and a 0-2 Captain. The Soviets still outnumber the Germans in the woods, but are unable to concentrate fire and the Germans start going from stack to stack, slowly eliminating the attacking force.

As time marches on, the German OBA starts inflicting serious wounds on the northern flank. The Soviet infantry that's assisting the artillery make a break for the city and reach the outskirts, but are cut down before being able to get into the city.

With the northern force in shambles, the southern force rushes out from the woods only to meet the same fate as their comrades. Once again, the Soviets just cannot concentrate enough firepower to do any damage while the Germans can. Higher morale and better leadership once again win the day and the southern force is bloodied.

In the center, the lone stack of Germans are slowly obliterating the Soviet forces. Unit after unit falls to the German assault and eventually even the resolute Soviets realize that securing teh town and road are not possible.

Final score: German Victory (21 Soviet steps lost to 5 German and total german control of the road and town).

In conclusion, the Soviets had a bad battle plan. The artillery should have come up from the south and potentially reaching the close woods before being spotted. The northern thrust should never have been attempted (that old axiom of never advancing over open ground is once again proven true). Even so, if the Soviets had better leaders and specifically the ability to combine attacks, they could have cleand out the woods much faster. With that, they could have then advanced on the city.

But then what? If they had actually made it into the city, the Germans could have brought up armored reinforcements - reinforcements that the Soviets were ill-prepared to deal with. I have serious doubts about the ability of the Soviets to deal with them, even if their leadership is more effective.