The Soviets lost this in the set-up phase of the game. We always use the double blind rules with observation points. This allows for a lot of slick set up opportunities.

The Germans set up their defensive line in a kind of arc just in front of the road on the farther board. They had no one in the hills or closer to the Russian jumping off point other than one lone officer acting as an artillery observer. But that Observation Point could have seen any Germans on the hill board.

So, I set up my artillery behind the big hills, thinking that they would be help dislodge the Germans from the hill. And they might have in fact done this, but the Germans were a whole board away!

The Russians were harassed by artillery and long range fire once they got out of the hills; I took nearly 16 step losses by the end of turn 10. The Germans had taken none. I couldn't get my artillery up to the front quickly enough to make a difference, and the RKKA are too brittle to withstand all that long range fire, not to mention the threat of that German 88 mm picking off a tank every turn. I tried massing my infantry at one point in the German line, but that just meant I created a target rich environment for the defenders!

I was out-generaled before the battle even began.