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An interesting and somewhat challenging scenario for Germany -eliminate 12 enemy steps and manage to keep German losses less than 10 steps in the course of 44 turns. A draw will be very hard to come by in this one as if both players win it still counts as a Soviet victory. So the Germans have to literally "hit it and quit it" in this one. The Soviets seem to have the firepower to get the job done as both their foot and armored units slightly outnumber the Germans but overall morale is low at 7/6 and their AFVs have paper-thin armor. Also, Soviet AFV and infantry units are forbidden to occupy the same hex together.
This is a meeting engagement where both sides enter from opposite corners of the map and both have a lot of accessible limiting terrain available to them between towns, woods, fields and hills. The Soviets know their tanks will not hold up long against the superior panzers but advance ahead of the infantry and get a foothold on some hills for extra protection. The hope is that once the panzers have to get within 3 hexes to spot them that they will at least get to fire first and quickly rack up enough enemy armored step losses to put the screws on the Germans and then let the infantry finish the panzers off. That seemed simple enough in theory but the all told 7 x BT-7 and 3 x BT-5 tank units all missed after 10 shots! Of course most of the panzers kept at a far enough distance that most of the Soviet tank's firepower would be reduced as a result of firing from increased ranges. At 09:15/turn 6, the panzers retaliate with stunning efficiency and by the turns end 7 steps of Soviet armor (counting double for victory purposes) have been eliminated in one deadly swipe, instantly meeting the German victory requirements. German foot units were kept back a distance to await the initial armored engagement and immediately began to retreat back north in the masses of woods northeast to brace for the inevitable counterattack. The panzers too would withdraw into the other woods northwest and then later link up with the others. Now there were still well over 30 turns left to go and as shocking as the intial blow was to the Soviets there was still a lot of infantry and machine-gun units left to counterattack with and plenty of time. The Germans could only retreat so far and had to be careful as units could be forced to flee off the map. SSR#4 states that any units exiting the map are counted as eliminated for victory purposes.
The rest of the battle would be fought in the northern wooded areas by foot units at very close quarters. Most of the remaining Soviet tanks would be spending the battle attempting to rally. Only two Soviet tank leaders remained and both were contained within reduced and demoralized remnants of their AFVs. In the southern, smaller portion of the woods on map 6 both German HMG units did fall prey to repeated assaults along with a platoon of infantry and the Soviets did manage to clear that area and secure it. Now the entire German force was hunkered down in the larger wooded area north of the road dividing the woods. The Soviets were losing at least 2 steps to every German one but now the Germans were in a very bad spot with little room left to fall back. Soon, with close to 20 turns left to go it looked like it would only be a matter of time before the Soviets would squeeze out a victory as they only needed to cause 3 more German step losses for the win. Then at 14:45/turn 28, the Soviet Colonel gets radio message from Stavka to send reinforcemants elsewhere, right when it seemed they were on the brink of victory. This was of course due to a controversial random event and this required 6 steps of INF along with 2 steps of HMG and a leader to exit the map within 7 turns. Things go from bad to worse as soon after Soviet assaults in the woods begin fizzle out. By the time those units leave the battle the Soviets are down to just one disrupted platoon of INF left which will likely not be able to carry any further sssaults on it's own. The Soviets do still have a decent amount of on and off-board artillery left but by now all German foot units have retreated out of range or spotting distance so that only armored units can be targeted. It looks hopeless until some of the recently rallied, reduced BT-5 units make a last dash for glory at the panzers. A triple stack of panzers lurking in the woods gets to fire first but all six shots incredibly miss the punchbuggies and even more incredibly a lowly BT-5 takes out a step of PzIIIGs! Now at 16:45/turn 36 there is a sliver of hope as the Soviets only need to inflict one more step loss for the win with 8 turns left to go. 2 reduced BT-7 units have also rallied by this but that is it for Soviet armor as the panzers wipe them all out by 17:15/turn 38 and then at 17:30, the next turn, the last Soviet INF unit is eliminated. This leaves the Soviets just a few KMS prime movers along with a reduced and demoralized FAI armored car unit left plus a few mortars and artillery pieces to attempt to hold out with. The Germans tempt fate and go on the attack again not risking too much. The Soviets have leaders left and they try to wiggle them through the lines to spot for bombardment, most are captured. A M2 result was close on some infantry units but a mere disruption was all that managed and the battle fades out with a German victory. Interestingly enough, very close to the end at 18:00/turn 41 the Germans got a random event for a change in orders to withdraw their entire force! However there were fewer than 6 turns left to go then so it was cancelled out. Even then, that would of been to the German's favor anyway but it was kind of ironic.
So looking back it's hard to tell if the change in orders/send reinforcemants elsewhere random event really decided this one, perhaps if it didn't occur then maybe the Soviets could of pulled this one off. But even at the time it occured almost every remaining foot unit was either reduced, disrupted or demoralized. Perhaps they could of rallied for one more desperate assault. In most plays the Soviets will probably win this one. I probably shouldn't of sent all of the Soviet tanks out immediately "head on" and kept half of them held back; attempted some crossfire opportunites and created more of a trap for the Germans to fall into: let the foot units dig-in around the artillery on the hill; utilized the town on the southern portion of map 4. There are a lot of different ways for the Soviets to go about this one and very few for the Germans with the VCs. One thing for certain is that I got a good solo play of this one and believe that it would of been just as good whether random events were used or not. Maybe not a perfectly balanced scenario but I still give it a "4".
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EFDx030 
