The Germans stormed towards the Soviet blockade at the road, guarding the town. However, the Russian Lt. looked, on seeing the Cavalry charging towards his, line, he made his move. 'to the town,' he ordered, and his men gathered themselves and moved towards the town, at double pace.

The German commander moved towards the town, forcing the attack. The cavalry split into two prongs, while the armored cars moved as fast of the steppes as possible, attempting to cut off the Soviets before they could reached the safety of the town. the luck was with the cars, as the screeched to a halt as the Russian infantry approached. They had no chance but to go through them, and the first platoon cut down by the fire. The soviet commander ordered his MG's to setup quickly, and lay down fire, but the cavalry were only minutes behind. The Soviet commander ordered the Infantry to stand fast, but the German horses and their riders cut through the Infantry, with three different Cavalry charges, destroying the poor Soviet infantry. As the armored cars stopped the Soviets, the cavalry ran circles around them, and within ten turns, it was over for the Soviets. The Soviet commander surrendered after six hours of resistance, but finally gave up all hope.

A good scenario, with many different play outcomes. 4/5

I'm quite surprised that there haven't been any draws recorded for this one. Both sides have some challenging VCs to meet; somehow the Soviets need to prevent any German units from occupying territory north of the east-west road and the Germans need to occupy two town hexes by the end of play, most likely with their very vulnerable cavalry units. I think I was playing for a draw to begin with the Soviets as I could not fathom preventing hexes north of the road from being occupied unless the entire German force was eliminated. Instead of digging in units around the road leading into the town I chose to deploy the Soviets in the southern wooded area, spread out to pounce on either edge of the woods. A HMG unit was deployed on each flank being able to range any unit to the edge of the map. This wouldn't stop the German advance north but at least hopefully slow or pin down a few units and disrupt the rabble of cavalry.

The Germans enter the map from the southeast in one mass and send out their one reduced unit of SdKfz 222 armored cars first to distract the Soviet HMG unit on the western flank. Instead of holding back their opportunity fire for the more vulnerable cavalry units the HMG opens up and rolls "snake eyes" effectively eliminating the whole open-topped armored car unit. This was very unnerving and utterly disgraceful for the intial German advance. The cavalry split-up; half continuing to ride north around the wooded area from the east while the others trudged through the woods with the support units to engage the Soviet center. In response the Soviets break off their center positions, sending a few platoons of INF for the town and swing their west flank in driving south to take on German units in the woods. Immediately a cavalry charge is made through the woods and all the units make it into the assault. This one assault would begin as a stalemate and last the duration of the battle with both sides whittling each other down in strength but also with both sides continuing to be able to rally or reinforce units within. Meanwhile, the other cavalry detachment becomes disorganized by OBA and mortar fire while the Soviet INF units win the race to the town. Soon cavalry units become pinned down after the German Major deserts after failing to recover from demoralization. This prevents them from moving into the fields for cover and a few steps are easily picked off from indirect fire.

The German plan was to tie-up the bulk of the Soviets in the woods and for that they were successful but they never managed to break out in the end. This resulted in both sides losing equal amounts of steps. Meanwhile the remaining cavalry would wait around for an opportune moment to try to occupy the town while pelting the defenders with their OBA. This started to make for a very long, drawn-out stalemate until random events began to intervene. As luck or misfortune would have it both sides would lose their OBA support due to shell shortages while at the same time both sides would receive sporadic air-support as compensation; none of which were effective and almost always missing their targets. It would appear that both sides had blundered with their plans in both attacking and defending; both side's VCs seemed highly unattainable. However, the Germans only needed to occupy two town hexes by battle's end so the cavalry would attempt to ride the storm out until the last moment and then make a dash for it. Then, at 14:15/turn 18, the motherscratcher of all random events occured resulting in a complete Soviet withdraw of all units from the battlefield through another change in orders! Stavka's blundering would break the stalemate literally handing the town over to the Germans. Instead of just calling it quits right there the next six turns were played out in sudden death. Soviet INF left the town to attempt to engage the cavalry while units in the woods went from defending to attacking in the long and drawn-out assault. This made for a very intense final six turns and the Soviets did get the upper hand in the assault but it was all in vain at 15:30 with the conclusion of turn 23 when all Soviet units had been withdrawn. Losses were about equal. Germany lost their Major through desertion and a Lieutenant in an assault along with 9 steps of CAV and the SdKfz 222 unit; the Soviets lost their Captain along with 7 INF and 3 HMG steps.

So this makes for three EF scenarios where a Soviet change in orders random event resulted in either a partial or complete withdraw of their forces resulting in a Soviet loss; so far the Germans have been very fortunate in that regard. But I like using these random events in my solo plays. And, in this case gives this scenario a high replay value for me. While a Soviet victory seemed highly unlikely they were very close to getting a draw until they got their change in orders. It was hard to rate this one given all the random events which occured but can honestly give it a solid "3" for now until revisited. Really think this one would provide a lot more of a challenge and enjoyment in a face-to-face match, random event-free. As already mentioned in the other AAR there are many ways for either side to play this one out, attacking or defending.

A battalion of German cavalry is given the task of piercing through a Soviet infantry battalion and securing a lodgement in the town to their rear. The horsemen have the usual support weaponry and fair off board artillery support. The Soviets are helped dramatically by the fact that the bulk of the German force is cavalry with its intrinsic inability to weather direct and bombardment fire.

From the statistics on this scenario it can be seen that the Germans fare very well. The primary reason for this is the requirement that the Soviets set up in a forward position with no forces in the town at all and that the Soviet victory conditions require them to not only keep the Germans out of the town but at least 1 1/2 kilometers away from the town (south of the road). Given the early war Soviet morale of 7/6 and the German long range weaponry this can create some very difficult situations for the defenders.

I am glad to be coming back to Eastern Front after an extended time away. My tactics have improved and my patience is far greater. This is a 36 turn scenario so the Germans have plenty of time to let their support weaponry have an impact on the Soviets. The one troubling issue right off the bat, however (well there were really two) is that the Soviets can (and did) set up in the woods directly in front of the cavalry entrance. Plenty of troops remained dug in along the road in order to provide the Soviets with some depth to their position.

It was a bit of serendipity that made me find the key to the German advance. They have a small section of armored cars (a reduced 222, probably two armored cars) which has the ability to get behind the Soviets quickly. I saw an opening and within the first hour the armored car was behind the Soviet line. As the Soviets saw little benefit to abandoning their line (dug in and all) to try to chase after the armored cars, they left it there. What that did, however was force any fleeing Soviets to flee away from the town. The "5" range on the machine guns in the armored cars kept the Soviets running towards the fields.

The cavalry meanwhile, was busy defeating a company of Soviet infantry which had taken refuge in the woods and the mortar unit that accompanied them. The Soviet artillery was very effective against the cavalry causing losses and demoralizations. The high morale of the cavalrymen, however, provided the Germans with the assault capability to crush the Soviets and move through the woods. Upon losing the woods the Soviets no longer had the available force to block all avenues of advance to the Germans so they blocked the direct route to the town and let the cavalry swing around the fields (which were not yet full of demoralized Soviets. As the Soviets attempted to get into position to block the 6-7 platoons of cavalry they were hit with all the support weaponry, including the 75 infantry gun. The resulting demoralizations and the effect of the armored car near the town provided safe passage for the cavalry to move behind the Soviets and gain a strong lodgement in the town.

This was about turn 15. The remainder of the scenario was a process of Soviets trying to recover from disruption and demoralization in sufficient numbers to permit a counterattack at the town. Eventually the support weapons were able to move into the town making it nearly impossible for the Soviets to pull the draw out. I was able to devise a couple of company sized attacks which did not manage to ever keep sufficient morale between the leaders and troops to manage an assault. Overall the Soviets lost about 12 steps to the German loss of 2 steps. A sound and effective victory for the cavalry.

The scenario is not balanced but was fun to play anyway as a solitaire endevour. I would not suggest it for face to face play except as a learning experience (in particular how to use longer range weaponry to shape a battlefield). I give it a "3".