Another nail biter of a scenario that went right down to the end in desperate fight in an assault hex. And it was the wildest ending, with some deep thinking through the rules to figure it out.

The Germans set up with a strong defense in Trostyanka (the Board 01 town), with a good force deployed along the woods to delay the Russian approach with artillery then delay along the road, with a moderate force, hoping to be reinforced by withdrawing German units in a final defense of Ustyluh (Board 03 Town).

The Russians attacked on two axis: 1. an infantry force, supported by tanks, to take Trostyanka and 2. an infantry/tank force to clear the road through the center and drive on to Ustyluh.

The attack on Trostyanak failed with heavy casualties but the attack towards the woods succeeded in pushing back the German line but took high casualties to artillery. The tanks helped greatly here. The Germans fell back and tried to set up a defense to stop the Russians from controlling the road. But the Russians called off the attack on Trostyanka and shifted the armor supporting that attack, including a KV-2 platoon that managed to enter, to the attack on the road.

The Russian attack swept over the Germans and simply pushed them back into the woods and the tanks moved on to control the road on Board 6. The Russian infantry was pretty beat up and the Soviets had to take some time to rally and re-organize to further the attack. meanwhile about two companies of Germans manages to withdraw back to Ustyluh and form up to counterattack to disrupt the Russian road control. In furious three turn "men vs. tank" attack, the Germans managed to contest just one hex to have the Russians fail to meet one victory condition for a minor German win. This was very important becasue if the Soviets won, the Germans could only at best get a draw in the Battle Game.

This is the second FitS scenario in a row to go desperately down to the wire. Good stuff!

Author	J6A (Soviet Union)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	unknown
Play Date	2022-11-04
Language	English
Scenario	FitS003

Early on in Barbarossa, the Soviets had the bright idea that counterattacking was the right thing to do. Perhaps it would have been with some 1945 Guards troops, and this scenario shows why it was a terrible idea in June, 1941. I played this one over VASSAL over many months and we only got halfway before I threw in the towel as the Soviets.

I split my force into 2 strong attack forces, one heading south through the woods to force the far town and one to take the easternmost town. Most of my tank support went with the northern group. The Germans put a very strong defense in each of the towns, and a smattering of infantry in the woods between the towns. I did not get the KV-2s.

Things went badly for the Soviets from the beginning. I assembled my troops in the fields near the northern town, and sent a leader out to spot the town, where he promptly got creamed by German artillery. Seriously, what were the Soviets thinking? They were incredibly outgunned and outclassed. I gave my southern force time to get to the 2nd big batch of woods, taking some casualties from German artillery as they did. This was expected, and I knew the only way I'd prevail was from weight of numbers.

I tried bombarding the eastern town for a while, but there isn't enough Soviet artillery to be effective at this, especially with high German morale and good leaders. So, eventually it was time to advance on the town. And, as might be expected, they got shot up pretty badly. And with poor morale and poor leaders, most of the units weren't recovering from morale. I sent tanks into the town just to tie up some German troops and there weren't enough tanks to stop the Germans from continuing to bombard and shoot up the infantry trying to reinforce them.

In the center woods, things were going better, as the Soviets pushed back the Germans and eliminated a number of them, and even here it was slow going. 7/6 troops just don't do well attacking 8/7 troops. If we had continued I probably would have eventually wiped out all of the Germans in the woods, and it wouldn't not have been easy. In fact, it was a snake eyes in an assault and a 2X against my troops that finally broke my personal morale. It was clear probably by about turn 12 that the Soviets had no shot at taking either town. The Germans had too much firepower and their morale and leadership were too high.

I had a hard time rating this scenario. On play balance, it's probably a 2. Maybe a 3 with the KV-2s, and I don't see them as being enough. However, as a historical lesson on why the Soviets were so foolish to counterattack this was an interesting scenario. To see them just throwing troops at the Germans in the hope of overwhelming them and just watching more and more bodies pile up is like watching a slow motion train wreck. It's fascinating, and also a disaster.

I really don't see how the Soviets can get as far as they did historically, based on the setup for the next scenario (which I'm playing concurrently with my opponent, and also getting crushed as the Soviets). This likely isn't a scenario I'll revisit, and it was worth this one play.