FitS013 
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Red Banners Fire in the Steppe #14 |
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| (Defender) Germany | vs | Soviet Union (Attacker) |
| Formations Involved | ||
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| Germany |  |
262nd Infantry Division |
| Soviet Union |  |
7th Mechanized Division |
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| Overall Rating, 3 votes |
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4
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| Scenario Rank: --- of 940 |
| Parent Game | Fire in the Steppe |
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| Historicity | Historical |
| Date | 1941-06-26 |
| Start Time | 06:00 |
| Turn Count | 28 |
| Visibility | Day |
| Counters | 181 |
| Net Morale | 0 |
| Net Initiative | 1 |
| Maps | 6: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| Layout Dimensions | 86 x 84 cm 34 x 33 in |
| Play Bounty | 207 |
| AAR Bounty | 171 |
| Total Plays | 2 |
| Total AARs | 1 |
| Battle Types |
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| Bridge Control |
| Inflict Enemy Casualties |
| River Crossing |
| Conditions |
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| Off-board Artillery |
| Randomly-drawn Aircraft |
| Smoke |
| Scenario Requirements & Playability | |
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| Fire in the Steppe | Base Game |
| Introduction |
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Protecting the left flank of VIII Mechanized Corps, the veteran 7th Mechanized Division jumped off its own attack across the River Styr. As the 7th Rifle Division, Col. A.V. Gerasimov's unit had participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland and then won the Order of the Red Banner in the last month of the Russo-Finnish War. It retained a high proportion of combat veterans and unlike most other Red Army divisions the 7th Mechanized went into action at full strength, though it had yet to replace any of its old light tanks with modern types. |
| Conclusion |
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In one of the few opportunities the Red Army had to meet the Germans on an even basis during the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Gerasimov's veteran division forced its way across the Styr at two points but could not widen those bridgeheads into a sustainable crossing. The 7th Mechanized Division, recruited just to the east of the battlefield, fought fanatically to drive the Hitlerite invaders out of its homeland but could not overcome the strength of the German defenses and weakness of its own armor. |
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| AFV Rules Pertaining to this Scenario's Order of Battle |
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| Heer |
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| Army (RKKA) |
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| 5 Errata Items | |
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The reduced direct fire value of the Heer HMG became 5-5 starting with Fall of France. (plloyd1010
on 2015 Jul 31)
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The morale and combat modifiers of German Sergeant #1614 should be "0", not "8". (Shad
on 2010 Dec 15)
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The movement allowance on the counters in Airborne is misprinted. It should be "3." (rerathbun
on 2012 Jan 30)
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The reduced direct fire value in Kursk: Burning Tigers is 4-4. (plloyd1010
on 2015 Jul 31)
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Kommissars never get morale or combat modifiers. Ignore misprints. (Shad
on 2010 Dec 15)
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| A Huge battle over a single Bridge | ||||||||||||||
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This is a very large battle....it took a while to complete. My opponent and I had never played anything this large and it was an incredible learning experience for us. The Scenario involves the Germans defending a Riverline (major river, soviets have no engineers) with only two bridges over that river. Soviets must capture bridges, get over with enough forces to have 10 good order units at the end of game, and keep loses down. Soviet tanks (the only tanks in game) are BT7 and not efficient---so... As the Soviet--thinking about this I took it as probably impossible to Force BOTH bridges with the units at hand...so focused the entire soviet force at rushing the Northern bridge. The Germans had set up with a killing zone in front of both Bridges---a bit back and dug in with infantry and HMG stacks. A tough nut. As the Soviet I did TOO LITTLE bombardment and then rushed my tanks over the bridge with some infantry and quickly got into Assaults on the hexes. Keeping units going over the bridges, regardless of losses...for a while my loses were horrible, and I was not killing enough Germans.... Eventually the GErmans started to take loses....I discovered that--because FOW was being used--we could end up with many units unable to recover--Also---I realized that leaving Russians and Tanks on the Dug in hexes---but not attacking --- was better then letting him get a First Fire---and I did what I needed too in keeping his HMG from killing other units as they flooded over the Bridge. Within a few turns the reinforcements from the South started heading both directly up river to support the defenders and a reinforce company went over the river to threaten my Hvy ARt in my rear area... This was a Slog---15 turns of Close combat and Assaulting back and forth, dropping 48 and 54 OBA on stacks (you have to stack to do assaults sometimes) -- dropping ARty on assault hexes---Friendly fire impacting --- tanks being taken out in Assaults...AT guns killing tanks....Air Strikes on units and assault hexes--Counter battery fire blowing up guns....units dispersed and demoralized on both sides...some hiding in DugIn foxholes--others running into rear areas---and FOW never letting them recover---or forcing recovery in foxholes....officers being overrun alone by Soviet SMG Platoons, fights in forests with infantry....gad.... Eventually as we came to Turn 23 of 28.... Germans were at 51 steps lost Russians at 59...and the Russians were about to Assault some demoralized Germans and some mortars...3 or 4 more steps...3 of 5 Dug-in positions had been taken....the Reinforcements from the south had been disrupted by Arty.... We called it with a Russian Major Victory--- >10 units (like 18 at the time, and more to rush over) and <125% Russian to German. Very instructional...the WAVES needed for a successful assault, and assuring you keep getting units into the Assault and combat, and keeping units recovering...things that need more finesse next time out.... We talked alot about the German defense options and the question of Up against the bridges, or hexes away.... as he set up, Russians could get almost no fire save HMG and Arty on the Germans...Infantry did not have the range until they came over the bridge into the killing ground... Tanks doing Close Assault (Russian tanks anyway) is bad for tanks, but does force the germans to respond and stop shooting people coming over the bridges.... Horrendous casulties...>100steps lost in 23 turns..... We had great fun. |
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| 1 Comment |
Tying up defenders in assault while other units are crossing behind is a good technique.
One option for the defender is, if he has enough troops, is to defend in depth. Troops on the bridge, adjacent to the bride, and two hexes away from it. The attacker will not be able to infiltrate - leaving an assault hex to go behind the enemy - until he has dealt with the first two lines. Units and leaders cannot leave an assault hex and immediately enter another assault hex so the defense in depth forces the attacker to first deal with the first line or two before they can think about infiltration.