In this scenario there are two possible ways for the Germans to attack, an immediate massive direct attack at the town engulfing three sides hopefully taking the town before reinforcements arrive or quickly capture the hills on both sides of the town, then drive past the town to capture the two closest fields and the smaller town. Once the road leading into the town was denied to the Soviets, the Germans can approach the town on all four sides. Although the Soviets did manage to meet the requirements for a marginal victory by destroying 15+ steps before the town fell. There was no way for them get near the town to stop the Germans from attaining a Major Victory. The 7 T34s, 3 T70s and 7 SMGs arrived too late, with the road closed to them with German troops established in their way. It also helped that the Soviets also anticipated a massive frontal attack.

A Soviet battalion is holding a town and expects some reinforcements. The Germans have an overwhelming force but, if they advance directly will have little cover and will have to deal with immediate opportunity fire. The Soviets set up heavily in the town and arrange their substantial AT support (5 76.2s) surrounding the town to enable crossfire.

The Germans choose to approach the town via the flanks sending strong forces to both hills surrounding the town. This permits their armor (StGs and Marders) to enter without the crossfire possibilities. The AT guns sites on the hills are disposed of over a few turns and the Soviets wait for their reinforcements.

With firm bases in place on the hills the Germans advance into the wooded area close to the town and the fields to the northwest to continue to clear out the AT guns. This is important since the hills form a platform for the German StGs and Marders to destroy the expected attacking Soviet armor.

The Germans are lucky in that it takes five turns for the Soviet reinforcements to come on board. In the meantime the German infantry has surrounded the town to the north and put in place a full picket line which the Soviets will have to disperse in order to get into the town to support the defense. at the same time, two assault groups have entered the town, one to the west and one to the east and are slowly grinding the Soviets between them.

The reinforcements move quickly and drop their riding SMGs and then move to be in position to assault. The Germans, calculating their position note that the morale of the reinforcing group is below that of the SS troops and that a single SCH platoon with a leader will attack on the 13 column (6 DF plus two shifts, 1 for leader plus one for morale) and use a portion of the picket line to attack the reinforcing armor causing some losses but more importantly disruptions and demoralizations. The StGs and Marders then have a field day picking off tanks that cannot fire back. The assaults in town continue and the reinforceing Soviet SMGs are scattered by artillery and mortar fire.

The Soviets easily meet their minor victory conditions but on the next to last turn lose their final position in the town giving the Germans a major victory. It was all about the "tactical donut" the Germans set up around the town. Much like at Alesia they had to destroy the besieged force while dispersing the reinforcements. Had the Soviets gotten their reinforcements one or two turns earlier it is hard to see how the Germans could have won.

I give this one a "3" because so much rides on the Soviet reinforcement rolls. The initial Soviet force is simply incapable of withstanding the German force arrayed against it and the reinforcements are of lower quality meaning that they have to be integrated into the defense of the town to avoid being impacted by the lower morale. If, as in this case, the Germans are able to keep the two forces separate the Soviets will almost certainly lose.

Judging from my opponent's previous tactics, I expected a head-on rush against the town, and disposed my troops to defend against that. Instead I got flanked and crushed. The arrival of reinforcements didn't even matter. The Russians conceded before those guys could get chewed up.

I've been too protective of those 76.2 mm guns, and putting them way back to the rear where they could bombard, but not be useful in an AT role, was just stupid.

Kursk, South Flank: scenario #8: Strongpoint Bol’shoe Maiachki

Needing a Kursk fix, I pulled out Kursk South Flank and picked this scenario. A bloody fight for the town on the south side on the map right where the Germans enter in bulk. Once the Germans get through the Minefields and Soviet 76.2mm and 57mm gun entrenchments they attack the smaller Soviet forces in town. It helps that the Germans have a nice dose of off board artillery and have air-support most of the time and a ton of Infantry backed by assault guns.

The Germans take control of the town hexes and the Soviet reinforcements don’t arrive until turn 13, not enough time to do much but have an armor battle shootout, which got them some points but weren’t was able to do much more but lose steps themselves.

In the end the Germans get a Major Victory controlling all the major town hexes and the Soviets get a Minor Victory for eliminating 15 German steps, in fact, right at 15 steps, even though they lost many more themselves. So I guess the two victory levels together give the Germans a Minor Victory. I think if the Soviet reinforcements can arrive earlier this scenario might be a real slugfest and maybe they might have a better chance.

In this battle, the Soviet defenders deployed reinforced company strength entrenched positions on each of the hills flanking the main town, with entrenched AT guns deployed in a ring around the town as well. The remaining forces defended in or near the town, with minefields to limit the approaches. The tanks were in reserve behind the town. The SS deployed two strong flanks to sweep the hills, the western flank being stronger, and a central pinning force to demonstrate against the town. The StuG assault guns were initially to stay out of line of fire of the Russian AT guns and be ready to deal with Soviet tanks and reinforcements.

The battle turned into three parallel, bloody brawls, centered on each hill and the town. The stronger SS left flank tried to sweep around the left hill to engage the town from the rear, but they struggled to move in the face of Soviet rocket artillery barrages. The SS assault guns pitched in early as the Soviet AT guns were silenced by airstrikes and artillery, but made little impression on the town defenders. When the Guards T-34s joined the town defense by sweeping down on the SS left, the StuGs met and defeated them.

Soviet RKKA tank reinforcements, with SMG tank riders, began moving toward the town from the north. The StuGs and a couple of platoons of SS schutzen tried to position themselves to meet the counterattack. The StuGs were wiped out while inflicting a few losses themselves, but the tank riders took heavy losses. By this point the Soviets had inflicted significant enough losses on the SS to feel assured of at least a draw, so they drove hard with their RKKA T-34s to link up with the beleaguered Guards in the town. The SS "pinning" force had, with the help of the left flank sweeping force that had finally moved up to the town, begun to clear the southwest part of the town. The threat of the RKKA tanks proved overstated, as they failed to break into the town on the German flank.

By the final hour of the battle, the SS were in control of the town but had sustained heavy losses in the process. The Soviets still controlled strong positions on each flanking hill, and in the areas north of town. While technically a draw, the SS were in a tenuous position at best.