LIWo004 
|
Over the Neman Lithuania's Iron Wolves #5 |
||
|---|---|---|
| (Defender) Lithuania | vs | Germany (Attacker) |
| Formations Involved |
|---|
|
| Overall Rating, 1 vote |
|---|
|
4
|
| Scenario Rank: --- of 940 |
| Parent Game | Lithuania's Iron Wolves |
|---|---|
| Historicity | Alt-History |
| Date | 1939-03-01 |
| Start Time | 06:45 |
| Turn Count | 26 |
| Visibility | Day |
| Counters | 110 |
| Net Morale | 0 |
| Net Initiative | 1 |
| Maps | 6: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 |
| Layout Dimensions | 86 x 84 cm 34 x 33 in |
| Play Bounty | 211 |
| AAR Bounty | 171 |
| Total Plays | 1 |
| Total AARs | 1 |
| Battle Types |
|---|
| Inflict Enemy Casualties |
| River Crossing |
| Urban Assault |
| River Control |
| Conditions |
|---|
| Off-board Artillery |
| Scenario Requirements & Playability | |
|---|---|
| Deluge | Counters |
| Fire in the Steppe | Maps + Counters |
| Lithuania's Iron Wolves | Base Game |
| Introduction |
|---|
|
Memel/Klaipeda itself lay some distance up the shore of the Curonian Lagoon from the mouth of the Neman River (the Memel River to the Germans), which formed the boundary between Memel-Land and German-ruled East Prussia. The river would be the first physical barrier to the German invasion, and the Lithuanians needed to stand there for at least a while if they wished to hold the territory. |
| Conclusion |
|---|
|
The new German panzer force was not yet the powerful iron fist that would crush army after army, and the 4th Panzer Brigade was a pure tank force that would later be divided between the ad-hoc Kempf and 10th Panzer Divisions for the invasion of Poland. The Lithuanians could not keep the Germans from crossing the Neman, but they did bottle up their bridgehead and prevent a lightning advance into the interior. That stand would allow the Lithuanians to fight again. |
|
|
|---|
| AFV Rules Pertaining to this Scenario's Order of Battle |
|---|
|
| Heer |
|---|
|
| Army |
|---|
|
| 3 Errata Items | |
|---|---|
|
The reduced direct fire value of the Heer HMG became 5-5 starting with Fall of France. (plloyd1010
on 2015 Jul 31)
|
|
The morale and combat modifiers of German Sergeant #1614 should be "0", not "8". (Shad
on 2010 Dec 15)
|
|
The movement allowance on the counters in Airborne is misprinted. It should be "3." (rerathbun
on 2012 Jan 30)
|
| Over the Neman |
|---|
|
This is a German assault on a defended river, to make matters more complicated for the Germans the river is major with two heavily defended bridges, the Germans do have an engineer company to assist in the crossing. The Germans concentrated on the western bridge with one battalion assaulting the bridge, a second battalion with one engineer platoon on the left flank while the third battalion with armor support and the other two engineer platoons would try to cross on the right flank using the woods on the north side of map 3 as cover. At first the Iron Wolves used their artillery assets to interdict the German advance on the bridge which caused a number of German units to become disrupted or demoralized, this slowed the main German attack but allowed the other forces to reach the river unscathed, but as soon as the Lithuanians spotted the engineers they switched their artillery fire to those units to try and stop the Germans from crossing. This tactic worked until the Germans were able to spot the Lithuanian artillery set up in a field and started calling in their OBA to silence the enemy batteries, poor placement on the Lithuanians part but this was necessary to have their artillery provide cover for both bridges. The Germans on the right flank were slow to cross the river early on, compounded by rolling high on their crossing dice rolls, as well as the enemy artillery fire, but eventually they a got most of their units across including their armor pretty much unscathed. Instead of attacking the heavily defended town to their front, this force moved along the north side of the river to attack the other bridge from the flank and rear. It helped that the Germans eliminated two Lithuanian AT batteries which allowed the German Panzers to roam free and interdict any Lithuanian counter attacks. While this was going on the Germans in the center and on the left flank were finally able to cross the river, clearing the area of dug in Lithuanian forces to establish a good sized bridgehead. The Lithuanians fought hard but could not stop the German from winning a minor victory. |
| 0 Comments |