Before I start a scenario, I like to have a look at the historic outcome of an action. It gives me something to set a goal by: I want to see if I can find a way to possibly change a little history. I read this time how on the day of battle, the freshly-formed SS battalion lacked cohesion as a fighting force.

I thought I’d try adding a little unity of command to see if I could slow down the Soviet attack. I put the German HMG in the northernmost area of the big woods on Map 6, with a halftrack in support. The rest of the SS forces were formed up in and behind the woods, to be used in a flying defense where needed. The INF would be the final reserve.

The Soviet set-up and tactics were a lot more basic: come in on the northeast corner of Map 6 and roll over anything that tried to stand in its way. Given their overwhelming numbers, this was already an easy task. Add in the fact that the Germans had no OBA and only three leaders (8-0-0, 7-0-0, and 6-0-0) and you had the makings of a German disaster from the git-go.

The first target for the Soviets was the HMG platoon. To their credit the German HMG’s stood up to preparatory Soviet OBA. As the Soviets crossed the road, they managed to demoralize a Soviet platoon. However, the Soviets INF, seeing an opportunity for vengeance, stood up to point blank HMG fire and got into assault positions. The HMG platoon soon ceased to exist, its members either killed or taken prisoner.

The Germans tried to form a line in the woods with what they had to slow down the Soviets, making the Soviets come to them and inflicting point-blank opfire on them. However at the same time, Soviet AT fire eliminated the far right German halftrack unit. This kicked the door open for Soviet INF and HMG’s to rapidly flank the woods and start working their way into the rear of the German defenses.

It was time for the SS to fall back. The two hapless Krad units bought time for their comrades, standing up to repeated Soviet assaults and tying up large numbers of Soviet INF. In the end, there was nothing left of either Krad unit to withdrawl. Special posthumous commendations go to both units.

The Soviets celebrated a major victory.

I see this as a good head-to-head action for a newbie as Soviets v a more experienced player as the SS. The difference in force size would be a challenge for the skill of the German player, and vice versa.

The Germans can approach this from a passive perspective, using their mobility to delay the Soviets while avoiding engagement, or they can go gutsy and set up a defensive line on either flank of the woods and try to prevent the Russians from getting around them. My opponent went gutsy. He entrenched on either side of the woods, with a stronger right supported by a well-positioned left. I countered by coming in strong on his strong side, to include both ATGs, while a weaker force established a position in the edge of the woods north of the road. My goal was to push through his right, wheel towards the rear of his left, and encourage him to remove himself from board 6. My right flank was intended to prevent the Hail Mary play of sending a mobile force into my rear where I could not catch him. We both clearly intended to fight in the east.

On turn two everything went bad for my opponent. His dice are normally very strong, while mine tend towards below average. In fact, he won initiative every turn of the game. But what he didn’t realize is the number 107 is my lucky number. And I was running the 107th Division. Hence the dice gods blessed me. I took two shots at an SPW251, and the second shot made the miracle hit, blowing it to bits. Then I unleashed my OBA on the HMG unit in the same hex, and scored a step loss and demoralized it. Then he rolled for leader casualty on his only good officer, his Captain, and it turns out the Captain was standing next to the spot where a shell landed, and he was blown to bits. On turn three, another dose of OBA caused a compound morale failure on the same HMG, sealing it’s doom. He began withdrawing his right flank, and my ATGs reached the road. Two turns later his left flank was being threatened by the pair of guns, and it, too, began to give way.

On his right, my forces came at him strong. His opfire caused some disruptions, but nothing worse, and even my poor commissar was bored. And now I was cornering him. I caught a platoon of Grens in the woods, and demoralized them. As they ran, I kept chasing, until finally my recon unit launched a questionable assault all alone. It had the effect of pinning the Grens until I could get strong reinforcements into the assault. He tried to sneak some motorcycles through the woods, but my Sergeant was leading a cleanup force through the middle, and he saw the folly of continuing.

My heavy assault against his demoralized Grens managed to roll a 1 on the 30 column, and he passed the morale check. But then he had to make a recovery attempt. The free shot came up as a 6, and the triple step loss probably meant my highly charged units committed some horrible war crime in those woods. But the step count stood at five losses after eight turns. He had totally abandoned the left flank by then, and my ATGs were on the cusp of setting up in the southwest corner of the woods, providing a commanding sweep of the board against his mobile and lightly armored units. My opponent conceded that he would not be able to maintain a position on the board without yielding another step loss, and offered me the victory. Soviet major victory, and zero step losses for the Russians.

This scenario is a tough little nut to crack. The Germans have a mobile force capable at moving 3 to 4 times the speed of the Russian. I think a more mobile solution attempting to slow the Soviets, and then using the motorcycles to try and punch out a gun, followed by an armored charge might be able to break through the Soviet line and send one unit in the rear. The Russians are so slow they have little chance of pushing forward while eliminating an occupying unit in their rear. The challenge is making that hole. Turning this into a meeting engagement can certainly slow the Soviets enough to prevent them from clearing the board quickly, but my incredible luck on turn two caused so much damage to the Germans so early they just never could recover. If my opponent could have held the position for two more turns I suspect I would have been battling for a minor victory.