Is the Kursk campaign viable?

[Elxaime]

A German player who knows what he is doing and concentrates on winning on points is guaranteed a major victory well before the end of the stock Kursk 43' campaign. To wit:

1. In the south, the German player ignores the historical axis of advance and VP hexes - he doesn't need them. Instead, he aims the main thrust northwest into the weak inner shoulder of the Soviet defense perimeter. Not only are there fewer Soviet units there, but many are "D" quality and fixed in place to boot;

2. The German also launches an attack across the face of the salient with his infantry. Initial placement allows him to isolate two Soviet infantry units on the first turn, and in any case you have "B" quality German units up against mostly "D" and some "E" and "C" quality Soviets - the Reds will crumble unless they commit their second line immediately. Since those are units that historically intervened to fight Army Group South and hold the shoulders, the Soviet is presented with a lose-lose proposition: either let his line across the face of the salient be destroyed, or reinforce it and deprive himself of these forces for the main battle. Usually, a reinforcing Soviet can win back the lost ground around the face of the salient, but that is cold comfort as the front collapses in the south;

3. The north is really just a sideshow - the German attack there usually ends in stalemate, but a decent attack pins the Soviets and keeps them from railing troops south;

4. Soviet forces are fixed in enough places, and release slowly enough, that even a Zhukov reborn cannot change the ultimate result. The Reds basically feed their forces in peacemeal and watch fixed units get surrounded.

The above plan, carried out competently, will put the German into major victory around turn 45, without having to capture Prokhorovka, etc. The German can then dig in if he likes in the south and halt any Soviet counterattack, although this is somewhat like a cat toying with a mortally wounded mouse and a common sense Soviet player will concede at this point.

If the German REALLY wants to be evil, he can reconnoiter and bomb several rail junctions in the middle of the salient that will basically cause Soviet rear area rail traffic to slow to a crawl. The game doesn't model rail repair, so destroying hexes with bombing of chokepoints can be a real killer. Of course, this is not really necessary for a German win.

If the Germans REALLY REALLY want to be evil, they can also abandon all their front lines outside of the main thrusts and concentrate all their forces into the north and south main fronts. There are no VP hexes or VP exit hexes behind the German lines, and all he really needs is a corridor in the north and south to maintain supply. The fixed Soviet units, mostly foot troops, won't be able to keep up and anyway the game will be over by the time they catch up. Again, not necessary for a German win, but can be used if the Soviets try to get creative.

The Soviets can usually launch an ahistoric early offensive by Bryansk Front units in the North and do some damage, but this doesn't tip the scales enough to counter the havoc the Germans are causing elsewhere.

I think the K43 stock scenario was modelled on playtesting of a German player attempting to accomplish the original attack goals. It would be interesting to see how things played out between two otherwise equal opponents using a house rule that permitted the Germans to attack only along the historic axis. But that would be like replaying Waterloo with the same predictable French series of advances - not very exciting. But I don't see how otherwise stock K43 can work.

Marquo and I tested the extreme approaches out and he made a believer out of me. A good German player playing all out to win cannot be beaten in the stock K43 scenario, IMHO. I would love to see a Soviet player step up and prove me wrong, but I would be very surprised.

Elxaime aka Tolbukhin
(can't find my Tolbukhin password so I created new handle - hehe)