Dog Fight - Ostkreig Tournament Round 1

[Dog Soldier]

Russian turn 4.
12:00 PM July 9, 1941
Normal Conditions
Visibility 4km.


Victory points after the Russian turn four.

Positions end of Russian turn four


The 10th pz assaulted with armor. Disrupted Russian infantry try to maintain blocking positions. Many infantry from 10th pz seen moving up just behind the mine fields to follow the panzers. I must have hurt those engineers good. They moved off from trying to clear more mines. I will try to move my few released infantry to block a quick flanking move along the west side of the river.

The Axis 10th Mot continues to try and bridge the river in the south. The Russian AT guns were destroyed by an air attack as they fled. Released Russians move in the marshes to blocking positions.
Only need to hold out for three more turns, then my army will be released.

Retrospective....
My comments above were written at the time of the turn being played. I now can add further commentary knowing how things played out.

With the majority of the Russian army fixed, there is little I can do but stall for time. While I could pull back from the murderous fire of the 10th motorized rotating infantry battalions, having my units ZOC on the river will possibly prevent a direct assault on the Russians when the bridge is built. It will all depend on which bridge is built first there. I am putting direct fire on the middle of the three hexes where the Axis engineers are trying to bridge. Artillery in the south is attacking the same engineer unit. This will increase the fatigue and slow the bridge building. The middle hex has the best chance of building a bridge that can then be used in a direct assault across the river to dislodge my defending unit. I have rotated my defending infantry in an attempt to get more fire on the engineers and reduce the fatigue / disruption of my infantry. An added bonus is German engineers are worth more VP than the German infantry. Later I will not get any shots on them as the German infantry will be doing all the damage to my Russians.

The Russian infantry directly in the path of the Axis advance will be doomed anyway once the Germans cross the river. The idea is to delay as long as possible the bridging attempt so my other units in the south will release and have a chance to withdraw to defensible positions. Once across the river the Germans could simply pin most of the 187th RD by advancing south. The elimination of the 187RD would leave the Russian southern flank hanging in thin air. At the time I thought 10th panzer could easily push east of Mogilev along the river and surround the 172nd RD before it releases from fixed status. The Russians need the bridges south of the city more than the Germans do to evacuate the 172nd RD.

Note the Axis vehicle losses. These are all due to mines, defensive fire and assaults. Fatigue will increase as the panzers assault without infantry assistance into villages and woods hexes to root out the Russian infantry. I will try to keep my Russian infantry from being surrounded as long as I can and out of clear terrain so the panzer assaults will be less effective. This is a relative issue as the panzers are very strong and can take any hexes they want early in this game. This use of the panzers early in the game will give me some respite as the German mobility is reduced by mid day.

I think von Nev missed a good chance by withdrawing his battered 10th PD engineers from the mines. The panzers on turn five, with artillery and air support, should have been able to clear an area where the 10th PD infantry could cross the minefield in transport mode with the assitance of the good order engineer unit without loss. (The engineer unit starting the turn undisrupted clears lanes in the remaining mines for units in "T" mode to cross without losses.) They would then deploy to assist the panzers in driving to the southern bridges before the Russian units are released on the west side of the city. Hindsight is 20/20. I was lucky von Nev missed this opportunity.

Dog Soldier