Dog Fight - Ostkreig Tournament Round 2

[Dog Soldier]

German pre game plan.
At start, 04:00AM December 12, 1942

The German mission for this game will be two fold.
1. Do not allow any breakthrough by attacking Russian forces.
2. Destroy the Sulatskiy bridgehead and capture the 250 VP hex. Add as many VP as possible for destroying Russian units.
I will be evacuating the Chir bridgehead starting on the very first turn ( blue arrow). This position to me is untenable by the Axis against a competent Russian opponent. The base of the salient along the Chir river is too small (only six km). The Russians would be able to trap the Axis infantry on the north side of the Chir and add these units as casualty VP quite easily. Such a Russian move would take time and relieve pressure on the Axis forces south of the river. That would be a temporary reprieve and not last more than half the scenario, maybe only until turn ten considering the Russians start the scenario fixed. I feel I will need these infantry to protect the rear of the 11th PD as this unit attempts to drive along the southern bank of the Chir and cut off the Sulatskiy bridgehead. These infantry may even be needed to hold the north western flank of the entire Axis position. The Axis are sort on infantry.

The Axis western flank will retreat by sections. The western most area will retreat quickly as the LW troops are low quality and have little AT capability. I can not do much if RickyB decided to concentrate the T-34’s on the far end of the Axis left flank. By retreating quickly I hope to save the units from easy destruction and avoid contact with the Russian infantry which would disrupt them and make these LW units vulnerable to destruction. To stop the retreat for one unit would be a disaster. The Russians would then disrupt more units resulting in a breakthrough by the mobile forces of the 5th Mech Corps.

In the Sulatskiy bridgehead, I plan a two pronged attack as shown by the red arrows.
One prong lead by PzGr and engineers. They will drive along the Chir river to take the southern end of the engineer bridge (double headed green arrow). This will cause the Russians to abandon the bridgehead or face isolation and destruction adding to my VP total.
The second attack will aim to engage and destroy or cripple with fatigue as many of the 5th tank army or 1st Tank Corps units as I can before they reach the safety of the villages inside the Sulatskiy bridgehead. I expect the Russians to make a stand in those four village hexes which will be dug in and difficult to take if well manned.

The last sector is in the southeast. The Russian 3rd Guard Calvary Corps will be trying to force the river. I will attempt to block their advance with the forces at hand at the choke point where they will be crossing the bridge for as long as possible. I think with careful management of my forces there, I can hold the cavalry without needing more troops until very late (last four turns) of the scenario. That would be my measure of success. I thought about feigning a mistake in my defense there to allow RickyB to get across and try an early breakout. The purpose would be to lure the Soviets west into the open and them smash them against the river with the 11th PD .
I decided this will not work for two reasons.
• First. RickyB is a cautious player. He will not throw his units wildly into such a trap. They will stay close together to support each other.
• Second. I would have to disengage the 11th PD from the Sulatskiy bridgehead area. This would telegraph my intention and thus spoil the trap. The only way to disengage 11th PD and hide my intentions would be at the time when both the Axis left flank and the southeast flank were collapsing. That would be too risky for me. The 11th PD might destroy the 3rd Gds Cavalry, but find their own rear destroyed thus losing the scenario. To dilute the 11th PD to cover both the Axis left and southeast rear would not leave enough offensive power anywhere to threaten the Soviets.


I know my strategy is not novel. I do hope to execute it very well and thus force RickyB into making a mistake. The Germans can not win this scenario. They can avoiding losing it if the Russians give them a chance by making an error. I will look for such an opportunity.

Dog Soldier