Dog Fight - Ostkreig Tournament Round 2

[Ricky B]

Soviet pre game planning and analysis.

Forces available:

Western Bridgehead: 5th Mech Corps at about 80% of full strength, 321st Rifle Div at 85% of full strength (190 man bns).

German Surovikino Bridgehead: covered by the 119th Rifle Div, 90% of full strength (175 man bns).

Central Bridgehead: 1st Tank Corps (overall weak tank strength, still recovering from its beating at State Farm 79 4 days earlier), plus 2 regts of the 333rd Rifle Div at 55% full strength (160 man bn and moderate fatigue).

Eastern Bridgehead: 2 divisions of the 3rd Guards Cav Corps at 65% full strength.

Most of the Soviet forces are C quality, having developed a relatively high experience level prior to and during the Stalingrad operation. They have a large amount of supporting artillery, but ammo is in short supply, and fuel stocks are low. The supply level is fairly low at 60, using VST, resulting in intial frontline supply levels of 55 but dropping as units advance. Thus, I need to plan on fighting without all of my artillery each turn, and with many of my T34s low fuel both at the start and throughout due to the poor supply.

My initial plan is as follows:



It is a conservative plan, designed to isolate the bridgehead north of the Chir if the Germans try to hold it, drive on the key initial objective of Nizhne-Solo'skiy which could trap most of the German forces if I can achieve this.

The cavalry crossing in the east is tricky, as the Germans are just across from the crossing and can fire upon the cavalry crossing the bridge in travel mode. If Dog Soldier shifts the 11th Panzer assets to strike the cavalry it could lead to massive losses, but will relieve the pressure on the other forces.

The central bridgehead, if it can rest, will be able to rebuild some of its strength and then begin its attack, but my expectation is that the 11th Panzer, which starts out nearby, will strike it and force the units to fight for their lives there. My hope is to hold the objective while tying up the cream of the German forces as long as possible, allowing the other two attacks to succeed.

In the west, I have my most important and mobile strike force, but the 5th Mech is low fuel and fixed at the start. I hope the units can recover from low fuel quickly, but it will probably take a few turns for most to do so.

All in all, it is a simple plan that will use my initial divided but powerful forces to try and divert the German forces from using their interior lines to strike and destroy my forces in detail.

Let the battle begin, our forces are ready to continue the attack to throw the Germans out of mother Russia.

Rick