Dog Fight - Ostkreig Tournament Round 2

[Dog Soldier]

German turn 10.
00:00 AM December 13, 1942
Snow Conditions
Night Visibility 1km.


Victory points after the German
turn ten.


The victory points are moving back in favor of the Russians this turn. RickyB made concentrated attacks on the 11PD armor and wiped out one company of the best PzIV and depleted another company of PzIII to just one tank. That is half my 11th Pd armor in one turn! I arranged my forces as best as possible to defend next turn, but the Russians will take the state farm 250 VP hex. It is only a matter of time.

I used direct fire attacks to reduce the Russian stacks in the Sulatskiy bridgehead. The 11th PD HQ went out of command this turn reducing the effectiveness of my attacks. As soon as the 11th PD HQ is back in command I will need to press my attacks on the Sulatskiy bridgehead to gain the 250 VP hex and offset the impending loss of the state farm.

The missing T-34 unit arrived to help the surrounded T70 and AC unit. I was able to surround them again. My infantry is disrupted there by artillery from the Sulatskiy bridgehead. Thus I can not reduce the pocket. A stalemate.
The Russian cavalry are relatively quiet. I think the rubble of the village is slowing their progress to get into position for a breakout.

Retrospective.
I made a mistake in placing my panzers in the front lines. I felt at the time I had little choice since the front was crumbling. I wanted to buy one turn to reposition some of my infantry further south. The foot troops move very slow in the hilly snow covered terrain here.
I did not think the Russian troops had recovered enough to attack the panzers directly. I thought the Russians would need one turn to work around the panzers. Instead RickyB hit my panzers directly and removed half my armored force.

With hindsight is easy to ask why take such a risk? The infantry units in the area were all disrupted at the beginning of the Russian turn due to failure to rally. This makes them very vulnerable to be overrun. Once that happens, my panzers would just sit there and possibly be surrounded. Placing the panzers one hex behind the front lines might have been the wisest move. Even that kind of move would not create success. The Russians are massed at the apex of the Axis L shaped line giving the Russians interior lines while I am forced to react with exterior lines. I thought a stand at this apex might discourage the Russians to attack the panzers directly. This would cause them to change the direction of their attack and buy me some time to reorganize the defense. Unfortunately for me this did not work. C'est la guerre.

On the cavalry front, I have committed only enough troops to hold the Red cavalry divisions at bay. I realized the implications of the Russian failed assault in turn nine. There just was no one available to take advantage of the situation.

These situations resulted directly from my commitment to liquidate the Sulatskiy bridgehead. Following a different strategy earlier on, would have produced different results. Once committed to taking the 250 VP hex in the Sulatskiy bridgehead, I could not easily shift troops elsewhere.

To me, there is no doubt turn nine was the turning point in the game.

Dog Soldier