1st Ukraine Front - Insiders look at a Play Test

[Strela]

The German defenses are a little like a coconut - hard on the outside but nice and soft on the inside. The Soviets need a sledgehammer to get through and it has just the tool in 6th Guards Tank Army.

Lets see how close to the historical result we can get. Another thing to be tested in the AAR is the victory points, are they set at the right level?

So to the Soviet first turn. The initial attacks were carried out in heavy fog, so visibility is set at 1 and no air is available. The Russian player has to move forward into the mines and obstacles to spot the Germans for his artillery.

As the Germans are all in bunkers (this is lower case -20 +5) not full bunkers, they can only be hit by artillery or tank fire. Infantry will either have to assault fresh forces or wait till the artillery etc disrupt a German unit.

The 40th Army has significant artillery support but no armor, but will have 5th Mech Corp available to support it from 10AM, as well as some 6th GTA units.

The 27th Army has 2 SU-76 regiments available to help shoot the infantry into the bunkers. They are necessary as 27th Army only has the divisions organic artillery and a few mortars. Only a few rocket units are available and they are not great against bunkers.






40th Army has fired all their artillery and got lucky and disrupted a battalion of the 198th Infantry. As the infantry has already moved to contact, there is no opportunity to assault. As the German battalion only lost 1 man, there is a very reasonable chance that it will rally in the subsequent German turn.






27th Army has got VERY lucky and managed to disrupt two companies of the 88th Infantry. With the SU-76's nearby an immediate assault is launched only with the vehicles. This is a very risky move as the SU's only have a value of 2 in assault and will be penalised for no infantry. They get lucky and the infantry subsequently follow the SU's into the hex. In 6 playthroughs this is the first time an assault has succeded on Turn 1. With only a thin company screen in this sector, the Germans have to really balance fight with flight.


German Turn 1.  The Germans essentially have to sit and take it for awhile. 34th and 198th Infantry Divisions will be fixed until 10AM. Obviously, anyone adjacent is released, but staying in the bunkers is by far the safest place. With the weight of Russian Rocket Artillery, units caught in the open are shredded in short order.

As if being assaulted out in the Russian turn was bad enough not one of the 3 disrupted German units rally. This means that the afflicted unit needs to be reinforced with a fresh unit or has to sit there and take the inevitable assault.

Only artillery will fire as any direct fire will bring the risk of return Artillery fire. This could disrupt further units in the bunker line making them vunerable to Soviet assaults in the subsequent turn.





There are a number of key positions on the road to Vinograd - this is one of them. Its a perfect place to run a Tank or Mech Corp through.The Soviets have already heavily shelled this position, but so far it is standing tight.





Unfortunately this is how it looks up in 88th Infantry's sector. A bunker lost to the left of Baran'ye Pole and a disrupted company in the bunker adjacent. This is looking very ominous for Germany. With no units rallying, Turn 2 could see a much thinner defensive line here.




At the end of the turn Soviet casualties are as you would expect from walking into minefields and being hit with everya artillery piece available. The bulk of the German casualties came from the assault up in the 88th Infantry sector.



Turn 2 to follow....