1st Ukraine Front - Insiders look at a Play Test

[Strela]

With the 27th of January about to dawn it is worthwhile comparing our game progress vs the situation maps of the actual battle....




Zetterling has the above daily situation map. It shows that historically during the first day 27th Army made the most progress capturing Baran'ye Pole and entering Medvin. 40th Army pushed the Germans back but failed to breach the defenses. The most progress was made where 5th MC was committed but was still well short of the planned capture of Vinograd. This prompted Vaututin to commit 233rd Tank Bde in direct support of 27th Army.





Here is the situation in the game. The red line represents the front line as at midnight.

After the initial success in the first two turns, 27th Army has dropped behind the historical pace. Baran'ye Pole has held out against the Russian attacks, while 337th Rifle Division is only just starting to push towards Medvin. Both 88th Infantry's left flank and the adjacent 198th have skillfully held up the Russian infantry's advance and prevented a clean breakthrough. Most German Bn's are now reconstituted with their 3 companies.

In the 40th Army sector the Soviet forces have advanced beyond historical lines. The 5th GTC has reached the outskirts of Repki and 5th MC is almost directly south of Vinograd, albeit on the end of a tenuous line of communications. 5th MC's penetration will be almost impossible for the Germans to contain.

Overall, the first day is a reasonable approximation of what happened historically. As this is the 6th play through of this scenario, prior results can be compared. This is the 3rd time that the 5th MC has cracked the line south of Pavlovka on the 26th. Consideration may be given to converting one or two entrenchments to small bunkers on the 'corner' here to hold the Russians just a little longer. As they are not here for this play through lets see where the Russians end up by the end of tomorrow, but at first glance it may be beyond the historical 27th January lines....