Smolensk '41 artillery and its effects

[jonnymacbrown]

I guess because anything but preplanned area fire does in fact land on a specific unit. A hex 1km by 1km is a huge area and it would be most unlikely for an arty strike to hit all of it generally.

It's not that big an area, c. 1000 yards x 1000 yards within 2 hour impulses. How many rounds does a 12 gun battery fire in 2 hours? How many minutes of that 2 hours do they actually fire? How tight is the shelling? If 1000 men, or two infantry battalions were in the area they would be in some trouble. WWII tactics usually had only a few companies in such an area, one up front and another two in reserve, no? Instead we may mass practically an entire regiment in such an area, and often do. I often read here how OPS games favor the attacker. If you can mass 1000 men, 100 tanks and 8 guns in a hex without penalty then surely the rules favor the attacker. Jonny