MAIN EVENT VII! Ratzki vs Joonny....

[Der Kuenstler]

By the end of this minute Joonny's Northern armour force of two Stugs and a Panther have hunted comfortably into a nice overwatch position. You can see from the sight line pictured that the Panther can clearly see the ridge where Ratzki's men are coming as well as where his T34's are due to crest. These AFVs can also clearly see the dirt road that the Russian jeeps and towed guns are traveling on.



But on the south side above the seawall, Joonny has neglected his men - he keeps them running the entire second minute. Now all of them are tired and could soon be pushed to exhaustion, making them almost worthless until they've rested....



Ratzki's ISU-152 is in trouble already. Its conscript crew is moving on "fast" over wet ground for one thing. I'm surprised they made it out of the brush patch without bogging, but now they've come broadside to Joonny's Southern armour force up on the seawall. The conscripts have no clue how to react quickly to the threat - it's too bad - that 152mm gun fires HE shells with a 303 blast rating and will be missed.



Ratzki brings his T34/85s to a halt just below the center ridge overlooking the seatown. His riders disembark and start running over the rough ground nearby. They are already coming under scattered MG fire from the German AFVs on overwatch and are getting pinned down.



Ratzki plays it safe and halts his jeeps and towed guns before they can crest the hill. He saved them from the German threat beyond, but now what are they going to do? Decisions, decisions....



And now a little commentary sent in by Ratzki:

"I see that he has placed some tanks up on the ridge. He will have to move along it in order to get a shot at my t-14's. This should give me a couple shots at the sides of whatever it is that is up there. I do not plan on staying here behind this hill too long though, but I at a litle loos as to what to do next. I can sit and wait for the flank shots or I can start the treck around the hill or over it and into the town. Now town and tanks never really work well together but I mighht be forced into doing so as I don't know how many tanks he has up on that ridge. The good news is that once I figure out what to do I will be able to effectively remove them from the game by giving them nothing to shoot at.
I also see 1 tank comming down the road and another couple on the crest of the hill near Jonny's setup zone. I am thinking that he has gone a little armor crazy during the purchase turn. This is great news as I have a company of infantry heading to the Flag in the trees and two companies making their way to the town. Armor heavy means infantry light, or al least poor quality infantry. I want to get those two guns set up in town for a good flank shot asap while I have the chance, so they might have to run the gaunlet a little to get into position.
My SU 152 is in a little peril at the moment, being Green made him get off the start a little late now he may pay the price as there are a couple tanks with LOS ranging him in. I have movement orders in but he is moving a little slow.
All in all, my plan is to get into town with my infantry and wait for Fritz to come in and have to dig me out."

Good plan, except Fritz is running to town while Ivan is walking....