From the Front - Bunker Assault!

[Dog Soldier]

Conclusion
The initial and secondary Soviet bunker lines in Panzer Battles: Battles of Kursk - Southern Front can be broken quickly as they were historically. The Soviets were very slow to release their reserve forces as there was disbelief at a command level (Vatutin) on the speed the Germans demolished the Soviet prepared positions. In HTH PBEM play Soviet player responses to these tactics may cause the initial break through to be delayed. No two games will be alike. Defender troop rallies, effect of attacker’s defensive fire in the defender’s turn and the differences in actual attacker’s fire results to disrupt the defenders can and will vary from the results in this HTH PBEM game example. It is this author’s belief that it is possible to achieve a similar result with no more than four or five turns.

The use of combined arms is essential to breaking the strong defensive position. Isolating the target bunkers increases the success of the assaults on the next turn. This reduces the defender’s morale rating by one, thus increasing the chance of disruption for successful assaults. In some cases, assaults can be successful even though all defenders in the bunkers are not disrupted. A judgment call is required from experience to know the defenders are fatigued and reduced enough to allow for a successful assault.

Before assaulting, open the encirclement to allow the bunker’s defenders to retreat into the open after your successful assault. These defenders can then be eliminated by the additional troops supporting the assault and artillery fire.

Be sure the attacking forces are not over stacked to avoid undue casualties, blocked lines for defensive fire and excess fatigue on over stacked units when attacked by the defenders in their turn. Isolating the area by concentrating large numbers of units to be able to defensive fire in the defender’s turn can reduce or disrupt defending units trying to reinforce the threatened sector.

Use captured fortifications (ideally bunkers or pill boxes) to shelter units whenever possible. Only remain in an open hex when absolutely necessary, particularly when adjacent to enemy forces.

After reading this tutorial, have you, dear reader, changed your opinion about bunker busting in PzB? Respond on this thread and let me know! All questions and comments are welcome. We are here to help.

Strela and I hope you are enjoying Panzer Battles: Battles of Kursk - Southern Front as much as we had fun developing it with the great Panzer Battles Development and Play Test Team. They are all outstanding gamers who are passionate about bringing this series to life!

Dog Soldier