HPS PzC II

[USS Wyoming]

I would urge Dennis to read Panzer Operation by Erhard Raus (translated by Steven Newton.) Through this book, you get an excellent operational tutorial, although the German formations were so understrength at times that operations at the division level were actually tactical. This especially true when you consider that an armor company might only have a platoon's worth of tanks.

It was very difficult to root out the Russian defenders even after the Russian formations had become operationally ineffective. I have never been sure if the same was true of German units. It might have been once the Germans were pushed back into Germany itself because they would have been truly desperate by that time.

I do not believe that it would be historic for such ravaged formations to be able to exert any ZOC. I've read many memoirs on East front combat and units could tell when defenders were near collapse. The rate of defensive fire would be insufficient to prevent units from bypassing the defenders.

I suggest that when a unit's effectiveness has sufficiently diminished, but hasn't broken, that its ability to exert ZOC in adjacent hexes also diminishes. Perhaps it has to "pass" a ZOC check (using morale of fatigue, maybe), to see if it still can exert that control? we all know a broken unit has no ZOC, but this hybrid unit status could indicate that while it has lost its ability to exert ZOC, it still can return defensive fire and may remain a danger if left entirely bypassed. For example, a unit that occupies a road hex that has lost its ability to exert ZOC therefore allowing units to pass on either side of it, can still pose a threat to supply.