Really Rumbling on the Mius

[Dog Soldier]

Really Rumbling on the Mius
This AAR is an advanced tactic class for those new to the Panzer Campaigns (PzC) game system. As a tutorial, I will seek to show how to break a strong fortified position against the AI. Against a human opponent things will be very different. Playing the AI here is done to help novice and intermediate players of PzC to improve their operational sense and tactics. The Getting Started scenario in the Mius 43 demo pack went through a few changes during testing. One of the changes was to make the scenario a little easier for beginners just learning the game system. This scenario is the original Getting Started scenario which more closely aligns with the campaign game included in Mius 43.



The default optional rules are to be used in this AAR battle.

The red lines in the image above are the proposed axis of attack for the Russians in this demonstration. Time is short, only nine turns to go six km through mines, bunkers and trench lines to reach the objectives. A simple math problem of sustaining an advance of a km per turn is required for Russian success. Only two turns can be lost without a gain of at least one hex on any axis of advance. Since some minefields are 2x in strength this might require Russian units to move into mined hexes that the engineers have not yet reduced to keep on schedule. All attacks are to be primarily artillery bombardments followed by assaults. Each turn, key defended hexes will be identified. Russian attacks will be concentrated on three or four German hexes rather than spread out along the entire front. There just is not enough time to waste forces plinking away at non-critical defended hexes. Do not be distracted attacking German positions that are not slowing your advance. Screen them for later. In a longer game, the two follow up rifle divisions (271st RD & 118th RD) located deep in reserve would be used to deal with such bypassed enemy positions.
A discussion of Russian units is now required to explain why certain tactics will be used to break the strong German fortifications.

Above is a typical Russian infantry battalion values. Notice the assault value (9) is 125% greater than soft attack value (4). Direct fire attacks waste this increase in firepower. Thus Russian infantry will be under orders to forego direct fire opportunities in favor of assaults. Assault, assault and assault will be the main Russian form of attack in this scenario. All assaults are to be conducted by the maximum number of units (usually four infantry battalions in this scenario). Using less will occur as the attack penetrates deeper into the German defenses, especially if on a narrow one hex front. With the Russian infantry, the more used in an assault the better. By using many infantry units fatigue is spread out among them making the Russian infantry less brittle. The mass of infantry will give the best odds against the German companies to overwhelm them with numbers to make up for the German infantry quality advantage. The Russian infantry is mostly “D” quality while the Germans are “A” to “C” quality with “B” being the majority. Direct fire by the infantry will be used only as a last resort to disrupt key German defenders.

Soviet engineer units come in two flavors. The first (on the left above) is part of the organic troops of the Soviet Rifle Divisions. They have only two purposes in this demonstration. Remove mines and add to the defense of a hex when there are no more mines to be removed. This does not mean one should try to remove all the mines in the scenario. A Russian player must determine when the time is right to stop removing mines and send these troops forward to hold hexes freeing the infantry to continue the advance. Remember that even if a minefield is not cleared, it is penetrated when a unit enters it. Thus the minefield will not block supply any longer. An engineer who is in a minefield at the start of a turn will allow friendly units to move through the minefield without an attack from the mines if the unit moving is in travel mode. This simulates having restrictive but clear lanes through the minefield. There may not be much opportunity to use this type of movement in this scenario, but it should be remembered if the opportunity is presented.
The engineer unit on the right can also clear mines. They are attached to the 28th army, Southern Front and Fifth Shock Army. The last has no HQ in the scenario. This makes it more susceptible to disruption and should be considered when using this one unit. The secret (well no more a secret if you are reading this) weapon of these engineers is their assault value combined with their mine clearing capability. At 16 this assault value is one of the best in the Russian arsenal. A stack of two or three of these engineers will be like a plow pushing through the German defenders. These units can move into a minefield automatically reducing it by one factor the next turn, then, if needed, they can assault out of the mines and take a German hex leaving the final clearing of the mines to the formerly discussed divisional engineers. A brutal surprise to the German defenders! A player needs to click on the menu item Engineers > Clear Mines or Rubble to remove the clear mines marker before making such an assault. This allows the unit to assault at full strength. Many novice PzC players miss this feature. Now you will not.

There are three T-34 units (one A quality and two C quality) in this scenario from the two Russian tanks tank brigades. They have excellent hard attack (H/A) values and defense values. These are your direct fire support units against stubborn German bunkers. The one KV tank unit can do the same duty. I think it is best to use that unit’s better two hex range soft attack (S/A) value (19/2) to disrupt German units for coming infantry assaults.

There are two vital motorized infantry (MI) units in the Russian army for this scenario. Their assault values are 20, the largest in the game. Quality of “B” & “C” make them even more valuable for their special task. They are to be held close to the front, but in reserve for the final assaults on a victory point (VP) objective hex. They can make mop up assaults in a pinch where absolutely necessary. I would prefer to keep such valuable units for the end game (final two or three turns). At that point the Germans defending a key hex or VP location will be weakened enough that these units can win the game with a final assault. Do not waste them in direct fire or unnecessary assaults.

Russian artillery is plentiful though not in huge quantities of other titles in PzC. Most are 122mm batteries with a single 120mm mortar and three rocket batteries that come into use later. Not all 122mm guns are equal. The divisional 122mm guns are the same values. The 7th Guards 122mm guns attached to the Southern Front HQ have more powerful values and are “C” quality making them more accurate. The rocket batteries are not very effective against bunkers. Thus they will be used in direct fire capability against the second German line of trenches and the final VP locations. The reason is the Russian artillery set up value is only 40% here. I would not move an artillery unit if I did not absolutely have to. Nine turns is too short a time to get artillery back into action with such a low set up value. The Russian rocket units are the exception as they start out requiring set up. These units will be direct firing as they will be most unlikely to get set up in time to be of much use for indirect fire.
A Russian player should concentrate their artillery fire to fatigue and disrupt German defenders directly in front of the Russian infantry about to make an assault. The only exception to this order will be German reserves spotted in “T” (travel or column) mode moving up to take defensive positions blocking the main three Russian axis of attack. Artillery can be devastating against infantry columns.

Dog Soldier

[Dog Soldier]

Turn 1


The first Russian turn is restricted by all the Russian units that are fixed at start. These units are fixed to represent the initial Russian movements at dawn which were limited to advancing a few mine clearing engineer units, covering fire by artillery for those engineers and an initial Russian assault to take a forward trench position. (The successful assault is marked by a red star in the image above.) A short artillery barrage disrupted the German recon company defending the trench. An overwhelming force of four Russian battalions (maximum stacking) from the 12th Rifle Division (RD) then made the assault across the Mius and up the hill. This is a good position for the Russians. They will be able to attack either the bunker in the woods or the village next turn from the shelter of the newly captured trenches.

Dog Soldier

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Turn 2


Turn two the Russian juggernaut begins to move forward to exert pressure on the German front lines. Engineers move forward into four more hexes to begin the dangerous work clearing more mine fields. Another artillery barrage is followed by an assault against a Infantry company to capture another trench position in the center of the line. Further Russian movements are made to Bring up more infantry and the armor to bear on the points of the German line where the next turn’s attacks will take place. It is important in PzC to not only think about this turns objectives but to also move units to prepare for next turn’s attacks. Since it is best to not use direct fire by the Russian infantry I have focused on positioning the Russian infantry of the 127th and 130th RDs to make assaults next turn. Direct fire opportunities are forfeited to try and prevent Russian infantry battalions from becoming low ammo next turn with the resulting loss in a single morale level drop. That loss of a morale level drop would be a greater loss than any small gain from using direct fire at this point in the attack.

Note the AI made a clever move to retreat the still disrupted recon company from the village between the bunkers in its first turn. This prevented the Russian forces next to the village from assaulting the recon company. Such an assault would have the Russian infantry in the village and along with the other successful assault in the center a little to the south of the village would surround the two forward bunker positions. The German infantry company that retreated from the trench south of the bunkers will maintain supply in any case for the companies in the bunkers. However, a premature loss of the village to the Russians would make the job of isolating the forward center bunkers easier.

Dog Soldier

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Turn 3


Turn three sees the Russian spear points push deeper into the German defenses in the center. The German infantry company in the south remained in its hex from turn two. It had rallied from disruption. Soviet artillery and a single infantry unit in the trench stack were able to disrupt it at the beginning turn two. Thus the Russians assaulted it again with three of the four battalions. The fourth infantry battalion stayed behind because it lacked the movement points (MP) to be added to the assault after using its direct fire capability to disrupt the German company.
Russian KV tanks got a lucky disruption result against the Germans defending the wooded bunker (12,5). Two Russian battalions made the assault into the bunker even though it was risky because one of the Russian infantry units was low ammo. This made the entire assault go in at the lower unit’s morale level of “E”. The result was the bunker was captured. However the Russian hold on this hex is tenuous as one of the battalions disrupted and the other is still low ammo making the stack all E morale. This lower morale level makes the Russian bunker occupants vulnerable to an immediate German counter attack in this turn if the AI is aggressive. A infantry battalion of the 387th RD moves into the 2x minefield just north of the newly won woods bunker. Moving into the mines was risky due to the possible disruption result. The infantry made the move in good order. This adds another unit to a possible assault next turn on the German company that just retreated from the bunker should it stay in its current position. Such an assault would free the Russians in the woods bunker for further advances removing the German ZOC on their hex. Additional Russian forces following up can then move through the woods to positions next to the 50 VP location. All this might not happen if the Russians in the minefield are disrupted or fail in their assault. One just has to plan ahead and hope their units hold out in the German turn to make the best move next turn they can. We will see.
Soviet T-34s stack into a hex in the center where they can bring direct fire onto the German forward bunkers in the German turn and the next Russian turn. The Russian engineers moved one hex south to remove the last minefield in the center section to the German line. Three more Russian engineers move forward to remove mines in (12,3) or assault the bunker hex (11,4) if the German unit there disrupts in the German half of the turn.
Additional Russian troops of the 320th RD move forward sliding past the Germans in the bunker in hex (13,8) to set up to support and reinforce the spear point battalions of the division. No sense in wasting these troops assaulting the bunker until it is isolated. Bypassing it at this time is the best move. Additional Russian troops move up to follow the spear heads pushing into contact with the second German line of defense.

Dog Soldier

[Dog Soldier]

Turn 4


The four hexes shown above are the main targets for a Russian artillery barrage which will open turn four. It is better to concentrate the artillery barrages than spread them out. These four hexes are the target hexes for attacks this turn.


The Russian command report is very good this turn. Six units rallied leaving only three disrupted. Five hexes had minefields reduced. This will help with the movement of more Russian troops forward. Only two artillery units are unavailable. A good turn can be made now with most of the Russian artillery ready to support the attack.

Three successful Russian assaults (red stars) this turn in hexes (11,9), (12,7), (13,8) & (13,7) occurred. The first assault penetrated the second German defense belt. The second hit the broken German infantry company trying to maintain contact with the forward bunkers in the center. The third took one of the forward German bunkers that were isolated now. The last assault reduced the remaining forward center bunker garrison by 170 men for a loss of 29 Russians. Russian T70 tanks and infantry of the 320th RD moved up to position themselves forward for the next turn attacks.

In the south assault engineers took the bunker holding up the 347th RD. The southern door is now been forced! This is going to be a tough haul as there are four km to go in the five remaining turns.
Three Russian assaults in the north failed to take the hexes from the Germans (yellow stars). The German defenders refused to disrupt. With time running out, the Russians had to assault. The German units took heavy losses to hold their ground. The failure to take the northern bunker in (10,2) is most worrisome. This will hold up the 387th RD. Progress towards the 150 VP location may depend on breaking the German center. The engineers who assaulted the bunker in hex (11,4) returned to clearing the mines in their hex after the assault. They caused the Germans 25 casualties to their 10. Not a great result. It does set up the next turn assaults if the Germans in the bunker (11,4) can be isolated from the south. Russian ATG are moving up to assist the engineers when the mines are gone.

Dog Soldier

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Turn 5
This is the critical turning point turn halfway through the game. It is make or break time for the Russian assault. This turn will be covered in the most detail of any turn.

The 271st RD & 118th RD released this turn. They are too far from the front to contribute much. Still the march for them to contact begins.
After the Russian artillery bombardments disrupted German infantry in hexes (11,8) & (9,11) the assaults begin. First a series of assaults are made on the defenders in the last forward village bunker (13,7) in the center to remove this log jam to the Russian advance. The 127th RD attacked with two infantry battalions from (14,6) taking 75 German prisoners. Then single battalions of the 127th attacked to mop up. First an attack from (14,6) failed. Succeeding attacks from (14,7) & (13,6) succeeded reducing the defenders to a few men in each unit. Russian ATG in (13,6) pounded the remaining defenders next. No effect due to the bunker (-20%) and town (-30%) defensive benefits equaling a fifty percent direct fire reduction. The ATGs had nowhere to go anyway this turn so it was worth a try. A battalion of the 320th Rd is called upon to clear the last German defenders attacking from (13,8). One German company falls. The other is still there with about 8 men or less left! They did not break either, so I have to order my last battalion of the 127th RD in (13,6) to finish off the stubborn defenders of the village. I am trying to avoid using the T34s to mop up here as I want them to move forward to press the Russian attacks that are falling behind the tight schedule. The village bunker finally falls as the last four Germans are cleared out. These two German companies both showing only XX men left withstood six Russian assaults until the seventh assault cleared the hex. This demonstrates how tough bunkers in urban terrain can be even when the defenders are greatly outnumbered, surrounded isolated and (probably) low ammo.
Sixty five Sturmikov ground attack planes attack the German company in the open in hex (11,5) next causing 29 casualties. Forcing the Germans back from here will help widen the gap in the center and isolate the bunker to the north in (11,4). Disrupted infantry from the 387th RD direct fired from the minefield on the defenders of (11,5). This was meant to draw off defensive fire. The hero’s of the 387th RD succeeded in a lucky disruption though! They also drew five direct fire attacks and three artillery barrages from the defenders. This will mean less defensive fire on the Russian assault to come. Two battalions of the 127th RD emerge from the woods and take the hex from the German company inflicting an additional 35 German losses. One of the assaulting Russian units disrupted.
The KV tanks with the remaining disrupted infantry leave the woods and move uphill to (11,6). These KV tanks and their escorting infantry are the first to reach a hex next to the center 50 VP location. More important is the ZOC these Russian units create to influence the retreat of the broken Germans in hex (11,7). The HQ of the 127th RD moved from the woods to occupy the bunker and rally their infantry next turn. Four direct fire attacks [DFA] are needed from hexes (12,8) [1 DFA]& (11,9) [3 DFA] to disrupt the ATG guns in the trench hex (11,8). The preparations for the big assault in the center are complete. First a battalion of the 320th RD will assault from (12,7) the broken Germans in (11,7). The broken Germans retreat to hex (11,8). Two battalions of the 320th RD are assigned to assault from (12,8) to (11,8). Defensive artillery disrupted one of the two battalions. This required a third battalion to be assigned to the assault. Weak direct fire came from the trenches in response from the defenders. 99 men & five guns were bagged for only nine men lost. Again using an additional Russian battalion in the initial assault pays off! Another assault by a single low ammo battalion (morale E) bags 42 Germans for the loss of only one man. Using weaker infantry for the follow up assaults is best when there are mixed morale units in a hex. The motorized infantry in hex (13,8) are now free to move uphill to launch assaults from (12,7). The “B” quality Guards unit leads by moving and assaulting individually first. Then the “C” quality motorized infantry from the 140th tank Brigade move uphill and take the hex. This sequence is important to take into account possible German defensive artillery that may try to break up these two final assaults. Moving and assaulting one at a time reduces the exposure to disruption. Leading with the “B” quality unit is in the hope it can clear the defenders alone possibly freeing the 140th MI to advance further. Since the 140th MI was needed to clear the hex, the risk they would disrupt doing so, was minimized by all the previous assaults.

The two T-70 tank units now backtrack and circle hex (12,8) which is stacked too much (1,558 men) to scout forward into the gap in the center. They are stopped in the first hexes west of the recently captured trench by an unseen enemy unit uphill exerting a ZOC in front of them. The Germans in the 50 VP location and / or the trench in (10,9) will need to be disrupted and pushed out to keep the attack moving. The T34 stack move up to join the KV tank and T-70 units in direct fire attacks on the Germans defending in the 50 VP location. They damage the Germans defending the hex, but do not disrupt them.

In the south the engineers continue to assault up the hill breaking the German company in their way. Infantry of the 347th RD and the rocket artillery move up to follow in the assault engineers wake.
In the north the 5th Shock Army engineers and infantry of the 387th RD conduct successive assaults to finally clear the Germans from the Skelyanskiy village bunker. This attack axis is the furthest behind schedule. The engineers of the 7th Engineer Miner Brigade assault the bunker blocking them drawing defensive fire as the ATG batteries move up to assist them next turn. One engineer disrupts.

Victory point totals at the end of the Russian turn five.

Dog Soldier

[Dog Soldier]

Turn 6

Artillery concentrates on three hexes. Disrupting these hexes is key to keeping the Russian attack on schedule. Three German “?” have shown in hill 164. These are German reserves moving up to oppose the southern attack since the village of Skelyanskiy fell. The AI may not realize an equal threat is coming to the hill 164 (150 VP location) from the SE.

A lot of direct fire attacks were required to finally disrupt the German infantry holding the 50 VP location in the center which fell this turn. The 140th MI had to be called upon to advance uphill and make the assault to take the 50 VP location. One T-70 unit of the 33rd Guards assaulted the Germans as they retreated from the 50 VP location allowing the Soviets to inch one km closer to the hill 164 150 VP location.

The bunker in the extreme south was ignored as one 347th RD stack assaults to the NE to support the attack coming on the 100 VP location at Gustafel’d. This stack had enough MP to unleash a volley of direct fire on the Germans in the trench to the north. The engineers assault up the hill after receiving some direct fire help from another two battalions of the 347th RD. All these direct fire attacks were able to disrupt the German infantry unit but not the ATG unit. With time running short the assault engineers made their assault causing 30 some German casualties and destroying a couple of ATG.

Even though the undisrupted German ATG unit would lend a possible morale boost to the disrupted defending infantry, the risk had to be taken to assault. The Russians are relying on the engineers high assault value to carry the attack and take the hex. It worked this time. How many more times will the Russians have to take such chances in the coming turns?
Two hexes to go in the south to set up a last turn assault on the 100 VP location.

The scenario will be won or lost on who controls the northern and southern VP locations. Casualties cannot make enough VP at this point to ignore a VP location. This game will go down to the wire.

Dog Soldier

[Dog Soldier]

Turn 7

A “?” in the main road in the north shows additional German reserves are moving toward hill 164. The artillery is becoming a bit more dispersed than I would like. This is due to some artillery units being at the end of their range and a lack of spotters for any one single hex. Rather than split up my divisions to allow for more artillery fire (spotters of different organizations) on a single hex. I tend to try to keep the divisions together. The benefits of being close to the HQ and other friendly units of the same division outweigh the temporary benefits of being able to bring several long range artillery units to bear on a single hex or two from different divisions. The battlefield is closely packed anyway. With the steep hillside to climb up from the Mius River to the VP locations, LOS from any one hex can be quite limited.
Moving the artillery units forward is out of the question. The low set up value in M43 for the Russian artillery and high movement costs means it could take a minimum of four turns to move the artillery enough hexes forward to be able to reach German units moving up. In reality, the low set up percentage models well the Russians historical lack of mobile artillery to keep up with an advance.

The KV tanks have reached the top of the ridge just southeast of the 150 VP location on hill 164. During the German turn I will be able to see if any significant enemy forces are on the other side.

Successful assaults brought the Red Army closer to the 100 VP location at Gustafel’d. Repeated artillery barrages, direct fire from the T-70 tanks, and an assault by the T-34s accompanied by MI of the 33rd Guards failed to drive off the Regimental HQ of the 336th ID north of Gustafel’d. Having concentrated the 33rd Guards tank battalion in one hex should give me the power to get to the village for a last turn assault or to stop any German counter attack from the northwest. I was even able to get a stack from the 320th RD adjacent to that crucial village. With two turns left I am more confident now that Gustsafel’d will fall if the AI German player cannot reinforce the village soon.

Hill 164 is the toughest nut to still to be cracked. German defenses on the eastern slopes are still holding out. To the SE I was able to disrupt the German 294th ID unit. The smaller 336th ID unit refused to cave under pressure.

Dog Soldier

[Ricky B]

Great write up DS, keep it coming.

Rick

[Mr Grumpy]

Great write up DS, keep it coming.

Rick

....and me, a lot of detail in there.......

[The SNAFU]

Hi DS,

Did I understand it correctly that you were able to mount successful assaults againt isolated but not disrupted Germans in bunkers? If so and the engineers made that much of a different this AAR will definetly represent a learning tool for me.

I'm currently playing someone in the 2nd Battle of Kharkov (K42) and dropped a nice surprise on him early in the game. I lured 23rd Panzer into a trap cutting off about 3/4 of the division along with several units from 44th ID. I destroyed a lot of tanks but unfortuately several of the cut off Germans panzers troops were able to join others in the pocket who were occupying bunkers. Though totally surrounded for more than 2 days without an HQ, several of these units withstood massive artillery and direct fire and would not disrupt. I then tried to assault them hoping to at least disrupt them that way but to no avail. After almost 3 full days I had to voluntarily allow them out of the bag as the pressure from their comrades outside the pocket became too much to bear any longer.

Maybe if I had engineers involved in a few of my assaults I could have cracked the units and finished them off?

[Dog Soldier]

In this game I used two or more engineer units together as teams. They pack a much bigger punch than used individually. I even added in some rifle BNs from a division when I needed them to add bulk to an assault by the engineers. Just be sure to watch your organization. All units in the assault must come from the same org (tree) or there will be a coordination penalty that is pretty stiff. Read the rules on assaults to figure this part out.

Go back to the first post in this thread and read again my analysis of the units. Not all game titles or mods use the the same unit values. Be sure you know what you are working with. In M43 these particular Russian engineers are assault engineers (known by their high assault factor). Some engineer units in some game titles are just mine lying /lifting, bridge etc special duty troops whose assault factor is very low. That is because these special troops were not meant to be shock troops.

Always when looking over your forces at start and as they come in as reinforcements, check the numbers for H/A, S/A, and assault.

As an illustration of this point, if a unit has an assault value of 23 but a S/A value of 12, why ever fire the unit in direct fire or place it where it will use defensive fire? With a nearly double assault value over the S/A value in this extreme example this unit is an assault tool. Use it to take ground either on attack or in counter attack to plug a hole. Do not waste it in direct or defensive fire where it will could go low ammo. A low ammo result affects that beautiful assault value by reducing it 50%!.

In SNAFU's example above, it will take the full stacking limit in each assault to have any effect on the defenders. If the defenders were A quality in the bunker, isolation and hopefully low ammo from defensive fire, will drop them to C morale. That still gives them an advantage until you can fatigue them to yellow (+100) fatigue points. Remember, that defenders all assume the morale of the best unit in the hex against assault. Thus it may be impossible to get a quality edge until the defenders lose an assault. Use maximum stacking limits, (as close as you can get) while keeping all those assaulting units the same morale level. This is crucial. Attackers in assault take on the morale for all units equal to the lowest assaulting unit. One E morale can spoil a stack of C or D morale units in an assault attack.

This assume PzC stock unit values. In K42, I have no idea how one would reduce those bunkers the German 6th Army starts in with the poor H/A values of the Russian infantry and artillery in VM _alt versions. There must be something else the Russians can use to root the Germans out of those bunkers in that case.

Dog Soldier

[Dog Soldier]

Turn 8


The Russian command report shows I am in great shape for the last two turns. I even had three artillery units set up from the reinforcements that arrived on turn two! Full speed ahead!

The mixed unit defense of the trench SE of hill 164 rallied in the German turn 7. One of the two German infantry units SE of Gustafel’d (the larger one) rallied also. These guys just will not quit. Bad news for the Germans is that the defenses on the eastern slope of hill 164 weakened in their turn with three disruptions. The German engineers of the 336th ID remained disrupted. There does not appear to be any reserves in the center; at least not in my LOS.

The 7th Guards artillery destroys the 336th ID regimental HQ with their first shot! The defense is unraveling. After a severe battering by the Russian artillery a final direct fire salvo from the rocket battery in hex (10,11) disrupts the German defenders in the stubborn trench southeast of Gustafel’d. No need to wait for these rocket batteries to set up for indirect fire. There just is not enough turns. They have to move into a direct fire position to be used at all. An assault directly on the village this turn might be possible.

Another turn of the iron men occupying the trench on the SE spur of hill 164 hold under a fury of steel and lead. This stubborn defense may save the 150 VP location on the summit of the hill. The Russian advance has been stalled here since first reaching this position with the KV tanks on turn 6. My last hope is to blast these guys off the hill in turn nine with infantry assaults, then hit the summit with a final assault by the tanks of the 140th tank brigade and the KV tanks. That is a slim hope right now.
Gustafel’d is softened up though the defenders do not disrupt. Defensive fire from the village indicates a possibility of a two company strong unit holding the village. For this reason I held back the 33rd Guards MI this turn from moving in adjacent to the village. No need to expose them to being disrupted by direct fire from the village. I have plenty of infantry from the 347th & 320th RDs to continue to soften up the German defenders there. I held back the engineers SE of the village for the same reason.

The German turn was aggressive. A unit of the 336th ID assaulted my disrupted AA units north of Gustafel’d to place ZOC on both my MI units. These Russian units will not be able to move up to their assault positions in turn nine as I had planned unless the German infantry can be pushed back. This German move is a suicidal move if the game was going to last longer than one more turn. In this case it will make my last Russian turn very tough.

On the plus side, the 336th ID unit in the hex I have called the “iron men” position disrupted. I will concentrate artillery on that position, the 336th ID units in the center and in Gustafel’d. Some German artillery lost their nerve and have limbered SW of Gustafel’d. I will ignore them unless a Russian artillery unit has no other target but them. They cannot fire in the German half of the last turn. They are no threat.

Victory points at the end of the German turn eight shows just how small a margin is the Russian minor victory.

Dog Soldier