002_XMRV_HASL_Ghosts In The Rubble - Red Victory

002_XMRV_HASL_Ghosts In The Rubble



keif149
002_XMRV_HASL A_Ghosts in the Rubble\\Notes:\Plays best with
the X Mod. Available from keif149 at the Blitz War Game Club.
Custom map by keif149\\Best played human VS human. Then as Russian
VS AI. Then as German VS AI\\The Russian attack is preceded by
a 30 minute rolling barrage.\\SPECIAL VICTORY CONDITIONS!\Victory
is based on ownership or control of the victory hexes, not by
points\Russian Major Victory 12 or more VHs\Russian Minor Victory
9-11 VHs\Draw 7-8 VHs\Russian Minor Defeat 6 VHs\Russian Major
Defeat 5 or less VHs.\\\This scenario is based on the HASL scenario.
It has not been modified for balance or checked for historical
accuracy. It was my desire to bring the scenario to the Squad
Battles format\\Briefing: SE of The Barrikady, 31 October, 1942.
The last ferry landing across The Volga was under German machinegun
fire and the Russians were barely holding their positions in
the rubble around Krasny Octyabr and the Barrikady even as the
anniversary of the October Revolution approached. Rather than
waiting passively for the final blow, the Soviet "Army Military
Council" ordered a counterattack on the exhausted enemy before
they could muster their strength. The task of widening the Soviet
"bridgehead" fell to elements of Lt. Colonel Visili Sokolov's
45th Rifle Division, recently brought across the Volga to take
positions between the two great factory complexes. After a 30
minute barrage, the assault troops were to press forward and
reach the railway line bypassing enemy strong points and small
pockets, leaving them to be mopped up by divisional reserves.
The lead troops drawn from the 253rd Rifle Regiment were exhorted
to advance "boldly and rapidly". On this All Hallows Eve, Sokolov's
men-the brick dust making them appear almost ghostly-scrambled
forward, keeping close to the rolling barrage laid down by the
big guns across the river.\\\\Aftermath: In Chuikov's view, the
counterattack was a great success. Despite horrendous casualties.
In some places the Russians advance 100 yards or more. The decimated
253rd occupied the left side of Novolselskaya for its entire
length, and gained a foothold in the western fringe of the industrial
park. Meanwhile, elements of the 39th Guards Division had simultaneously
retaken several rubbles shops in the Krasny Oktyabr factory to
the south. But more important than the ground gained was the
fact that the Russians had shown they could not only defend themselves
but indeed, even in such dire straits, successively attack in
the rubbled city. The final blow, at the end of the month of
bitter fighting in Stalingrad, had been delivered by The Red
Army, not The Wehrmacht. This was the moral victory Chuikov brought
Stalin to celebrate the Revolution during Russia's grim struggle.