Another Lost Victory - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

Krivoy Rog, Ukraine, 135km SW of Dnepropetrovsk [best played vs. Human]: Following the Wehrmacht's failure at Kursk, Army Group South was forced to retreat behind the Dnepr River. In autumn of the same year Marshal I. S. Konev's Second Ukrainian Front launched an offensive from its bridgeheads near Kremenchug aimed at isolating 1st Panzer Army and unhinging the German defensive position around Zaporozyhe. To do this Konev poured no less than five Soviet armies across the Dnepr and drove deep into the 1st Panzer Army's left flank. Konev's intent was to seize the key road and rail junction of Krivoy Rog thus severing the German's lines of supply and communication. Field Marshal von Manstein immediately ordered the XXXX Panzer Corps consisting of the 14th, 24th, and 3rd SS Panzer Divisions to counterattack southeast across the Fifth Guards Army's axis of advance. On the 27th of October Konev's forces advanced into the outskirts of Krivoy Rog, however, before the Soviets could consolidate their position the XXXX Panzer Corps ran headlong into the northern flank of the Soviet spearhead. Designer's notes: During the actual battle the Soviets were caught off balance and the Germans drove a deep wedge into their flank. Within 72 hours the XXXX Panzer Corps destroyed the better part of two mechanized corps and nine rifle divisions and forced Konev's armor out of the city and back about twenty miles. This scenario was designed for PBEM and with a heavy emphasis on operational maneuver.