Crossroads to Moscow - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

Shelkovka, 80km W of Moscow: [Best played as Axis] One of the critical locations in the fighting for Moscow was in Fourth Panzer Army's area of responsibility at Shelkovka, west of the Russian capitol. This was the crossroads of the north-south highway from Kalinin to Tula and Stalin's modern east-west motor highway and the Smolensk-Moscow railway. On November 2nd volunteers of the German "French Legion", attached to 7th Infantry Division, were moving into covering positions to complete the relief of the 10th Panzer Division. Suddenly, before the rest of the division could arrive, white camouflaged troops from the Soviet 82nd Mechanized Division supported by armor from the 20th Tank Brigade launched a well-planned attack from the surrounding woods. The battle for the vital crossroad quickly turned into a close range-slugging match as the Axis infantry and anti-tank guns fought desperately to hold their ground until reinforcements from the 10th Panzer could arrive.