Operation Sea - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

Ozeireika, 40kms South West of Novorossiisk. (Best played as Allied). In the wake of Stalingrad, Soviet forces gradually pushed the Axis Armies out of the Caucasus. By February, 17th Army had been cut off from Rostov, and was digging in within the Kuban Bridgehead. Operation Sea was launched against the thinly held coastal defences on the Black Sea coast, in an effort to unhinge the frontline and destroy 17th army in concert with an offensive from the Caucasus Mountains (aptly named Operation Mountains). On 4 February, 1,427 Marines and 10 Stuart Light Tanks gained a small bridgehead at Ozereika, under covering fire from 2 Cruisers and 3 destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet. The 38th Romanian Infanteria Regiment put up a determined resistance, and the Russians suffered heavy casualties. Unfortunately for the Russians, the weather turned very grim, communications broke down, and the initial successes were not reinforced. Over the next few days German and Romanian counterattacks wiped out the Russian landings.