** Red Snow - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

[This scenario is intended to be played with the Blitzkrieg EFII expansion pack installed] Location : 100 km south of Schlüsselburg. With the blockade of Leningrad almost over (second battle of Lake Ladoga well underwat) the Soviet high command wanted to exploit this by attacking all along Armeegruppe Nord's front. This would tie down any reinforcements and rob the armeegruppe of the ability to move troops to the threatened sectors. The fighting did not focus entirely on the battles in the north! Further south, in the heavily wooded areas more operations were set up to penetrate deep into the german lines and block the few roads in that area. One of these missions was the blocking of the road from Mga to Josnoye, a north-south line of communication. Since the area and the absence of major roads, the use of big combat formations was unpractical for both sides, so smaller units were chosen for this operation. For the Soviets, the reinforced 112 and 42 Rifle Brigade was to make a big push west and capture the small town of Netsjepert and efectively cut the road. Since 1942, the Germans had employed the first skijäger battalions which were at first made up of the recon detachements of the present infantry divisions. In september 1943, the independent skijäger battalions were assembled into the 1. Skijäger Brigade and employed as a single fighting unit. The brigade had been in this secotr for well over 2 months and had spent it's time patrolling and making the occasional spoiling attack. But now things were about to change! In order to liberate units for the fighting in the north, the brigade had to take over a wider frontline and it's battalions were now defending lines meant for regiments! Thus when the big attack came, it could do nothing more than fight a series of delaying actions untill enough units had arrived to make a determined stand. With the Soviets now no more than 5 km from the road, the time had come to make a stand!