The Christmas battle - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

[Teamgame; optimised for 6 players] Location : south of Goroditsche The first winter in Russia. With temperatures falling far below zero, the Soviets staged a series of all-out counterattacks aimed at retaking some of the lost territories while their enemies were still paralyzed by the cold! Ever since operation Barbarossa started, Italy, Germany's trusted allie, had taken part in the fighting. But now, after the hot summer months the changing weather began to have it's influence! Just like their more powerfull allies, the Italians were not prepared to face this new arctic weather! Still wearing their summer fatigues, the tanned Italian soldiers sought warmth wherever they found it. General Messe, the Corps commander, realised the sorry state his troops were in and sought to establish a defensive line and to wait for the weather to change. The portion of the line that the CSIR has to take over was luckily composed of of concrete buildings, instead of the Isbas (wooden buidlings) that they had learned to know so well. The thicker walls offered some warmth which would make up for their clothing! But from the gulf of Finland to the Azov sea, the Soviets set the front alight with massed attacks! Everywhere the German soldiers and their allies found that not only was their clothing inappropriate, but the guns and tanks failed to work because they were not intended to be used in such extreme weather conditions. The Soviets had no such problems! Their guns and tanks worked just fine and their infantry were better equipped with their winter-uniforms. So, the front was rudely awakened when the Russian bear kicked it hard! On the 24th December, as the Italians were still celebrating their Christmas dinners, hudled around a meagre campfire, the first Soviet probing atttacks began! After fending off this rather weak attacks, the Italians felt confident that even the Russian soldiers were unable to fight at -42�C. So, when one day later the real assault commenced, they were shocked beyond belief! From the area of Nikitino, the Soviet 135th Rifle Corps' troops emerged from the woods and attacked up and down the line. Wave after wave of Soviet soldiers attacked the weakly defended lines of the 3rd Celere division. And if that didn't scare them, the following cavalry and tanks surely did! Stavka had conceived the plan of breaking through the Italians' lines and attack the german 1st Panzerarmee from the rear by retaking Stalino. General Messe immediately recongnized the threat and sent out alarm calls to all directions. And even though every unit on the front was under attack and ready to fall back, 1st Panzerarmee sent all available reinforcements to the area. The first units to arrive were from the 10th Panzer Divison. But what could they do? Not only did half of their tanks failed to start, but even if they did, the small threads were not meant to drive through the soft snow. The Soviet KV's and T34's did have that problem, besides they were very confident that no Italian soldier would be able to stop them!!