The Russians are, as usual, setup behind ? counters and you never know what you might get (I weighted the generation to be heavier in a factory and non-single hex building, however).
The Germans are composed of a weak company (the norm at that time- you were lucky to be at 2/3rd fighting strength by September 1942):
Rifle Section x16 (64 men)
LMG x6 (12 men)
MMGx2 (6 men)
9-1 Leader x2
8-1 Leader x2
8-0 Leader x2
The possibility of a StUG III arriving to support (turns out it was delayed and never entered).
My objectives were 2 small and one large factory. I had multiple "scenarios" to capture them, so I didn't have to get them all at once (and with my force as small as it was, that would be impossible).
Below is the map and the simple plan (which was to evolve in 3 stages- this was stage 1):
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| Start and Finish lines |
The plan was to flank South of the factory before taking it (obviously it would be held very strongly). I didn't want to try to jump the tracks to the North as that was a very open, vulnerable area. as for this game, hexes adjacent to a ruined building are not open terrain (the rubble extends into those hexes) but the tracks were.
On to the game itself:
The 1st turn bombardment was an abject failure- its only result was to activate more Soviets than I'd have liked. On top of this, my force in the Northernmost building at my start line was shelled and lost an LMG in the process while pinning all the attackers there. Nothing like a little fratricide to really boost morale....
Still, things went well and the 3 attacks went in and pushed the Soviets back with little loss. If only that damn StUG would've showed up and lent its weight to the attack......
After about 15 minutes, my personal leader (an 8-1) had pushed to the house that would be called "the Charnel House". My front line was adjacent to the factory and ready to start moving my MMGs forward and prepare for the next phase of the advance. Soviet resistance was very light.
Then, the Soviets really woke up. The Factory (A) was jam packed with Soviets and decent leaders (a 9-1 and an 8-0), and the area around the Charnel house had a bunch as well, including a few SMG sections (terrors in close combat, as we shall see).
The initiative cards favored the Soviets, and I found myself in a Battle Royale for the Charnel House. To top it off, Soviet events started occurring. Among others, sniper attacks events delayed the reinforcement group and the MMGs when they were desperately needed to hold off the hordes decending on the Charnel House. Soviet artillery started blasting my forward positions and everyone had to get into cover (into the buildings) pronto....
Melee followed melee in and around the Charnel House. I tried to pull out of the place, but wound up dying amid the corpses of my own men and a lot of Soviets. C'est le guerre.....
With both sides blooded to a standstill (the fire from the factory and my return fire basically each nullified other), the scenario wound down to its 30 minute conclusion.
For a decent gain, I had lost quite a bit in units:
Rifle Section x 10
LMG x 2
8-0 Leader
8-1 Leader (me)
The Soviets had suffered heavier, but had stopped my attack cold:
Rifle Section x15
SMG Section x5
LMG x4
MMG x1
7-0 Leader
8-0 leader
In manpower terms (actual losses- not unit losses- most units routed)
German 21 infantry
Soviet 60 infantry
A very bloody day indeed. And I'm still waiting for that damn StUG....
Now I would have to hold onto my gains (with a little help I hoped) with my reduced force (the roll for the next scenario was "counter-attack").....
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