Blocking Action at Lipki


Near Borisov, July 3rd, 1941: During the openning stages of Barbarisa the first great pincer
movement on the Central Front occurred between the cities of Bialystok and Minsk. As the result 
of the encirclement of four Soviet Armies in the Bialystok-Minsk Pocket, the Soviet Command was
forced to commit whatever units they had available in an effort to form a new defensive line.
Time became the prime objective that the Soviet Command was fighting for. To gain the required
time, a crack unit, the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division was sent to intercept Guderian's
18th Panzer Division as it struck towards Smolensk. If Smolensk were to fall, Moscow would be 
no more than 230 miles behind the fighting lines. The Panzers had to be slowed down if they could
not be stopped, no matter what the cost. It was a little more than six miles east of Borisov, near
the village of Lipki that the two armored spearheads met. This was to be the first meeting that
the units of Army Group Center would have with the superior T-34 and 52 ton monster KVII tanks.

Game Length: 8 turns

For the Russians to win they must eliminate Germans, and capture the optional VP hexes in German hands
For the Germans to win they must eliminate Russians to gain VP's and hold the VP hexes 

Russians: Squads, MMG, LMG's, ATR's, AFV's
Germans: Squads, LMG's, AFV's  

Boards: #2, #4, #5

Aftermath: When the T-34 and KVII first loomed into sight, the advanced German units were struck with
momentary terror at the size of the Soviet tanks. Up until that time they had only encountered the
smaller T-26 and BT tanks. But the Germans were quick to recover. Soon the light support tanks were set aflame and by employing superior fire and movement, the German gunners managed to score hits against
the tracks and other "soft" spots of the T-34 and KVII. Thus by commiting their superior tanks
individually among light and medium tanks the Soviets lost them one by one. In this way the counter-
attack near Lipki like others, collapsed.


Source: ASL Scenario 101, Blocking Action at Lipki  