CB1 - Typhoon over Tula [v.1.00] - Late October 1941, Central Russia 

Tula, Tsar Peter the Great's arsenal (1712), was a key city for the stalling "Unternehmen Taifun"(see note 1) and the southernmost 
starting point for a possibly ultimate rush onto Moscow, 110 miles northwards. Russian winter was early that year, therefore General 
Guderian (2) ordered a clear mission to a brigade-size ad hoc formation's Kommandeur: 

				"Forward at all costs, Eberbach. Take Tula!" 
				
Battlegroup Eberbach was a mix of tanks, light & medium artillery, good to elite infantry units including the well-known "Motorisierte 
Infanterie Regiment Grodeutschland", Wehrmacht's prestige unit. Facing up "Gruppe Eberbach" was Major General Yermakov and his 
50th Army's remnants, a resolute but heteroclite assembly of NKVD & regular infantry units, AT & AA artillery detachments, civilians & 
workers militia gathered to form up Colonel Melnikov's 69th NKVD Brigade, which had to rely on Colonel Yushchuk's battered 32nd Tank 
Brigade, a reduced armored unit. 

Best played as German  vs  Russian AI (3) / Also suitable for two human players.  
Side A - Russian   (AI: Hold): Infantry / AT Weapons & Ordnance / AFV (light) / Fortified Building Locations / Trenches 
Side B - German (Advance): Combat Engineers (FT & DC) / Elite Infantry (numerous MG & Leaders) / AFV / OBA (80mm mortar) 
Length: variable, 10 to 12 turns 
Map: 2 Sectors (4) / Terrain: Suburbs / Visibility: 6 hexes 
In fact, this map is made of only 16 (height) x 20 (width) playable hexes (a screen-size scale), 
and so, not "Big Map" exportable (too small). Please, consider the left side of your screen as the North edge, towards Moscow. 

Your mission:   1) Grab the Barracks   2) Pull out your Panzers northwards   3) Limit your losses 

Victory conditions: 
The side with the most VP at the end wins. Both sides will get VP by owning every hex of the four VP0 (5) building [4,9] locally 
known (and feared) as the NKVD Barracks (50 VP all). German tanks' exit location is hex [0,8]. Be aware that the Russian side 
will earn a lot of VP while inflicting a heavy toll on IR (mot.) GD, Oberst (6) Heinrich Eberbach's best. 

Aftermath: 
"Kampfgruppe Eberbach" reached Tula's outskirts on October 29th. Next day, the assault was launched through the city's southern 
approaches. Lacking heavy artillery and air to ground support; enduring bad weather and poor supply lines; knowing that his tired 
tank crews were reluctant to enter the inner city without sufficient accompanying infantry; watching his Landser (7) going pinned 
down and decimated by Russian firepower; finally disgusted by the "Reds" stubborn resistance, Eberbach had no choice but calling 
off the attack. Not a doubt about the consequences: within less than a couple of hours Guderian would be very, very disappointed. 
Bad, very bad indeed... 

Moreover, during the following night Yermakov received unexpected reinforcements intended to 32nd Tank Brigade, then three more 
infantry divisions! Having turned Leo N. Tolstoy's estate at Yasnaya Polyana (7.5 miles south of Tula) into a field hospital and 
his own personal Command Post, Guderian perfectly knew from now on that his best chance to capture Tula had definitely failed. 
Even worse: a week later (November 7th) the Soviets were able to launch local counterattacks, gaining more precious time to secretly 
mount their Winter's Great offensive - with early December as deadline. Therefore at obviously huge and appalling human and material 
costs - either on Defense or into Attack - as the rule had seemed to be more & more theirs since June 22nd, 1941. 

Stalin's secret Order No. 227 (July 28, 1942) - the famous "Ni shagu nazad prikaz" (8) - wasn't still released at that moment. 
By the way, and a rather cynical minded statement of fact: those utmost circumstances; a real strong patriotic and religious 
attachment to the destiny of "Eternal Mother Russia", willy-nilly linked with Stalin's reputation and communist ideology plus other 
merciless and propagandist methods, have impressed an "high level of motivation" onto individuals, from USSR's political-military 
executives to ordinary soviet citizens. We have to admit that rough historic reality: there was no democratic means nor easy and 
enthusiastic decisions to have or execute in leading the "Great Patriotic War". It was the authentic Total War and Apocalypse where 
the Fight could only be as far as "the Salvation or the Death". 
Who said: 
"It will be a matter of blowing up the door with just one kick... and watching the whole house of cards collapsing" ?  

Sources: 
- Witnesses: Ilya EHRENBURG (RU), Vassili GROSSMAN (RU), August von KAGENECK (DE), Theodor PLIEVIER (DE) 
- Historians: Omer BARTOV (IL), Antony BEEVOR (UK), David GLANTZ (US), Jean LOPEZ (FR) 
  Sorry, no Russian author here but a link to an immense set of maps, photos, newsreels, data, facts, technical sheets, 
  glossary, abbreviations, acronyms & organization charts, etc. All from originals collected between 2003 & 2007 by a single 
  & "Benedictine monk-working" Russian scholar and translator (pseudo "Alex" aka [AMVAS]) whose encyclopedic work has been 
  freely released under that title: "RKKA in World War II" (9) - Yet hosted on ARMCHAIRGENERAL.COM at: 
  http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/index.htm
- "Battle for Moscow" on the web with very comprehensive maps, data, telling & webpage style at: 
  http://mapswar2.x10host.com/Battle_of_Moscow_1941_World_War_2_Campaigns.htm 
  and also: http://www.serpukhov.su/dima/war/eng/eindex.htm (both in English) 
- Original SL & COI (Avalon Hill) scenario: "Tempte d'Hiver sur Toula" by L. SERARD, Casus Belli n7 (199?) 

Adaptation/Extension for TotH: 
LN59 - Thursday March 10, 2016 
Soon to be continued on other fronts with 3 more scenarios to come (CB2, CB3 & CB4) 
Feedback welcome! 

Notes: 
(1) Operation Typhoon: September 30th - October 30th, 1941; 
	whose objective was to capture Moscow as soon as possible, i.e. before "General Winter came" 
(2) "Schneller Heinz" (Hurry Up Henry) who was in command of the German 2nd Armored Army (2.Panzerarmee) 
	under Field Marshal (General Feldmarschall) Fedor von Bock's Army Group Centre (Heeresgruppe Mitte) 
(3) I recommand the following Scenario Configuration for more "historical background & flavor": 
	Difficulty: HARD / Fog of War: ENABLED / Quality Path: HIGH / Russian radioless AFV Rule IN EFFECT
(4) MAP_1i.MAP (Sector 1) & MAP_4.MAP (Sector 2) have been retouched within TotH Editor 
	>> "TEN SHUN!!!" SARGE SAID /.../ "YOU'LL NEED TO INSTALL THOSE MAP FILES TO PLAY" PFC SNAFU WENT ON <<
	A large number of MAP FILES are provided (ZIP format) through the gamers' community on Matrix Games' Forum at: 
	http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4034978 - Note: both files are included in my scenario's ZIP 
	CONGRATULATIONS TO RICHIE61 for his great Great GREAT WORK upon maps! 
(5) VPO: Victory Point Objective (Manual, p. 44) 
(6) Colonel 	Russian: Polkovnik 
(7) Grunt 		Russian: Frontovik 
	>> (NON-MERCANTILE) ADVERTISEMENT!!! << 
	Need a list of the most frequent WW2 military terms in four languages (guaranteed "f..." & "SoB" free)? 
	Please, read WG_Reminder.pdf that comes with this scenario SCN, MAP & TXT files 
(8) "Ni shagu nazad!" - the "Not one step back!" order. Reading the complete text (kept secret until '98) is edifying 
	See Wikipedia at: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Order_No._227_by_the_People's_Commissar_of_Defence_of_the_USSR
(9) "RKKA" for "Raboche-Krest'yanskaya Krasnaya Armiya" = the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army 
	
Once more time, 
Thank You PETER & JRGEN for such a great game! 
"Et grand'merci aussi aux nombreux enthousiastes du jeu"
Best Regards from France 
Enjoy! 
Lilian 
		"Ils ne passeront pas !" 
		(The French soldier's motto - Verdun, 1916) 