Back to Town - Soviets

[StuccoFresco]

My unnecessary advices:

WP units benefits immensely from reverse slope, close range defense, and i see there is precisely this kind of terrain in Westerbruck. I'd try to form two defensive lines there, and keep reserves deeper downtown. This means leaving the outskirts to NATO, but gives you the best shot at destroying a lot of enemy units if they try to take the VPs. You can also hide a strike group in the western forest, ready to flank the enemy.

In the attached drawing, i've divided my forces in Red, Blue and White.

- Red is the strongest one. Let's say 3 BMP Coy and a T-80 Coy. in reverse slope position, and reserves deeper in the city. The reserves could, if needed, contest an eventual enemy push through the eastern bridges.

- White is the flanking force. 2 BMP Coy and a T-80 Coy. They will head for the western hills immediately, and place themselves out of sight. If they manage to not get spotted, and the enemy sends all their troops against Red, they will wait and time their attack to maximize damage. If a BMP coy is able to avoid the enemy altogather and go hunting SPAs and the HQ, even better. Taking out enemy artillery would be awesome.

- Blue is the weakest one. 2 BMP Coy should suffice. Their order is to guard the northern route; if the enemy doesn't show up, they are free to support White or Red.


The armored battalion coming from the east will have it rough: if the enemy occupies the eastern plains, it will be very hard to cross the open ground to help the city defenders... The eastern recon elements must survive until their arrival, because if you lose your "eyes" there you risk sending your tanks straight into the enemy sights.

[MikeJ19]

The Regiment commander has selected the following option for the defence of WESTERBRUCK.

[MikeJ19]

A look at the recce Coy deployment

[MikeJ19]

Here is the initial deployment of the MRB...

[MikeJ19]

That was a quick opening 30 minutes.

Obviously, my AA deployments were not good. The German helicopters have been able to walk right into my deployment with no loss and take out a number of my units.

My AA unit tasked to blow the bridge has successfully completed the task. It will now move to a better firing position.

My two recce Pls SW of WESTERBRUCK did not last long.

Over in the East, two plus companies of Leopard 2A1s pushed towards BOFFZEN and then pulled back towards the river.

My first reinforcements have arrived. A Bty of 2S1s are on call in the West. The Arty Bn HQ will move forward a little.

The first Coy of the 2nd MRB has arrived and will move into the centre of WESTERBRUCK.

[MikeJ19]

I do not remember seeing the German Attack Helicopters before, so here is a look at some info on them and the Leo 2s.

[MikeJ19]

Here is the battle a few minutes later

[MikeJ19]

30 minutes later and where have the Germans gone?

[MikeJ19]

It remains a beautiful clear day near WESTERBRUCK. The Germans are coming

[MikeJ19]

A few minutes later, the Germans enter WESTERBRUCK...

[MikeJ19]

Here is the situation when my command cycle ends.

[StuccoFresco]

I totally agree with you, Mike, i've had the same experience in another couple AAR: units can see for 1km inside cities and tanks seems to rule urban warfare.

I'm gonna quote myself from another AAR:

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco

ABOUT URBAN COMBAT
Tanks ruled it, and it doesn't feel right. They had a LOS of 1000m albeit with low values, and that means they could engage targets at those distances. Other units could too, but tanks have weapons that can effectively engage and hit hard at those distances, so even with low values, the sheer amount of attacks and their power made them absolutely dominating in the combat inside Hameln.

Tanks (T-80s, Leopard 1s, Leopard 2s) racked up the absolute majority of kills, with almost certain impunity unless the enemy was a tank too. Infantry got wrecked and its impact on the urban battle was almost non-existant unless tanks weren't involved.

The ability to shoot at targets 1000m away in dense urban environement is strange: in a city (at least in Italy, but honestly in most of cities i visited abroad too) it's rare to be able to see something 1km away unless it's down a big boulevard-like road or a very big crossroad/plaza, or from elevated points.

Or maybe this particular battle had something special that influenced the combat. I can't be sure so i'm attaching several save files so if someone wants to re-create the urban combat and verify, he can.

[CapnDarwin]

We have had a number of discussions about the range of fire within built-up areas within the group and we will more than likely reduce the sighting range in Southern Storm based on the cover and variability numbers for the hexes. Unlike a board game where everything is center to center, we do assume a unit is dispersed and in a position to sight and shoot at bad guys. This gives infantry an ability to "engage" units in the next hex. Infantry without top-notch anti-tank weapons will, in fact, be speed bumps against modern AFVs as they roll through an area. Even with AT weapons, there may not be enough of them to do much but kill a few of the many tanks in a company or multiple platoons.

It is an area we will devote time and effort to improve and also go back to our discussions from before. There are other considerations we will look at such as IFV/APC use, forward deployed Tank hunter teams, and the reduced vision/fire lines (that will affect both sides of the equation).

So we are interested in hearing your comments and feedback so we can make Southern Storm better at release. [8D]

[StuccoFresco]

Good to hear LOS will be lowered in urban areas, though, that could seriously harm tanks' power there. At Grozny, for example, chechen militia with average AT weapons slaughtered russian tanks; urban warfare must be very dangerous for armored units, as of now it seems they aren't really at a disvantage.

[MikeJ19]

Jim,

Thanks for the update. I took a look at some street views from Germany and in most of them seeing more than 500m was very difficult even along the main street. In general, I would think that units in urban areas should have more cover - which means harder to see and harder to hit. Thinking back to my recent battle as the Brits, my units in the town got hit more often than I expected from a distance. I also agree with Stucco, urban areas are great for AT teams.

Time to get back to gaming...

Have a good evening,

Mike

[MikeJ19]

A quick look at the options for using the TB

[MikeJ19]

With almost 3 hours done and 5 to go, the Germans have entered the town in force.

My command cycle just went up to 35 minutes... not good.

[StuccoFresco]

Have you considered the possibility of "hugging" the hill to maximize cover and then charge out of the westernmost outskirts of Boffzen (attached pic)? That could put you at striking distance from the rear of the armored german forces east of Westerbruck, but admittedly wouldn't give you the possibility to strike at the enemy backfield, where you could hunt for enemy SPAs.

Killing the SPAs would mean big trouble for the Germans and relieve a lot of pressure from your units in the city.

[MikeJ19]

Stucco,

That is going to end up being my plan - sort of. The speed and ferocity of the German attack is killing my MRCs. I need to get my tanks involved...

[StuccoFresco]

Yeah, the infantry looks doomed. Good luck for the flank attack: they are gonna need it if the enemy left some tank to guard the open terrain between Boffzen and Westerbruck...

Are those Recce elements on the far west? Have you considered sending them forward to hunt for germany's SPAs?