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Vebber's company was running very well through what was poland before 39. No squads lost. Stug crews with 30 kills each......morale and experiece were high.....then....it came the Stalin Line!!!!!!!
I lost 4 leaders during the first approach at the Ivan's Bunkers....and 2 Stug crews...I almost cried! BTW I got a MV in that scen...but now i'm stuck in the second Stalin Line scenario.......no way to get out of this hell without losses....skukko is dead...Averits too,Wirth's squad suffered so many losses that i had to put it out of the battle(rescued it with a tank that loaded it up and brought it back.)....most of my trucks were immobilized during th e advance towards the battle front......it's a disaster!!!!I got friendly fire too from a stuka..........Can i call my mom and go back to Westfalia??????????Please!!!!!!!!!!:rolleyes:

I am not sure if you would consider doing this, but I go into the Matrix directory, then go into the Mega Campaign directory, then the saves directory. There I make a new folder for each senario I am doing on turn one. I will call it #8 Dunbo(or something similary), defense and then copy the save file of the mega-campaign and paste it to the new folder. Rarely will I go back and restart a senario, but there are times that I do and there are times that I have thanked my lucky stars that I have backed up my save file due to OOB data getting corrupted and not being able to open the game(has happened once). Also this allows me to go back latter into senario's I really liked and chose different options. This can also be helpful if you want to restart at a certain point after a patch is published.

In the Stalin line senario I choose the early morning option. This worked out well for me because I only had to take three of the bridgeheads instead of all of them.

I just finished Springing the Trap (near Kiev), maybe 30 or so battles into the game. So far I've lost quit a few leaders and most of the stug crews were replaced, some more than once. But the worse is:

A0 Vebber was once totally dispersed after a darn russian airstrike. At the end of scenario a screen with POWs shows up with a message that "your position was overrun and some of your staff were captured. You're receive replacement staff". He returned with the same experience and kills (just 1), BUT, the name is no longer col Vebber. It now reads 1Lt Vebber . I did get a Wound Badge out of this.

Another time A0 had 3 casualties from a artillery bombardment (which is unavoidable as it's the beginning of scenarios and bombardment is plotted right where the unit is located -- no chance to move it around yet). At the end of scenario the same screen with POWs shows up but a different message "some of your staff is wounded and you'll be assigned temporary replacement staff". I'm not sure why the replacement staff are "temporary" but it feels better than to have the HQ staff captured.

The worst though, is that my B0 unit Wirth SURRENDERED after getting flamed by my own engineer while a darn T-34 enters the same hex Now my B0 unit has a different leader (1Lt Gumble or something, not too sure) So whenever I read the battle reports where Vebber would say something to "Wirth", I feel really sad as I realize Wirth is no longer with us...

I actually intended to reply to Gen.Hoepner's thread on "Stalin Line:the HELL" to relate my own sad story but I must have clicked the wrong button instead.

I still enjoy the game tremendously though and the battle must fight on right?

Fixed it for you.

Ok guys,I'd say i'm not that sad now that i heard I'm not alone here in this hell.....
My men keep fighting bravely.Wirth survived and the Stalin Line is passed,altough I got a draw so that my company,due to the heavy casualities was put out of the front for a bit.Now i'm having so much fun at a Kholkoze(or whatever is it spelled).Wirth got a iron cross after his 29th kill....... The replacements are not that bad....I hope to get back on the front line soon.

Thanks gmenfan!

And Gen.Hoepner, keep at those pesky ivans! (my own nickname notwithstanding )

ohi-ohi-ohi.........it hurts so much......
I arrived to the Potavov strikes scenario-Malin Korosten Area.
I had to share a road with a regiment 282th.
I chose the option to take my company united.
Afetr the first turn of advance(without seeing any enemy).....it came the cavalry!!!!!!!!!!in 2 turns the cossacks took out and killed an entire company of 282th.....1 company in 2 turns:CAN U BELIEVE IT????????They gained the control of the main road that leads to Malin.Now they're spreading around the countryside.I moved fastly one of my platoons supported by one stgIII to the zone attacked.I managed to get a a strongpoint on the road.One platoon of my men,one of my stgIII,1 mg from of the 282th survived and a 75mminf always from the 282th.With this i slowed a bit enemy's advance...I thought i could gain some time in order to let the rest of the 282th arrive and support my counter attack........but then......The sky fell down!!!!!!a mass of artillery shells rained down on my little kampfgruppe.82mm mortars,107mm,152mm 76mm....and so on.....all the shells were concentrated on a perimeter of not more that 3 hexes od diameter......result?the stug was gone with his experienced crew(36kills);2 squads completely wiped out;2 squds very suppressed with a lot of casualities(one remained with 3 men,the other with 4);one MG gone.The 75mm's crew bailed out...............A TOTAL DISASTER"!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Now the rest of the 282th is trying to open a way towards the positions lost.
In Malin a group of russian heavy tanks(apparenty a reinforced platoon)is advancing.........my 2 stg remaining are still very far........
I though the Hell was at stalin line.......but i found it back here at Malin.....


Great work Brent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel your pain, Gen.Hoepner...

Things are now going even worse.......I'm probably facing i'd say an entire cossaks BN on the road and at Malin there's a platoon of KV1,a motorized infantry group(probably a reinforced company),a compant of BM-7 and some T-28.....
the cossacks are now pulling the rest of the 282th towards south...slowing down my advance to relief my platoon and some survived troops from the first company of 282th that are still fighting on the road that leads to Malin. Some other cossacks(i'd say at least a company is opening a way east of Malin to join the advancing motorized group and tanks.I managed to position my 2 remenants platoons with a piece of 75 and one of 37mm in the houses south of the village covered with some smoke.2 StgIII are supporting here......now only one stgIII has survived.The other was cought by a shell of 76mm shot by an advancing KV.
Now almost the whole town of Malin is now in Ivan's hands. My recon squads south east of Malin are reporting that some other BM-7 tanks are trying to close a pocket on my right flank,bypassing my positions in Malin. In the other hand i cannot stop cossacks' advance due to the lack of mobility of the troops from the 282th.......heavy casualities over all.....the ghost of my first DD is rising from the Horizont ,from the marshes of Malin...........

Well guys,i do not know if somebody has come out of this alive.......I'm now facing in Maniln probably one platoon of KV1 and another platoon ok KV2.The T-28 became a company i guess.....those BM-7 managed to flank me on the right commin out of the wood...my positions become weaker and weaker.....don't have even the chance of abbandoning my positions and retreat....the Kvs are destroying my men.....their arty keeps hurting me bad....Malin is almost lost...and with it most of my troops(2 platoons)...the only stgIII i have is trying to relief the position of sergeant Bros(platoon D)....but doing that it's exposing itself to the op fire od a T-28 that is hidden behind a coutyard wall......Blood and Honour....

On the other side on the battlefield one platoon alone is dealing with waves of cossacks......the men of the E plt are pulling back those hated Ivans on the hills....the road is going to be clear in few turns i hope...but won't it be too late for the rest of vebber's company in Malin??
The 282th regiment is managing to advance towards the road clearing the left flank of E plt.
The fact is that if some armoured reinforces do not arrive soon to counter attack in Malin i'm going to be hurt so badly that probably Vebber's war will end here at Malin ...with shame and dishonour.....

Turn 12 out of 15.
Malin is in soviet hands.Wirth with some other fierce guys from what remains of the C platoon are holding a big building southeast of the town.Only one Mg remaining which is scraping the bottom od the bullets' bag to find the last rounds. But the Ivans paid a lot to have Malin. 4KVs are destroyed with some 3t-28.two other t-28s immobilized with one KV2 in the same conditions.Many soviet rifle squads waisted their lifes tryin to take out Wirth from his position.
A company of cossacks managed to join the armoured forces in Malin commin from the west.Now the encirclement of the town has been completed.A BM-7 is moving now south to conquer the hills that dominates the town(where Vebber passed some time before with his whole company to reach Malin...)
The E platoon at the croosroad in the west took some heavy losses,but conquered the VH right in the crossroad.Probably 2 companies of cossacks has been defeted here!!!!
The rest of the 282th are now approaching the other VHs in the west from where the cossacks begin their attack.There's still a stiff resistance here.
Soviet 76mm and 156mm arty is still firing oo Wirth's head.
Vebber 's hidden with his staff in the wood looking forward to the end of this nightmare.

I, also, really HATE that scenario. Granted, I have had 2 shots at it since I had to restart the Mega Campaign, but my second attempt was not much better. I chose the option to split the 282nd (taking the north road) and my Kampfgruppe taking the Southern route. The Kossacks launched themselves immediately on the 282nd and annihilated them in 3 turns.

My small force in Malin managed to destroy 1 T28, 2 KV's, 1 T-?, fair job.

I decided to form a perimeter along the raised road that is east of the small village along the southern edge of the map. I spread my infantry through the scrub and trees between the road and the Kossacks, and in the hills further east along with an 3.7 AT gun. I placed a flak gun and AT gun in the village and infantry along the raised road running through the marsh to the northeast. Along the raised road I had 2 7.5cm guns, and 2 3.7cm AT guns, and a 7.2mm.

I was able to assemble a force on my left flank and push north towards the victory hexes at the road junctions. I secured that flank, and was able to virtually annhiliate the armor. The remaining armor was routed before the scenario ended. I just tried to SURVIVE this scenario with a little experience....

mmm....interesting....I finally got a draw,but i'm not proud of this result. The fact is that i just missed the right strategy.I pulled fast all my force to reach malin,do not considering what were the risks.I arrived there with no time to create a good defensive position.So when the tanks arrived i wasn't ready.That's probably the cause of this disaster.
BTW now i'm following the Potapov's army through the marshes around Malin......we'll see

Originally posted by Gen.Hoepner
mmm....interesting....I finally got a draw,but i'm not proud of this result. The fact is that i just missed the right strategy.I pulled fast all my force to reach malin,do not considering what were the risks.I arrived there with no time to create a good defensive position.So when the tanks arrived i wasn't ready.That's probably the cause of this disaster.
BTW now i'm following the Potapov's army through the marshes around Malin......we'll see

Same results, I managed a draw, and now I'm also chasing ghosts through the Pripet's.

A question on tactics. When you were attacked by the cossacks up north what did you do? Did you counter attack, try to re-enforce, fall back? I ask this question because I have played the senario 2 times and will be playing it again soon. I got a MV the first and DV's the second. I also choose the south road each time.

My tactics, First turn you are ambushed by the cossacks. On my turn I rallyed everything that I could. All units along the high road I put into defensive holding positions. Where I could I lined up infantry unit next to infantry unit making a one man line across the road. I then poped smoke all along the infantry line so that the only way for those cossacks to see me was to come through the line of smoke. Where posible I would pull my MG and Small support artillary back away from the road into the swamp to give them some distance from the nasty fighting. The machine guns I would try to situate in a position to fire on the most hexes when any cossack came through the line of smoke. And then I would just hold that line at all costs. If my infantry retreated next turn I would rally and try to move them forward to hold the line again. I never advanced or pursued.
Second, I brought the re-enforcements up on the left flank and dropped them off at the first tree line, again just to hold my left flank. I also brought my fast recon troops up on my right flank where the little crop of trees is, to hold my right flank. After 6-7 turns of this and lots of really nasty close up and personal fighting the cossacks stoped comming through the line of smoke and I started moving the line forward 1-2 hexs a turn.
Third, I move allmost all of the units in the town to the most forward positons. Moved all of my campfundgroup into the town. They ussually do not get there in time to set up a great defence but get there quick enough to deal with the tanks that make it into the town.
Lastly I ussually put a couple of scouts on one of my recon vehicles and go and grab the victory hexes way over to the right of the map.

All in all I am sorry to say that this is one of my favorite senarios. Very tough I will agree, but even when you do well you always seem to need just one more turn. I always have a really hard time taking the last victory hex north east of the town.

Anyway you should replay it again it you get the chance.

Well,I do not like to play a scenario two times.It takes out all the suspance.BTW my tactic with the 282nd when attacked by those hated cossacks was similar to yours:Hold the line of the road and cover with smoke.My problem was the soviet arty!When the men from the 282nd tried to rally and to reply to Ivan's cavarly they've been wiped out by the 152mm!It was a sloughterhouse!No way to fight back! The platoon i send from vebber's co arrived to late to help the 282nd.Anyway they managed to restore a fighting front a bit back from the VH on the crossroad....but nothing more.....
At Malin i made a mistake.No excuses.Did not expect an armoured force that strong.I've been stupid....but that's why i like to play a Scen only once!