a few screenshots of what things can look like after the initial attack.
This is not neccessarily the best way for the Germans to go about Turn 1, but having seen this might help if you're
having trouble launching the first turn assault against the AI. Don't try this against a human player.
This is being played on Historical, No Geneva Convention, Tougher Soviets.
Army Group North is setting up a large encirclement in the forest along the Nieman between Kaunas and Tilsit. The jaws of
the trap will snap shut on Turn 2 when some of the armored units to the north of the Soviet 8th Army will move beyond
Kaunas, probably to attack whatever is still in the hex northeast of Kaunas. At the same time the 7th Panzer Division
from Army Group Center will close the bottom of the encirclement by moving between Kaunas and Vilnius (and around the
Soviet 56th Infantry Division if neccessary).
4th Panzergroup's Panzer and Motorized Divisions are positioned to form a solid line two hexes away from their
headquarters (which hasn't strayed from the road). Never go somewhere or attack something just because you can: fuel is
in short supply and you need to have a reason to burn it.
3rd Panzergroup from Army Group Center has a major and a minor task. The minor task is to support the southern flank of
Army Group North with two infantry divisions and two fast divisions driving towards Vilnius and threatening to encircle
the Soviets defending Grodno.
It's main function is to encircle the troops defending Bialystok. 9th Army starts the ball rolling by clearing part of
the way west and south, then pairs of units start chipping away at the positions northwest and west of Bialystok until
the Germans can position a line of units that reaches into the woods to the east of the swamps.
9th Army Headquarters ends up in the same hex as 3rd Panzergroup's. 9th Army is supposed to hem the Russians in to Bialystok,
but has a tricky assignment because if it attacks in the wrong order or from the wrong directions, it can actually make
the Russians retreat into the way of 3rd Panzergroup's encirclement. But it also needs to clear the way for a shorter
supply route to 3 Panzergroup, so it must push the Soviets back all along the line.
4th Army has a critical task. A couple of its divisions need to open a small avenue southeast of Bialystok for the 29th
Motorized Division from Panzergroup 2. While it's doing that it should be able to form (and crush) an encirclement of
Soviet troops southwest of Bialystok.
The key point here is that Brest-Litovsk has been surrounded but not assaulted. The first attacks were to the south of
the city, with mobile troops attacking around and behind it (and driving some of the defenders into Army Group South's
sector. After that infantry attacks were made north of Brest-Litovsk towards the northeast, then armored units moved in
to join in attacks that completed the encirclement.
2nd Panzergroup headquarters stays on the road within four hexes of all its units. Brest-Litovsk is attacked from six
directions on Turn 2.
The crucially important move is to slip the 29th Motorized Division to the north to attack an already shattered cavalry
unit. It doesn't need to kill it, it just needs to isolate Bialystok.
Sometimes a couple of divisions of the 6th Army can drive Soviets away from the theater border with Army Group Center,
but it isn't always necdessary.
Army Group South's mission is to take Lvov. To do that it needs to capture Przemysl and establish a shorter supply line
between Krakau and 1rst Panzergroup. There are a couple of ways to do this, but the simplest is to clear out all of the
double track train lines. Since this may prove difficult on turn one, at very least push the Soviet line back after
capturing Przemysl. In this example the 1rst Panzergroup headquarters will have a supply line that won't run through
Lublin on turn 2.
17th Army made several encirclements on the first turn, but managed to clear out all of the pockets except one (which
wasn't encircled yet).
