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After losing a lot and hearing about using ZOCs, I am trying few things that could perhaps be shared.

First case:
Not doing anything and defending on the border itself.

As you can see, a ZOC is costing 2 operational point (OPs) to enter plus the operational point to enter the given hex terrain. Here, this is 1 (open terrain) so we are finding 2 + 1 = 3 OPs to enter this hex.

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But, on the other hand, defending directly on the border, it costs no OP to attack this enemy unit.

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And, after defeating it with only 1 OP spent.

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This is costing only 1 OP to enter this contested hex.

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As such, this infantry unit has still enough OP to perform a second attack. And, once successful, it can still enter a second contested hex inside the enemy territory. And please note that the second infantry unit that has participated in the first attack still have 4 OPs to move and exploit.

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Second case:
Trying to play with ZOC to slow down the enemy.

We have seen before that it is costing 2 OPs to enter a ZOC. So, what if I am defending just one hex behind the border. As you can see, this is becoming interesting because this infantry unit will already spend 3 OPs to move near the enemy unit.

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The attack odds are still the same so I am bringing the second infantry unit nearby to perform a combined attack. This second infantry unit also needs to spend 3 OPs to come close to the unit to attack.

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The unit retreats and one unit can used the contested hex but, as you can see, only one attack was performed and compared to the first case, the two infantry units will not progress at the same pace that in the first case.

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And this is exactly the same for armor units. Entering a ZOC is costly and OPs are evaporating quickly as we can see in the below example. So, how could we benefit from this?

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Third case:
Trying to combine multiple ZOC to gain time.

Doing nothing, this armor corps could reached south of Riga at the end of its turn.

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As such, we will try a defense line like this where it takes one hex to reach the enemy positions and each unit will cover multiples ZOCs. And, as you can see, the immediate benefit is that the same armor corps can't reach Riga anymore.

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Let's see how it goes trying to defeat it. First, I will move the infantry units that are behind my armor corps to preserve its OPs. This is giving this. The enemy unit retreats but only after one combat and two infantry units are at 0 OP left.

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But then, the lines are broken. So why not try a double line?

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Fourth case:
The infamous double infantry line.

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I am not a fan of this line. Why? In fact, the second line of infantry does not bring any ZOC to the defense. As you can see below, I am spending OPs to reach the first line.

But, as soon as I am attacking it, it appears that contested hexes allow a deep breakthrough.

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Bringing an armor corps into the equation and your line is broken.

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Fifth case:
Defending with few infantry rifle corps ahead and adding a second line with one hex space behind the first one.

I was thinking it was then the good solution.

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But then doing the usual first attack, an infantry unit can still enter the contested hex. Been obliged to spend 3 OPs to enter an enemy ZOC, it can still however perform an attack spending only 1 OP on the other hex.

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And then, the armor corps is breaking once again the frontline as soon as the exploitation phase is starting.

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Final case:
Defending with few infantry rifle corps ahead and adding a second line with two hexes space behind the first one.

Here, there is also the advantage of the river to help the defender.

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The usual attacks are done and the ZOC of the second line is working fine.

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The armor corps is progressing as usual except that for the river attack, the odds are only 4:1.

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