The first objective will be the encirclement of the German fortifications in the middle of the map, near Obraztsoskaya: the 99° Tank Brigade will lead the northern pincer and the 6° and 189° the southern one. The 9° Motorized Brigade will support the southern pincer, while the 197th Rifle Division will protect the penetration until I (hopefully) close the encirclement. Artillery from the 2nd Artillery Group of the 57th Army will support the whole operation. A single split up Regiment of the 203rd Rifle guards the southernmost edge of the map, right in front of other German strongholds and my own victory hexes. I hope the Germans don’t counterattack there…
In the north we have a bridgehead over the river and several bridging engineers that will create new ones. The 15th Guards will take the lead, and I’ll again try to encircle the German stronghold in front of the crossings instead of assaulting it. There’s an objective on the northern edge of the map: if I manage to complete the encirclement and achieve a breakthrough I’ll try swinging north to cut off the German forces there as well. Artillery from the 1st Artillery Group of the 57th Army will support the whole operation. Two Regiments of the 203rd Rifle will protect the flanks and the penetrations.
My plan is very offensive-minded and I don’t have a Plan B.
TURN 1
Fairly straightforward: I attack along the predetermined vectors and hope for the best. Up north I have to break through the German lines and I decide to expend ALL my command orders to have an early breakout instead of using them piecemeal and risk failure after failure. I manage to rack up 9,7 and 6,2 odds. All my air force is on Counter Air duty.
TURN 2
All attacks in the north went quite well: I carved a path through the German 371st Infanterie Division and my engineers put the bridges where I wanted. I push my armored units through the gap in the German lines and the Guards follow closely. The new bridges south of the German fortifications will be exploited by part of the 56° Tank Brigade to try an immediate link-up with the rest of the Brigade pushing from the northern pincer. It’s a risky move but could lead to an immediate encirclement.
In the south, the main armored thrust pushed aside a German unit south of their minefields but there was no movement left to exploit the gap. The 9° Motorized Brigade will try to secure the penetration. The northern pincer, however, has slammed on the German infantry and will have to push through. I will try to swing the southern pincer north.
Enemy bombardments tried to hit my concentration of forces but did little damage.
In the deep south I managed to occupy the urban centres on both flanks of Nizhne-Lipowsky so a German offensive will have to push them out first. I hope they won’t try: I have zero reserves.
TURN 3
Not very good: I manage to push forward the southern pincer south of Obraztsoskaya but the northern one is still stuck on the starting positions.
Up north I put more units over the river and in good positions for the next encirclement, but I could have pushed further. I renew the offensive: I must encircle the enemy fortifications or no real progress can be done. I also order the 610th Regiment of the 203rd Rifle Division that was defending Dudachensky to advance along the edge of the map to contest the enemy troops defending the northernmost VP so they don’t interfere with my main thrust.
In the south I double my efforts to put more German units out of supplies and into operational encirclement.
TURN 4
German aviation frustrates my offensives, stopping the northern thrust and allowing their defenses to hold and costing me 720 infantry losses. I still manage to encircle the German fortifications, but there is still no way to fully encircle the northern flank of the enemy front.
In the southern flank I expanded the breakthrough and put two enemy Regiments under operational encirclement. A German attack trying to hit the base of my penetration is repulsed.
In the north I try to slip past the German lines and extend my zones of control behind their defensive lines, also putting my hands on their artillery. It’s an ambitious move but the payoff may be the operational encirclement of an entire flank so it’s worth it.
In the south I try to swing north my entire breakthrough forces hitting hard at the German units already cut off from supplies and start to threaten their towns. I push the Motorized Brigade west to threaten their artillery as well.
