Chilly After Action Report

It seemed like such a good idea.  Charge into the Soviet Union, break half the windows in the joint and capture and/or butcher anyone you came across.  For five months the German army had felt as though they were on top of the world.  Then Winter came and they felt like they were on the top of the world.  The memoirs of senior officers veered suddenly from smug self congratulation to quite nauseating levels of self pity.  It got cold in Russia during Winter, who knew?

Soldiers were dropping like flies from frostbite, exposure, exhaustion and the irrational desire of the Soviets to shoot them whenever they moved about to get warm.  The gates of Moscow were within reach but actually extending an arm risked losing too much body heat.  Sullenly the German army hunkered down to freeze to death in peace and start blaming everything on Hitler.  Disinclined to leave the Germans to placidly count their remaining fingers the Soviets chose this moment to most unsportingly launch a counter attack.  Since the front lines were currently being held by about five freezing soldiers per mile plus a bunch of snowmen cunningly dressed in German uniforms the results were rather impressive.  In response senior German officers confided to their diaries that they had always thought this was a bad idea.  Further down the chain of command a small group of soldiers broke the ice on their eyelids, peered into the murk and prayed that the snowmen were keeping a keen watch.
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This is ASL Scenario AP63, The Nutcracker.  Here I shall command a raving horde of ski equipped Soviet troops swooping down on an undermanned German position commanded by Richard Weiley.  Since the general consensus is that the Germans slaughter the Soviets in this scenario we decided to adopt an unofficial balance provision by having the German reinforcements arrive on turn 3 rather than the designated turn 2.

To win I need to either capture ten buildings or clear the Germans from all the buildings on one board.  To do the job I have fourteen first line squads commanded by an 8-1 officer and a 9-0 commissar.  I have a pair of medium machine guns, a light machine gun and an antitank rifle.  I also get tanks.  Two T-26 tin cans start on board with my troops while five more arrive on turn one.  Two of the reinforcing tanks carry impressive 76mm guns but the armour of all of them is pretty lousy.

Richard starts with a mere six squads; one elite, three first line and two conscript and only one officer, a lowly 7-0.  He does, however have a medium machine gun, a light machine gun, an antitank rifle, a mortar a demolition charge and a hero.  He also has a 37mm antitank gun and two monstrous 150mm artillery pieces trying to get over their shock at finding themselves in the front lines.  On turn three he gets reinforcements in the form of six more squads, a pair of T-38 tanks, another mortar and a couple of officers.
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The picture below is the at start set up.  Richard is huddled inside buildings and woods trying to keep warm while my troops are preparing to zip across the snow gulping refreshing breaths of sub zero air.

My plan was to seize all the buildings on board 62 so I set up the bulk of my troops (plus my onboard tanks) on the left.  On the other flank I placed a few squads, guided by the commissar to keep his troops over there busy.  My reinforcing tanks I would bring along the left hand road and through the centre.  Eager for combat my troops skiied towards the enemy.

It all worked perfectly, swooping down on the right my diversionary force stunned Richard by the ground they could cover in a single turn.  Immediately his outpost troops in the right hand woods were under threat while on the left I moved forward a little more circumspectly but still managed to reach the woods beside the road.  The only minor problem was that troops zooming along on skis are incredibly easy to kill.  As Richard proved by killing one squad on the right and breaking a pair of others in the first turn.  My diversionary flank was an immediate shambles (although the commissar swiftly rallied the broken guys).  On the left things looked better until my kill stack was pulverised by a 150mm gun sitting next to the factory.  Richard had both of the artillery pieces up in the front line allowing them to get swiftly (and brutally) into the action.  My reinforcing tanks rolled forward but weren't in a position to help just yet.

Well at least I'm going forward on the left

It has to be admitted my personal morale took a battering in the first turn and my troops were decimated without being able to inflict casualties.  Nevertheless the survivors were pushing his troops out of the buildings on the left and a second attack attempt on the right flank actually resulted in some survivors who pushed forward into the woods.  For a turn or two I dared to hope.

Still with a bunch of mangled squads as a consequence of my first attack I was feeling a lack of manpower and in desperation I decided to let metal take the strain.  My onboard tanks I rolled down the left hand road to bring his defenders under fire (and also inadvertently discover his antitank gun, that didn't end well).  The other five I lined up in front of his main position.  I had no hope that they would survive but perhaps they could take some of Richards main weapons with them.

This actually worked a bit.  Eventually four of the five tanks were smashed but I managed to break the crews of both his 150mm guns and kill his hero who was ensconced in the factory with an antitank rifle.  Over on the right I took advantage of minimal opposition to push three squads through to capture a pair of buildings.  On the left I eased forward.  It cost me some casualties I could ill afford but I grabbed a couple of the buildings alongside the road. 

Sadly all of this had used up time.  Now Richard's reinforcements arrived and my previous casualties meant that he actually outnumbered me now.  His tanks and a bunch of squads rolled on the right side of the board putting paid to any pretensions my diversionary troops might have had of impacting the game.  One of his tanks disdaining my one surviving tank in the centre rolled forward and was promptly wrecked with a 76mm shell through the front.

On the left I lost a tank, courtesy of his antitank gun but the crew survived only to be broken along with a squad.  Richards remaining reinforcements charged forward to monster them and managed to kill the squad in CC.  However I saved the crew by firing into the melee and breaking his squad.  Somehow I managed to maintain my position along the road and when he broke his antitank gun (extreme winter, thank you) I had the tiniest window of opportunity.

The very last turn arrived and I had a couple of squads to spare.  If I raced them down the road, and they survived the defensive fire then I could, just, capture all the buildings I needed.  Of course I then needed to hold them all from his counter attack but at least it was a chance.  I snatched a couple of the nearest buildings and then readied my death run.  Well they call it a death run for a reason.  My guys didn't survive and I wound up a couple of buildings short.  If I had been smarter at the beginning I might have had a few more squads to throw away later but it was still closer than I expected.  Thanks to Richard for the game, I'm now going to slink away and hopefully take out my frustrations on Ivan by beating him in the game we're playing.