Germans: Chris Edwards
Russians: Cassady Craft

The Action:

Setup

I am playing the Germans in this one, and they are defending Bokruisk against a westward Soviet invasion. The orders are to stand fast. That is, we will fight to the last man. The Russian wins this scenario by being the last to occupy the 5 two-story stone buildings on board 1.

My setup includes some concealment counters and I've got six stacks of units(?) for Cassady to deal with first. In building J5 I have a HMG nest, in F5 I have the 76L AT Gun, and in the woods in J9 I have the 50L AT gun. Cassady has set up on the hill on board 3, which overlooks the town, and was able to entrench in the first fire phase! His three tanks are all facing my lone SP Gun, which portends an armor battle!

Turn 1 - Russians - Initial Volleys

As mentioned, Cassady mananged to entrench his 9-1 and three 447's on the hill (with the HMG) and also blew away a stack of dummy counters! On the other end of board 3, his reinforcement convoy enters. However, the shell holes in between the hills will slow him down!

Turn 1 - Germans - Initial Successes

The SP Gun takes out one of the SU85's in the prep fire phase and the MMG in F5 takes out a leader and four squads in the shellholes in the advancing fire phase! Wow! (It did take a snake-eyes to do in the stack, though!) We'll see if this early success carries on.

Turn 2 - Russians - FIRE!

Nothing much happened in the Russian second turn, except the flamethrower torches the wooden building in D2! With the wind blowing toward the woods, I suspect some additional flareups!

Turn 2 - Germans - Lots of NE's!

In each of our fire phases, we got NE's like they were going out of style! The flamethrower did run out of fuel, though. By the way, all the initial concealments are gone at this point and the sniper has been detected! :(

Turn 3 - Russians - No more German Armor!

The only result of note in this turn is the last AFV for the Germans is gone! The SP Gun bit it last turn and the armored car got it this turn. I don't know how we'll stop all those Russian tanks now! :(

Turn 3 - Germans - Broken Guns!

As if my fate needs another twist, now both AT Guns have malfunctioned! The tanks will have a cakewalk now! Gradually Cassady has started to infiltrate the town. He as in fact entered the first stone building.

Turn 4 - Russians - The Horde Advances

Not much to report except that slowly but surely, the Russians are entering the town. Oh, the panzerschreck has run out of shells! :(

Turn 4 - Germans - Repel the Invaders!

A whole stack of troops attempting to take MY stone buildings was repelled! Now they must rout away from the action. Good. Serves 'em right!

Turn 5 - Russians - Tank! What'll we do?!

The tanks have truly arrived now, as they are on all sides of town. It's hard to move around when there are no anti-tank weapons! It's suddenly not looking so rosy for the defenders. Three more turns is a LONG time when the tanks are there to harass my defenders. The real problem is that a break is as good as a KIA now (nowhere to rout!) Oh well. We'll fight to the bitter end!

Turn 5 - Germans - Fall Back! Fall Back!

I have decided the only way to survive (?) is to fall back to defend that last building (N5). However, along the way, I am suffering from attrition. Here and there my guys are all breaking and giving up, it seems. Still three more turns! :(

Turn 6 - Russians - Six Squads Left!

I had about 6 attacks on tanks this turn, attempting to immobilize them, and not one was successful. To make matters worse, I now have only six squads left to try to repel 5 tanks and assorted infantry. Actually he's got a LOT of infantry coming! :(

Turn 6 - Germans - Then There Were Four!

More attrition! The tanks have me surrounded and any break is now a kill. Makes it hard to deal with.

Turn 7 - Russians - More Death!

We now have two squads in N5, one crew in J10 and 1 squad in M7. Not much hope against all the infanctry approaching and the tanks surrounding.

Turn 7 - Germans - One More Down.

For the last turn, we get 2 leaders, 2 squads and 2 crews. My only hope is that I get the last movement and can somehow occupy a building at the end. Not much hope, though, as Cassady has covered all avenues with his many units.

Turn 8 - Russians - It's Up To The Crews

The two crews and 8-0 leader in J10 are the sole survivors. It's hard to conquer a 152mm gun rubbling every building in sight!

Turn 8 - Germans - The End Is Here!

In the last push, the heroic crews and leader (9 men total) were gunned down unmercifully! On paper, this game lasted 8 turns, and was won in the last turn, but in reality Turn 5 was the end. That was when the tanks arrived in town in force. If only I had some AT Guns at that point! :(

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