J110 - The Prelude to Spring - Part II

At the end of the third Russian turn the German OOB is still intact but in the near future the gun will be overrun for sure. A very well placed Russian tank is the one in 4CC5 that will give interdiction to the German infantry that is triing to leave the ex first line of defense. So the penetration on the right seems succesfull even if the Russian armor superiority is nearly lost.

To be sure the T34/85 in 4DD6 was gone, the gun pounded it again blazing it to death. Then tried also a shot at the SU-100 but an eleven silenced it. After that, the crew received salvoes of bullets and started to become crazy but they managed to just pin down a little bit (picture below is wrong). About German movement, when the team with the mortar was hit by enemy tank fire (ELR failure) while going south, the other infantry in the area returned back on their steps, while the last line of defence is going to be prepared with the help of the last reinforcements.

As the defense is now prepared, the Russians have to risk a lot of a bit more. With lot of open ground to pass under heavy fire, the right part of the map seems dangerous to run across. Maybe will they divert along the road toward the central part of the map? The tank ratio is now 1:1; even if the Russian tanks are with better armor and weapon they are on the attack. What Russians will do now will probably decide the fate of the battle.

The beginning of the fourth turn is pro German 100%. The SU-100 pulverized the broken gun but a sniper killed the 9-2 leader! This is a great shot! The LLMC with +2 just pinned the squad manning the HMG but this is far more than enough. The Russians are running low on leaders and this may be an important factor.

During this fourth movement phase, the Russians started to become a little bit shy. After an HS lost their nerves (broken and ELR failure), the rest of the infantry remained covered behind the edge, while the second line of advance joined them a little bit behind. In the center, another HS tried to run across the road but was punished to death. The Russian tanks seems to be positioned to cover the flank

At the end of the fourth Russian turn the situation seems in strong hand for the Germans. The DFPh was prolific with the elimination of the wounded heroic leader and of the previously broken HS. The scouts were eliminated and the following infantry seems worried about the task they have to do. The defensive line seems strong enough with chances for a little counterattack.

The counterattack is on. The main target is to delay for a turn or two the Russian tanks and to place some infantry in building 4X1 to cover the road that runs towards south-east. If all will go well I will have the chance to close in a bag the advancing Russians. There was no loss during the movement phase and all the shots until the end of the fourth full turn were a miss.

Half of the game is passed by. If we give a look at the casualties the Germans have to be happy. They lost the Hidden gun but the Russians lost two half squads, two of the five tanks and two of the three leaders they had. It will be hard for them to recover once they will start to break. The Russians are half way to their destination but their position seems "at the corner".

The Russians are not gaining ground. They are bogged down triing to come out the corner and losing precious time. The infantry is becoming very cautious and the tanks are engaging their targets with some successes. The Panther was hit for a possible shock by the last IS-2, while the T34/85 was knocked out by the PZ IVh with a risk-it-all intensive fire shot. The SU-100 tank destroyer is assaulting the center of the German defense. If this move will be successfull, Russians may still have chances, otherwise all will be lost.

The highlighted stack did is work perfectly. They hindered the movement of the enemy infantry from behind giving them less options. As a matter of fact they got a K/2 result and forced a 4-5-8 squad berserk.