German Infantry
2007-01-28
Posted by: badanov
In a Front Line Wargame Club scenario we are playing entitled "Defensive Victory at Targul Frumos" a scenario depicting a Soviet advance in the spring of 1944, we are confronted with a corollary to a basic truth in military science.
God loves the infantry.
Maybe so, but the Soviet hate German infantry.
The premise to this scenario is that overwhelming force of the better part of two Soviet machanized brigades against a weak German infantry regiment will slash through the Germans like it was nothing.
The Soviets have lots of tanks and good ones: T-34M43s, T-34/85s, ISIIs, along with the SU, SU-122s, ISU152, and so on. Add to that a battalion of BM-13s "Katyushas", 122mm guns and lots of 120mm mortars.
Plenty of firepower, enough to make the Germans buckle and run home to mommy.
Except for German infantry.
One hill on the far western part of the map has a German rifle company, a mixed unit, two infantry platoons a sapper platoon and a machine gun platoon, all dug in nice and snug. We have a heavily reinforced battalion of a mix of Soviet infantry, rifles, engineers, machine guns, and antitank rifle units.
For six turns we have been pounding that tiny hex with BM-13s and heavy mortars as well as small arms fire. But the Germans can't be convinced maybe it's time they should go.
In the last two turns, the Germans reinforced with a mobile mortar company, and a StgIIIG company. Our opponent placed the reinforcements behind the hill where our heavy tanks can't get to them. They move one hex, fire on a target, mainly Soviet infantry, then scurry back behind the hill. The armored mortar units use direct fire, the deadliest kind to infantry in the open, then, like the STGs, go back under cover.
Six turns is the scaled time equivilent to 36 minutes of time. So far, we have lost about a two companies of infantry to little advantage. The hill is astride a 100 point vicory hex so there is little question of taking it. We must.
In the previous turn we tried to bypass with a battalion of armor so we can get the armor hiding behind the hill, but German armor relief has arrived and we lost a company worth of armor in one six minute engagement.
But we are reinforcing even more this time with a battlion of T-34M43s moving laterally. We estimate it will take about three turns to get the armor in place before we begin our main assault on the hill.
But for German infantry we would have it already.
Gawd, how we hate German infantry.
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