So before venturing back to the long-range world of World at War 85 I thought I would play another Nations at War game. This time we move to the Eastern Front and the scenario I have picked is Bridge at Berezovyy Logg.
The scenario pits two German formations against three Soviet formations as the Germans dash across the map to try to capture a bridge in N5 and, in a nice touch, capture a small bridgehead across the river. German infantry and tanks face off against Soviet infantry and T70s. The Soviets are later reinforced by T34s.
The Soviets set up their infantry and T70s anywhere on the K-T hexrows on the map and then the Germans come on to the board from hexrow A. There is a fair bit of cover for the Germans. Five hexes of woods in the south-west quadrant of the map and two substantial sections of cultivated fields in the north-west. The Soviets have many, many town hexes to set up in and also get three trenches and two mines.
Soviet setup
When looking at the Soviet setup the first thing to note is that the three hexes in front of the town are outside of your setup area. So no trenches at the edge of the town. The Trenches can only be placed in Clear, Hill or Depression hexes and so that means that you can’t put them in the town hexes nor can you put them on the roads.
K3 would be interesting place to put a trench as it blocks off access to the road. The German tanks are going to have a much easier time of it if they can clear out the roads to the bridge. You can still help this effort by placing trenches at M8 and J4. A more likely plan for the Germans is to put pressure at the town hexes nearest the river (L5 and N7) to minimize the amount of town terrain they need to roust Soviets out of.
Splitting the trenches into two sections, one at the north and the other at the south of the city, seems like it would be minimizing the impact of the trenches. The north of the city doesn’t have many options for placing all three. L4 has a minimal LOS due to the town in K4 and the road in K3 stops you from placing a trench. In the south there is a string of hexes from L8 – M8 – N8 that have good LOS and also block the road in M7 and guard the town hex next to the river. This seems like a good place to entrench.
There is a question of what to do with the T70A. It isn’t as wildly ineffective as the Italian L3s we saw in the last scenario but it is also not going to stand up against a German Pz IV. The German tank has twice the AP range, better armour and better penetration. The T70A does get a defensive bonus in the city though and since the 71st Guards Infantry don’t have enough units to fill a ring around the city, the T70As can be used to plug the holes as well as act as slightly less efficient 45mm ATGs.
Doing this would seem as if it would be handing the initiative to the Germans but the T70As don’t seem as if they can work effectively in the field as a counter to the Germans tanks or even the infantry. The cultivated terrain gives the infantry a, potentially, significant defensive bonus which the T70As can’t overcome. Better to view them as self-propelled ATGs. They will have to back out from the edge of the city when the German infantry get into Assault range as they will not be able to stand up to German troops in the city.
The Soviets have a Commissar which is a mixed blessing. As they tend to be in games. It can help anchor part of your line by making sure that the unit(s) it is with can pass a Morale Check. The downside is that there is a possibility that the units that do pass an MC using the Commissar will go Berserk and charge the nearest enemy unit. Its definitely not something you want happening with your Heavy MG or an ATG.
The Soviets have a single artillery barrage to use and they need to have an HQ with LOS to the target to fire it. This means that one of the two on-board HQs will have to expose themselves to potential fire to call it in. Firing it at infantry in the cultivated fields seems like a waste but the fields are not Degrading terrain and so do not block LOS. If the Germans congregate too much when they move onto the board it may be a good opportunity to use the artillery. A second option would be to leave it for the T34 HQ to call in to help slow down the German advance through the city but the defensive bonus in the city is even worse than the cultivated fields.
Reinforcements
What you do with the T34s that come on in turn 3 really depends on how well or how poorly things have been going for the rest of the Soviet forces. Many of the hexes that the Germans need to go through to get to the bridge in N5 can be targeted from the other side of the river.
The woods on the east side of the river also look like a good place for the T34s to safely fire into the city if the Germans have reached it. P4, R4 and R5 all have at least one city hex in range of the T34’s AP attack. The tanks won’t be able to effect any infantry from that location though. The Soviet reinforcements also don’t have any infantry so their ability to counter-attack into the city is limited unless the German infantry has been badly reduced.
The German plan
The perils that the Soviet tanks will have in the city also apply to the Germans as well. The Pz IVs will have to go into the city with infantry but… they don’t have any attached. If the tanks want to go into the city they either have to go unescorted or move into a hex that already has German infantry in it. The Pz IVs going into the city is probably not a good idea so the plan should be to have them provide support fire. If they get close to the river they can easily provide fire into the road hexes and the woods and allow the infantry to advance to and then across the bridge. The Pz IVs have a longer range with their HE fire as well as better penetration and so are better suited to provide supporting fire and attacks than the T34s.
One support option that the Germans have that the Soviets don’t is a reconnaissance aircraft. Odds are the Soviets aren’t going to move until the Germans begin their assault on the city and this will keep them from getting a concealment bonus in addition to the defensive modifiers from the city. The aircraft will eventually leave the area and so the Germans need to move quickly to engage the Soviets before the aircraft is removed.
The best route for the German infantry is to the north through the cultivated hexes. They get cover and it won’t slow them down. Taking the tanks south around the woods and attack the town from there. This will let them avoid the additional MP cost of the cultivated fields. Having attacks from both north and south will keep the Soviet forces busy at each end of the city and not let them concentrate their firepower and forces in any one area.
The problem with the southern approach is that it puts the German tanks further away from the road hexes and woods on the eastern side of the river. The distance from N8 in the south of the city to the woods is 5 hexes which is just outside the range of the Pz IV’s HE attack. It can still impact the T34s if they are there but any infantry or soft targets will be safe. The north side of the city has areas that are four hexes away from the woods in P4 which might offer a better area to cover any advance to the bridge and into the woods.
Conclusion
Well perhaps conclusion is too strong a word. I think that I have my Soviet setup figured out. I may allow myself some time to think about it before I start playing but I think that a line of Soviets around the city and in trenches to the south will be the best bet. This gives the Soviets three additional city hexes to retreat into as the German assaults and also increases the number of hexes that give the Soviets a defensive terrain bonus. It would be better if I could position them to face the direction of the German attack but the terrain and the setup area don’t allow that.
The Commissar will stay with one of the infantry units and then move about if it is needed. I suspect that the 45mm ATG will go in K6 since that gives it the widest possible area to see. The T70A HQ will be ‘on the front line’ to call in an artillery barrage. I just think it is less of a loss if it gets reduced than the infantry HQ.
While I like the idea of the PZ IVs attacking the south of the city I will probably send them to the north as that lets them get better shooting positions to cover operations across the river. I could send the infantry to the south. They would get covered by the woods as they advance but it is 13 hexes to get into assault range with a Soviet unit as opposed to ten if they go the northern route. The Germans do get a Designated Formation marker to given them an additional activation each round (potentially) and that could be used to help advance the infantry from the south.
Turns 1 – 4 are now available to read.
Pile of dice 
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