Pomeranian Tigers [SP11]

jrv

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I don't remember how this scenario came up, but we picked this early Schwerpunkt gem. We rolled a die, and I ended up with the Germans. Doug, my opponent, said he has a Pomeranian and so had an advantage. I asked for the balance but was rebuffed. Doug set up the Soviets. Per the SSRs the Soviets have to designate the entry hex of the reinforcements. In the absence of a clear statement that this is secret, he made the designation known. I wonder if that was the intention but that is how we played.

One thing I did not realize as Doug did his setup is that he thought fully-tracked vehicles took a bog check to cross walls. He left his mines out (required to be on paved roads; he still should have used HIP and revealed them on LOS) but when I saw them I did not recognize that he had tied them to the walls. I thought he had put them out to force my vehicles off the road as an inconvenience and did not know until later he had misunderstood the rules. His mines were in hexes like W6 (I don't remember the rest). In general I used bypass at first to move around them, then cleaned them up with infantry. If I were playing the Soviets I would suggest a single line which can be covered by fire, for example S6-T3 or even T2 & T4-S6, using street fighting to cover T3. You could also cover the mines or gaps in the mines with the HIP ATG. There are lots of ways to make use of the mines.

The Soviets had two 628s in Z3 and Z4 on the German right and two 628s in the Z7 area. I sent the two StuGs to the (German) right, three squads with leader to AA1 and three squads with leader to CC8. The Soviets had kindly thumb-scouted themselves, revealing dummies in X2, but I did not see the LOS from W5 where a squad with LMG took a two down two at my stack in AA1. I was lucky that there was no result. My goal on the right was to cut the two Soviet squads off before they could fall back.

On their turn one the Soviets do not back down. One squad on the right hops on a StuG in AA4. That's the sort of move that if you get the dice you're a hero. The Soviets did not get the five or better they need. The StuG responds, first with the CMG, but best with the sN. The result was a K/3, with the halfsquad breaking.

On German two the Germans get into X2, cutting off the remaining squad on that side. The Germans start pressing forward on the left, putting a squad in Z9 to at least partially cut off retreat from the Z7 area. The broken Soviet halfsquad routs to CC6 where, if it self-rallies, it will be an annoyance. This turned out not to be a problem as the German turn three reinforcements drove by concealed, leaving a halfsquad of their own to clean up the mess. The broken Soviet halfsquad could not strip concealment to get put under DM when two Tiger tanks drove by, and it was a simple matter to eliminate it with some CC.

The second squad on the right decided to die-in-place on that first block, and the Soviets lost another halfsquad running from the Z7 area. A German halfsquad moving up the X9 building row removed a dummy in M9 with search (didn't have MF to enter) then revealed the retreating squad in V9 but died on search casualties. I think it was casualties well-spent as the advancing from X7 and Y8 was devastating. Or should have been anyway.

As we moved into midgame the Soviets were falling back under pressure. A squad running through V4 was pinned by a StuG in bypass of Z2 and self-broke. The Soviet 8-1 in U3 (with squad and MMG) tried to bring it back but there were Germans everywhere. The German tanks and AGs would press into a position with infantry close behind. The Soviet defense lost coherence and broke down into individual squads fighting for their lives. The Soviet MMG with its squad ended up in S4, and a German StuG moved into U4, taking the AFPh shot for the acquisition. I probably would have Smoked the position but I rolled snakeeyes on the shot. The tank had moved, there was a Smoke from a sN in T4, BU, stone building, yadda-yadda, but I rolled one on the subsequent dr and—boom—no more squad. The Soviets were down to two squads, one ended up in Q4 with the 8-1 and one in R9 with the 7-0. To this point the Germans had lost an 8-0 and a 238.

The Soviet IS-2ms drove on, one into O2, one into N6 bypass and one into M2. I had a Tiger II in AA6, and on my printed maps the LOS from AA6 to O2 is open (the vasl maps are very different). What I didn't understand until we started trading shots is that the 122L has a TK# of 25, and that a Tiger is shocked on a turret hit on a seven. For some reason I thought the Soviet needed a five or better. In any event we started trading shots. As has happened to me in the past when IS-2ms met Tiger IIs (Race for the Sarvis), most of the hits were hull hits, and most the results were nugatory. He did get one turret hit but it bounced.

Meanwhile the German infantry were boiling toward the remaining Soviet infantry and the tanks. The two StuGs and two piles of landsers took on the squad in R9. Other Germans rushed O2. The Soviets in R9 broke trying to escape this death trap. The Germans on the right pinned in awkward positions (one from fire, the other on an AFPh PF) so it took an extra turn to move up on that side.

I had completely forgotten about the Soviet 57LL when it made its appearance. It was HIP in S5, and I had parked a Tiger II in T5, mostly because I had run out of MPs. The gun held its fire, waiting for me to move for a side shot. It even let the StuGs drive by without a shot. Finally it could no longer wait, and fired a Deliberate Immobilization shot at the Tiger. Such a shot is as near automatic as a DI shot can be, and the Tiger loses a track. But the crew stays cool and eventually KIAs the crew and gun.

The end game saw me eliminate all three IS-2ms, two with PFs and one with a placed DC. That maximized the offset CVP I could accrue and more. The Germans were set to exit more than half of their infantry, one remaining Tiger II (which had malf-ed its MA in the exchange with a IS-2m), and the two StuGs and the StuH, more than enough to cover the remaining EVP needed.

One thing I had planned to do but never did was use Smoke ammo from the StuGs and the StuH. There were just no opportunities. I did use the sN as sD a couple times.

My opinion is that the Soviets need to fall back a bit faster than Doug had them do. Certainly losing the squad to the sN trying to jump the StuG on the first turn did not help, nor the unlikely CH. The Soviets need infantry to help the IS-2ms deal with German infantry, and by the time the reinforcements came in most of the Soviet infantry was dead or captured.

Overall I think this is a very nice scenario. At eight turns it is a monster by early Schwerpunkt standards, but it plays as a nice tournament-size game. I would be pleased to play it again. Recommended.

JR
 
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