19.73MB - View From The Trenches

wiping them out), he reveals his posItIOn. If heleaves them alone, Russians peek through the windowsand start counting Germans."Ray Settle, Fallston MD wrote, "Yes, thesacrifice of three squads to break the concealmentof U2 and T2 is worth it in order to mass thefirepower necessary to weaken T2, the crucial hexhere-a true Russian tactic. Pecking away with areafire attacks would be safe but unproductive. It tookme several playings with this scenario before thesetactics became apparent; before that, those unitsjust sat there bouncing bullets offthe stone walls. IfU2 and T2 are neutralized, the Russian has a clearcorridor of advance into building U3, and fromthere into the Tractor Factory."Carl McGlone wrote, "I agree. Concealmentcounters are removed at the end of any DefensiveFire or Advance Phase, so the Germans will beforced to reveal any units in U2 and T2 by firing. Ifthere are units in T2, they will face a 24 ( + 3) attackfrom Q3/Q4, and a 16 (+ 2) from RI. Units in U2would face the 16 (+ 2) attack. German units wouldalso face advancing fire and CC from the squadswhich survive. I would go so far as to move onesquad from Q3 to S4 and one from Q4 to R4, revealingunits in T4 and S5. These are both safe from theHMO in Y7. The units in P3 could go one each toQ3, Q4 and Q5. This would still leave 20 FPF inQ3/Q4. Time is of the essence in this scenario. TheTractor Works must be reached with no time lost; ifit costs some squads, so be it. I often put Maj.Kirkov, the HMG and a couple of squads in W4 tounconceal on the first turn and open fire. TheGerman engineers cannot be kept out and swiftreinforcement is the only hope."As Carl pointed out, there are other movementsthat can be made to open up the German positions.Indeed, most of the panelists were more concernedabout the squad movement. So, let's get on to thatsubject.3. BREAKING CONCEALMENT "Do youagree with the movement made by the SI squads?"(Diagram 2)ANSWERS SCORE VOTESYes 100 45No, but with 3 squads moving 90 12No, 2 squads moving 80 16No, I squad into street 70 10No, all hold in 51 60 7No, 1squad to TO 60 6Even though the votes in favor of the movementas shown in the diagram did not quite represent themajority opinion, that answer should receive thetop score. If the responses favoring a differentmovement of the squads are added to it, then themajority wanted to risk all three SI squads in orderto break concealment. Because of the wide varietyof answers from those moving one or more squadsto the street (a total of fifteen different actions), Ihave summarized them. The most frequent movementby those who disagreed but sent out threesquads was to S2, TI and VI. For panelists movingbut two out: S2 and UI. Players wanting to riskonly one squad were unanimous in picking TI. Thetwo answers chosen by conservative players areshown in the scoring; I couldn't decide whichshould get the higher score, so I compromised bygiving them both 60.In this scenario, the Russian player's tacticsmust be directed towards breaking through the Germanscreen in order to reinforce the Tractor Works.How much risk should he take considering the timeavailable? If the results of this question are any indication,SL players are willing to risk quite a bit.The shortest route is the north road and this is alsothe only way that is not interdicted by the LOF ofthe HMO in Y7. The key hex here is U2, with T2 beinga close second. In this connection, the followingcommentary is instructive.Neil Bonner Jr. of Coral Gables FL: "Onesquad to TI. This is where decisions get tricky. Ifone squad moves from SI to TI, the only possibleGerman squads that can fire on it would be the onesin T2 and U2. If they choose not to fire (extremelyfoolish), they would both lose concealment status atthe end of their DFP. The Germans' best bet wouldthen be to fire from hex U2, thereby killing orbreaking the Tl squad. During the Advance Phase,the Russian player can then shift a squad from SI toeither S2 or Tl, thereby forcing the removal of theconcealment status of hex S2. The table below is acomparison of the most likely forces to be foundunder the concealment counter in hex U2 and theirchances in percent of eliminating or breaking thesquads in S2 and Tl. (If you do not like the idea ofthe Russian squad in UI running free, the squad inV2 could take a crack at it.)PROBABLE FORCES IN HEX U29·2 9·2 8-1 8-1Target Hex (2) 4-4-7 (2) 4-4-7 4-4-7 4-4-7 4-4-7 4-4-7MMG LMG MMG LMG MMG LMGTI U U ~ ~ ~ ~52 68 60 72 61 60 51Tl & 52 46 41 67 53 53 42What this table attempts to prove is that, takentogether, there is a better than even chance thatboth squads fired upon will be either eliminated orbroken. Which means, for an investment of twosquads (possibly three), there is no guarantee thatthe concealment counters will be removed from hexT2. Further, when you consider that the squads (?)in T4 could also fire on S2, the chances that thesquad in S2 will be around at the end of the DFP isminimal. So, in the final comparison, the one squadto Tl achieves the same result-most of thetime-as moving the SI squads to S2, Tl and UI.The move presented in the problem proves to be ahigh risk, little gain move."I think it is almost certain that either T2 or U2will contain three unit counters, but I doubtwhether both will as this would concentrate 40070 ofthe German screen in two hexes. I haven't fullychecked out the percentages in Mr. Bonner's table,but they appear reasonable and emphasize the risk41f>~."'~taken by the Russian player in moving his squadsout. Addressing the possibility of fire being directedat S2 from T4 and at UI from V2, most discardedthat threat from their considerations. GaryHartman, Wilmington DE wrote, "Yes, the movementwas good. Aside from the German units at T2and U2, the only other units able to take shots at thecharging Russians are those in T4 and V2. If theGerman were to fire these, he would open himselfup to possible fire from the Factory itself, and thiswould effectively cut the back out of his alreadydesperate position."Using concealment counters in the initial setupcreates a game ofbluffand counter-bluff. For thosewho studied the diagram carefully, there are nine ofthese counters showing out of a total of twelve.Where are the other three? From what is known,certain deductions can be made-as is pointed outby one of our conservative panelists: LouisRansdell. "No. Move one squad to TO which canthen advance into UI as developments dictate. Tomove as indicated is extremely reckless. The'intentof the move is to expose the units in T2 and U2 tofire in the Advancing Fire Phase which is not halveddue to concealment and/or engage those units inclose combat. There are numerous faults to thistactic: ... there must be at least three real pieces inthose hexes which means a minimum 12 (-3) FPwith penetration for an adjacent hex. The likelyresult of this move is three KIAs with only U2revealed and too little force left in RI to reduce theU2 garrison, much less assault the building. Thusends the assault on the northern flank where theRussians have their best chance." I agree there willbe three or more real pieces in T2 and U2, probablyfour or five. There were a number of players whoargued that U2 would most likely be the only hexrevealed, but disagreed on how many squads shouldmove into the street.Many panelists, given the above considerations,felt two units would serve as well as three. LarryShelton wrote, "One squad remains at SI, othersquads move to S2 and Tl. I assume the player Irelieved was trying to expose T2 and U2 to unhalvedfire by sacrificing three units to the German fire.