Glubokii Boy

The russians have a strong possition here... Some troops deployed in a shell crater that i'm having a hard time decimating. They caused a casualty on their old advisary in my 3rd platoon this turn. I will try to kill them with my north infantry gun once more. If this fails i might move my Hertzer up to a possition to engage them... My flamethrower get 2 more bursts of this turn... And are still alive ! The battle to the south rages all over the place... And over here more russians are advancing... Unfortunatelly my south infantrygun did not open fire despite having a target arc...

My machinegun team are shifting possition. The enemies north of Pushka Hotel are having a hard time making any progress. But my machinegun team took an additional casialty this turn. This time the gunner ! Not good... Further south the fighting is intense. At pushka Hotel more russian troops are advancing forward.

TURN 7 WOW !! On my far left...Close in fighting at its best...grenades and all ! I love it !! My troops here are doing far better then i ever could hope for. I think these buildings are cleared fore now but more troops seems to be advancing this way. And more importantly. The enemy has not commited his armour yet. They are still back at the factory. More troops keeps advancing up the street and the enemies that have occupied the buildings on the right side of the street have begun engaging some of my troops.

The enemy troops that killed my flamethrower assistant advanced into the building from here. More troops are following... Additional orders for next turn... I will give my southern infantry gun and its supporting HMG a covered arc like this... That's pretty much it for now...besides regrouping 1st platoon HQ and one of the machineguns.

But these building are now occupied by the enemy. They have not yet seen these guys either. Next turn will probably resolve this situation... Unfortunatelly my troops here are GREEN quality and will probably not last long. Hopefully they will be able to take a number of russians with them... This HMG team keept engaging enemy troops repositioning up the street. This turn they saw the russians advancing northwest from the area around Pushka Hotel. Not towards it. They were heading for the buildings infront of 1st platoon. Some of the russians made it across the street but where instead engaged by these guys and took a number of casualties. These guys from 3rd platoon continued exchanging fire with russian troops down the street. The north infantrygun also contributed with two rounds. Hurray ! The previous fire from the flamethrower assistant did not reveal their possition. My flamethrower guy where able to get atleast one burst off. The assistant however where killed by fire from the opposing buildings.

TURN 6 russian infantry advance up the street towards 1st platoon. Here they split up. Some of the troops turn to the buildings on the left and some turn to the right. They come under fire from my 1st platoon HQ. In the firefight my HQ loses a man. Next turn i will withdraw my HQ from that building and instead sprint one of my HMG teams supporting 1st platoon into that building. Their current task can be handled by the HMG team in the corner building to the right. The enemy does not seem to be able to advance in this area right now. Those ISU 152s at the factory are a concern though. The building my HMG team move to might be exposed thoose guns. Or soon will be... The smokescreen on the left has not resulted in complete succes for the enemy. Some enemy units have bypast my most forward defenders without seeing them. Here we have a russian squad advancing west apparently without spotting my defenders behind the wall. When they finally do they come under fire from my supporting halfsquads behind the wall further back. And are killed !

Towards the end of the turn more russian troops crosses the street. This time my infantry gun takes better aim and causes some casulties... The enemy troops that made it across the street starts to advance across the courtyard towards the buildings directly infront of my flamethrower. Unfortunatelly the undiciplined assistant to the flamethrower disobeys his HOLD FIRE order and opens up with his MP40. This will most likely reveal their possition to the enemy and they will come under heavy fire. What about my reserv platoon ? They have reassembled at the cemetery and will rest there for a while. 8 survivors. Thats all that is left of 1st plt/2nd CO. 5 men are OK and 3 are wounded. They are all rattled after their ordeal in the woods. I will send the 2nd company CO up to them to try and comfort them.Their platoonleader was one of the casualties. They have had a rough day so far and the day is far from over. I doubt that these guys will be able to do me much good any more though. Maybe the could be useful later on. For now they will rest.... 'All quiet on the leftern flank'...No more movement where observed infront of 1st platoon this turn and they did not take any fire. This will change very soon i'm sure. Quite a few ruskies must be hiding in that smokescreen.

TURN 5 At the start of turn 5 the HMG-team that has been engaging the russians comming from the factory comes under fire from up the street and one man is hit. Despite losing a man they are still capable of returning fire within a few seconds. Further to the south my guys are able to observe enemy troops advancing across the street from the building behind Pushka Hotel towards the block of buildings infront of my flamethrowerteam. They immediatelly come under fire from a halfsquad from my 3rd platoon. The same guys that engaged the russians advancing towards the hotel recently. They are however unable to stop the russians crossing the street. They are not the only guys that open up on the advancing enemies...My northern infantry gun wants to join the battle and opens fire. Unfortunatelly they miss their target and hits the building to the south.

Hello, guys... Thanks ! I wish i could say i didn't. But i have 8 survivors from that entire platoon and no panzerschrecks. Besides this 'malfunction' in my plan the battle is going quite well so far i think... I'm sure those guys will agree... Thanks ! I will keep your suggestions in mind... Time for todays update... The battle will intensify...Enjoy

This picture is taken from the scenario "Fester Platz Polozk"... German infantry advancing across a railroad track under enemy artiller fire. I kind of like this one !

Thanks, General ! The next update will show things starting to heat up all over the front. The battle for polozk is in full swing... I will post it later today...

End of todays update...

TURN 4 Not much to report. The survivors from the reservplatoon managed to escape and the 1st machinegun section keept engaging russians trying to regroup to the south from factory No 88 This is what the frontline looks like now. No new orders for next turn...

My troops will remain in place for now but i decided to move these guys to the next row of building further to the south to help keep an eye out for enemy troops trying to advance through the smokescreen. TURN 3 These guys are what i have been able to save from my reservplatoon. There are a few more survivors but they are still under fire and unable to move out of the killingzone. 1st plt/2nd co is no more i'm affraid. This will complicate things. I will have to re-assign 2nd plt/ 2nd CO to be my reserves from now on. 1st company is preparing for battle... More and more russian infantry are arriving infront of their possition. On my left flank contact is imminent. Alot of russians are moving into the smoke infront of 1st platoon. Besides the infantry 1 more ISU 152 have been spotted by the factory. 1st machinegun section/4th co deployed on the second floor of a building covering the open road infront of them are engaging russians advancing south towards Pushka Hotel from factory No 88. The halfsquad from 3rd platoon that i ordered to regroup to a building further to the south made it there with no problem. This turn there have been no more activity on my far right. The only order i will give for next turn will be to try and move the last survivors from the reservplatoon away from the artiller bombardment. All in all there are 5 survivors there not counting the 3 guys a managed to withdraw earlier.

TURN 2 My reservplatoon are still trapped under the enemy artillerybarrage and are taking even more casualties. It looks doubtful if i will be able to get any of thoose guys out of there. What a dissaster ! That platoon was probably the best one i had with 2 veteran squads and 1 regular. Not a good start this time either i'm affraid...I guess this evens it out a bit. After all i have already played this scenario once and might have some unfair info. The only good thing though is that it looks like i'm playing a different AI-plan this time around. That artillery barrage was not there last time. Over to the east the enemy assult has begun. A large number of enemy infantry have been seen exiting factory No 88. About half of them seems to be heading towards the smoke on the left and the other half are advancing south. Besides infantry an enemy ISU 152 is spotted at the factory. More infantry are spotted infront of 3rd platoon. The enemies to the south where the first spotted and soon after additional tropps appeared further north. The southern guys seems to be heading for the smoke and the other guys are advancing towards Pushka hotel. Shots have been fired. First to engage the enemy where these guys from the 1st squad/3rd plt of 1st company. They opened fire on the enemy troops advancing towards Pushka hotel.

INCOMMING !!! At set-up i ordered my reserv-platoon to move forward from their current possition to a group of buildings located at the western edge of Polozk. This unfortunatelly proved to be a fatal misstake. The patch of woods that the platoon where ordered to move through soon came under enemy artillery fire. The result was not pretty. Here they are just as they are about to cross the railroad track. Enemy artillery falling all over the place ! My reservplatoon when the turn ended. My ooh my ! I bett the barrage is far from over. These guys are in trouble. Two of the squads are veteran troops. I will try to get them out of there. The rest of the men will hide in place. Atleast my Hertzer (starting next to that platoon) managed to get through it OK. Besides shelling that area the enemy fired smokerounds on both my flanks and also shelled the forrest on the south side of DVina river. The first enemy where spotted infront of 1st platoon/ 1st company on the left flank. Enemy infantry was seen exiting the factory No 88 complex. My flamethrowerteam arrived in the asigned building and i put them on hide with a covered arc to target the buildings infront of them if the enemy moves there. Hopefully they will be able to remain unspotted until they fire.

This panzerschreck team are the only guys i have right now that will be able to engage enemy armour if they decide to move this way. South of the small ridge. Hopefully my 37mm AA-guns on the south side of the Dvina river will also be able to assist. If the enemy moves armour this way i will try to regroup some more panzerschrecks from 3rd plt/ 1st company to here and i also have the Hertzer. But for now. These guys are quite lonely... Here we have the south gun back at the battalion HQ supported by a HMG infront of them (keep your heads down, guys). MY INITIAL PLAN: - My plan is not very complicated for now. I will keep my men in place and fall back as needed. As the battle developes i might have to regroup some of my men. - To start with my right flank (the wooded ridge along the river) is thinly defended. If the enemy decides to attack in force here i will target this area with my mortars (the FO only has a 4 min delay) The AA-guns south of the river will also be able to assist. This will hopefully buy me some time to shift more troops to this flank. - My reserv platoon will be moved to the area that needs them the most. - If i can avoid it i will not use the Hertzer as a tankhunter initially. I want to use its HE ammo first to target enemy strongpoints. After that i will use it for tank-hunting. I have a large number of panzerschrecks and panzerfaust. Hopefully my infantry will be able to handle the enemy armour to start with. If the enemy possitions some of his armour out of reach from my hand held AT weapons and keeps pounding my infantry i will however have to use the Hertzer to engage the enemy armour. Well...I think that's it. Let's get this battle started ! (to be continued) !!! I will try to post one update each day. The battle starts tomorrow...

SOME MORE PICTURES OF 3rd PLT/1st COMPANY: My squads are located to be able to put fire on both the courtyard and the roads on the left and right as needed. I have two MP40 equiped half-squads deployed in the courtyard itself and a number of panzerschrecks to my right. The platoon HQ is deployed to be able to keep as many as possible of its subordinates under command. The 75mm infantry guns back at my battalion HQ will be able to support this possition. The numbers inside the green boxes indicates areas where i will show close-in pictures. 3rd platoon will be further supported by a pair of panzerschrecks from 2nd platoon/2 company and a halfsquad from the same platoon. They have also been reinforced with a flamethrowerteam from 1st company. These 2 lanes will be well protected by AT weapons. A number of Schrecks as well as panzerfaust-equiped halfsquads. If enemy armour choose to advance along the right lane i will try to regroup some of the guys to the right lane of buildings. I honestly don't really know what to do with my flamethrower team. They pretty much need to be set up in an ambush possition to be able to get a shot off before being killed. I will move them to this building and hide them with a covered arc. Hopefully they will be able to squeeze a burst off or two before being killed. They will be able to target the buildings across the street or fire at enemies moving along the street. I will move these guys forward a short distance to take cover behind the tall wall. From here they will be able to fire at the enemy if they try to advance west across the courtyard but still be quite protected from enemy fire comming from the east (i hope).

Kruzhka Inn is well occupied. The Hq from the machinegun platoon along with one of the guns as well as a panzerschreck team. These guys will have good all around fields of fire. view from Kruzhka Inn towards the enemy approaches. Here we have the machinegun team on the left deployed on the second floor. Nice field of fire to their front ! As with the situation for 1st platoon. The courtyard has walls and smaller buildings on them restricting movement and LOS/LOF.

SOME MORE PICTURES OF 2nd PLT/1st COMPANY: 2nd platoon will be deployed right next to 1st platoon. A little more to the south to cover the middle part of the map. The primary objective for 2nd platoon will be to help defend two blocks of buildings in the center and also the open ground around Kruzhka Inn. Pretty much the entire platoon will be setup in thoose buildings. One panzerschreck team is possitioned in Kruzhka Inn and an other in a shell crater further to the right. 2nd platoon will have the support from the north infantrygun possitioned back at battalion HQ (factory No 130). The numbers inside the green boxes indicates areas where i will show close-in pictures. 2nd platoon will be further supported by the better part of the 4th company machingun platoon. They are deployed as above. The platoon HQ and one HMG are deployed in Kruzhka Inn. One gun covers the south courtyard and the last one is deployed on the second floor of the building to the left to be able to pour fire down the road infront of it. In addition to the machineguns two sniper teams and two tankhunter teams will also be able to support 2nd platoon. They are also deployed to be able to engage targets both in the courtyards and on the streets. The two teams to the left are my CRACK guys. And finally a squad from 2nd platoon/ 2nd commpany will be able to help defend the area around Kruzhka Inn. Here we have the north infantry gun at battalion HQ.

Some close-in pictures of areas 1, 2 and 3.. View from 3rd squads B-team (MG 42) from behind the wall. Being able to support the squads infront of them and also put fire down the street. 1st squads A-team (MP40) will advance into the building. 3rd squads A-team will remain behind the wall (the building behind them gives them no LOF). 2 Squad are deployed in the buildings to be able to engage any russians trying to advance trough the courtyard in front of them. The B-team with the MG42 are deployed on the 2nd floor and the A-team at groundlevel. I will concentrate my defenders of the courtyard in the corner buildings. There is a high wall running across the lenth of the courtyard and the only two openings the enemy will be able to use to advance west across here are located at the corners. 2nd squad/ 1st plt will defend this one and 1st squad/ 2nd plt will defend the south (to the right) opening. 2nd squad B-team have aquired a panzerfaust from the supply trucks to also be able to engage possible AFV comming down the street.

SOME MORE PICTURES OF 1st PLT/1st COMPANY: I have split all 3 squads into A- and B teams. 1st and 3rd squads MG42 equiped teams are deployed behind the wall to be able to support their SMG equiped teams infront of them from further back and also be able to put fire down the street. 2nd squad is possitioned to defend against enemies advancing through the courtyard behind the houses. The MG42 equiped squad on the second floor and the MP40 equiped at ground level. The plt HQ it possitioned to keep as many as possible of its subordinates in command. If an enemy tank appear i might withdraw them to behind the building. The panzerscreck team to the right are possitioned behind the building for now and i will try to sneak them into the house infront of them if i need them. The numbers inside the green boxes indicates areas where i will show close-in pictures. 1st plt/1st co is supported by one of the companys machinegun sections (only one available). Unfortunatelly their CO is not the best. GREEN and -2 stats. Hopefully he will not have a to negative influence on the HMG teams. The 2 HMG teams are REGULAR quality with -1 stats. 1st plt is also reinforced by 2 panzerschreck teams assigned to 1st company, a sniper and a half-squad from 2 plt/2 company.

Deployed behind 1st company. 1st plt/2nd co will act as reservs. They start the scenario from an other deploymentzone and i will move them forward to these buildings and keep them there until needed. My battalion HQ A picture of my panzerschreck teams. Besides these i have 2 panzerschreck teams assigned to 1st plt/2nd company (the reserv platoon). My Hertzer and the infantryguns. Just like my reserv platoon the Hertzer is initialy deployed in an other deployment zone and i will move it forward.

MY DEPLOYMENT: This is a picture of my entire force with the artillery- and AA possitions encircled. Although tempting to 'borrow' some of the AA-guns and transport them to locations where they will be better able to support my main force...I will keep them in place. I don't know but i think this is what the designer intended... 1st company will be deployed upfront 1st plt/1st co 2nd plt/1st co 3rd plt/1st co 2nd company will be deployed in a secondary line and also serve as a reserv. 2nd plt/2nd co

KRUZHKA INN This is a 4 story building situated in the middle of another open area. It will provide me with a good defensive possition as long as enemy armour will not be able to target it. (100 VP). RIVER BANK NORTH This is a lightly wooded ridge on my right flank (100 VP). And finally an picture of FACTORY No 112 on the south side of the Dvina river. Although not an objective. This is where my artillery support will be located. And this is where my FO is located...