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Southern Russia, Dec. 1942. While the battle at Stalingrad was in full swing, the Russians launched Operation “Little Saturn” with the objective of capturing Rostov on the Don River. If the Russians could get to Rostov then the whole German 4th Army and any forces trying to relieve the 6th Army at Stalingrad would be cut off and would lead to the total collapse of the southern front.
The first objective would be the town of Tatsinskaya and the German airstrip located there. The town was the centre of the Luftwaffe attempts to supply Stalingrad by air. With the capture of this town, the fate of the German 6th army would be assured. This would happen on Dec. 23Rd 1942.
This operation will start on Dec. 23Rd 1942 with the Russians just outside the town. You have to stop this from happening with whatever forces you can gather from surrounding divisions. You will be facing advanced units of the Russian 24th Tank Corps, and most of your now front line troops are rear echelon troops.
Good luck.
Initial German forces start on the map consists of the following:


I will now need whoever the Commander is to take a screenshot of the map from the link below:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en-GB&t=h&...19727&z=12

And load it into Paint and place your units as you wish with the few limitaions listed in the picture above, in this post. Try to keep units together as much as possible in order to avoid loss in effectiveness, represented by quality loss. Also, I have planned for platoons to have their own HQs but if you break them up too much they will loose these HQs as well. Remember, this is just a general placement for now, no need to get too picky, yet.
Below is an example of an initial setup. All German units must start behind the RED line on the map below, and if you could indicate facing of the groups to help with the setup when we get into the initial battles.
The Russians will be comming from the direction of the RED arrow.
Ground condition is light snow.



Dawn
Snowing
Strong wind W

Once we get this done I will give the next set of instructions.
So I will let you guys decide who wants to command the whole force, it does not really matter I just need only one person to be giving me orders. So run it by commitee or whatever I do not care, just let me know.

Maybe it would be a good idea to make some kind of a grid over the map to make it easier to move around?

One question, do i have to place them as they are at ur force table
all three inf comp together,all the mgs or all the guns.
Or i can place each Coy individually with an addition of a number of mgs and AT Guns?
Maybe a silly question but i need some clarification :)

You can place them as individuals/Platoons/Companies/Battalions or whatever you want. Just make it clear to me what you have done. Remember that Companies are used to working together so if you start to mix and match to much I will reduce the troop quality. (Plus it will be easier for me to keep track if they kind-of stay together somewhat ;o) ) No need to get to fancy with unit placements that will be done when the battles start, but zoom down on the google map and see where there is some good terrain for your setups, I will be drawing the maps directly from the google map at the appropriate level for the battle(as best I can).
Now, for a little advice, the Russians will probably be comming hard and you will be outnumbered at the start, so be aware.
Movement will be a little abstract so here is how it will go. The day is separated into 4 parts, Dawn, Mid-Day, Dusk, Night. Same as the CMBB parts. There willl be no combat at night, as the weather will not permit it, just movement. It will take 1 PART of a day to ready a unit to move , then it will move normally. For movement, you will just draw a series of line and arrows on the routes that it will take, and where it will stop and what it will do once stopped. I will be determining speed based on how you are moving, and over what terrain. If you and a Russian force come within sight of one another and you are both disposed to attacking then a battle will occure as an ME. If one side is disposed to defence and the other attacking then an ATT/DEF game will result. More on this when the time comes.
Once you guys get me somewhat of a setup, I will post in here your Reinforcements for the day. You will get to select off this list and they will come onto the map from the west and you will continue their move to where you want them. This will allow you to build some battle groups as you see fit.
Any other questions let me know.

I suggest that we use companies as basic units adding them the support element as required. Of course, if needed we can take platoon from one and reinforce the other company.

It would be a good idea to place a few squads on few different locations up front, so we can send them forward to gather info on enemy forces and directions of attack?

Cargol, Joonny which one of you will take the responsibility of commander? The rest of us can act as staff. ;-)

I have no objection if Joony wants to take overall command,
if he doesnt i ll prepare the primary set up in the meantime we can make suggestions concerning the set up.
I think that a 2 Coys (with mgs attached) force can hold the town till some reinforcements arrive.The next question is in which part of the map we will be focusing our defences as the area is too wide to defend it all.
As per briefing also the airstrip area is important so building a 2 coys force with AT Guns is a sound choice.
That leaves us with 2 Coys remaining
We should build also some kind of reserve force for the follow up battles or for fire brigade duties in case sthing will go wrong.
An infantry Coy located South of he town and North of the airstrip could intervene in both areas as a counterattack force if needed.
By following this set up we will have only 1 Inf Coy left to cover all the area North of the town.
So i would suggest to place it as a flanking security somewhere North of the town facing Northwards, that choice will leave a big area undefended but if the Russian Cders decide to advance they ll hve their flanks and rears vulnerable.
As for the terrain we can expect to see armour North and South of the city as the terrain there is armour friendly and an Infantry force with some armour acting as mobile art at the town.
Any suggestions comments?

What about those two crossroads, north and south of town? I think they are too valuable to be left undefended... And that little town to the north is good place to threaten enemy's flank and rear if they try to flank around the city.

Ratzki, do we get some obstacles like AT,AP mines, barbed wires etc.?

After you get a setup done, I will be posting a reinforcement list for you you select some units from. There are some wire/mines/ect. on the list. Do not get hung up on the cost in the game as when you buy units or whatever, you will be using a simpler cost table and getting Platoons/companies or a set number of mines per purchase. Now as things are moving along, pioneer will only be the only unit able to place mines/ bunkers ect. Any unit will be able to place the easy fortifications such as wire/roadblocks/daisychain mines and foxholes.Reinforcements will be ordered and then will arrive up to 24 hours later. You will have to pre think what will be needed. You must have a good road back to the west side of the map for supplies to arrive as well. Just something else to think about. The reason for no wire ect at the start is that the Russian attack was not expected and the units that you have are a combination of Luftwaffe combat and noncombat troops as well as whatever was ready in short notice, the reinforements will reflect this as well.
The 88mm Flak is movable with the tractor but will take time, and of course will not be movable during a battle once placed.
Airsupport, when available must be used that day, it can't be saved for future use.
Time limit for the initial placement is Friday evening. Then I will move on to the next part.

So here is the set up,


A)2 Luftwaffe Coys,4 MGs Luftwaffe
B)1 Inf Coy,3 MGs, 2 AT Guns,2 Trucks
C) 1 Inf Coy,4 MGs, 2 AT Guns
D)1 Inf Coy,3 MGs 2 A/A Guns, 2 Trucks
E) 88 A/A Gun+tractor,2 MGs
F) 1 Luft Coy 4 MGs Luftwaffe,2 A/A Guns

Well, seeing as you are finished with the setup, here are the reinforcements that you are able to buy. This list will change from day to day. YOU HAVE 10 POINTS to choose from the list below. You can save all/part/none of you points to carry over to the next day. Tomorrow you will get another set up points as well. You can buy any combination of units that you want, so want to spend all your points on Fortifications, go ahead, it's yours to choose.
The weather now is snowing but reports speak of a clearing trend comming as early as this afternoon. Remember that it is winter so the days are a little shorter and the nights longer.
The reinforcements will come from the west and move towards where you want them to go by the route that you select.
Being that you are done early I will give untill Sunday for this next step to be completed. After that we are under way, again if you finish early and so does the other guys, we can start earlier. Thanks for getting right on this like you have. Any questions let me know.