Minsk ´44 - The Long Left Hook

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THE PLAN

My plan will be pretty straightforward here, as there is not much to speculate about: penetrate the enemy lines using the rifle corps and then unleash the mechanized forces which will rush to the river Zapadnaya. I will try to isolate and destroy as many enemy units as possible on the way there. My priority is in the momentum of the attack, the offensive cannot stop or I may find myself short of important objectives. That means carefull managing of the infantry forces mostly, as they are easy to break if used improperly. Now let´s take a look on the situation and the plan in more detail.

General Plan and the Victory Conditions



The main task lays upon the 6th Guards Army and it´s two Guards Rifle Corps. They will have to open a hole in the center of the enemy lines, pushing him around 10 kms back. If this will go smoothly, released tank brigades will rush towards the river towards the two main objectives (circled in red), threatening the main road to Vitebsk which is to the west of this sector. This will be the main direction of the attack (A). Supporting attacks (B) on the flanks will be launched simultaneously by the easternmost parts of the 6th Guards Army and the parts of the 43rd Army on it´s left.

Victory conditions are as following:

Major Defeat - 750 pts
Minor Defeat - 1000 pts
Minor Victory - 1250 pts
Major Victory - 1500 pts

The overall value of the objectives on the main axis of the attack - 900 pts
Value of the two secondary objectives - 250 pts
Total - 1150 pts

Thus, by capturing the objectives while having serious losses won´t lead to a victory, rather a draw. Both main objectives, some 30 and 50 kms away are on the southern bank of the river Zapadnaya. The closer one, the town Ulla, has it´s bridge reportedly destroyed, while the further one at Beschenkovichi has only medium bridge in there, which itseld is wired. So arriving to them only near the conclusion of the battle might be too late. Engineers will have to be available with a considerable time reserve for their bridging task if these objectives have to be taken, especiialy the Ulla town.

       

Strenght and Disposition of Forces

There are following formations available for the operation, divided and located as following:

1st Baltic Front (43 036 men, 1 414 guns, 439 vehicles, 414 planes)

              6th Guards Army (27 641 men, 1102, guns, 320 vehicles)
                           22nd Guards Rifle Corps        
                                         47th Rifle Division - (2852 men, 36 guns) B
                                         51st Rifle Division II - (2754 men, 36 guns)  A
                                         90th Guards Rifle Division - (3078 men, 36 guns) C
                           23rd Guards Rifle Corps
                                         51st Guards Rifle Division (3183 men, 36 guns) D
                                         67th Guards Rifle Division [i](3183 men, 36 guns) E
                                         71st Guards Rifle Division [i](3183 men, 36 guns) F
                           103rd Rifle Corps FIXED
                                         29th Rifle Division III (2967 men, 36 guns) G
                                         279th Rifle Division II [i](2967 men, 36 guns) H

                           34th Guards Tank Brigade (507 men, 63 vehicles) I [i]FIXED[/i]
                           143 Tank Brigade (507 men, 63 vehicles) J [i]FIXED[/i]
                           21st Artillery Division (248 guns)
                                   25th Mtr Bde (108 guns)
                           8th Guards Breakthrough Artillery Division (72 guns)
                           4th Heavy Cannon Artillery Brigade (36 guns)
                           2nd Guards Mortar Division (144 guns)

              43rd Army (14 320 men, 312 guns, 119 vehicles)
                           1st Rifle Corps [i]FIXED[/i]
                                        179th Rifle Division (2967 men, 36 guns) L
                                        306th Rifle Division (2967 men, 36 guns) K
                                        357th Rifle Division (2967 men, 36 guns) N
                           60th Rifle Corps [i]FIXED[/i]
                                        235th Rifle Division II - 2967 men, 36 guns) M

                           10th Guards Tank Brigade (507 men, 119 vehicles) as reinforcements
                           28th Guards Cannon Artillery Brigade (36 guns)
                           [i][i]28th Guards Cannon Artille[/i]ry Brigade (36 guns) [/i]

[/i][/i][/i]               3rd Air Army (414 planes)
                           11th Recon Aviation Regiment (30 planes)
                           211th Assault Aviation Division (96 planes)
                           332nd Assault Aviation Division (96 planes)
                           335th Assault Aviation Division (96 planes)


                            
The Enemy

As there doesn´t exist anything like a real briefing before the scenario in Panzer campaigns, the other option for most players is to open the scenario seeing both sides of the battle. I usually do so well in advance before deciding to play the scenario, and only briefly, not studying reinforcements, releases, etc. It simply takes away something from the game for me. Sure, sometimes I pay for it, but mostly it only brings more fun to the game. So is the situation here, I know only some general info about my opponent´s forces. There should be two to three infantry divisions opposing my forces, don´t know how much of those formations is in the first line and how much is in the reserve. Let´s see what we know and what can we guess.

As the front is stable here for a long time, the Germans are well entrenched with numerous obstacles and minefields layed in front of their first lines and between their strongpoints. Engineers´ work will be important here, I don´t want to loose more men than necessary by throwing them into minefields and there are plenty of engineer batallions available here. Historically, from what is written in the scenario info window, the Germans tried to form a defensive line along the railroad some 13-15 kms behind the first lines. I expect something similar from my opponent, as the forward positions will be smashed (hopefuly) within first 12 hours. What I don´t know is how big of a fight will he put up for the initial objectives – Morgi, Pligovki and Mosoroto villages. The bridges at Mosoroto are wired, but this is not such a big deal as there´s only a stream there, not a big river. So I suspect that if he decides to slow me down during the first day of the battle, it´ll most probably be the sector between Pligovki and Mosoroto. The terrain behind this area is the most suitable for deploying tank formations I have in the reserve.
Capturing these three objectives early in the battle is important to keep the most important momentum of the offensive.



Based on where the enemy chooses to stand and fight, I have a plan for my artillery divisions and brigades. If Germans will try to defend those first objectives, the artillery will start bombarding them once the infantry divisions reach them until they are taken by force. If I will see he´s withdrawing already to the possible (or to form) the second line, I won´t loose time and will pack my artillery units to travel south so the possible second line along the railroad can be bombarded without a big time delay. So basically, once I feel he´s falling back, I´m taking the core of the arty south so as to keep him in range. Soviet artillery power is massive here, I need to get as much out of it as possible.

Nothing special regarding the Luftwaffe is expected here, and I also don´t expect there will be some serious armour on his side to counter my tank brigades advance.

Local Terrain and the Weather

The terrain itself is far from the best – vast marches and swamps, numerous streams, dense forests, lakes. The only positive thing is that the country is quite flat and without heavily hilled areas. The most important and suitable area for the initial attack is the Pligovki-Mosoroto area, towards which the tank formations will be sent once they are released. The country gets more open behind that area and there will be more space for maneuver. Western most part where the covering attacks will take place is heavily forested, I do not plan to chase the enemy there, rather advance along the southern border of those forests west of the Morgi village. On the eastern side, the country opposite the 43rd Army is quite clear. This area is divided from the main direction by a big swampy area.

Weather conditions are not ideal too, we´re having Soft conditions and a weak visibility for the first day, the ground is wet and will slow down my units considerably. Infantry can move two hexes in the clear terrain, but only one hex in case there´s some other terrain feature in the hex. Carefull traffic management will be needed under these conditions to bring the mobile reserves as fast to the action as possible. I cannot afford any massive traffic jams, the soft ground and those numerous streams will take their toll on my speed, though the T-34s shouldn´t be that hardly impacted in the open terrain. That is why it will be one of the top priorities to bring them behing Mosoroto village area.

Forecast for the next day is not the most optimistic either:

 

Supply

The supply level on the Soviet side is not the best, on average it´s value is between 60 and 63. By advancing further south and through those streams, forests and swamps, it could go down considerably. Thus, I´m not a big optimist regarding the right wing covering attack, I expect many units will find themselves Low on Ammo after advancing further into enemy territory. The main axis of advance shouldn´t suffer that much, but the distance itself will decrease the supply situation for the forward units.

My artillery (except for the mortat brigades) starts Stockpilled, what represents the build up of ammunition for the preparation of the attack. The firing value is kept at 100% though, so there´s no real bonus except for the fact that instead of getting unavailable the unit will simply loose it´s Stockpilled status, so you have like one extra supply test passed.
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