PanzerGruppe Guderian [SbS]

Turn 1, July 3rd and 4th 1941.

Soviets roll a 4 and the 16th and 24th Armies therefor do not move this turn.  The rest of the units on the board do activate.

Germans turn. The Gemans have a different turn sequence are the Supply. Move combat,they are allowed to move again. Only Overruns are allowed though. This second movement is clearly powerful if used correctly…. That may take some doing.

The 14th Pzr Division (14PD) move into ZOCs of the 20th Army at Vitebsk. 12th and 20th PD attack North of Vitebsk. 3:1 earning a d1

Note attack results are taken either as a retreat or a step loss. Soviets have no sub steps. Elimination and engagement results are also a possibility.

The 20th Advances to the rail line west far west of Smolensk in subsequent activation.

Turn 2… The Germans in essence leave themselves OOS…..we reset.  Plus we missed placing air.

Turn 1.

7th and 12th attack Orsha4:1 d1 result. 14th PD engage the ZOCS of units around Vitebesk. Once in a ZOC you may not exit until forced to via a combat result. The tactical use of these and the timing of such is key.

20th Armoured alos moves along the woods to highway and rail towards Smolensk (SMOL).

Turn 2, 5th -6th of July.

Soviets reinforce, many units are trapped in ZOCS. They advance to lock ZOCS with the 20th to slow them down. Germans take Velizh.

Turn 3,  The Soviets have a large untried force and one 8 combat factor unit  south. They pile onto the 4th Panzer. This was likely ill advised. (I forgot the wood double…. This ends up a 1:2 attack.  It is a disaster – a 6 yields attacker eliminated.

I consider taking this back but figure that  this would be the 3rd restart of this darn game and I REALLY want to get past turn 2!!   So we let it stand, writing it off as a Stalinist mandate.  In hindsight this will be expensive.

The Germans pile drive forward the 10/17/18, Das Reich and 29th Motorized Division drive on!

3/4th PD’s and 10th MD arrive and blast away at units South of Vitebsk, securing the supply route. And clearing the road to SMOL. They then exploit to the South.

Attack upon Orsha – DE, 0717 DE, max odds at South of Vitebsk Woods is also a kill.