The 21st Infantry Division’s mission was to destroy Polish forces north of Graudenz, and then seize the city along with the bridges over the Vistula River. This was a very bold mission, as the objectives lay 12 miles away, and they would have to conduct a gap crossing over the Ossa River. The Germans initially made progress for several miles, and then were completely blocked by the Polish 16th Infantry Division. The Germans’ now tenuous bridgehead over the Ossa River was hammered by artillery and machinegun fire. Inexplicably, Polish forces were ordered to change positions. Colonel Stanislaw Switalski lost control of the situation, and ordered his 16th Infantry to withdraw which turned into panic among the troops. The Polish 16th Infantry regrouped after their blundered defensive switch and along with militia forces established a defense in the city, but it was too late. The Germans were able to exploit the situation. Elements of Infantry Regiment 3 captured the high ground east of the city, and then maneuvered southwest to the Vistula, effectively encircling Graudenz. Infantry Regiment 45 made a direct attack into the north part of the city, but quickly became bogged down in house to house fighting in the suburbs.
Attacker: German (Elements 45th Infantry Regt., 21st Infantry Division)
Defender: Polish (Reinforced elements 16th Infantry Division)
7 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:20.0 D:17.5
AFVs: A:0
AFVs: D:0
Guns: A:0 D:0
Misc Rules:
D: set up as if Germans enter from offboard (Exc: Bore Sighting is NA)
An aggressive Polish defense (in part due to the ambiguity of "south of XXX road" as a setup condition) and a lot of good, early rolls for the Germans allowed them to punch through the defensive line and try to outflank the weaker Polish force. Despite the early advantage, the Poles did everything they could to stop fritz and their plans. Tense fighting in the center eventually led to a collapse pocket and the Turn 4 reinforcements had that much higher of a hill to climb. Ultimately, they were unsuccessful due to the Germans still have so many units that they couldn't move/advance into the required building to re-secure it and clinch a victory. Fun and engaging, it felt very well balanced. Another great scenario in a great module.
2024-03-15
(A) Doug McMullen
vs
A
German win
This is a really fun and meaty infantry only scenario... with flamethrowers and dc's to add spice and very well designed OBsand victory conditions. Played John Lehman first round of the eVASL tournament 2024 and it was a tight match to the very end. We felt we were losing much of the time which imo is the mark of well made scenario. As other reporters have commented... careful of the hidden squads... and the German needs to be . Mopping up is NA when No Quarter is declared.
The scenario features a strong German infantry assult with plenty of leaders advancing on weak poorly led inexperienced polish troops in a small village of mixed wooden and stone buildigns. But the Germans have no time to waste -- Quality Polish reinforcements arrive at mid-game. The Germans need to beat the initial Polish defenders enough to claim buildings be able to hold off the counter attack from the reinforcing veteran Poles. It's a simple scenario concept and what makes it special is how well timed the turn and reinforcement structure is and how problematic building control can be when trying to hold multi level multi-hex buildings. If your attacking technique is really sharp and you know how to coordinate assault engineers (with 4 smoke exponent) with flamethrowers to assault stone buildings the Germans have everything they need to get the initial assault done. But if you attack too cautiously or too haphazardly the initial poles will cause trouble and bog the assauilt and the reinforcement will be too strong. I got the initial assault done but not really satisfactorily and and lost both my flame throwers in the initial attack. John had a sneaky hip'd guy in an upper level of a Victory Condition building who did his job and ultimately held building control to the end. The reinforcements were strong enough and got onboard and into the buildings well enough that my Germans had little chance. This would have and should have given John the win but a disastrous DC throw, and a simple oversight (skulking out of a Victory Condition building accidentlally ceding control to me for an instant) Gave me cause to fight on. Because of the buidling control fiasco it was his turn to throw everything at my guys in the cructial middle stone building and the dice and my boys hung on, barely. It came down to the last cc phase of the game, last squad. A fun game, with beserkers and leader creation CC's and general ASL mayhem. many good and very bad dice, lessons learned. above all a real pleasure to play against a gentleman like John. John was extremely gracious and a very good sport regarding my returning-to-play trangressions and rules ignorance. If he'd played tournament hardball with me and held my feet to the fire I think this game would have had a different result. I'm sure of it. But I think we both had fun and I certainly appreciate the good sportsmanship shown. -- Doug
2023-10-24
(D) nathan wegener
vs
James Treu
Polish win
Excellent scenario with interesting options to use various infantry toys and tactics for both sides. My opponent attacked up the middle which I was prepared for and the first couple of turns led to heavy losses for the Germans. My picket defenders did very well led by a green squad holding off 2 squads plus a reinforcing HS in CC. A hot sniper finally took my squad out after it killed 1.5 squads and tied up the attackers for 2 full turns. MMGs were focused on the woods lines and numerous 4 or 8 flat / +1 attacks took their toll - thanks to good rolls on my part and poorer than average rolling on the resulting MC. The attack stalled and opponent conceded.
2023-04-16
(D) Mark Thompson
vs
Germans (Steve Slunt)
German win
The Poles sacrificed their green squads to delay the German advance in Turns 1 and 2 and then attritted the Germans fairly severely in the German Player Turn 3 with HMG and MMG rate tears from the buildings on either side of the central road. Over-confident in their ability to repeat this carnage, the Poles made the ultimately fatal error of not withdrawing in their Player Turn 3, and were largely overrun in Turn 4, with only 2 squads (and a HIP'd HS) left in the victory buildings. The Polish reinforcements held the victory building on the right flank, but lost both on the right, and were eventually overwhelmed in the center building, by Turn 6. Well executed attack by the Germans, with no mistakes. Decent defense by the Poles, with one big and a few small mistakes.
