Alytus (Olita)

22nd June 1980

v1.1 - tweaked victory conditions

After the "Warsaw Spring" uprisings and the disastrous attempts by the the Soviet forces in eastern Europe to crack down, NATO intervened in the ex Warsaw pact nations to "prevent additional bloodshed". However they didn't stop at the Polish border put pushed into the Soviet Union. The German 1 Panzer Korps blasted through the disorganised remnants of Soviet forces in Poland, aided by elements of the Polish and East German armies; then swung north into the ex Baltic states. In their way was the the 107th Motorised Rifle Division. However this was a category C division. The Soviets put Herculean efforts in place to get at least one or two regiments up to combat strength. Old tanks were pulled out of storage and a whole battalion of new T-64 tanks was delivered to the division

The tip of the German schwerepunkt was 1 Panzer Div. It was pushing so hard it became strung out in tenuous line trailing toward Alytus. On the 21st the lead elements brushed aside the majority of the 1st Battalion 9th Tank Regiment south of Alytus and destroyed the depot of the 126th Motor Rifle Regiment. The Germans are now poised to cross the mighty Nemen River

 Roster, Order of Battle & Map.

German Deployment

1 Kompanie 31 Panzer Bataillon starts off table and moves on in turn 1 along road J, Its in column so each stand after first loses 3cm move for each stand that went before it

Everything else is a reinforcement (red entries are Soviet reinforcements so players can use this table as quick reference chart)

Turn German Unit Soviet Unit
2 Stab 31 Pz Btl & 1 Pz Kp 24 Pz Btl  
3 3 PzG Btl 24 Pz Btl  
4 20 Pz Pio Btl  
5 2 Pz Kp 31 Pz Btl &  Stabs Kp 1 PD HQ 9th Tank Regiment
6 "Straggler Set 1" & FO 2 Bttr 25 Pz Art Btl  
7 3 Pz Kp 31 Pz Btl  
8 20 PzJgr Kp  
9 "Straggler Set 2" Mortar Rifle Battalion and HQ Company 107th MRD
10 1 PzG Kp 22 PzG Btl  
11 "Straggler Set 3" 3rd Tank Battalion
12 "Straggler Set 4"  

Straggler sets are treated as a companies for morale purposes. They have no command and are assumed not to be subordinate to any on board HQ. so they must be taken command of in order to receive orders. However if they have no orders they may have a "free" full advance order along the road to the east. This will get then no further than the bridge over the Neman.

[Instead of having the German reinforcements programmed they could be randomised. each turn roll 1d12, ignore '1's. Re-roll any results where reinforcements have already been deployed]

All German reinforcements arrive down road J, in convoy. For each stand ahead of the stand entering it loses 3" of move.

Soviet Deployment

HQ Coy 9th TR, 1st Bttn 9th Tank Regt and the stragglers from 126th MR Regt are deployed to the west of the Neman (WY) and over 12cm from point J.  No stands can start within 6cm of the bridges.

The companies of the 126th must start over 12cm from each other, though the command stand may deploy as the player wishes (see special rules)

One stand from each battalion of the Regimental Engineer Coy must be placed adjacent to each of the road and railway bridges. They are entrenched (+3 cover)

2nd Bttn 9th Tank Regt and the Regt Recce Coy are deployed anywhere in the designated deployment zone. The T-64 companies must be deployed over 12cm from each other, but the BHQ,  recce may be deployed as the Soviet player sees fit. All vehicles are dug in (+2 cover)

Regt AA Battalion can be deployed in either the zone noted on the map. All stands are dug in (+3 cover for foot stands, +2 cover for the vehicles)

1st Coy Motor Rifle Bttn can be deployed in the same deployment zone as 2nd Bttn 9th Tank Regt or up to 6cm to the west of it. All stands are entrenched (+3 cover), vehicles are dug in (+2 cover)

The Divisional Tank Battalion, is deployed on table in the indicated zone. Its not dug in

HQ 9th Tank Regiment is a reinforcement and arrives turn 5 between down road C

Mortar Rifle Battalion and HQ Company 107th MRD  are reinforcements and arrive turn 9 between points town road C

3rd Tank Battalion is a reinforcement on turn 11 either down road H or road G

Terrain

The map is 5ft x 4ft if playing at 1cm = 50m, north is indicated by the compass rose.

The green areas are dense woods, so are impassable to vehicles, half speed for troops on foot. The brown lines through the woods are sandy paths which count as open for the purposes of movement. Max visibility down the paths is 6cm. Stands on the path still get a +1 cover bonus

The red lines are roads. Where the road is flanked by forest max visibility along the road is 6cm. Stands on the road in the forest still get a +1 cover bonus

The dashed black line is a railway. Where the railway is flanked by forest max visibility is 6cm. Stands on the railway in the forest still get a +1 cover bonus

The large grey area is a 10cm x 10cm BUA's, the small grey squares are 3cm x 3cm.  Personnel within the BUA's get +2 cover. Vehicles and towed guns get +1 cover. There are no ROF penalties.

The blue lines are  streams. The streams cost a BMA to cross. And can be bridged my the AVLB.  The Neman (WY) is bigger and is impassable. Amphibious vehicles, if they can find a suitable bank, can swim the Neman taking  BMA to enter and a BMA to exit. They can move 6cm a turn along the Neman. Engineer stands have Rubber boats that make one stand 1 personnel stand amphibious. The engineers must be adjacent to a bank to deploy the boats. the boats return to the engineers stand instantly once they have offloaded their infantry. When a stand reaches as bank, roll d6. on a 5-6 that 12cm section is suitable for entering and exiting the water (this includes the far bank). If an engineer stand is present that increases to 3-6. Amphibious vehicles: Luchs, BMP, BTR, SA-9 and BRDM-2. The M113 is not considered amphibious for this scenario (overloaded)

Green dotted lines are tree-lines which break LOS and give +1 cover. Where a stream is flanked by green dotted lines the stream and trees are considered one obstacle, so if adjacent to to trees or stream on the table a stand can see through the tree line and be seen. Where the road and railway are adjacent to tree lines all stands on the road and railway are considered to be adjacent to BOTH tree lines.

The tan lines are crest lines. Crest lines break LOS and give hull down positions to AFV's touching them (-2 cover)

Special Rules

The game starts at 14:00 and lasts until 21:30 i.e. 15 turns. At the end of the 15th turn roll d10. On a 6+ there is a 16th turn. The16th turn is twilight and visibility drops to 12"

The 126th MRR stragglers are NOT under command of the depot HQ at the start of the game. The HQ must take command of the stragglers in order to give them orders

1st Coy Motor Rifle Bttn, 2nd Bttn 9th Tank Regt, Regt AA Battalion (-)  and the Regt Recce Coy may not be given orders to move until there is at least one German stand in LOS of a Soviet stand on the eastern bank of the Neman (WY). However on turn 9 everything is free to move even if the Germans have been tardy crossing the bridges.

The Divisional Tank Battalion may not move outside of its deployment zone until turn 9 or until there is a German stand in LOS and within 20cm. If forced back out of the zone, the stands must be ordered within as soon as possible

The 1st Tank Battalion may not retreat east over the bridges, unless it has only one tank remaining.

Bridge Demolition

The bridges will be blown at the end of turn 7. The engineers must not be shaken or demoralised to do so and must still be adjacent to the bridge.

Due to lack of time to study the bridges the demolition will not drop the bridges. It will make them impassable to vehicles, but not foot stands. The damage can be repaired in 4 turns by an engineer stand under a full advance order, that is not being shot at (H&I fire does not count as shot at). A pair of pioneer stands will halve the repair times.

Air Support

(Air rules)

The Germans roll d6 every turn on a 5-6 they get air support. As long as no German stands are on the eastern side of the Nemen they get 2 Tornados. Otherwise they get a pair of Alpha Jets

The Soviets roll d6 every turn. On a 6 they get air support and may roll on the following table: 1-3: 2 MiG-23BN & 5-6 2 MiG-21bis

Soviet planes are placed first

All planes on both sides carry cluster bombs

Roads and tracks though the forest are considered as "open" for the purposes of targeting by aircraft

 

 

 

 

 

MiG-23BN

MiG-21bis

Tornado

Alpha Jet

System

Min Rng

ROF

Quality

Note

Rng

save

rang

save

rng

save

rng

save

SA-9

20

1

10

not front 90°

 

 

 

 

180

1-8

180

-

SA-14

12

1

10

not front 90°

 

 

 

 

120

1-2

120

-

ZSU-23-4

0

1

9-10

 

 

 

 

 

15

30

-

1-2

30

-

Gepard

0

1

9-10

 

20

40

-

1-2

40

-

 

 

 

 

Tornado has a ROF of 3, MiG-23BN ROF of 2, MiG-21 ROF of 1 and Alphajet ROF of 1

Victory Conditions

The Germans score 2VP for every AFV to the east of the road GE and south of river DB. The Soviets get a VP for any AFV's east of the Neman. They get 2 VPs for any AFV's to the west of the Neman. The Germans get a bonus VP for each AFV they place within 20cm of  road exit F maximum of three AFV's. VPs are assessed at the end of the last turn.

For the purposes of VP's any armed vehicle with an armour rating counts as an AFV

To count for VP's AFV's must be in good morale. Good morale is not shaken and not demoralised.