Barbarossa, Turn 1, June: AAR 2 - Lithuanian Border

The commander of the 13th NKVD Border Company stood over the shoulder of his radio operator, waiting for any instruction  He had expected either the arrival of reinforcements or an order to withdraw to a more defensible position, but neither came.  Around him the entire world began to explode, as German artillery landed.  Deafened by the sound of the explosions, the world suddenly went black.

The Battlefield

Set somewhere along the road entering southwestern Lithuania, the 13th NKVD Border Company was deployed straddling the road entering Lithuania in hex 2125 of the Fire in the East game map. It would soon be under attack by the German 101st Motorized Infantry Battalion.

Looking north, the Germans enter from the south edge, 

with the Soviets dug in in the distance.

Russian Forces

1x  NKVD Border Company

    1x CHQ

    3x Inf Pltn, each with 1x PHQ, 3x Rifle Section

German Forces

Elements of the 101st Motorized infantry Battalion, attacking forces consist of:

2x Motorized Infantry Company, each with:

    1x CHQ, ATR

    3x Mot Inf Pltn

        1x PHQ

        3x Rifle Section

    1x Sup Pltn

        1xPHQ

        2x MG section

        3x 5cm mortar

1x 7.5cm IG Btty

1x 8cm Mortar Btty

The Battle

The battle started with an artillery barrage that lasted a half-hour or more.  When it ended the company had lost its commander, as had one platoon, and four rifle sections were no more.  They would have surrendered, but there was no one yet to surrender to.

The German artillery took it's toll.

Minutes passed and much of the smoke cleared before the Germans could be seen coming down the road.  By this time one of the Soviet platoon commanders had sort of rallied the remaining forces, and all stood firm, waiting for the German onslaught.

The Germans advanced across the open, mostly level landscape.  The only cover were a bushes occasionally separating fields, and a few shallow depressions.  The Germans moved to the nearest line of bushes, dismounted and found some cover.

Not able to see any Russian activity, they began their advance over the open ground.  The infantry guns offered covering fire as did the 5cm and 8cm mortars.

The Germans advance.

The Soviets began firing once the Germans were within 600 meters, too far really to have any affect, not having any sort of heavy weapons, and giving away their positions.

Both sides take casualties.

German infantry guns and mortars began firing, wildly at first, but eventually settled down and began to inflict casualties.  During that time, the Soviets managed to destroy about a platoon of advancing German infantry.

Two of the German 7.5cm infantry guns.

Slowly the Germans managed to close with the last Soviet squad on the German right, destroyed it, and started to work their way through the artillery-wrecked trenches.  Mortars and guns finished off the Soviets in the center, the few Soviets to the left began to surrender, with some being shot and only one platoon headquarters managing to be taken prisoner.

Last of the Russians of the German right fall.

Germans moving west, clearing the trenches.

Losses

The Soviets lost the entire NKVD Company which started the battle with no heavy weapons and nearly down to 50 percent strength.

The Germans lost 5 rifle squads, a PHQ, and one MG section

Final Thoughts

After a year of build-up, it was something of an anticlimactic battle; though, I imagine that any campaign is bound to have some of these.

The Campaign maps for Fire in the East are kind of bare with respect to deriving terrain for a miniatures battle, so before setting up the game, I hopped on Google Earth to check out the general location for this battle, and it was pretty much flat and empty; not many buildings, practically no trees, etc.  Maybe the FitE maps were bare for a reason.

The combination of the small and relatively simple forces involved in the battle, the lopsided nature of the matchup, and the lack of cover combined with the small scale, left me feeling a little lost and somewhat intimidated.  The result was that I mostly ignored doctrine and tactics, just kind of bumbled through it, and found myself repeatedly thinking, "Wow, that was stupid".

I also nearly forgot to run the pre-game artillery barrage, actually advancing the Germans a few turns onto the table, before realizing my omission.  Fortunately the two sides were well out of range of each other, so it wasn't a problem conducting the barrage a little late.

Regarding the battle itself, the loss of the Soviet company commander, and two of the three platoon headquarters to artillery left them on the verge of surrender at the start of the battle.  They simply didn't have the resources to last very long.

All things considered, a bit of a bumpy start to the campaign.