The Russian 39th Army was firmly entrenched in the inaccessible primeval forests between Belyi and Rzhev. Recently pocketed by a German attack cutting their last supply route, this army was scheduled for destruction. Attacking along the Wjasma road towards the south-west was Kavallerie-Brigade zBV beim AOK 9, a brainchild of Generaloberst Walter Model and created specifically for this operation. Made up of reconnaissance battalions from Model's infantry divisions, the brigade was a crack outfit designed to handle the swampy forest terrain.- - - -
In "Cavalry Brigade Model", German cavalry must prevent elements of a Russian rifle division from withdrawing in good order to their secret rallying point. To ensure success, the Germans may need to rely more on maneuver than fire.
Attacker: German (Kavallerie-Brigade zBV beim AOK 9 and Panzer-Regiment 31, 5. Panzer-Division)
Went to the last CC Phase with the Russians surviving with a crew, HS and squad against overwhelming odds. The dice favored the Russians throughout.
2020-07-19
(A) Jason Wert
vs
Jay Elwell
Russian win
2013-11-08
(D) X von Marwitz
vs
Philippe Briaux
German win
Played this one again as the Russian against a nice guy and tough opponent. He entered only less than half of his force Around the L10 area on Turn 1 and kept the rest offboard to come in later. Avoiding the vulnerability of Cavalry, he dismounted soon and skillfully managed to overcome my gun in the area by flanking it with a tank from behind making a defensive fire hit difficult. I fell back with my western defence quickly to get closer to my rally point while in the east my first lane defenders went down rather quickly. In Turn 2 more Cavalry entered from the west to try to cut off my retreat. Turn 3 saw yet more Cavalry galloping along the woods roads entering from the south. All in all, the German was quick enough to cut some of my retreat paths not forgetting to carefully keep any of my broken units under DM that he had bypassed. This left me with not enough units to make an effective stand around the rally point. Good use of Cavalry which was just used as Model would have intended it.
2013-10-08
(D) X von Marwitz
vs
David Wallace
Russian win
This is an intersting scenario in which (for once) Cavalry can be put to good use if handled properly. This, of course, includes not being shot at while being mounted...
For the Russian the order of the day is to delay the German as much as possible and not to miss the right point when to fall back. While doing so, the Russian is well advised to keep the German guessing about where the Rally Point is. If the Russian can make it appear that he could move towards several "convincing" Rally Points at the same time, that can drive the German nuts where towards he should move. At the same time, the Russian has to watch out, that the Germans do not cut him off from the point he has to reach.
I would rate this pro Russian by tendency. In our game, I could not appear to hit anything while the Cavalry was still mounted. Still, the Russians won, albeit it could have gone the German way, without the German knowing, however, that he was very close at some point.
What makes this scenario interesting is the unusual tactical situation and maneuvering.