[Lt. Ketch]

Son,

I write to you from friendly lines, but not how I would prefer to be writing you. My last letter was full of hope and victory, but we have suffered much in the little time since I have written. We repelled the German advance multiple times, but it was not enough to deter them from attacking again. No sooner had I finished my letter to you then one of the picketts came running into camp with a report that the Germans were moving against us in that instant. We fell back to a position I deemed more defensible, two blocks of buildings seperated by a wide bulavard with good cover for our "borrowed" 57mms, mortar and MMG team. We didn't have time to resupply from the last conflict and I longed for the 38 men we had lost in the last fight. Our status was by company commander with the mortars and MMGs under him, 12 squads of rifle men, a sniper and three squads of Marains. Losses were heavier in the third platoon of rifles, but every platoon had at least one squad with around 50% losses. We set up in the buildings for close quarters fighting and positioned a few squads overlooking the bolavard which was to be a "kill zone" were we could bring our guns and mmgs to bear. They enemy led with a 5 Pz IVEs, but I felt confidant in our ATGs as they have been able to knock out everything we've come across. Sadly, regrettably, stuipidly, I ordered them to hold fire too long. By the time I gave the command, German smoke had abscured the targets (expect for one, which was destroyed) and in the next minute 10.5cm iron rain started to fall on the guns. both were put out of commission, one destroyed and one crew routed. My squads that boardered the street accounted for one more tank, but were soon pinned and unable to do anything from the masses of infantry advnacing behind the tanks. Again, the MMG was unable to fire due to smoke and the Mortar crew was routed by the artilary. The men in the buildings also came under heavy fire from wave upon wave of infantry. It was when artilary started to fall on the positions in the buildings that I desided that we had to withdraw and save as many lives as we could. I ordered a fighting retreat until I could be sure that any pursuit would be slow and cautions. The squads in the northern block were able to do this fairly successfully, but were delayed at a cross road by a Pz IVE which was soon immobalized and later destroyed, based on the desition that if it wasn't, it would not only slow us up but kill a lot of men in the proccess. The southern retreat was less organized and more costly as two of the Pzs. chased our men from building to building, leaving a pathway of ruind buildings in their wake. My own staff gave supporting fire for several squads who were crossing the road for the cover of the buildings on our side. We lost many, many men. I was awed during this terrifying experiences when one squad of 4 men left of 10 were chased for 300+ yards by the two remaining Pz IVEs and returned fire at every opportunity. This action allowed his fellow squad escape. The four men were killed in action, but our forces in the area were no longer pursued. I will make sure that they are awared the Order of Lenin for their actions. In the north, there were many times that artilary fell, stalling the advance and the germans came up to engage our troops. It became my policy that every squad that was not able to withdraw in an orderly fashion was supported by a squad that could have. The rescuers would return fire if necessary and make sure that the pinned squad was masked my cover so that they might have a chance to regroup and withdraw. In the end, we lost 82 men. This with the prvious 38, makes for 120 of our total 180 men. Yalki Palki! Such a force could not accomplish our origanal plan! We did not know what to do, since we could not fight in force, nor were we small enough to hide. We were spared only, by an advance of our own troops relieving pressure on us. We had accomplished one goal in joining our own lines, but we lost far, far to many men. When I was debriefed, our actions came to the attention of the general staff and they were impressed with our actions in destorying and delaying the German reserves. I have since been put in charge of special infantry company that is to do more of this. All of my origanial men have been kept in the company, but most have recieved attentional training. We shall see if the belly of the beast is any more inviting when we go into it willingly. I'll write more. Until then, at least I have been able to mail my other letters by military post. I'll write more later.

[Background - I couldn't figure out a way for our Commander here to replace such loses in his forces from "volunteers" he stumbles across. For the sake of the story, I have given it this twist. The experiment is running to a close with only three battles left. At this point, I don't believe I will run a longer campaign on the same size map, simply because once you've fought one guy in a phone booth, the next guy is pretty similar. The small space makes manuvering restricted and everything depends on how many squads you have stacked together. I'm looking for a more tactical challenge and so will probably continue playing the USSR, but do it on a larger map with more of a combined arms force. I will most likely post another letter or two here, but we will probaby leave it at that.

If anyone is courious about doing a simpilar situation (behind enemy lines), I would reccomend turning off Tank Heavy, Dropping the supply/repair points to 10%-20%, and figure out some way to incorperate using stolen equipment. (I'd love to have to equipt my infantry squads with german kit (since they would end up running out of their own ammunition), but I couldn't figure out how. The only way I could think of is to replace destroyed squads with "captured" squads in the exapand menu)]