DAR: USSR vs Finland

[RERomine]

Turn 40

Turned out to be a bit early to say all organized resistence was done. Found six enemy squads, at least, have broken through on the engineer's right flank and are in the rear. Engaged them with Alpha squads, right flank guard guns and four tanks. The enemy turned one flag, but I should be able to get it back.

One more enemy squad popped out of the trees after the Kosmolet flags again. Having a full platoon of friend troops there, he got nailed pretty quickly.

Three enemy squads completely destroyed.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Estimated 10 casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 41

Squashed all visible resistence around engineer's position. I know there is at least one more enemy squad around, which would be the one that turned the flag. I'm moving forward slowly with one squad and four tanks. Alpha platoon closing in on first of two flags west of the position.

ACs dashing across open area into wood in northwest corner of map. There are three flags in there.

Kosmolet closing in another flag.

Four enemy squads completely destroyed.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Estimated 10 casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 42

Found two enemy squads pushing into my rear area and engaged with ATGs. Moving up on AAMG, four tanks and one squad. Untill then, it is up to the ATGs. They did pretty well, turning both.

ACs at the woods now. Hopefully, there is time for them to move through the trees.

Kosmolet closing in another flag.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Estimated 5 casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 43

Tanks engaged two enemy squads, destroying one. The other is in full retreat. Alpha infantry turned two flags; the one recently turned and another in front of the engineer's position. Another enemy squad remnant was found forward of the position and destroyed.

ACs still moving toward flags. I split them up, having them head to two different flags.

Kosmolet turned another flag.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Estimated 5 casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 44

Last seen enemy squad destroyed. Two light tanks going to cover nearest rear area flag.

ACs turned one flag. Other armored car still moving forward.

Enemy squad popped out of woods near two flags covered by Charlie platoon and was quickly destroyed.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Estimated 5 casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 45

No enemy units in sight.

ACs turned another flag. That leaves two to go. One the ACs are after and the Alpha after the last. I should get both.

Enemy artillery still giving my HMG section fits

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 46

No enemy units in sight.

Alpha got their flag and one armored car is 50m from the last.

Incoming mail stopped, but HMG section is running.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Decisive Victory!!!!

Turn 47

AC captured last flag.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Zero.

Total Casualties

USSR

Men: 35
Artillery: 0
Soft Vehicles: 0
APCs: 1
AFVs: 0
Air Transports/Helos: 0
Aircraft: 0

Finland

Men: 283
Artillery: 1
Soft Vehicles: 0
APCs: 0
AFVs: 3
Air Transports/Helos: 0
Aircraft: 0

Score

USSR: 3817
Finland: 38

Final Comments

I was pleased with how this battle turned out. The echelon front worked out well. Alpha Company was able to send help to the engineers (two of three engineers survived) and Charlie Company helped out Bravo. Some of this was luck, however. If the enemy had hit Alpha and engineers, the engineers would have been out of luck. As it is, the enemy did break through in significant numbers in the engineers' sector.

The enemy tossing an entire Jaeger Company at my engineers was dumb luck. It was my weakest defended area and the lakes created an obstacle in getting reinforcements into the area. For the most part, my engineers aren't much better than rifle squads. Only one out of three had flame throwers and satchel charges. The other two are engineers because they can clear obstacles, nothing more.

Enemy tanks rushing down the east-west road delayed Delta Company some, but they were able to ultimately get into position. The lone tank that escaped my hasty ambush was an annoyance, but nothing more.

The estimate of opposing forces was pretty much right on, but this is simple to determine. Set your preferences to your force point value and then start a battle taking the other side. You will get some ideas what you will be up against. The only fault I found with the enemy force selection was the ski sniper. It took out a couple of men and destroyed a Kosmolet. Given how much a ski sniper costs, they could have gotten a couple of ATGs (they had none), two more tanks or another platoon of infantry. I don't think the AI handles snipers as they should be handled and it ended up being a waste of points.

The spotter plane worked out well. It gave me enough information so I could shift troops as needed. There is no substitute for good battlefield intel. The enemy had only two AAMGs, but I made sure I kept my spotter plane out of harms way. Not expecting any SPAA units, all I had to do is keep it at least 750m outside of the enemy deployment zone.

The next battle is a Special Battle. I get to perform a delay against Finland. At least I wasn't hurt badly, so it shouldn't be too badly.

I've attached the save just before I ended my last turn. Enjoy!

[RERomine]

For anyone who is interested, the Special Battle delay I fought next turned out to be a knock down, drag out fight. It would have been a much better battle to do a DAR on.

My forces squared off against five Finnish ski companies and one tank company. The right flank of my line was hit by most of their tanks supported by infantry and began to collapse almost as soon as the tanks showed up. I sent tanks over to help and after a protracted battle, this part of my line was able to regroup and throw the enemy back.

The center of my line fought long and hard, but eventually dissolved. Near as I can figure, my center company was hit by three Finnish infantry companies. If you figure the center of my line was covered by one full company and one platoon from each flanking company, almost all those infantry units were shattered. Out of 21 squads, 11 remained on my center area once the battle was complete. Of those remaining 11 squads, only 6 were more than half strength.

My left flank faired well as were only hit by one enemy company supported by a few tanks and cavalry. Fields of fire were very open here, so the Finnish forces didn't succeed in making much headway.

I've attached the save just before the battle ended. If you take a look, one thing that stands out is the almost complete lack of any line with my forces (USSR). Two platoons on my extreme right flank are lined up, but everywhere else, units are scattered all over the place.

In the center, I pulled together everyone still able to move and chased after flags captured by the Finns. Tanks, infantry and armored cars were used to counter attack. I knew that although my center fell apart, the Finns paid dearly getting through. Turns out I was correct, because they were pretty much done when I found them.

On the left, my forces are very scattered also, but for a somewhat different reason. To use the terrain properly as I saw it, I decided to yield several flags with my deployment, expecting I could recapture them after the battle. Once the enemy was beaten on the left, I sent my men out to recapture flags and destroy any stragglers. It was about this time the enemy started coming around from their rear, having busted through my center and circling around some lakes. Everyone not specifically guarding a flag was heading to engage the enemy coming from the rear.

In the end, I lost over 300 men where Finland lost more than twice that number. I held 20 out of 21 flags at the end and would have gotten the last one if I had one more turn. As it was, the battle went two turns beyond the original length. Those two turns allowed me time to recapture two flags. I had lost a total of six, but recaptured five of those. My final result was a Marginal Victory. Given my casualties, it is unlikely capturing that last flag would have changed the result. I believe you need a 10:1 point ratio to get a decisive victory and the 120 point swing on that one flag would not have allowed that to happen. Close, but it wouldn't quite have been there.

One other interesting note is how much my core value increased over the last two battles. After the first battle, my core value increased about 9%. In these last two battles, my core value has increased 42%. This increase is despite the fact that 27 units were completely destroyed and had to be replace at a base experience level of 50. In these three battles, my core has been the same each time. Honestly, there wasn't anything to upgrade to between 9/1939 and 1/1940.

I don't really expect much out of my next battle. My force is assaulting and I'm using the exact same force as the first three battles. All I'm taking out of support points is one spotter plane.

Here is the save from that last battle just before I ended my final turn.