The battle commenced at 0530 with fog limiting visibility to only 100 meters. By about 0700 the fog burned off but its presence encouraged the German to be a bit more elaborate with his troop movements than he'd otherwise have been. He split his force, sending the 1/204th Tank Battalion along the front of the German antitank ditch to attack Korpetsch from the front while his 2/204th Tank Battalion, with the 1/29th Antiaircraft Company attached, drove west around the antitank minefield with the intent of outflanking Korpetsch and cutting it off from any reinforcements from Tulumtschak. The Soviet 1/263rd Rifle Battalion sat tight in its entrenchment south of Korpetsch and waited for the expected German attack.

As the fog lifted, the Soviet player asked for and received a fire mission from the divisional artillery battalion, hindering 1/204 ths movement across his front. The 1/204th launched an overrun against the Soviet entrenchment, first deploying its armored infantry. Both sides lost a platoon of infantry during the initial assault and the Germans fell back to reconsider. At this point the Soviet player rejoiced because with the lifting of the fog, his 15th Tank Regiment could now spot the 2/204th advancing to its south, which permitted an attempt to change its orders from Defend to Attack. At turns end, when he tried to change the 15 ths orders to Attack, they ignored him The 2/204th continued its flanking maneuver, approaching Korpetsch from due west.

At about 0730 the 1/204th repeated its assault on the Soviet entrenchment, slowly whittling down the defenders while taking considerable damage himself. By turns end the 1/263rd had lost half its strength while the 1/204th had taken about 25% casualties. At this point the 1/263rd should've fled the trenches but a rousing speech by the battalion political officer, combined with a 6 on the morale test (anything but a 5 or 6 would've routed the battalion from the tabletop) made the survivors dig in and await the next attack. Meanwhile, the 2/204th continued its drive on the town from the west, flanking the entrenchment and taking under fire the 45mm antitank battery and 76mm regimental gun battery that, for the last half hour, had been making life miserable for the 1/204 ths armor.

Through all of this the 2/263rd Rifle Battalion remained with Defend orders in Korpetsch - which seemed like a good idea because the demise of the 1/263rd seemed eminent. Soviet artillery support continued, suppressing several of the 1/204th s tanks, hindering their attack on the entrenchment and the west edge of Korpetsch. The 2/204 ths armored infantry had, by this time, ground the Soviet 1/263rd down to less than a company, though they'd taken heavy losses themselves. The 1/263rd had by now taken and passed (!) three morale checks and all that remained of them in the trenches were fanatics with no further use or need for morale. A little after 0800 the Soviet player finally aroused the 15th and issued Attack orders, to attack into and to hold Korpetsch.

The German player continued to reduce the entrenchment and destroyed the Soviet support batteries at the west edge of Korpetsch with a combination of artillery and tank gun fire. By this time the Soviet 15th had moved up close enough to attract the German 1/204 ths attention. In a short firefight the 1/204th lost both of its Pz IVf platoons to the 15 ths T34s. Soviet artillery support again fired with effect at about 0830, destroying the 1/29th in its entirety. Seeing the 15th threaten the 2/204 ths flank, the German player ordered the 2/204th to fall back to the west to threaten the 15 ths right flank. Just at that point, the 1/204 ths losses in the face of the now dwindling Soviet defense in the trenches, proved too much; the 1/204th broke and fell back through the antitank ditch to regroup, removing it from the battle. Now the German player found the 2/204th seriously outnumbered so at 1000 he changed the 2/204 ths orders to move it back through the German antitank ditch and safety, ending the battle in a Soviet victory.

Larger version of map at right: (Warning: big file--slow download)

The German player planned his attack in a more focused manner than his historical counterpart, Oberst Koppenburg, but suffered from appalling luck throughout the battle. The German 1/204th broke when it reached 50% losses. The Soviet 1/263rd hung on after taking 80% losses. Attacking the entrenchment in front of Korpetsch was, in hindsight, a costly mistake. Bypassing the trench lines altogether, as the 2/204th tried to do, would've placed German infantry in Korpetsch behind the Soviet infantry in the entrenchment, seriously complicating the Soviet position The 15th saved the day for the Soviets. Had it remained inactive (it took several turns to change the regiments orders to Attack, as it was) for two or three turns longer, the Germans would've finished reducing the entrenchment and would've had troops in Korpetsch.

The rules require - they demand - a clear plan of action before play begins and are very unforgiving of a bad (or unlucky) plan. This is especially so for the Soviets, as they've only one chance in six of changing a battalions orders during any given turn - as was amply demonstrated with the ongoing attempts to change the 15 ths orders. The Germans, in contrast, can change a battalions orders five times out of six, due to much superior command control.

Speed of play and the draw an arrow command control system are the high points of Spearhead. We played this game at a bit faster than real-time with no problem and faced a number of very frustrating (and reasonable/realistic) problems while doing so.

In a small game such as this (2 - 3 battalions per side), some of the game mechanisms (combat, morale), designed specifically for larger games, seemed a bit too simple. The authors make no apology for this, though, as Korpetsch is at the very bottom end of the size spectrum for battles, and in larger games, simplicity is a virtue.

Tactically, there was little to differentiate the three games for either the Germans or the Soviets. In the Soviet case, they were required by the scenario to put troops in Korpetsch and Tulumtschak, and they did. They took advantage of the entrenchment south of Korpetsch which, in light of the German players response, proved a reasonable thing to do. In all three games the 1/263rd Rifle Battalion was annihilated, but even in the case where the Germans gained a foothold in Korpetsch, the fight for the entrenchment ensured that the German wound up with inadequate infantry to hold their corner of the town.

The commitment of the 15th Tank Regiment was a given. The only variable was the matter of how quickly the Soviet player could commit it. It was interesting to me that, in CDII, the 15th could respond and get to where it was needed quickly, but had almost no staying power; in CoA, it was able to respond - but only slowly - but had reasonable; and in SH, it almost didn't respond at all - but would have had good staying power had it got to the battle.

Soviet artillery was made available on-call and not merely pre-planned due mainly to Oberst Koppenburg's commentary; he noted its abundance, flexibility, and general effectiveness. German artillery was limited in quantity mainly because Koppenburg made almost no use of it beyond trying to get Division to put a battery on the line for antitank work when he ran into the KV1s.

German tactics had more scope for flexibility, but in each scenario, the German elected to attack the entrenchment, reinforcing his left to swing around into SW Korpetsch. This unfortunately forced commitment of the limited German infantry before actually attacking the town, which is where they were really needed. Had the German bypassed the entrenchment - on either side - things might've turned out quite differently. One battalion could have blocked the Soviet tank regiment while the other, with supporting infantry, attacked one corner of Korpetsch.

The Soviet infantry in the entrenchment would have found themselves out of the battle unless they counterattacked the tank battalions across open ground - something, facing tanks, they didn't want to do. The German antiaircraft company, with auto-cannon, was ideally suited for defending against just this eventuality. By-and-large, the German player in each scenario did a bit better than Oberst Koppenburg did, for several reasons, chief of which was the fact that in the game, none of the German formations got lost or misplaced.

The Comparison

WWII Rules Comparison Introduction
Rules Overview (all three sets)
Assault on Korpetsch (historical overview and order of battle)
Clash of Armor replay
Command Decision II replay
Conclusion

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