The Panzer Division presents some interesting problems, in that it needs to be broken down into several Kampfgruppen. As it exists at the moment, the division as a whole takes up too much road space to move anywhere quickly and with ease into action. There are two tank battalions, seven (including Klein Deutschland) motorized battalions, and several other battalions. I would suggest keeping Klein Deutschland as a unit, and then forming the 1st Panzer Division into three Kampfgruppen:
KAMPFGRUPPE A
Divisional HQ
I Battalion, Panzer
1st Rifle Regiment
Medium Artillery Bn
Engineer Company
AT Company
KAMPFGRUPPE B
Panzer Regiment HQ
II Battalion, Panzer
2nd Rifle Regiment
Light Artillery Bn
Engineer Company
AT Company
KAMPFGRUPPE C
Artillery Regiment HQ
Recon Battalion
Motorcycle Battalion
Light Infantry Bn
Engineer Company
AT Company
This gives you two heavy and one light Motorized unit to operate with during the game, with the units able to move quickly to where they are needed. Remember above all else - INFANTRY MAKES THE HOLES - ARMOR EXPLOITS THEM. With the above organization the Russians will not be able to mass their anti-tank resources against where the Panzer Division is operating, but rather they can never be sure just where the Germans are going to attack.
Having reorganized the German Army for the campaign, the following points need to be kept in mind.
RULE #1: REWARD SUCCESS, NOT FAILURE:
A long standing joke that grew out of the playtest game was the story of the Klein Deutschland Motorized Regiment. As the game went on, Klein Deutsch land grew from a reinforced regiment to a Brigade, and from a Brigade to a full sized division, and working its way to being a corps when the game ended. The player commanding this unit was the most successful German commander, though at the start of the game he had been ranked as one of the lesser threats by Soviet intelligence. By the end of the game, the Soviets realized that where he showed up, that is where they would have the most trouble.
RULE #2: MAKE SURE EVERY BATTLE HAS A COMMANDER WHO COMMANDS:
In every game played in the campaign, where two or more battalions were present on both sides, the winning side, regardless of odds, went to the side that had a commander who actually commanded. All too often, the player in command of a battle would assign units to players, making sure that he had kept a unit to run himself. Thus, while he busied himself in running his unit, no one would take charge of the battle as a whole. Instead, each commander would do what he thought was right, without regard for the plan or the overall intended goal.
In battles where the overall commander declined to take a unit, and instead rode herd on his commanders, things always went better. As long as that commander went up and down his edge of the board, keeping track of his sub commanders, that side always did betterthan the other. The classic example of that happened early in the game, when the Recon Battalion of the Panzer Division was cut off and surrounded by the Russians. In the "mopping up" action, no senior Russian commander existed, though three Russian battalions were in action against the shot-up remains of the Germans. The road by which the Germans could escape was used as the dividing line for the advance of two of the Russian Infantry battalions through the woods, with the result that neither battalion took responsibility for covering that escape route. The German battalion escaped, as each Russian commander assumed that the other would cover it.
The Germans had a harder time learning this lesson than did the Russians, with the result that the Russian won a number of battles that they should have lost, as in those battles the Germans did very well on a battalion level, while the Russians were fighting their battles on a board level and winning overall.
RULE #3: KILL THE NKVD:
Each border area of the NKVD is really a battalion in strength. In the playtest game, enough stands of the NKVD survived that, with the aid of replacements, they formed the 38th and 39th RIFLE BRIGADES. These units, rated as Veteran, were the fire brigade of the Soviet Defenses. Marshall Wally motorized these units as soon as he could, and ran them back and forth to where the Germans threatened to break through. The campaign will go a lot easier if you kill these at the start.
RULE #4: POCKET, DON'T PUSH:
The breakthroughs that were made by the German commanders failed to bag any prisoners as the Germans were too often content to kick the Russians off the Roads and press on. Two complete Russian Regiments of Infantry were left behind German lines and walked back to the Russian lines as no one bothered to stop them from moving overland and escaping out. The capture of ground is not as important as the destruction and/or capture of Russian units at the start of the game. Rate your commanders by their effect on the enemy, not on the ground that they take.
RULE #5: DON'T TAKE COUNCIL OF YOUR FEARS:
In campaign games, where there is a carry-over effect from game to game, it was the experience on both sides that players tended to freeze up in action and fail their personal morale when they were confronted with the enemy in numbers greater than they expected, or when things started to go wrong. Know what you need to do, and do your best to carry it out. Remember that the Russians have problems of their own, and that any extra time that you give the Russian by backing off and reorganizing will rebound against you.
RULE #6: DON'T EXPECT THE RUSSIANS TO ROLL OVER AND PLAY DEAD:
Have a plan, follow that plan, and be prepared for some hard fighting.
Command Decision's Barbarossa 25 WWII Campaign Notes
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