It's June 22, 1941. Grey uniformed shock troops lay quiet on the river bank in the early morning fog. The last of Stalin's trains filled with grain and petroleum rolls over a nearby bridge. The artillery sets its sights and erupts with a sound heard from Helsinki to Odessa. I'm off and playing Army Group Center (AGC). It's only June, but my feet feel cold already.

So after all the excitement, I change my pants and begin to plan the invasion. I consider myself an Europa commander of moderate experience, having played Western Desert, Fall of France and FITE (Army Group South). This is my first AGC command.

My goal in this article is to describe my experiences and the hard lessons learned. Hopefully, if enough Europa players do this, the guys at GRD can see if the play balance for this game is correct. So here I go.

Initial Setup

The Soviets have a strong setup, especially around Brest. There will be no breakthroughs here since each stack is over 6 points and/or in a forest or swamp. Most of non-divisional artillery and antitank units are deployed forward, leaving only a few 4-2-8 artillery pieces back around Minsk. HOWEVER, I note the Soviet right flank has a major flaw.

The flaw is with the 11th Army deployed along the border. The 3rd Mechanized Corps is deployed behind the Neman river in hexes 1B:2919, 3019, and 3120. Artillery was not deployed with the individual divisions. This means only four points of defense in each hex. Big screw-up. All I have to do is attack across the Neman river in the surprise phase to gain a bridgehead and it's overrun city in the Jun II move.

Two commandos are scheduled to airdrop in separate hexes behind Daugavpils. If the Neman river line is wiped out by overruns in the Jun II move, Daugavpils can be taken in the Jun II attack. Commandos will cut off any retreats nicely.

[Note: Advanced Rule 38A, Retreats and Overruns, was not being used in this game. -RG]

In the following paragraphs is a description of each turn and what were significant events. Generally, I describe the action in three areas of AGC - right flank, center, and left flank.

In the Center of It All Planning the 1941 Invasion of the USSR

Introduction and Initial Set Up
Surprise and Jun II Turns
Jul, Aug, and Sep Turns
Oct, Nov, Dec Turns
Summary