As any Soviet player of Europa knows, the developments along the western border of the Soviet Union during the initial turns of the 1941 campaign are a difficult time.

However, the 3 forts and 20 fortified zones of the western border and Stalin Line help somewhat to minimize the destruction caused by the Axis invasion. As written in The Urals, the 3 forts are assigned to the 5th Army, the 6th Army, and Kiev. The 20 fortified zones are assigned: 5 adjacent to the 1939 Polish border north of hex 1B:4114; 12 within 5 hexes of the 1939 Polish border south of hex 1B:4814; and 3 adjacent to the 1939 Romanian border. In game terms, this setup seems reasonable based on the information available ten years ago. But a vast amount of new Soviet information has been released recently and is now available. For those Europa players wanting additional realism, what follows is an updated version of the situation regarding Soviet fortified zones in the Western Frontier.

The Soviet Ukreplennykh Raionov (URs) were strips of terrain equipped with a system of permanent, hardened emplacements and field fortifications. These URs were especially prepared with material stockpiles for extended defensive operations. They were manned by specially assigned troops and prepared to cooperate with units of the field army. The Soviet URs were constructed in the pre-war years in three distinct groupings.

In the period 1929-1938, a series of 13 URs were built in the USSR. These included the Karelian, Kingisepp, Pskov, Polotsk, Minsk, Mozyr, Korosten, Novgorod-Volynskii, Letichev, Mogilev-1ampolskii, Kiev, Rybnitsa, and Tiraspol Fortified Areas. These extensive defensive areas contained 3,196 defensive structures, including 409 protected artillery emplacements. They were permanently occupied by 25 machine gun battalions with a total strength of 18,000 men. While impressive on paper, by 1941 these URs were decidedly obsolescent. Although some artillery was attached to these URs, most were capable of only forward machine gun fire. All had insufficient depth and no protection to the rear. Finally, most of these URs were incapable of withstanding concentrated artillery fire, and few possessed the internal equipment necessary for flexible defensive operations.

With the worsening international situation, the USSR took steps in 1938-39 to increase the defensive coverage of its frontier. Construction commenced on another 8 URs. These included new zones at Ostrov, Sebezh, Slutsk, lziaslav, Shepetovka, Staro-Konstantinov, Ostropol, and KamanetsPodolskii. It was planned to have these zones contain a significant percentage of concreted structures. In all, 1,028 were concreted, but Soviet industry failed to deliver the necessary raw materials for completion of these URs. Thus, only half of the planned work was finished by the time of Poland's occupation. That event resulted in the suspension of all work on the so-called "Stalin Line". However, this decision was not completely by choice. Moscow still viewed the fortified zones as necessary for defense, but that view was not universal.

The result was that some military-district commanders simply mothballed their URs unilaterally. This was especially true in the Leningrad, Western Special, and Odessa Military Districts where the assigned machine gun battalions just carried off their URs' equipment when they departed for the new frontier. Although new personnel were deployed in the vacated URs, they lacked the training and understanding of the remaining equipment.

In February 1940, after the Finnish War and the supposed lessons of the value of fortified lines, the General Staff demanded that until the western frontier zones were completed all moth-balling of existing URs was forbidden.

After completion of the new fortified zones on the Soviet-German border, the Leningrad, Western Special, and Kiev Special Military Districts were to abolish their URs (with the exception of the Karelian, Kamenets-Podolskii, and Mogilev-Iampolskii URs). The old fortifications were to be moth- balled, and their weapons, ammunition, periscopes, telephones, and other equipment removed to warehouses. Each UR was to be maintained in a state of preservation to allow for quick reactivation if necessary.

As might be imagined, the theory did not become the reality. Some URs had their equipment removed entirely; some were never maintained; and some were simply maintained improperly. This can be partly blamed on the need for more equipment on the frontier. Also, the Soviet War Plan outlined an immediate counterattack at the border and a subsequent counteroffensive designed to defeat an enemy (probably German) attack and carry the war into enemy territory. Following this plan, fortified zones deep in the rear would never be needed.

After its occupation, the General Staff ordered work to commence on an additional 20 URs along the new frontier. During 1940-41 these URs were established at Titovskii*, Keksgolm*, Vipurii*, Telshiaisk*, Siauliai*, Kaunas*, Grodno*, BrestLitovsk*, Vladimir-Volynskii*, Sturmilovskii*, RavaRusskaia*, Przemysl*, Sortavala, Hango, Alitus, Osovetskii, Zambrovskii, Kowel, Verkhne-Prutskii, and Nizhne-Prutskii (* denotes a UR begun in 1940). Preliminary work was also started on new areas including the Danube, Odessa, and Chernigov URs.

In the Leningrad Military District, the URs were constructed with both hardened and wood materials. In the Kiev, Odessa, Baltic, and Western MDs, the troops not only prepared the URs, they also began the process of linking the positions between them.

However, during 1940 only 30% of the western border URs designated to receive hardened structures actually contained them. Large areas contained only light field fortifications which were of limited value against tanks and artillery. By November 1940, the percentage of hardened structures in the new URs was raised to 50%.

The 1941 plan envisioned the completion of the 1940 URs and the commencement of the previously listed new URs. The plan according to the Glavnoe VoennoInzheneroe Upravelenie Krasnoi Arrnii (Engineering Directorate of the Red Army) was to cover the important sectors of the western frontier with concrete, stone, and wood structures. The 1940-41 URs differed from the earlier URs in that provision was made for increased gun and antitank utilization. The depth of the new URs was also increased and their shelters were to be resistant to chemical weapons.

In peacetime, the URs were to contain 3 independent machine gun battalions, an independent signals company, and an independent engineer company. In some URs, an artillery regiment (3 battalions) was also added as well as 6 platoons of dug-in artillery. In wartime, the URs were to be greatly reinforced. Each machine gun battalion would create a new company; the engineer and signals companies would increase to battalion strength, and the dug-in artillery platoons would increase to full batteries.

The defense plan for the URs demanded a total of approximately 182,000 men. By early 1941, however, very little manpower was actually available. Even by June, only 50% of the troops and 33% of the NCOs and officers were present.

On May 21st, Moscow ordered additional units to be readied between July and October including: 110 machine gun battalions, 6 artillery battalions, and 16 independent artillery batteries (136,744 men). In the inierim, Moscow mobilized 300,000 men for the Red Army during the spring, and 800,000 men on June 1st. Of these, 38,500 were deployed in the URs (a n average of 940 men each).

The manpower devoted to the construction schedule was also impressive. A total of 84 construction battalions, 25 independent construction companies, and 17 motor-vehicle battalions were dedicated to the task. In April 1941, the need for haste and the continuing lack of sufficient progress caused Moscow to increase the dedicated assets by a further 35 construction battalions drawn from various divisions and corps in the border MDs, and 41 construction battalions from the interior. A grand total of 136,000 men were thus involved.

However, despite its magnitude, the work was not completed when the war began. On June 16th, the Central Committee issued a decree "On Accelerating the bringing of the Fortified Areas to Combat Readiness". But time ran out for the USSR.

On June 22nd, the URs along the western frontier were not in a condition to fulfill their mission. Only 25% of the fortified structures were finished. Of the 2,500 concrete pillboxes, only 1,000 had received artillery. The rest contained only machineguns. Further, many of the URs were not even camouflaged. Since the URs closest to the border had been built first, in many of them the depth was insufficient and the emplacements were too close to the frontier. Worse, many of the URs had not had time to train with the field formations or the border units. Thus, the defensive tasks were not clearly coordinated.

In most cases, the border URs were breached with little trouble by the German troops because, as just explained, they were simply not ready for war. However, some URs did provide strong rallying points for the Red Army.

What follows is a way to show this in Europa terms.

In the initial Soviet setup, delete the 20 Stalin Line fortified areas and the 3 forts called for by the SE/TU OB. Instead, add the following: 41 Fortified Areas as given in this article and displayed on the chart on the next page. Since the historical performance of the URs dictated their values in Scorched Earth, it now remains to provide new ratings based on more recent information. Rather than suggesting the inclusion of dozens of new units representing the URs' garrison forces, as well as complicated procedures for upgrading and modernization, I believe that an easier solution is to simply adjust their ratings based on the familiar SE/TU fortified- area counters. Once this simple modification has been made, just apply the current SE/TU rules on fortified areas.

For those URs built during 192938, a strength of [21 has been assigned to show their stripped and/or neglected condition (think of them as simply containing a few 0-1-0 machine gun units). For those built during 1938- 39 and 1941, a strength of [3] has been given to reflect their hardened structures and more modern equipment. For those built in 1940, a strength of [4] has been given since these were the most complete. Several exceptions apply: the Minsk, Kingisepp, Karelian, and Polotsk URs are rated as [3], while the Przemysl and RavaRusskaia URs are rated as [5].

Note that in the chart on the following page, hex locations for the Soviet URs are provided. (Many thanks to Charles Sharp for providing his expertise in locating the hard-to-find hex positions.) However, as you can see, many URs cover more than one hex and you are only provided with 1 counter per UR. This is because many of the URs extended for 50 kilometers or more along the front. This is handled by allowing the Soviet player to place a particular UR counter in any one of the listed hex locations for that UR, if more than one hex is given, during his deployment.

Fortified Area [Strength] Start Hex(es)
Karelian[3] 2A:0730-0731
Kingisepp[3] 1 B:0904-1003-1103
Pskov[2] 1 B: 1705-1805
Polotsk[3] 1 B:2806-2906
Minsk [3] 1 B:3512-3612-3713-3813
Mozyr [2] 1 B: 4510-4610-4710
Korosten [2] 1 B:5013-5114-3B:0213-0313
Novgorod-Volynskii[2] 3B:0315-0414-0515
Letichev [2] 3B:0916-1016-1116
Mogilev-lampolskii[2] 3B1415-1514-1515
Kiev [2] 3B:0508-0608-0708
Rybnitsa [2] 3B:1713-1813-1913
Tiraspol [2] 3B:2013-2113-2212-2313
Ostrov [3] 1 B: 1906-2006
Sebezh [3] 1 B:2406-2507
Slutsk [3] 1 B: 3914- 4014
Iziaslav [3] 3B:0419
Shepetovka [3] 3B:0317-0318-0319
Staro-Konstantinov [3] 3B:0616-0717
Ostropol [3] 3B:0720-0819
Kamanets-Podoiskii[3] 3B:1020-1119-1120
Titovskii [4] 6A: 1418-1519-1619
Keksgol'msk [4] 2A:0230-0231-0332
Vipurii [4] 1 B:0302-0402
Telshiaisk [4] 1 B:2023-2123
Siauliai [4] 1 B:2121-2220-2320
Kaunas [4] 1 B:2719-2818
Grodno [4] 1 B:3320-3321-3322
Brest [4] 1 B:3925-4024-4124-4223
Vladimir-Volynskii [4] 1 B:4724-4824
Strumilovskii [4] 1 B:4925-5025
Rava-Russkala [5] 1 B:4926-5026
Przemsyl [5] 3B:0128-0228
Sortavala [3] 6A:5027-5028-5129
Hango [3] 1 B:0515
Alitas [3] 1 B:3019-3120
Osovetskii [3] 1 B:3324-3325-3425
Zambrovskii [3] 1 B:3527-3626-3726-3825
Kowel [3] 1 B:4515
Verkhne-Prutskii [3] 3B:1618-1718-1817-1917
Nizhe-Prutskii [3] 3B:2719-2818-2918