From: arseno@phy.*nospam*ulaval.ca (Henri H. Arsenault)
Subject: Across the Dnepr strategy

Especially addressed to newbies or those who would like to get a
feeling for the game, here is an analysis of strategy in the add-on to
Korsun pocket, "Across the Dnepr". I will describe things in terms of
the game and not in reference to real warfare, although the
strategical concepts are very close to the historical. Strategies and
tactics used in other wargames may not work  in this game for reasons
outlined below. I will discuss mostly German strategy, since the
Soviets can win (at least against the AI) simply by playing a delaying
game and holding on to the objectives.

First of all, note that winning here means getting more victory points
than your opponent. Note also that the Soviets get more than ten times
more points than the Germans do for destroying a unit, and note that
no CRT will give you a loss tradeoff of ten to one, so attrition will
NOT workfor the Germans in this game. Killing three enemy units for
each unit lost is a sure recipe for victory in most games, here it is
a recipe for disaster.

Also note that the number of victory hexes is small, and consist
essentially of Orsha, Mogilev, Dimidov, Mstislavl and a few Russian
rear area objectives like Roslavl, Kirov and Vyazma. You are unlikely
to reach the latter unless you obliterate the Russian army. Most of
those objectives are worth a lot more to the Soviet player than to the
German, so taking them away from the Soviets is sometimes more
important than gaining them for yourself. Note also that their value
decreases with time. This is the most important factor affecting your
strategy.

Now let us have a look at the map. Although leg units can cross the
Dnepr anywhere, vehicles and supply lines cannot. This suggests a
concerted attack in the North, from which the Germans can reach
Smolensk without crossing the Dneiper, but this is a sure recipe for
defeat, as one poster found out recently. There are only three places
with bridges to cross the Dnepr South of Orsha: Orsha, Mogilev and the
bridge near Kopyr. The Russian will defend Orsha and Mogilev to the
death, and the bridge between the two will be well-defended too.

If you check out the CRT for cities, you will see that it is VERY
difficult to kick ane entrenched enemy out of a city, so a direct
frontal attack on Orsha is a good way to hit your head against a brick
wall, thus guaranteeing defeat. And it is clear that taking Smolensk
by itself in no way guarantees victory, as a matter of fact it
guarantees defeat if many more victory points are not gained by other
means.

This is beginning to sound like Mission Impossible. So how is the
German player to win the game? The answer is MANEUVER WARFARE. Your
manual here should be Liddle-Hart's  "The Strategy of the Indirect
Approach".

Your main enemy is not the Russian units but their supply lines and
their supporting units. So your strategy should be built around the
dictum "bypass, surround, destroy!" Orsha will fall almost by itself
if you can isolate the units in it. How to go about this? By means of
two pincers, one from the South and one from the North, while a
frontal spoiling attack keeps the units in Orsha busy. This implies
that you will have to leave holes in your line, and that the fighting
in the North is a sideshow to draw Russian units away from the main
battle area. 

The Southern pincer requires crossing the Dnepr at the most likely
spot, the bridge between Orsha and Mogilev. This means that a spoiling
attack must be mounted on Mogilev,  threaening oto cross the Dnepr
there while a lightning attack is carried out on the bridge near Kopyr
(even the AI will not allow you to cross the Dneiper at Mogilev in the
early game). There is no city there so it is possible to get leg units
across to dislodge the defenders, with the help of interdiction to cut
off enemy supplies.It is important to keep open threats in other
areas. Judicious use of interdiction plays a key role for the Germans
in this game.

Once you get across the Dneiper, you should reinforce your bridgehead
then threaten to envelop Mogilev and Orsha, keeping the enemy unsure
of your intent (if the defence of Mogilev is compromised to defend
Orsha, consider surrounding Mogilev before going after Orsha, which
would be a disaster for the Russians since it would force him to
defend the whole Southern front against a deep penetration to Smolensk
via Mstislavl.

As your southern pincer approaches Orsha, you will need to clear
defenders along the river by means of small encirclements or simply
overruns. Beware a counter-attack to the bridge that could pocket your
units in the South.

The terrain in the North is tough, with a lot of forested terrain.
Here too smalll encirclements and overruns should be carried out while
your units advance down the road from Vitebsk; although this city
yields no victory points, it is the key city in that area and should
be captured by the Germans on the second or third move. The Russians
will make local counter-attacks in the North, and German units
protecting the flank of the Northern pincer there will become heavily
attrited with time. 

At some time, the Soviets will have either to abandon Orsha or be
pocketed if they wait too long. Against the AI, you should be able to
pocket some 50 Russian units, which are easily destroyed once their
supply line is cut.

After the fall of Orsha, the Germans have a choice of concentrating
everything on the road to Smolensk, surround and destroy Mogilev or
both. I suggest going after Mogilev while advancing on Smolensk,
otherwise all of the soviet reinforcements can concentrate on
Smolensk, and it will be very hard to capture, not to mention spoiling
attacks from the South by arriving Soviet reinforcements. If Mogilev
falls, in addition to the victory points gained and denied to the
Russian, the whole Southern front is open to the Germans. Here the
terrain is more favorable to Blitzkrieg  than in the North, and the
front is too wide to be defended everywhere without fatally weakening
Smolensk.  Taking Mogilev affords the Germans an almost unobstructed
road through Mstlavl (another objective) to Smolensk from the South. 

The Germans will reach Smolensk late in the game along roads on both
sides of the Dneiper and from the south. By this time the Northern
front should have advanced to Dimidov, and Smolensk can also be
attacked from the North.  The area around Smolensk will give many
opportunities for encirclements, since the Russian army is now thinned
out due to heavy losses of units pocketed in Orsha and Mogilev in
addition to attrition losses. 

Now you will discover how difficult it is to knock out enemy units
entrenched in cities. I had the Soviet stack on Smolensk totally
surrounded with oodles of stacks, and it took me three full turns
before the objective fell. Nothing is more frustrating than to have
odds of 10-1+ and to throw a "no effect" dice roll...

In the meantime, the Russians are so battered and busy defending
Smolensk that you have a chance to go after the secondary objectives.
In my game, I have two moves left and I have taken Roslavl and Kirov,
and I have units headed for Vyazma, the plum victory objective.

If you manage to take Vyazma against a competent human, you are indeed
a master of maneuver warfare. On the other hand, if you manage to lose
with the Russians, you need to sharpen your tactical skills.

Have a good game!...

Henri