The Frozen Hell or How to Win the Winter War
by the Redleg
Reds Guide to infantry Tank Killing
Finland's brave and successful defense of it's sovereignty during the winter of 1939-40 is legendary. Out manned, out-gunned and without the promised aid from the Western democracies, little Finland inflicted great damage to the Soviet war machine..........
Playing SP3, I undertook the not-so-enviable task of assaulting Finland and met with a series of crushing defeats; armor stuck snowy traffic jams at the mercy of Finnish artillery, AT Guns and satchel charges. Troops suppressed with nowhere to hide and retreating into minefields and the not-so-tender mercies of Ski Troops. After several losses, I determined to see if I could find a way to win since there are so many people who like to play the Finnish side in SP3. Here's what I found:
1/ The Soviet player must have decent troops to
work with. I usually negotiate for Troop Quality 75 for Soviet
and 85 for Finns. Also, Control should be turned off if the
Soviets are to make the 90 degree turns in their line of march
required in an assault battle...... unless one is courageous
enough to mount straight-line attacks toward each of the 3
v-hexes. Or, the Soviet player may opt to settle for attacking 2
of the victory areas and be prepared to forgo a chance at
capturing all three areas. Occasionally, 2 of the Finnish victory
areas will be aligned in such a way that it is possible to set
objectives with Soviet forces moving through 1 victory area
enroute to another.The Soviet have 1 major strength: Heavy
Artillery! Use a minimum of 3 Regiments of 152 howitzers. Another
Soviet problem is all tanks with decent armor are slow..... this
is what causes the traffic jams and leads to the destruction of
Soviet forces.... But, The BT5 and BT7 tanks are extremely fast
tanks - among the fastest in the world at the time...... The BTs
are the Soviets source of salvation. Purchase 2-3 battalions of
BT7 and 2-3 battalions of BT5 tanks. Each tank platoon should
carry an engineer platoon to clear the landmines which will be
invariably encountered. These tanks are fast enough that if the
armor is held up 2-3 turns they will be able to quickly advance
through any minefields. After the breakthrough, they will allow a
Soviet style blitz, that will wreak havoc upon Finnish
artillery assets. Horse cavalry is also useful to the Soviets.
Purchase 1-2 regiments and delete the AT gun/truck sections and
the armor from the regiments. This makes a source of cheap,
reasonably fast scouts. Don't forget that the Finn may decide to
infiltrate to your artillery so you will need some AT and
infantry in the area for security. Perhaps hold back a company or
two of BTs for several turns - they will be able to quickly catch
up to the units that have already advanced. Finally,
mortars...... I like to purchase 6-8 batteries of 122s. They
have sufficient range to be of use when Soviet troops approach
ambush sites, minefields, etc.Deploy to attack in 1 or 2 narrow
fronts.
Use your artillery to begin bombarding upon deployment by
pretargeting 1 hex behind the Finnish deployment line. Most of my
opponents have tended to place landmines directly behind the
start line and infantry 1 hex beyond that. The opening
bombardment is intended to reduce any landmines in a 4-5 hex wide
attack lane. Long rounds will suppress any infantry immediately
behind the start line. Short rounds will be wasted.
Turn 1 Soviet movement.
Advance toward the narrow attack zone with the cavalry as fast as they will move. Bombard again - keep Fast Artillery turned off so you can see landmines in the bombarded hexes. Adjust your fires as necessary to any hexes containing land mines.
Turn 2 Soviet movement.
Again advance cavalry as far as they can go. Move your armor (with infantry passengers) ahead a few hexes keeping in mind a narrow zone of attack. Keep the armor behind the cavalry. Cavalry does a good job of seeing landmines. As land mines become visible, adjust your artillery (152mm) to those hexes and attempt to obliterate them. Otherwise begin your rolling barrage by adjusting fire 1-2 hexes each turn. Take care not to advance your armor too fast or you'll begin to take casualties from friendly fire. Turn 3-4 should find that your cavalry has found the mine fields (if they are there) and that your artillery barrage has taken some of the fight out of the Finnish defenders in the immediate area. Try stopping your cavalry next to a mined hex - be sure to stop. Then, move the cavalry onto the mined hex. You may lose 2-5 troopers or the mines may not explode. Next move 1 hex past the minefields. Again you may suffer some losses but you may get away with it. I have on occasion, been able to sneak an entire company of cavalry right through a mined hex. But, beware the infantry immediately behind the mines......... it is not unusual for a SMG platoon to destroy 8-10 cavalry and cause the cavalry to retreat back on the mines which do explode this time. So it is often better to let the cavalry sit right on the mines - they will clear some of them while your engineers finish the job. If the presence of an * shows that your cavalry has been seen, it is time to use your mortars to begin pounding the mines and 1 hex behind with smoke and HE rounds.Advance your armor with engineers next to a mined hex that your cavalry discovered. Dismount the engineers and face them toward the mined hex. Stack 3-4 engineer units (or even more) so they can quickly clear the mines. If you have movement left withdraw the armor 1-3 hexes while the engineers do their work. If the mines are not cleared in one turn, move the engineers right on the mined hex. They seem to clear mines faster that way, Don't forget to cover them with smoke or they'll be suppressed by Finnish fires from artillery and small arms.Now it is time to move fast. You will surely take casualties and need to keep moving so the Finnish artillery cannot catch up with your units. Keep your armored companies together as much as possible. Always move so that a tank platoon that is ambushed can count on support from the whole company of tanks and infantry. If you have been "rolling" your artillery, it should be spotted very near and can be adjusted to support your ambushed armor. Mortars are great for close support - they are very accurate. Try to keep supporting 152 fires targeted 3 - 4 hexes from your trailing armor as your barrage rolls along toward the objective area. Leave any suppressed units behind to fend for themselves. Keep moving! Perhaps a trailing tank platoon will be able to pick up suppressed infantry later, perhaps not. A note about the BT7a battalion command section: The BT 7a is an infantry support tank. I like to purchase a battalion of BT5 or BT7s and delete both companies leaving the BT7a section. I do this so each battalion of BT tanks has 2 sections of BT7a tanks. These should carry MG sections (.50 cal) to add a little punch when your armor gets ambushed by Finnish engineers or ski troops.Once your armored force has broken through, your very fast although weak armor can begin to seek out Finnish artillery positions and attack the v-hexes from the rear or flanks. Don't keep your armor in the v-hexes, because the v-hexes are almost certain to be pre-targeted by the Finnish commander.
Using the above method, I find that if I break through the Finnish lines by turn 10, I will most likely secure a marginal victory, Against the computer, I have been able to capture all three areas in 10 - 12 turns. A note about the computer defense: The computer does not place any land mines in the top and bottom row along the edge of the map!!!!!!,, It makes it too easy to win playing against the computer. Also, the computer will lightly defend the North and South victory areas and launch a wild counter-attack with forces that have been placed in front of the central v-hex area. So capture and lightly secure the North and South v-areas before attacking the center area from both sides. The method above has helped me to believe that I actually may secure a marginal victory when playing against a human opponent and an all-to-easy victory vs the computer AI........
Some of these techniques will work against other opponents as well. The rolling barrage is very effective when playing most any WWII Soviet or US.
To contact Redleg heres the email... artifice@cvc.net
