THE SCHOOLHOUSE*
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DATE: 9 July 1943*
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BATTLE TYPE: Germany advance vs. Soviet Union delay*
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Two-Player PBEM Game*
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PONYRI:  It was a nondescript, strung-out village but it was situated in the Kursk salient and it was destined to become the scene of the most intense street fighting since Stalingrad. The school, the water tower, the tractor station, the railway embankment, and the train station became fiercely contested landmarks whose price in blood was paid and repaid dozens of times in that fateful week. But now, three days after gaining their initial foothold, the surrounding hills 239.8 and 253.5 had fallen to German assaults and monstrous Ferdinand assault guns rumbled in to the village streets.*
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AFTERMATH: The Ferdinands were soon immobilized by Anti-Tank guns firing at their tracks and then dispatched by "anti-tank squads" with explosive charges and petrol bombs. Nevertheless, the German attack gained 500 costly yards only to prompt an immediate Soviet counterattack. So intense was the fighting that the opposing battalion commanders both fell within seconds at the forefront of their respective forces while exhorting their men to take or retake the schoolhouse. On this occasion, the Germans held the schoolhouse but could not take the all-important crossroads. After over a dozen such attacks, the Germans were forced to up the ante and commit their last reserves in the form of the 10th Panzer Grenadier Division the following night to take the village. Nonetheless, for several days thereafter Ponyri remained the target of repeated Soviet counterattacks including massed armor and even a sabres-drawn cavalry charge.*
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NOTES: This scenario is based off of Avalon Hill's Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) deluxe scenario 8 with some minor modifications. The map is not based on the scenario.*
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Sources:  Deluxe ASL Scenario 8*
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Design by:  Don Lazov*