LAND LEVIATHANS*
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DATE: 3 July 1941*
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BATTLE TYPE: Soviet Union vs. Germany meeting engagement*
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Two-Player PBEM Game*
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LIPKI, RUSSIA:  Under pressure from Stalin to hold Smolensk, Yermemenko was desperate to halt the German offensive. On 1 July, he committed his sole armored reserve; the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division under Major-General I.G. Kreyzer. It was a crack unit, the pride of STAVKA. Equipped with the new T-34 and KV-2 tanks, the division moved off to meet and defeat the 18th Panzer Division, the spearhead of Guderian's 2nd Panzergruppe. On 3 July at Lipki, six miles east of Borisov, contact was made.*
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AFTERMATH: A number of light Russian AFVs, supported by a single KV-2 and a single T-34, advanced on the lead elements of the 18th Panzer Regiment. Stunned by the appearance of the two armored monsters not encountered before on the Army Group Center front, the German infantry scattered. A handful of German tanks were all that stood in the path of the Soviet advance. The T26 and BT tanks were routed by the Pz IIIs. The German 37mm shells were unable, however, to affect the KV or T-34. Two panzers were quickly destroyed. At that point, several Pz IVs arrived to engage the KV-2, while the remaining Pz IIIs concentrated on the T-34's vulnerable tracks. Soon both Russian heavy tanks were out of action, the KV bogged on soft ground and the T-34 with its tread shot away. Without the threat of the KV or T-34, the infantry were able to hold their position. This incident reveals the cardinal sin of the Russian command: employment of their superior T-34 and KV types not in formation, but individually among light and medium tanks, or as support for the infantry. It was a mistake Soviet Russia was to pay dearly for.*
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NOTES: This scenario is based off of Avalon Hill's Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) General magazine scenario Q with some minor modifications. The map is not based on the scenario.*
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Sources:  The "General" ASL Scenario Q*
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Design by:  Don Lazov*