SQLA Scenario WG301  

" Wytyczno "

©2007 A Squad Leader Academy Scenario;

Scenario Design by Bill Sosnicki 

Updated 070204; 

Eastern Poland, October 1, 1939 near the village of Wytyczno near Wlodawa:  The struggle between the Polish forces of the Border Defense Corps for Frontier Area Protection (Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza or KOP) commanded by Gen. Wilhelm Orlik-Rückemann and the Soviet Red Army during the Soviet invasion of Poland continued.  Soon after the battle of Szack on September 28, the Polish commander decided to cross the Bug River and continue the fight there.  On September 30 the Poles crossed the river.  Although largely victorious in most of the battles against the Soviets, the Polish unit was reduced to merely 3,000 men and was lacking heavy equipment and ammunition.   In addition, most of the soldiers of the Border Defense Corps had been forced to cross-large parts of Poland, with the average unit crossing almost 500 kilometers in two weeks.  Shortly after crossing the Wlodawa-Trawniki road on October 1 at 1 AM near the village of Wytyczno (pronounced Vi-Tisch-No), the Polish unit was attacked by a tank unit of the Soviet 45th Rifle Division.  The Polish Bofors 37 mm Anti-Tank guns opened fire at close range and the Soviet unit withdrew losing four tanks.  Soon after daybreak the Soviets returned, this time with the majority of 45th division's units, and fully expected a different outcome...

VICTORY CONDITIONS: To win the Russian must have undisputed control of building 3N2 and at least 11 of the 16 buildings within the road circle net which is defined as 2U7-2Q8-3Q3-3N4-3N6-3Q8-3S7-3S6-3U5-3U3-3Y3-3Y8-2U7 by games end and avoid being forced to retreat.  In order for a building to be controlled in your favor, your side must have been the last to occupy any hex of the building with an unbroken unit while no enemy unit was in the building.  The Poles have control of all of the VC buildings at the start of the game.  The Poles win by avoiding the Russian Victory Condition or they may win immediately if they force a Russian retreat.  The Russian is forced to retreat the very moment the number of Good Order Russian unit forces falls below a level of 50% of its original attacking forces due to the effects of being broken, killed, or destroyed.   A Leader, squad, and crew count as 1 unit apiece.   Destruction of an AFV with crew count as 2 units lost.  An abandoned or Immobilized but crewed AFV count as 1 unit lost.

BOARD CONFIGURATION:

VARIATIONS:    Pole: Game Length is 8 Turns;  Russian: Add one 8-0 Leader to Russian OB.

TURN RECORD CHART:

Poles sets up first 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 END Russian moves first

POLISH FORCES:

• At Start: Elements of Polish Border Defense Corps (KOP) setup anywhere north of river and west of hexrow X (inclusive).  Guns may set up using Hidden Initial Placement [42]:  
  1x10-2;  2x8-0;  2x7-0;  15x4-4-7;  15x3-4-7;  5x2-2-7crew;  1xHMG;  2xMMG;  6xLMG;  6xATR;  3x37LmmATG;  2x76mm ART/HE only;

RUSSIAN FORCES:

• AT START: Elements of Soviet Red Army 45th Rifle and Tank Divisions enter on Turn 1 anywhere north of the river along the east edge or north edge east of hexrow Q of the map but not both (Note rule: 104.6): 
  1x8-1;  2x8-0;  2x7-0;  30x4-4-7;  3xMMG;  8xLMG;  4xT26S;  2xBT5;  1xBT5A

SPECIAL SCENARIO RULES:

• SSR WG301.1:  TERRAIN:  All buildings are single story and made of wooden construction.   Despite the date, wheatfields on both boards 2 and 7 do not exist.  Treat all Level 2 and 3 Hills, Cliff outlines, Marsh and Wheatfields on board 3 as Woods.  All Level 1 Hills are Level 0 open ground hexes on all boards.  Board 7 Islands do not exist.   EC are Mild with No wind at start.  River is deep and may not be entered.   VSQL players may opt to use customized Boards 2y, 3y and 7y which can be downloaded from the SQLA website.

• SSR WG301.2:  Russian tanks lack wireless equipment and do not have complete freedom of movement.  The Russian player must roll one die during his Rally Phase.  The resulting number is the number of his radioless AFVs plus the Command Vehicle (initially the BT-5A), which may move that turn.  AFVs already on board are not prevented from firing, pivoting, or changing their turret covered arc within the hex they already occupy.  Radioless AFVs are exempt from this restriction only if they are unbuttoned (commander in CE position) and in the LOS of a designated Command AFV (also unbuttoned) at the start of the Movement Phase.  AFVs entering from off board meet these requirements only if they enter unbuttoned and on the same hex using sequential movement.  If the designated command AFV is eliminated or immobilized, another AFV may be so designated at the start of the following Rally Phase.

• SSR WG301.3:  All rules thru COD and COI Supplemental Rules B and K are in use, however, both players may utilize any additional optional and/or supplemental rules only upon agreement.  

• SSR WG301.4:  Poles may not Boresight.  The Polish Marosczek ATR was an extremely fine weapon for its day; weighing in at only 19.5 lbs.  Polish ATR’s have the portage equivalent of a LMG, not the MMG of other nationalities.   This LMG characteristic also allows the Polish ATR to be fired during the AFPh after moving to a new hex.  However, if fired during the AFPh after moving to a new hex, there is a +4 DRM added to its TH DR.

• SSR WG301.5: The characteristics of Russian units to go berserk were more prevalent after the 1941 German Invasion of Russia; therefore the tendency of Russian units to go berserk will happen only on IFT generated attacks resulting in a Morale Check of –2 or greater.

• SSR WG301.6:  Polish units are running low on supplies and therefore suffer Ammunition Depletion [COI Supp K].  Whenever a SW or Gun malfunctions, there is a chance that it has not jammed, but rather run out of ammunition.  Reroll one die.  A die-roll result of 1, 2 or 3 results in the gun being jammed and subject to normal subsequent repair and possible permanent malfunction die rolls.  A die roll of 4, 5 or 6 results in the weapon being out of ammunition - a fault for which there is no remedy within the scope of the game.  Guns capable of firing both AP and HE, however, may continue to fire the type of round not used when the gun malfunctioned.  A side note should be kept as a reminder of which guns are out of AP or HE ammunition. 

• SSR WG301.7: SIDE SELECTION PROCEDURE: Each player takes one marker of each nationality and simultaneously reveals their choice of side.  If opposing sides are selected, those sides are assigned. If the same side is chosen, the players bid for side with the lower rated (seed) player bidding first.  Bids may start at '0' and progress in whole numbers only.  The bid is the numbers of dominate squads to be added to the opposing side.  The bid continues until one player accepts the opposing side whose force is augmented with that bid.  Please report the bid, winning side and comments (i.e. uneven die rolls at key moments) as this data will be used for balance modification to the scenario prior to its published form.

AFTERMATH:  The Red Army started a frontal assault on the village of Wytyczno and expected the Polish forces to be completely routed since it was believed to be comprised entirely of officers.  However, that was not the case and the Polish tabors crossed the road into the forests behind the village and placed artillery posts there, which enabled the defending Poles to hold their positions.  The struggle for the village continued on, with both sides suffering heavy losses.  At 9am the Polish 75 mm artillery had no more than 60 shells left and the howitzers had not more than 10 per barrel.  Gen. Wilhelm Orlik-Rückemann ordered the Polesie Battalion to attack the left flank of the enemy in order to lessen the enemy pressure on the center of the Polish line.  However, the soldiers were too exhausted to start the assault and most of them simply declined to follow the order.  The KOP Sarny Regiment Commander, Col. Nikodem Sulik, reported that the Polish defenses were getting weaker with every hour and with all probability the battle would end by dawn with a complete Polish defeat.  At 10:30am a Polish war council was called together and from that meeting it was decided that the only way for the Polish forces to survive was to withdraw, divide the unit onto smaller detachments, and then try to break through to the units of the Independent Operational Group Polesie fighting nearby.  At noon the Polish units successfully withdrew to the forests.  Most of them joined other Polish units to continue the fight, while Gen. Orlik-Rückemann found his way to Great Britain through Lithuania and Sweden.