Craig H. Foster
(chflss@aol.com)

Invasion! is a fictionalized LCG of the invasion of Russia. The situations and TO&E's are 
accurate representations of this period and the German units are real units. However, 
the maps, equipment and the battles themselves are not necessarily accurate. I have 
done this in the interest of playability and ease of design.

The real focus of this LCG is to accurately represent maneuver warfare (Blitzkrieg) 
within the context of Talonsoft's East Front II. This LCG requires a panzer division to 
move across a huge expanse of terrain in a short period of time. It requires that the 
division preserve its combat power even in the face of significant and varying opposition. 
The ONLY way to win this LCG is through maneuver warfare. Head to head battle 
(AKA attrition warfare) might win the early battles but at a cost of combat power that 
will doom the division in later battles.

Maneuver warfare is a current military philosophy which incorporates the 'best practices' 
of many thousands of years of combat by movement (as opposed to combat by direct 
confrontation). At it's heart, maneuver warfare attempts to "defeat the enemy through 
means other than simple destruction of his mass"1. It does this by one of three ways. 
1) It seeks to preempt the enemy, to disarm or neutralize him before the fight. 
2) It seeks to dislocate  the enemy, to remove them from the decisive point or vice versa. 
3) It seeks to disrupt the enemy, to destroy or neutralize his center of gravity. What it 
does not do is seek to defeat the enemy through the destruction of his mass.

Center of gravity is a key concept in maneuver warfare. Center of gravity is "not his 
source of strength; it is his critical vulnerability"2. This can be seen in the overall mission 
4.Panzer Division has been given: Attack the critical C3I and logistics/transportation 
nexus of Kurlovo. If Kurlovo falls, the defending enemy infantry corps will collapse and 
the road to Moscow will be open. Implicit in these orders is the expectation that without 
Kurlovo the enemy will be destroyed - so why waste the casualties destroying it by 
combat? Thus, at the operational level, this mission is a maneuver warfare mission. 
The charge to you as a commander is to shape your tactics around the enemy's critical 
vulnerabilities as well. Constantly ask yourself how you can accomplish your mission 
(win the scenario and thus defeat the enemy in that scenario) with the least cost to you.

Another key concept is Combined-arms Theory. The basis of this theory is that every 
type of unit (armor, infantry, artillery, etc.) has a particular set of strengths and 
weaknesses.  Tanks are fast, durable and powerfully armed. However they are 
vulnerable as well, e.g. to infantry at close quarters. Infantry is slower and unarmored 
but excel in broken terrain. Artillery is extremely vulnerable to close attack but is lethal 
in a stand-off attack. The key to Combined-arms is use several different arms to present
the enemy with an unsolvable dilemma. As an example, a tank platoon and an infantry 
platoon approaches a treeline where two enemy infantry platoons wait. They stop out of 
small arms range of the enemy. If the enemy infantry platoons stay in cover, they will be 
destroyed by the tanks' weapons but if they attempt to advance on the tanks, they will be 
blocked from assaulting the tanks and subject to tank and small arms fire in open ground. 
To summarize, "We want to defeat enemy systems with unlike systems in terrain that 
maximizes our advantages and puts the enemy at a disadvantage"3.

This leads us naturally to surfaces and gaps which is nothing other than a fancy way to 
say strong points and areas of weakness. Maneuver warfare insists that surfaces are to 
be avoided and gaps are to be exploited. Just as in combined-arms one faces the enemy's 
units with friendly units most relatively capable, so too should one concentrate one's attack 
against the enemy's weakest defenses. 

Once one has defeated the defenses at a point of weakness the commander should use a 
high tempo to mass his strength on the newly available vulnerabilities of the enemy and so 
on until the enemy is utterly defeated. Tempo is the pace of movement. The goal is to 
consistently have a higher pace of movement and a faster reaction to the enemy's pace 
of movement such that over time the friendly forces consistently react faster than the enemy. 
This does two things; in and of itself it creates opportunity since each vulnerability exploited 
reveals new vulnerability and, as can be seen from the previous, a properly exploited tempo 
advantage spirals in the favor of the force with the faster tempo. In the end, the vulnerabilities 
are revealed in an exponentially faster manner such that the enemy simply ceases to be a 
coherent force.

Every attack must have a schwerpunkt. A schwerpunkt is "where the commander believes 
he can achieve a decision"4.It is the point of main effort. In maneuver warfare 'main effort' 
means a unit and that unit's mission, not a geographical objective. The main effort gets all 
the support available to the controlling unit. All the supporting arms, all the reserves are 
directed in support of that effort. The mission of other line units must be defined in terms of 
how their mission supports the schwerpunkt. There can only be one main effort and there 
should be no secondary efforts with independent objectives.

Finally, to put it all together how does ones determine where the gaps are and against 
which gap the schwerpunkt should be directed. There are two different schools. The first 
is called Befehlstaktik and could be defined as "control by detailed order" or "command 
push"5. In this approach the commander decides in advance where the attack should be 
directed based on all knowledge at that point. The expectation is that with a carefully 
planned and highly focused attack a gap WILL be created which will lead to further gaps, 
etc. Auftragstaktik is "directive control" or "recon pull6 ". In this approach a recon screen 
is used to discover points of weakness. When gaps are found, they are penetrated and 
supporting units follow. In essence it is the method water uses to flow around obstacles; 
it goes where it can with all the pressure of the following elements adding to the pressure 
at the points of contact. There is no single "correct" approach - maneuver warfare is about 
a philosophy or approach to defeating the enemy, not about command and control. Either 
method is appropriate depending on the circumstances.

So that's it. The mission orders and game objectives have been drawn quite carefully. If 
you follow maneuver warfare philosophy and your commander's orders you should do very 
well. One thing to note is that in this LCG if you can keep your tempo high and your tactics 
successful, the benefits carry over from scenario to scenario. The better you do, the less 
difficult the next scenario will be. This may seem counterintuitive to some, but life is NOT fair. 
If you can keep your tempo high, things get progressively easier. If you have not executed 
your prior mission effectively it is CRUCIAL that you muster your wits and you knowledge to 
get back on track. Otherwise the enemy's tempo will bury you.

One key fact: 4. Panzer Division begins with 3747 victory points of units. This is how 
many points you get for exiting the entire division. Obviously as casualties are sustained 
this number drops. This may be useful to you when contemplating strategy...

Also: this LCG is intended to be played with full FOW and all option rules ON.


Scenario Notes

[What follows is a SPOILER. Do not read further if you want to play the LCG as it was meant 
to be played, i.e. without foreknowledge.]

Breakthrough!
The goal in this scenario is to open a clear, fast path for your panzer division to pass into the 
enemy's rear. In this scenario you command an infantry division - your panzers only appear 
at the very end (and don't be alarmed when you discover they are schedule to enter after the 
game ends, that is 'atmosphere' i.e. deliberate). Since your objective is to open this path your 
options for attack are limited. One way or another you have to clear the road. You could do 
this with a flanking attack, then exploitation to clear the road (i.e. a right or left hook) but that 
would lead to unnecessary confrontations. For this scenario a frontal assault straight up the 
road (befehlstaktik) with your center regiment as the schwerpunkt is the best bet. The key 
though is concentration. Just as maneuver warfare theory suggests, there should be no other 
main objectives and no independent attacks. Both flanking regiments should be funneled to the 
center to attack up the road on a narrow frontage alongside the schwerpunkt. The flanks should 
be refused and manned lightly if at all (after all there are several panzer divisions in reserve, 
how bad can it get...). All units should attack up a very narrow corridor either side of the road. 
They should only challenge the strongpoints essential to success (i.e. ones with objective value 
or ones necessary to getting the ones with objective value).

Second Line of Defense
In this scenario the attacker faces a situation where the key highway curves lazily to the left 
through largely broken terrain (dotted with objectives along the way). There is relatively open 
terrain (though bereft of roads or objectives) to the right. Simple, go right (more befehlstaktik). 
Your orders practically tell you to ignore the road. There is nothing to be gained and a lot to lose 
by trying to bull your way up the road. You don't have the time, you can't afford the losses and 
you might not even win. How can you know you'll win to the right? You don't, but you do know 
that in open terrain with the might of a full panzer division you'll have a damn good shot. Don't 
stop to do more than clear the LOS of enemy units so the soft vehicles following can pass 
unmolested. Remember, only one objective per attack - in this case clearing a path for your 
soft transport. Your schwerpunkt should be the panzer regiment.

River Crossing
Here you have one choke point but several methods of approach. Use good recon to swiftly 
determine enemy dispositions (auftragstaktik), penetrate them quickly with the massed force 
of the panzer regiment (again the schwerpunkt). Hit the highway bridge as quickly and as hard 
as possible and make sure your leading infantry elements are as close to the head of the column 
as safe. You'll need them to take the bridge. Once the bridge falls, get quickly across and head 
for the exit. Stop only to clear the path of enemy LOS for the soft transport. The panzers can 
provide flank security and exit last if necessary.

Before Kurlovo
This is the most challenging scenario and it will require full understanding of maneuver warfare 
theory. Just as in history, the Russian tanks are numerically superior AND many of them have 
massively qualitative superior. You will have to cripple the Russian tank brigade because they 
could do terrible harm to the soft units of the division if a dislocation strategy failed. On the other 
hand, a direct confrontation between the Soviet tanks and yours would - at best - leave your 
panzer regiment with grievous casualties. The schwerpunkt of your attack should be your 4. 
Engineer Battalion. Your engineers have excellent a/t capability, good survivability and are less 
critical to further endeavors. This is using your strength against the enemy's weakness!

You should advance, as always, behind a recon screen. As you develop a good picture of the 
enemy's disposition, decide your axis of attack (auftragstaktik). When you collide with the 
enemy's main line of resistance do not attempt to fight his tanks head to head with yours. 
Instead, refuse combat and penetrate behind his armor (either by finding a gap or a flank to 
be exploited or by concentrating and creating a gap). Advance your engineers as the 
schwerpunkt accompanied by supporting infantry and further supported by your 49. Anti-tank 
Battalion. Use these forces to destroy his tanks and use your tanks from his flanks (or ideally, 
in cover from the rear) to create a lethal crossfire.

Kurlovo!
It is highly likely that your tank regiment has been badly weakened by the preceding battles. 
However (if you've gotten this far), your tempo has dramatically reduced the enemy's ability 
to deploy combat power and you won't have to exit the map so the need for mobility is 
lessened. You should still have most of you infantry assets and all of your artillery. Use your 
tank regiment as the schwerpunkt supported by all your infantry assets save the engineer 
battalion and one infantry regiment.

Based on the information provided by your recon screen (auftragstaktik) that pincer should 
hook towards the rear objective hex from either the right or left of Kurlovo. It should liberate 
each objective hex as it passes. Shed infantry units as you do to defend the objective hexes 
and seal the trap. The infantry regiment not assigned to support the schwerpunkt should 
hook in the opposite direction in a supporting attack using the same tactics and final objective. 
Your engineer regiment is in reserve to add power, if necessary, at the decisive, battle 
winning moment. When the rearmost objective falls, your tank regiment should swing back 
towards the west to meet your supporting attack and complete the encirclement. 

You will probably be tempted to use two equal pincers with one tank battalion and one 
infantry regiment each. This is not maneuver warfare. In the event the defenders are 
unexpectedly strong, you will lack the offensive power in each thrust to get the job done. 
One strong pincer deep in the enemy's rear will be twice the force of two weaker pincers 
of equal strength. You may also be tempted to attack Kurlovo directly. This is nothing but 
a waste of lives and combat power. To encircle Kurlovo is to kill it. There is no need to kill 
it directly - that is how maneuver warfare works!

Enjoy,

Craig