[RERomine]

For anyone who is interested, the Special Battle delay I fought next turned out to be a knock down, drag out fight. It would have been a much better battle to do a DAR on.

My forces squared off against five Finnish ski companies and one tank company. The right flank of my line was hit by most of their tanks supported by infantry and began to collapse almost as soon as the tanks showed up. I sent tanks over to help and after a protracted battle, this part of my line was able to regroup and throw the enemy back.

The center of my line fought long and hard, but eventually dissolved. Near as I can figure, my center company was hit by three Finnish infantry companies. If you figure the center of my line was covered by one full company and one platoon from each flanking company, almost all those infantry units were shattered. Out of 21 squads, 11 remained on my center area once the battle was complete. Of those remaining 11 squads, only 6 were more than half strength.

My left flank faired well as were only hit by one enemy company supported by a few tanks and cavalry. Fields of fire were very open here, so the Finnish forces didn't succeed in making much headway.

I've attached the save just before the battle ended. If you take a look, one thing that stands out is the almost complete lack of any line with my forces (USSR). Two platoons on my extreme right flank are lined up, but everywhere else, units are scattered all over the place.

In the center, I pulled together everyone still able to move and chased after flags captured by the Finns. Tanks, infantry and armored cars were used to counter attack. I knew that although my center fell apart, the Finns paid dearly getting through. Turns out I was correct, because they were pretty much done when I found them.

On the left, my forces are very scattered also, but for a somewhat different reason. To use the terrain properly as I saw it, I decided to yield several flags with my deployment, expecting I could recapture them after the battle. Once the enemy was beaten on the left, I sent my men out to recapture flags and destroy any stragglers. It was about this time the enemy started coming around from their rear, having busted through my center and circling around some lakes. Everyone not specifically guarding a flag was heading to engage the enemy coming from the rear.

In the end, I lost over 300 men where Finland lost more than twice that number. I held 20 out of 21 flags at the end and would have gotten the last one if I had one more turn. As it was, the battle went two turns beyond the original length. Those two turns allowed me time to recapture two flags. I had lost a total of six, but recaptured five of those. My final result was a Marginal Victory. Given my casualties, it is unlikely capturing that last flag would have changed the result. I believe you need a 10:1 point ratio to get a decisive victory and the 120 point swing on that one flag would not have allowed that to happen. Close, but it wouldn't quite have been there.

One other interesting note is how much my core value increased over the last two battles. After the first battle, my core value increased about 9%. In these last two battles, my core value has increased 42%. This increase is despite the fact that 27 units were completely destroyed and had to be replace at a base experience level of 50. In these three battles, my core has been the same each time. Honestly, there wasn't anything to upgrade to between 9/1939 and 1/1940.

I don't really expect much out of my next battle. My force is assaulting and I'm using the exact same force as the first three battles. All I'm taking out of support points is one spotter plane.

Here is the save from that last battle just before I ended my final turn.