Turns 16-20
These turns are the most combat intense so far. Huge tank battles, aircraft striking their targets, terrifying artillery barrages…everything is on the menu.
Polish armored forces move towards Kokocko at (1). Russian forces move towards the same objective and towards the centre at (2). The battle is fierce, up close and personal, with serious losses for both sides, but in the end the only platoon sized forces visible to me are two T80 platoons and one motor rifle platoon. There are definitely more forces behind, but the initial attack has been blunted by accurate fire by the Leos that were frantically firing at both T80s moving towards (1) and (2). Russians fight back with T80s and their air force that appeared in the skies. They cause significant damage to the Poles at the cost of 2 MiG-29s shot down.
Russian helicopters also make it to the battlefield. I count 2 Hinds and 2 Ka-52s. My SAMs get into work. OSAs, ZSU-23s and other AA fire at the helicopters. One Hind is shot down, the other retreats. The Ka-50s are more survivable, and they manage to advance to (3), where they cause significant casualties to my forces. One Ka-50 is hit by a Grom missile and withdraws, while I get lucky with the other and I hit it with a Spike ATGM from (4), shooting it down. More than 600 points down the drain, these are excellent news!
Russian tank forces also move towards Debowiec. They engage the last Leopard platoon in the area (5) at close range and finally eliminate it with heavy casualties. They also get engaged by the Spike ATGMs I’ve deployed at (4) and their advance slows down.
To the south, Polish forces are on the receiving end of the dreadful Russian artillery. 300mm cluster munitions fall at (6), and destroy 3 T-72s, a platoon of dismounted infantry and 2 Rosomak IFVs. The survivors are forced to retreat to Czarze, where together with reinforcements from the western side of the river, try to establish a defense of the city. Coming at them, at least a company of T-80s, a fearsome opponent. The Polish forces in the area are also bombarded by Russian aircraft and more casualties are being suffered.
To the very south, T72s find and engage an immobilized Belarusian T72B1 at (7). They destroy it with one T72 lost as well. They then turn towards the west, to reinforce the defenders of Czarze even more. The forces that attempt the flanking maneuver are being attacked by Russian aircraft at the little forest at (8) and lose two T-72s and one Rosomak IFV, but the push on. At turn 20, they find Belarusian 120mm SP mortars at (9), and are ready to destroy them the next turn.
Russians also use their PAK FA aircraft in SEAD role, probably the first ever operational. They annihilate the OSA platoon at (10) and I lose my most valuable AA system. I also have two F-35s that I also use on a SEAD role, but the Russians manage to shoot one down with a lucky TOR-M1 missile hit. The other knocks down one Tunguska and one Belarusian OSA. Not an even exchange. I also have a significant amount of F-15s and A-10s, but unless I manage to knock down the majority of SAMS with my flanking maneuver, I probably won’t use them as it is too risky.
So, things have slightly improved. I managed to knock out several enemy tanks, but at a heavy cost. Total number of tanks lost is 18 Leopards, all 4 Abrams and 24 T-72 M1s for my forces and I estimate I destroyed 25 T-72B1s for the Belarusians and around 53 Russian T-80UDs. Things are still in the balance and I need to counterattack and retake some lsot ground, otherwise there is the danger of having more than 35K points lost by the end of the game.