The Best Nest
The First Problem of 'Snow'
The following post poses the first problem of a decision-forcing case. For a description of the protagonist of this case, the unit he led, and the situation in which he found himself, please see …
If you are new to this sort of exercise, you may want to read …
It is now 27 February 1942 and you have just taken command of Security Unit Mollenhauer, a provisional rifle battalion organized last month to protect the rear areas of German formations fighting east of the city of Vyazma. Your battalion operates out of a base located in the village of Wassilevschina.
You read the following report, which draws heavily on the testimony of recently captured prisoners.
Since 20 January 1942, teams of Soviet paratroopers have been dropping into the countryside south of Vyazma. Each team consists of a commander, a commissar, two junior officers and sixteen men. Armed with small arms and demolition charges, the members of each team have undergone some infantry training. Few, however, had practiced the art of parachuting before making their first combat jump.
The teams belong the 8th Airborne Brigade, a unit that consists of four battalions, each of four companies. Each company, in turn, breaks down into five platoons, each of which fields two teams.
The orders given to the paratroopers call for them to organize partisan units. To this end, and to provide themselves with food and shelter, they have been taking control of villages. The map, which is based on reports provided by local civilians, recently captured prisoners, and patrols conducted by German forces, shows the villages in the vicinity of your unit that seem to be under Soviet control.
On 26 February 1942 (and thus the day before you took command) your immediate superior, the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division (motorized), shared his vision for the operations of his formation. ‘We will use small ‘cauldrons’ (Kessel)’, he explained, ‘to annihilate portions of the Soviet forces in our area of responsibility.’
Your first tactical decision as commanding officer of your battalion is thus the location of the first ‘cauldron’ that you will create.
If you wish to share your solution to this problem, please feel free to use the comment section of this post. In doing this, please explain the reasons behind your decision. When doing this, please refrain from sharing any information that would spoil the problem for your fellow readers.
For Further Reading
Additional Decision Games
If you are looking for additional of this sort, your first stop should be Shadowbox Decision Games, a Substack written by John Schmitt. (In the 1990s, Major Schmitt led the movement to revive the use of tactical decision games within the US Marine Corps.)
The first cauldron should be created in the west by attacking Soviet Army and partisan forces in the villages of TJAKINO, PASHOGA and STANINO. This would split Soviet forces in the area, making it difficult for them to support each other and allow my unit to concentrate combat power on the enemy.
Same , counter clockwise 🔁 TJAKINO > PASHOGA > STANINO > MEDJEVO > north to vic KURENKI to finish.