From the Cellar # 11 was definitely not supposed to be designed as a manual, but LFT is glad that Toby Pilling submitted his extensive article on the art of defending in ASL...after many years, it was finally published, and we have received a lot of emails and inquiries for a sequel, or better said, another manual explaining how to attack in ASL. So here you are :

FTC 12 : "Attacking in ASL, A Mid-Level Player’s Perspective".

We will update our site within a couple of weeks when it will go to the printers :-)

You will find below the list of the scenarios of From the Cellar # 12. Be warned that there is not a single small scenario in this issue. A couple of medium ones, and all the rest are large to very large... and quite challenging for both sides. All of them can be played with VASL though, so you can resume your Seaborne assault peacefully with your favorite opponent without the need of installing the overlays again and again at each FtF session :-)

FT314 Red Army Funnies
vs.
9,5 turns

Hill 65.5, Hottinen, Finland, 11 February 1940 : On February 11th, the 91st Tank Battalion and supporting units of the 125th Rifle Division started storming height 65.5. Especially successful was a company under Senior Lieutenant Haraborkin, which supported a rifle battalion under Captain Soroka. Before the attack begun Harabrokin proposed that Soviet infantry rolled up the right sleeve of their white overalls so that tank men would be able to distinguish them from Finns. Haraborkin’s company came to the first antitank obstacles and went through them via the passage made by Soviet engineers. Then, without stopping, it forced its way through the second belt of obstacles, which did not have any passages in it...

FT315 Stumbling Colossus}
vs.
11,5 turns

Raseinai, Russia, 24 June 1941 : On the morning the southern bridgehead held by Combat Group Seckendorff came under heavy attack from KV and T-34 tanks of 2nd Tank Division of 3rd Mechanized Corps, whose objective was to recapture Raseinai and dislodge the 6th Panzer Division from the village and surrounding area. On the morning of June 23rd the division was engaged in heavy fights against the 6th Pz. Div. German panzers and antitank guns seemed to have no effect on the Russian armor as it advanced forward. The Germans desperately brought down heavy artillery on the Russians and their armor, but with little effect. About 100 tanks from 11th Panzer Regiment assembled for a counterattack. Some attacked from the front and most from the flank...

FT316 Operation Munchen
vs.
6,5 turns

Bratuseni, Bessarabia, 5 July 1941 : The general offensive on the Prut River line, named “Operation München”, was planned for 2 July. The main role was reserved for the more experienced German 11th Army, with the Romanian Cavalry Corps (5th and 6th Cavalry Brigades) and the German 11th Corps (German 76th and 239th Infantry Divisions, Romanian 1st Armored and 6th Infantry Divisions) towards Mogilev-Podolsky. On July 2nd, the German 11th Army forced a crossing over the River Prut with the Romanian 1st Armored Division following up the German successes the next day. The Romanians struck in the direction of Bratuseni – Edinita, and here Red Army remnants made their stand.

FT317 Bridge to Oblivion
vs.
8,5 turns

Ruunakorpi, Finland, 28 June 1944 : The Finnish unit “Detachment Osasto Bjorkman” found itself fighting east of the Soviet spearhead and tasked with the objective of pushing west to link up with Detachment Osasto Puroma. Some elements of Osasto Bjorkman began their attack early on June 28th and had some limited success before the effort fizzled out after incurring heavy losses from an all night battle. The Finnish units then decided to set up defensive positions arrayed along the roads leading to Talinmylly, near Ruunakorpi and were further reinforced before the Soviets launched their own attack on June 28th...

FT318 Arsenal of Communism
vs.
8,5 turns

Targu Frumos, Romania, 2 May 1944 : In late March 1944, the Soviet tank army regrouped into the 27th Army’s sector, with the mission of attacking in the direction of Fokuri and Podul-Iloaei. Although the 3rd Tank Corps reached Targul-Frumos, it was thrown back by heavy German counterattacks. This is attributed to a poor artillery preparation, and German advance warning that the attack was to occur. The Germans identified the attacking force as the 2nd Tank Army, and cooperating 27th Army. With advance warning of the Soviet attacks, the Germans were able to have well prepared defenses to slow the Red Army’s advance, and thereby release reserves to counter the Red Army’s strong attacks.

FT319 Tuloksa River Assault
vs.
10,5 turns

Tuloksa river, lake Ladoga, Finland, 23 June 1944 : The operation took place between June 22 and June 28 on the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga in the Tuloksa River area. In the course of the Svir’-Petrozavodsk Operation of 1944, the troops of the left wing of the Karelian Front, commanded by General of the Army K. A. Meretskov, faced the prospect of crossing the Svir’ River and breaking through the strong Finnish defense near Olonets. Because the terrain permitted an advance only along the surfaced roads running along the eastern lake-shore, the Ladoga Naval Flotilla, commanded by Rear Admiral V. S. Cherokov, was assigned the task of assisting the ground attack by effecting a landing between the city

FT320 Osasto Bjorkman
vs.
6,5 turns

Ruunakorpi, Finland, 28 June 1944 : The Finnish unit “Detachment Osasto Bjorkman” found itself fighting east of the Soviet spearhead and tasked with the objective of pushing west to link up with Detachment Osasto Puroma. Detachment Osasto Bjorkman was made up of one battalion from Infantry Regiment 40, one battalion from I.R 13, a Boarder Guard Battalion, Independent Battalion 14 and one company of StuGs. Elements of Osasto Bjorkman began its attack early on June 28th and had some limited success before the effort fizzled out after incurring heavy losses from an all night battle. The Finnish units then decided to set up defensive positions arrayed along the roads leading to Talinmylly, near Ruunakorpi and were further reinforced before the Soviets launched their own attack on June 28th.

FT321 A Counter Offensive Denied
vs.
7 turns

Kecskemet, Hungary, 30 October 1944 : On October 28th 1944, Stalin made the fateful decision that Budapest must be taken as soon as possible. Unfortunately the Russians were poorly situated to even restart offensive operations currently due to their over stretched supply lines and units moving into their assembly areas. The German High Command, recognizing the Soviet threat, had already begun to build up their Axis forces in the Kecskemet area with plans for a counter stroke in November in hopes of recapturing the Hungarian plains. However, with much prodding from Stalin, the Russians beat the Germans to the punch and launched their own offensive.

FT322 Last Desperate Gamble
vs.
14,5 turns

Elsenborn Ridge, Belgium, 18 December 1944 : Large numbers of German infantry from the 12th Volksgrenadier Division followed the barrage and attacked, beginning the ground offensive west towards their eventual goal of Antwerp. The 99th Division and its three regiments, the 393rd, 394th, and the 395th, were on the northern shoulder of the German offensive and in the towns and villages to the east and south of the Elsenborn Ridge. Intelligence that reached them was spotty and contradictory. General Lauer, commanding officer of the 99th, ordered Col. Robertson to stay put until at least the next morning when more orders would be forthcoming. Robertson told his men to hold and he also prepared them for an orderly withdrawal in the morning.The main drive against Elsenborn Ridge was launched in the forests east of the twin villages on the early morning of 17 December.

FT323 Empire Strikes Back
vs.
7,5 turns

Clark Airfield, Luzon, The Philippines, 29 January 1945 : At dawn on 9 January, three days after the appearance of the first Allied naval elements in Lingayen Gulf, outposts of the 23rd Division observed two vast transport groups with a total of nearly 100 ships maneuvering into position off the southern and southeastern sectors of the gulf coast. While naval units raked the shore with intense covering fire, landing craft loaded with assault troops began moving in toward the beaches. The American invasion of Luzon was under way...

FT324 Smashing the Corridor
vs.
7,5 turns

Charlottenburg, Germany, 26 April 1945 : Berlin was being crushed in a relentless Red Army vice. The situation was becoming more desperate with each passing day, but Hitler believed that General Wenck’s 12th Army could disengage from the western front near the Elb River and race over the Hovel River to save Berlin from the Soviet hoards. The Germans needed to hold a corridor around the suburbs of Berlin open. To accomplish this impossible feat, Hitler ordered a thousand Hitler Youth and what remained of the 18th Panzer Grenadier Division to hold open the bridges and an east-west corridor into the capital. At this point, the Red Army spearheads struck into the suburb of Grunewald in an attempt to smash the corridor and seal Berlin’s fate, and thus encircle the stricken capital...

Errata

FT324 Smashing the Corridor :
SSR4 Clarification : Contrary to Russian Vehicle Note J, T34/85s can make unlimited SD attempts.

FT324 Stumbling Colossus :

SSR 2 : The river is deep with a moderate current heading south [EXC : Hexes E5,E6, F6, R6, S6, S7, DD5, EE5, EE6 on board 4 and hexes N3, M7, M8, L3, K5, J4, I11, J11, J12, K16, D10, D11, E15, B13 on board 6a are treated as shallow stream hexes (B20.42)].

Thanks to John Stadick for this one, plotting the missing J12 shallow stream location.


Post-scriptum

Maps needed : 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4a, 5a, 6a, 7a, 9a, 17z, 42, 43, 44, 53, 56, 58, 62, 69, 70, 71, 78, 79, BFP Q, BFP R and t

Overlays needed : RttR A, RttR D, Wd 1, X7, O1, O2, OG2, OG3, X14, Hi8, Rv1, OW1, Be1 to 4, OC1 to 4 and X11.