The day is drawing to a close. In the north, the II-GD and supporting elements have pretty much dug-in due to some hot dice for implementing their Prep Defense Op Sheets.
But this is sort of moot if the actual Soviet assault in the south is able to take Khudilikha. As was previously mentioned, when the Soviets appeared (surprisingly) to the north, the German defense consisted of about a company of infantry with a platoon of StuG III assault guns in support. This was not much against about 15 tanks and two battalions of infantry, but the Germans had artillery, and they dumped over 70 ammo in 3 turns (1 hour) trying to step the Soviet advance. However, the Soviets were careful and methodical and avoided casualties for the most part by staying out of observation or right up against the Germans, making them a bit more hard to hit with artillery. Continuous fires are effective but very expensive in terms of ammo, and can only be stop-gap solutions to defensive problems.
The Germans can’t keep this up forever – had they just an additional company on prep defense, Khudilikha would have been extremely hard to take in a few hours. Now, however, the Soviet thrust had cut off reinforcements (and the Germans do have a battalion coming in in the evening).
And let’s not forget that an entire fresh infantry regiment is barreling towards the gap that the Soviet 10 Mech and 49 TB have opened in the German line.
gd42replay 