How to defend Krupki Station? Historical battles- German aspect.

[Nern Guan, Master Orator]

I've been wanting to try the historical battle Terminus Krupki. and have found it to be very difficult as the defender. It seems that I am stretched very thin, and can't really call in too much at a time without facing some major problem down the road. I can defend the station no problem provided I leave at least 4 grenadiers ( additional reinforcements added as needed) , however the small detachments I leave defending the roadways eventually are over run and the town gets pushed very hard with a massive red wave.

[moderncaveman]

Ok i just finished this last night and its a hard one but i won in the end ! and only just with a few minutes to spare. The key that one my battle was bulking up the initial defences in the town. Give the station some defences but in the early game just give it enough to repulse light air attacks and medium to light infantry pushes. If it gets hairy no problem as reinforcements move in quickly so no need for Tigers support until late phase B or Phase C and even then.

The town should be able to self sustain itself for at least mid phase B.To do this have some AA a 20mm is adequate, but make sure its only providing AA support so place it where it wont get engaged by enemy ground fire. More importantly save its precious ammo and do not be tempted to provide anti infantry fire, those scout planes got some nasty bombs and every soldier counts. 2 Tigers are helpful, and so is LVF Heavy MG34 squads. In phase A LVF Heavy MG 34s should be placed in the church or in the northern suburbs to prevent the movement of partisan squads whose molotovs will thrash you and keep the little mortars from really ruining your day. Position the bulk of your defense bunkers in the town outskirts, they absorb so much fire and have so much ammo to that they will punish infantry pushes.

By phase B the 2 tigers that are deployed in the town should be in good positions to snipe the many EMCHAS one by one, micro them tigers the best you can away from max 2 shermans at any given time. Keep a ammo truck on standby in the initial deployment phase near or safely tucked into the town. You will know if you are doing well, if all your squads are screaming for ammo, and i will assure you that opel blitz ammo should be well empty by the time the tigers are destroyed. If your heavy MG34s are still alive put them on the ground floor and out of sight of the shermans, staying in the church is now suicide. Infantry should all be screaming for MG ammo , or even for Kars for sure give it to them,

The road between Krupki and the station is a losing battle and will waste precious troops . At best it diverts more partisans away for the town, but ultimately German infantry just do not have the ammo capacity to sustain a decisive defensive perimeter. I found that all german inf devoted to keeping the road open just gets shut down by sheer exhaustion of ammo, there simply to many partisans squads around.

By the time the Tigers and more infantry become available start pushing them into the movement into the relieving the town or pool up to recapture it. For once doing this piece meal is the only feasible way as the tigers are slow to reach the town in meaningful numbers. Use them to pry open the route that would have been lost to the partisans in phase A or B. The partisans cant at this point overwhelm the infantry , as tiger support crushes them

Be sure to keep up the air war the anti tank planes are the only thing they have that can really give your Tigers the chills.

Have fun !

[Nern Guan, Master Orator]

Originally posted by moderncaveman87:

Ok i just finished this last night and its a hard one but i won in the end ! and only just with a few minutes to spare. The key that one my battle was bulking up the initial defences in the town. Give the station some defences but in the early game just give it enough to repulse light air attacks and medium to light infantry pushes. If it gets hairy no problem as reinforcements move in quickly so no need for Tigers support until late phase B or Phase C and even then.

The town should be able to self sustain itself for at least mid phase B.To do this have some AA a 20mm is adequate, but make sure its only providing AA support so place it where it wont get engaged by enemy ground fire. More importantly save its precious ammo and do not be tempted to provide anti infantry fire, those scout planes got some nasty bombs and every soldier counts. 2 Tigers are helpful, and so is LVF Heavy MG34 squads. In phase A LVF Heavy MG 34s should be placed in the church or in the northern suburbs to prevent the movement of partisan squads whose molotovs will thrash you and keep the little mortars from really ruining your day. Position the bulk of your defense bunkers in the town outskirts, they absorb so much fire and have so much ammo to that they will punish infantry pushes.

By phase B the 2 tigers that are deployed in the town should be in good positions to snipe the many EMCHAS one by one, micro them tigers the best you can away from max 2 shermans at any given time. Keep a ammo truck on standby in the initial deployment phase near or safely tucked into the town. You will know if you are doing well, if all your squads are screaming for ammo, and i will assure you that opel blitz ammo should be well empty by the time the tigers are destroyed. If your heavy MG34s are still alive put them on the ground floor and out of sight of the shermans, staying in the church is now suicide. Infantry should all be screaming for MG ammo , or even for Kars for sure give it to them,

The road between Krupki and the station is a losing battle and will waste precious troops . At best it diverts more partisans away for the town, but ultimately German infantry just do not have the ammo capacity to sustain a decisive defensive perimeter. I found that all german inf devoted to keeping the road open just gets shut down by sheer exhaustion of ammo, there simply to many partisans squads around.

By the time the Tigers and more infantry become available start pushing them into the movement into the relieving the town or pool up to recapture it. For once doing this piece meal is the only feasible way as the tigers are slow to reach the town in meaningful numbers. Use them to pry open the route that would have been lost to the partisans in phase A or B. The partisans cant at this point overwhelm the infantry , as tiger support crushes them

Be sure to keep up the air war the anti tank planes are the only thing they have that can really give your Tigers the chills.

Have fun !

I'm actually not kidding when I say this, but I managed to complete it. I started with two Tigers, one stationed to the north end of the town, and one stationed with two grenadiers by the roadway where the partisans + infantry come from. had one mg bunker placed further towards the station guarding the two roads supported by an individual MG 34. had 3 aa guns in the town, and a mortar, and the remaining bunkers were placed in the town as well. I also placed 3 grenadiers to the station to defend.

as time went on i heavily reinforced the town with infantry of all sorts, using the individual tiger outside of town would be used to hunt and destroy any partisans that slipped by, and the grenadiers went into town to support the other infantry. an emphasis on forcing out the anti tank/ artillery pieces to support the station was a must, and additional grenadiers as well. before phase b began i sent out more disheartened infantry , a 2nd mortar and MP' to the town.

Phase B began, and I fortified the city with an infantry army, overtime I sent in Opels to resupply the troops there, which went real fast. ( the aa acted as a real good infantry clearer for when they got a bit too close if the tiger couldn't) . I managed to fortify the road ways with infantry in various areas. lost the station but countered after they briefly " took " it.

This level gave me many issues. But I think with having the tigers out early, you can be flexible. They also have immense firepower vs any armor on the field, unlike the PAK bunkers.

[moderncaveman]

Good show ! glad to hear you beat it. It took some tries before i did it too, got some really awesome lessons from it . Heavy tanks matter heavily early on, and in this level are the real anchors for victory.

[Nern Guan, Master Orator]

You would think however, that it would be more essential to save those points to deploy infantry in a more concentrated area and deploy those tanks later. it's insane.

[moderncaveman]

Thats what i thought too early on aswell. I think its the fact them soviets and partisans just lack effective long range AT. That and the 88 on the tiger is really good HE value at melting soviet infantry.

For the soviets in this mission they are spoilt for choice against infantry and the addition of snipers make short work of the LVF Grens and poor landshcutzen. I found the LVF and landschutzen just lacking in fire power, to curb the many small manned partisan squads, in a pure infantry fight. Guess many of us got used to panzer grens with those face melting 2x MG42s.......

[Kersch]

I did it by hugging the Krupki bridges with LFV grenadiers in trenches and lots of AA. I put a lot of units in position to keep the route to Krupki open from Partisans which allowed me to get reinforcing assets into position very fast. Also, air cover is extremely important, either keep your AA supplied or intercept with fighters or their planes will eat you alive. I lost Krupki for a brief stint, but I had 5 tigers show up just in time as well as ammunition trucks for the AA near it to retake it. My LFV grendiers + bunkers + 1 tiger held out about 3/4 of the game before succumbing in the town. The 1 mg42 bunker I placed on the hill just outside the East bridge of Krupki helped extremely to keep it open. Probably the most fun i've had in a world war 2 game in awhile.

[moderncaveman]

It certainly was a fine line game for me. Pretty much what you want though for a single player mission. I dont thinks its possible as the germans to win with 2 hard soviet AI players. 1.8 percent players won as as the germans while 5 percent of players won as the soviets. I did both and for sure , the Soviets have it easy if you know what to do.