Firestorm: Red Thunder

After his shocking victory in Hamburg a few days back, Oberst Waffen was given the task of exploiting a breakthrough in the Frankfurt area. It was a race to grab the small town of Schmellington before NATO forces, in this case the British, could get there first and dig in.

Turns 1 to 3.
Waffen had received reports from divisional reconnaissance elements that British forces were moving in from the west and he knew he did not have that much time to prepare his forces. Right as he was giving out the order to advance the British made their appearance and forced Oberst Waffen on the defense. The fairly accurate British tank gunnery destroyed several tanks as his forces were moving into their deployment formations and Oberst Waffen was also able to observe British infantry units moving into the woods across from his objective town to delay his forces.
Waffen decided on the following plan. He would move his dismounted company of Bmp2 infantry and the Bmp recon through some woods towards Schmellington. These two units had already begun to advance before the British had showed up. There was an initial objective Waffen wished to take just at the edge of these woods. He felt once his units were there and dug in he could disrupt the Britsh assault. Meanwhile his T72s would all go straight at the advancing Chieftans hoping to give the 125 guns a little more oomph. The T55s would advance and engage the Swingfires who were supporting the Chieftans. The Bmps and all the BRDM Spandrels would remain on the ridge in his deployment area to provide missile fire. The BMP1 company stayed mounted to support the dismounted being Bmp2 company. The BTR company also stayed mounted and went wide on the Left Flank of the advance towards a small Factory complex. From there Oberst Waffen hope to distract the British by coming in from their flank and on the rear of some of their vehicles.
The tank duel bled both forces dry over the course if these turns. Soon only some T55s, a couple of T72s and the Hq Chieftan were left. But this part of Waffens plan had worked out.

While the tank duel had been going on the BMP 2 company was sneakily ( they thought so anyway ) advancing through some woods when Hauptman Schultz called a halt and had them dig in. The most forward elements could see Schmellington and it already had British infantry moving in to it. The BMP recon did not apparently take not of this fact as they began to take Milan fire and were quickly destroyed.
The other British infantry platoon and the dismounted Milan section had also moved into the woods across from Schmellington and contributed to the demise of a tanks as well. The Acacia's, directed by the observer mad them think twice pinning and killing some from both units.
Explosions sounded through the woods the Germans were sheltering in-the British Mortars had joined the fray, it was a good thing Schultz had made the men dig in, even so there were casualties. All this company could for 4 turns in a row was keep their heads down and hope for the best. Even the M109's joined in once they had made the BMP2 missile line move after blowing up a few.
The flanking BTR's had dismounted their infantry and began to help take out some Swingfire's with heavy KPV fire. The AT-4's fired at and killed one mortar while the rest of the infantry moved up the British back line.

Turns 4-8.
The middle of the battlefield was a graveyard of burning tanks from both sides. The last of the T72's is destroyed but the HQ Chieftan decided to fight to the end even though his formation has been wiped out and is bailed numerous times. The few T55's have to huddle behind some woods to save themselves from Milan fire while the Acacias keep on hitting those positions.
The German infantry in the woods continued to get hammered by indirect fire but thanks to their hasty fighting positions casualties are minimal. The BTR dismounted Spigots finally bag 3 more mortar carriers forcing the rest to displace and earning the infantry a reprieve. The infantry and the carriers keep advancing up the long side of the battlefield forcing the British deal with them. The MCT's deal with the BTR's while the mortars try and deal with the infantry, but the few surviving BMP's take out 2 of the MCT's.
FV432's also tried their mg's to help dislodge the infantry in the woods but ended up being engaged and destroyed by the BMP 1 of the other infantry company.

We called the game at this point, but I wish we could have played it out just to see. I feel the East Germans could have pulled it out as the British were down to one full strength infantry platoon in the town and a beat up one with a half strength Milan section in the woods across from the town. They also had 2 MCT, 4 M109 and 4 mortar carriers. The East Germans still had enough forces to conduct a limited operation.
This mission, Frankfurt Gauntlet, was very fun and I plan on using it again and it made for a fun first few turns as both sides went after the objectives.
Oberst Waffen was unable to continue the momentum of the breakthrough but his forces caused very heavy casualties to the British forces, for this he feels slightly vindicated.