The Thin Ice: Lyuban, 1942

The Thin Ice: Lyuban, 1942

In Russia, the winter of 1941-1942 was extreme, even by Russian standards. Temperatures regularly fell to -40 degrees Farenheit and snow piled up. By the first week of December, German Army Group North was halted at Tikhvin by the stiff resistance of the Red Army and "General Winter." The Germans were forced to retreat to the Volkhov River.

With the Soviet armies east of Leningrad organized into the Volkhov Front, they were set to launch a new offensive in January to break the encirclement of Leningrad. The first objective was to liberate the village of Lyuban with a pincer attack, thus cutting off the German 18th Army near the town of Chudovo.

The attack came on January 6th. The Soviet 2nd Shock Army crossed the Volkhov north of Novgorod and advanced 40 miles over the course of January before being halted on the outskirts of Lyuban. The northern push began in March with the Soviet 54th Army pushing southwest towards Luban, threatening to encircle the 18th Army. But this attack came too late, as the Germans were also prepared to counter-attack from the south to cut off the 2nd Shock Army - and succeeded in doing so by March 19th. On the other hand, the Soviet advance in the north stalled out before advancing 20 miles.

This FSO aims to recreate the battles over Lyuban in March 1942, when weather permitted greater use of aircraft by both the Germans and Soviets.

Allies: 50% / Axis 50%

Order of Battle:

Loadout Restrictions:

Fighters may not carry bombs or drop tanks.

C.205 may not equip 20mm cannons.

Notes:

Bomber Alt Cap is 14K.

Fighter Alt Cap is 20K.

Scoring:

Fighters - 1

Bombers - 1

Hangars - 4

White Flag Town - 10

Arena Settings:

- Terrain: finlandw

- Clouds: light5k

- Fuel Burn: 1.0

- Icons: 3K Friendly/Enemy

- Ack: .3

- Fighter and Bomber warning range: 63360 (about 12 miles)

- Tower range set to 63360 (for display only to match the above setting)

- Haze/Fog: 15 miles

- Radar: Off

- Enemy collisions: on

- Friendly collisions: off

- Killshooter: off

- Time: 1000 (10AM) Game Clock

- Formations: On

- Formation Autopilot: On

- Bomber calibration: Automatic

- Wind: 0K-6K NO WIND

6K-14K: E TO W - Speed 5

14K-20K: SE to NW - Speed 10

20K+: 45MPH Downdraft

Designed by Devil5O5

Area of Operations:

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