The Czerniakow Bridgehead - T4 - The germans have hit a wall.

Private Kaminski's antics in the North have been for naught. The Russians have figured out that they could interdict the bridge without exposing themselves to the German's base of fire. Meanwhile inthe center and against the main effort, the stalwart Russians held strong positions keeping the Germans from moving around freely once passed the bridge. As a result, the forces from the North have been diverted to cut the flanking of the german bridgehead across the deep stream. 

Stalled in the North...

Early success in the south encouraged the germans to be bold over there too. They slipped into good positions, broke a bunch of russian squads and pinned in the open russian reinforcements. The missing piece of the puzzle was a pincer from the main force coming from the north.

In the south, the germans have carved a good position, but it is tenuous... The Russian LMG in K7 is broken and downgraded... it isn't going to rally in a long while. 

The russian counter attack was swift and effective. They came from down the street through buildings, weathered the german defensive fire like big boys and finished them off in close combat. Thus ends the half-hearted diversion on the southern approach. The germans have learned to rejoice when prep-fire works well and not blindly jump in everything that looks like a hole. Granted, the main force should have cleared the way already and this hasn't happen yet.

The tiny stack on H5 now has to make a tough choice.

What turn 5 has in store? I think that the germans will have to wheel in the MMG in the SPW 251/1 in order to support the retreat of the beleaguered MMC/LMG/8-0 stack: reinforcing defeat is generally a bad idea, but here we're talking about 3 CPV that could bloat to 6 CVP if the Russians capture them alive.

Oh, and yea, the main force as a side show has managed to clear the worst of the russian base of fire overlooking the bridge. We'll see where that takes them. Diverting the SPW 251/1 and the MMG to the south bridge may help in rescuing a bucket full of CVP still to lose, but there remains that it still is a diversion of the main effort which is in need of a boost.

The russians O10 and N9 gummed up the German advance for 4 turns! This was caused by a mixture of good dice and a lack of focus of the Germans. Lesson learned here too.