Attacking through the objective is a concept that many are familiar with. Ordering a unit to attack into the objective and pushing the enemy out of the area makes sense. Look at the example below. The American battalion is conducting an attack on Steinebruck Bridge. The order is placed beyond the objective. Why? Because the unit will assault the bridge to break the defense and then follow the enemy out of the objective. In game terms this moves the enemy out of the objective radius.
Americans preparing to attack the Steinebruck Bridge objective in the Return to St. Vith Tutorial
Now that we have defined attacking through the object we will shift the focus to defense. Looking briefly back at the Return to St Vith example we can see that the Germans have troops on the southern bank of the river ready to face the Americans. Pushing your troops forward like this can block the enemy from getting inside of the objective radius, provide early warning, and allow forces on the objective to prepare or call in reinforcements.
Below is another example of defending through the objective, taken from my AAR of my playthrough of the Steam Workshop scenario Crossing the Mius, created by SharpEndGaming. You can find this complete AAR on the Command Ops Discord and here in a future blog post.
German Defenders fighting with the Soviets in the Mius River Area, 30 km north of Rostov
At the beginning of the scenario I put a battalion on the eastside of the river in Dmitriyevka and ordered them to defend in situ formation. Deployed this way, the Germans would not attempt to retake lost territory. The battalion intercepted and repelled a Soviet reconnaissance unit. This caused the Soviet main body to form up outside of the town where my artillery fired on them in the open or in the wooded area where explosive shells were very effective. Throughout out the day the Germans slowly fell back slowing the Soviets and buying me critical time to hold the town. The Soviets eventually started attempting to cross the river so I counter attacked with a reserve battalion. This was critical to keeping the Soviets mostly on the eastern side of the Mius. For the defense of major objectives, I follow a 50/50 rule: 50% of the defending force defends on and through the objective while 50% are held in reserve.
Overall this tactic was extremely successful. The Soviets did not have a major crossing and I finished the round with a Marginal Victory.
How to you conduct defensive operations? Let me know in the comment section!
The Germans win a Marginal Victory over the Soviets, 66-25 victory points
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