OPERATIONS ORDER
World War Theatre (1930-1945), Red Star: The Lyuban Offensive

--- OPERATIONS ORDER ---

Situation

Background Information
Comrades! The fascist chokehold on the heroic city of Leningrad must be broken. Our brothers and sisters starve while the German 18th Army entrenches itself on our soil. Today, the Volkhov Front awakens. Not one step back!

Listen to the words of our Glorious Leader!

The motherland is bleeding, but her spirit remains unbroken. We are currently massing on the eastern bank of the Volkhov River near the village of Vysokoye. This is the zero-hour of the Lyuban Offensive. The overarching strategic objective of the 2nd Shock Army is to shatter the German defensive lines on the Volkhov, push deep into the western forests, and link up with the Leningrad Front to finally break the brutal siege of the city. Your platoon is the vanguard. You are standing in the freezing mud of Vysokoye because you have been chosen to spearhead the breakthrough. The fascists hold the opposite bank. They believe the river protects them. You will prove them wrong.

Five-Star Rating System

Combat Intensity: ☆☆☆☆☆ Roleplay Emphasis: ☆☆ Difficulty: ☆☆☆☆☆

Friendly Forces

• Your Force: You are deploying as a reinforced, heavy assault Rifle Platoon (Callsign: BERSERKER). You are roughly 40 comrades strong, consisting of a Platoon HQ and three full Rifle Squads, each armed with automatic rifles, medics, and unwavering Soviet resolve.
• Attached Support: You are directly supported by a dedicated Logistics and Combat Engineering team (Callsign:BULL 4).

Supporting Assets
You are the tip of the spear. There are no friendly forces ahead of you. However, the might of the Red Army's mechanized battalions waits impatiently on the east bank. Once you cross the river, take the bridge, clear Kirpovo, and silence their artillery in the deep woods, our T-34s will thunder across the Vergheza bridge to relieve you.

Enemy Forces

• Composition: Elements of the German 18th Army (Wehrmacht). They are well-entrenched light and mechanized infantry.
• Defensive Posture & Support: The enemy has spent months digging into the western bank. Expect heavy MG34/MG42 emplacements, sandbag bunkers, and trench networks guarding the bridge at Vergheza. Furthermore, they hold the southern flank at Kirpovo to fire upon the river, and they have heavy artillery batteries (150mm leFH 18s) concealed deep within the western forests, pre-sighted on our crossing points.
• Expected Action: The enemy will attempt to bleed us in the river. If we establish a bridgehead, their artillery will rain fire upon us, and we fully anticipate a desperate, mechanized counter-attack (Panzergrenadiers and light armor) emerging from the dense western timber to push us back into the water.

Mission

Tasking
Comrades of the 1st Platoon, BERSERKER! Read these orders carefully, for they carry the weight of Soviet history and the very survival of the besieged people of Leningrad. The fascist parasites of the 18th Army have polluted the western banks of the Volkhov for too long, starving our brothers and sisters in the north. Today, you are chosen by the Party and the Motherland to act as the vanguard of the 2nd Shock Army. Your mission is absolute: you will initiate a relentless and violent crossing of the freezing Volkhov River and tear a hole in the enemy's defensive line. Your primary target is the crossing at Vergheza. The enemy utilizes a makeshift bridge at this sector, a precarious span of wooden planks lashed across a line of floating boats. You will launch a furious assault through the mud and enemy fire to seize this fragile crossing intact. You must overwhelm the fascist defenders with utter ruthlessness before the cowards have a chance to sink the boats or set a torch to the timber. That crude stretch of wood is the lifeline upon which the momentum of our entire mechanized offensive depends; it must be secured at all costs. Once you have established this vital bridgehead, there can be no pausing to rest. You are tasked with immediately widening the corridor. The enemy is deeply entrenched in the village of Kirpovo to the south, using it as a stronghold to pour cowardly enfilading fire onto the crossing. You will push south along the riverbank and crush them without mercy. Root the enemy infantry out of every ruined house, every cellar, and every trench, ensuring not a single fascist machine gun remains pointed at the waters of the Volkhov. Finally, your trial will take you out of the villages and into the suffocating gloom of the western forests. Concealed deep within those treacherous, swampy woods are the German heavy artillery batteries that currently threaten to rain fire upon our staging areas. You will march into that freezing timber, hunt down these hidden guns like wolves hunting prey, and annihilate them completely. Tear the crews from their weapons and reduce the howitzers to scrap metal. You are the very tip of the spear, Comrades, and you will drive it straight through the black heart of the 18th Army. Show them the unstoppable wrath of the Soviet people!

End-state
Upon the successful completion of this operation, the desired end-state is a fully secured, widened, and unbreakable bridgehead on the western bank of the Volkhov River. The friendly force (what remains of your brave platoon) must be firmly entrenched in a hardened defensive perimeter extending from Vergheza, through Kirpovo, and into the western tree line, standing victorious over the smoldering ruins of the German artillery. The Vergheza bridge itself must be completely secure, structurally intact, and ready to facilitate the immediate and uncontested crossing of our T-34 armored battalions. You will be holding the line, waiting to welcome the thundering tracks of the Red Army. In the event of overwhelming enemy resistance, you are explicitly reminded of the Supreme High Command's directive: Not one step back! The concept of a "tactical withdrawal" is a bourgeois fiction and a treasonous crime against the Soviet people, the Party, and the working masses of Leningrad who starve while you hold rifles. There will be no retreat to the eastern bank. There will be no consolidation at Vysokoye. If the fascist counter-attack breaks upon you, your final and absolute end-state is to perish in the western mud, choking the Hitlerite war machine with your own bodies. You will fight to the last man, the last cartridge, and the last drop of Soviet blood. Should the platoon be shattered in the river, your bodies will form the very pontoon upon which the vanguard of the proletariat shall march. Your sacrifice will not be in vain as it will be the bloody anvil upon which the fascist invaders are finally broken, buying the precious time needed for the rest of the army to cross. To die for the Motherland is eternal glory; to look backwards is treason. Death to the German occupiers!

Execution

Administration/Logistics

Resupply
In accordance with SOP

Medical
In accordance with SOP

Rules of Engagement
In accordance with SOP

Fire Support Plan
In accordance with SOP

Close Air Support
In accordance with SOP

Command/Signal

Communications Plan

Callsign	Primary Frequency	Superior Frequency	ACTUAL
BERSERKER 9	40mHz	37mHz	MSG Kevin Platoon Commander (≤45)
BERSERKER 1	250mHz	40mHz	Cpl Gendalorf Squad Leader (≤15)
BERSERKER 1-1	251mHz	250mHz	Capt WhiteWolf Fireteam Leader (≤6)
BERSERKER 1-2	252mHz	250mHz	Acting Fireteam Leader (≤5)
BERSERKER 2	260mHz	40mHz	MSP Dreolic Squad Leader (≤15)
BERSERKER 2-1	261mHz	260mHz	SP2 Scape Fireteam Leader (≤6)
BERSERKER 2-2	262mHz	260mHz	Acting Fireteam Leader (≤5)
BERSERKER 3	270mHz	40mHz	Squad Leader (≤15)
BERSERKER 3-1	271mHz	270mHz	Fireteam Leader (≤6)
BERSERKER 3-2	272mHz	270mHz	Acting Fireteam Leader (≤5)
BULL 4	70mHz	43mHz	SP3 Kat Logistics Support Chief

Considerations
In accordance with SOP