Two Movies of the Eastern Front: Demoted (aka Degraded aka Degraded Officer) and Lieutenant (aka Lieutenant Suvorov)

I have been woefully neglectful in documenting my movie watching of late - I assure you, June was a panapoly of WWII themed movies, mostly centered on D-Day. Some were quite good, a few were terrible.  Perhaps at some point, I'll revisit those I liked and make mention of them here. However,  I recently watched two Russian movies featuring lieutenants and since they are fresh on my mind, I'll just talk about them instead.


The first, Demoted (available via Amazon Prime video, at least in the US), is the story of a platoon leader, who refused an order to advance his men into certain death, and his escorts on their way to his court martial.

There is at least one truly WTF? moment - which you'll know when you see it, and it might be based on historical fact, I don't know - but mostly it's a drama about honor, duty vs. doing the right thing, and other high-minded topics. And while it's not the greatest movie ever made, it was entertaining and I really enjoyed the character of the old man and the bits of wisdom he dispensed. The ending was strange and artsy and I suspect it was making some kind of statement, but I'm terrible at reading into visual symbolism.

There isn't a lot of fighting of the Germans in this one, but what there is, a classic last stand, could make a fun small scale skirmish with about a squad per side.  One Hour Skirmish Wargames would work well.

I'd keep the German motivation pretty low in this one - while the motivation for the Soviets is a bit higher, say 2 for the Germans and 3 for the Soviets. The Soviets have fewer men and several of them are completely immobile, but rank the old man the highest leader on the table and give him another skill or two (watch the movie, make your choice) and do something similar for the demoted lieutenant. If the German leader is killed, any remaining Germans will retreat, but the Soviets will stand to the last.

The other film, Lieutenant or Lieutenant Suvorov  (available on Prime video in the US as well as on Youtube) is about a lieutenant and a few stray soldiers who survive a German attack and find themselves defending the lieutenant's home town. If you can excuse the requisite romance subplot which suffers from the usual thinness, the movie is enjoyable, and includes a rarely seen character: a former member of the Russian White army. From a wargame  perspective, there are two small skirmishes that could make suitable gaming material.

 

In one, a small motorcycle recon group approaches the center of town and is spotted by a lone Soviet sentry. Start the game with the Germans in the center of the town and the sentry just noticing they are there. Once shooting starts, have the lieutenant and remaining Soviet soldiers arrive on turns determined by die roll or move them from the edge of the table towards the town center. It should take each group more than one activation to reach the fighting.

 

The second is a simple delaying action. 

 

A small German convoy of a few mixed vehicles approaches a recently evacuated village along a narrow road through marshy area and are ambushed by a handful of Soviets, armed with an ATG  with limited rounds and a limited number of grenades per soldier as well. 

 

The Soviets need to delay the Germans from reaching the village.The Germans need to eliminate the Soviets or get at least one vehicle off the opposite end of the map.

 

I'd probably use a turn limit victory condition, say 8-10 turns (That can be a lot for something like OHSW or very little, depending on the Jokers) for the Soviets to win. Vehicles can't pass each other but it should be possible for the Germans to push vehicles off the road into the marsh (perhaps using a tank). If a vehicle tries to go around another, there should be some mechanism for them becoming bogged down and immobilized, although any mounted guns would continue to function.