A Winter-ish War: The background

During the period of growing international tension, the leadership of SPUR (the Soviet People's United Republics) were very aware that access to their main naval base could easily be threatened by enemy forces if the latter occupied the area around the town of Viputa in Opeland. Although the Opelanders had espoused a policy of neutrality, they were militarily weak, and the Secretary of the Supreme Soviet decided that SPUR could not rely on their neighbours being able to stop the seizure of Viputa and its surrounding area by a potential enemy power. He therefore ordered his Foreign Minister to begin negotiations with the Opelanders in the hope that they would cede Viputa to SPUR, and ordered his Military Commanders to begin to plan for military action if the negotiations should fail.

It became obvious quite early on that the negotiations would fail, and both sides began to prepare for war. The Commander-in-Chief of Opeland's Armed Forces – Marshal Talenheim – had a line of defences constructed close to the border with SPUR. The defences consisted of a number of strong points which were protected by minefields and barbed wire. The Marshal was a realist, and knew that what the newspapers had already begun to call 'The Talenheim Line' would only delay any attackers, and that the best he could hope for was that the politicians would be able to negotiate a peaceful end to any war before Viputa was captured.

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The Opelandic Army
Marshal Talenheim had the following forces available to defend the border defences and Viputa

• 10 x Regular Infantry Units
• 1 x Regular Mortar Unit
• 1 x Regular Anti-tank Gun Unit
• 1 x Regular Field Artillery Unit
• 5 x Reserve Infantry Units
• 1 x Reserve Mortar Unit
• 1 x Reserve Anti-tank Gun Unit
• 1 x Reserve Light Field Artillery Unit

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The bulk of the Regular Army Units were used to man the so-called 'Talenheim Line' and the majority of the Reserve Units were tasked with defending Viputa.

The SPUR Army
The forces allocated to attack the 'Talenheim Line' were commanded by Marshal Zirkoff, and comprised:

• 18 x Rifle Units
• 2 x Mortar Units
• 2 x Anti-tank Gun Units
• 2 x Light Field Artillery Units
• 2 x Tank Units

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• 8 x Naval Infantry Units
• 1 x Naval Anti-tank Gun Unit
• 1 x Naval Light Field Artillery Unit
• 3 x Heavy Artillery Units

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Marshal Zirkoff split his forces into four groups:

• Group 1 (The Naval Infantry and Artillery Units) was allocated the left hand sector of the front facing Viputa and was tasked with attacking the defences in their sector on the third day of the attack, should such an attack be necessary.
• Group 2 (Comprising 6 x Rifle Units, 1 x Mortar Unit, 1 x Anti-tank Gun Unit, and 1 x Light Field Artillery Unit) was allocated the left-centre sector of the front, and was tasked with attacking the defences in their sector on the first day of the attack.
• Group 3 (Comprising 6 x Rifle Units, 1 x Mortar Unit, 1 x Anti-tank Gun Unit, and 1 x Light Field Artillery Unit) was allocated the right-centre sector of the front, and was tasked with attacking the defences in their sector on the first day of the attack.
• Group 4 (Comprising 6 x Rifle Units, 2 x Tank Units, and 3 x Heavy Artillery Units) was allocated the right hand sector of the front where the ground was thought to be more suitable for tanks. It was tasked with attacking the defences in their sector on the second day of the attack, and it was expected that they should breakthrough the 'Talenheim Line' that day, thus outflanking the defences and forcing the Opelanders to retreat and/or surrender.