Remember to ALWAYS have a firebase available when you advance with a force you consider important to your plan, that is, most of the time. Your forces need to have a LOS to your scout, sending them romping 300 meters ahead in some woods is scout wasted. Be ready to sacrifice your scout, if they encounter a strong enemy they are done for support or not. A platoon comes roughly one or two minutes after a scout has passed the terrain. If the scout gets shot this will, enemy spotted or not, give a very good general idea of the enemy position.

If you still desperately need to advance due to time constraints, utilize your firebase to rake the suspected enemy positions with area fire. A decent firebase has MGs ready to open up, mortars and possibly a gun or a tank going mad minute with HE and multiple MGs.

Keep firing until your platoon/company/whatever reaches the destination, if you enemy opens fire on the way your firebase will suppress it somewhat.

I decided to further illustrate the fine art of scouting. To that effect I created a scenario for the purpose of working as an example on how to conduct a proper recon of a possible enemy position, without futile waste of your troops and how to finally advance and overcome the position utilizing the clever recon. Then I took several screenshots of the mission.

Below is the basic scenario. A Soviet force has been ordered to capture a heavily wooded hill seen below! Alas, unbeknownst to the Soviets, a platoon of Krauts is entrenched in the woods supported by three HMG42s. A potentially fatal predicament!

Here you can see the starting point of the infantry about to seize the hillock, as well as an important terrain feature: an elevation with decent LOS to the "Objective."

Note: the smudged blue text claims that a platoon of German infantry is fortified at the objective with HMG42 support. Also note that the claim is true.

We start with how to not properly scout the objective. Observe the possible close range firebase for this recon mission engaging in a political discussion.

You can imagine why Krupov and his comrade ended up quite dead. However with a close firebase composed of his detachment, weapons at ready, the situation takes a change for the better!

For a textbook reconnaissance mission we need a real firebase to react to any OPFOR presence. If you are not ready to engage the enemy when contact is made, why scout at all? A firebase on the elevation:

Krupov hugs the ground, Popov's two platoons open fire and it is determined at least three different infantry contacts are present on the woods visible to the detachment. Popov and the firebase at the elevation do not spare ammunition. Death to the fascist pig.

There is a reason to suspect the enemy discovered by Krupov are somewhat suppressed at this point.

The recon and capture of the first woods at the hillock is a success. As an added bonus more mission critical information is available to our intrepid Bolsheviks.

It is determined that "Objective" is entrenched. There is every reason to believe that the trenches are occupied, if not by more troops at least the picket line which retreated. Only one of the three spotted infantry units is confirmed killed. A few minutes are spent moving a group of support units into position with a better LOS to the "Objective" itself. After some minutes of shelling and area fire raking the objective to suppress the OPFOR at "Objective" Popov orders an assault.

PLEASE NOTE: Yes, the Soviet 82mm mortars are shelling an area assaulted by their comrades. However the suppression level to the enemy achieved by this far surpasses any harm done by "blue on blue" casualties taken when the objective is stormed. When the assault reaches its destination the shelling stops, i.e. friendly troops are only subject to shelling by own units for some 30 seconds.

The suppressed enemy breaks and routs quickly. Unable to fire back when Popov's detachment surges forward they are immediately overrun.

NOTE: When a similar assault was conducted without the 3-minute prep fire (yes, even a prep fire with such lowly weapons as the 82mm, Maxim and a 45mm gun can suppress an entrenched OPFOR position enough for that critical moment), Popov's detachment was routed as a whole. Every single unit ordered to advance was either eliminated, broken or in a state of panic.

The casualties taken by both sides, Axis on the left side:

It took 5 minutes from the start to clear the first woods. It took roughly 10 minutes after that to launch the assault on the "Objective" so not much ground was made at 20 minutes all in all.

The Soviet force (all regular).
- Popov's detachment: Two platoons of rifle -42
- Firebase: a Soviet captain, 2 x 82mm mortar, 2 x Maxim HMG, a DP LMG and a 45mm AT-gun.

The German force (all regular).
- Platoon of rifle -41
- 3 X HMG42
- 4 x trench

In this example the Soviets went pretty happy with ammunition which is not always possible, neither did the Soviet force take any fire from the flanks, also this was against the AI, also you almost never get such a fine firebase for an assault etc. etc. so consider this a humorous textbook example. I only mean to illustrate the points made in this thread, and to Popov's credit I only played this scenario just once to get what I wanted.

If you want to be Popov, download this.

Go here to see this in its original form, along with the accompanying discussion, and to add your own thoughts.