In mid September 1943 Manstein’s Army Group South initiated a full scale retreat along the entire length of its 600 mile front. The plan was to fall back to the west bank of the Dnieper and redeploy for defense before the Russians could form any bridgeheads across the river. One spot where the race was won by the Red Army was near the village of Bukrin, where the Third Guards Tank Army with the help of partisans crossed in company strength, during the first hours of Sept. 22; reinforcement of the bridgehead was begun forthwith. The Germans immediately rushed the advance elements of the 19th Panzer Division down from Kiev to seal off this dangerous foothold. On the 24th the Russians pressed their attack in an attempt to break through the weakly held German defensive line and link up with a simultaneous paradrop of three Airborne Brigades further to the southwest.
Attacker: Russian (51st Guards Tank Brigade)
Defender: German (Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilungs 19/Reinforcements)
9.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: German Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:19.5 D:11.0
AFVs: A:2
T-34 M43 T-70
AFVs: D:11
PSW 233 x 2 PSW 231(8 rad) SPW 250/9 SPW 251/1 x 4 StuG IIIG Opel Blitz x 2
Guns: A:3
120mm PM obr. 38 45mm PTP obr. 42 76.2mm P obr. 39 PTRD-41 ATR x 4
D:3
8cm GrW 34 x 2 2cm FlaKvierling 38 5cm leGrW 36
Misc Rules:
VC hexes dr known only by Russian. A: Elite w D: May fully deploy at start
Scott and I used our 5th Annual New Year's ASL session to wrap up this bad boy. No lack of action from the get-go as Scott knocked out my mortar with a CH, while I blasted a HT from 29 hexes away. Meanwhile the rest of my men moved up under cover of the Board 5 woods, except for a rider accompanying the T-34 on a mission up the center. These guys flamed an AC on Turn 2, while the other managed to extricate itself and get behind me. My men in the woods captured a prisoner to begin some mass Russian deployment. My AT gun crew was knocked out by one of his mortars. And a mild breeze kicked up, adding yet more flavor to this exciting game. The marauding AC was flamed by my T-34 on Turn 3, but he had positioned both PSKs across the way. The first one broke, but the second did the job and fried me. The HS toting it would break and never be back in the game. I knocked out another AC with my T-70, which had pulled back from harassing one of the big mortars. But a new danger arose when his AA gun started blasting my men making their way behind cover of the grainfield. Turn 4 saw me finally dispatch a battered HT which had been hampering my men leaving the woods, but I lost my last tank when a German engineer HS placed an optimal DC on it while it was sleaze-freezing the AA gun. Scott also began his game of musical smoke, alternating from one of my guns to the other as needed. With his AA gun freed up again he continued to exact damage on my men, but I had quite a horde and was able to close the gap and knock out two more HTs in CC. Meanwhile my MG kill stack knocked his AA crew off its horse. Unfortunately this didn't last long, and he was able to re-man it the next turn. He also had bought himself enough time to get his radio operator and 10-3/HMG stack in position to turn the next 3-4 turns into a Mexican standoff. While more Germans died than Russians from this point on, I was just not able to break past this wall of defense and he held on for the win. Quite a fun scenario, but it seemed pretty difficult for the Russians, even though I felt I drew the best VC location I could've.
2020-08-30
(A) Jason Wert
vs
Scott Holst
German win
2018-06-20
(D) Doug McMullen
vs
Steve Steinmetz
Russian win
My opponent and I agree this is a great scenario with scope for interesting strategic play on both sides. It's a scenario where the defender has a lot to do beyond set-up and a lot of interesting resources, including a 10-3 as well as a 9-2 armor leader and a vierling flak gun. The attacker has seemingly overwhelming infantry and armor strength but the defender plays catch me if can and attacks targets of opportunity.
In our game my opponent made poor use of his artillery (to make up for me making poor use of my recon armor) but manuvered brilliantly right to left disguising his true objective from until the second to last turn. My 10-3 and 838s did great work in the big central woods but the deception around the vic hexes worked to my opponent's advantage. I was ready to make a final stand in the central houses when the dice turned against me and crucial LOS to the victory hexes closed up due to wreck and grain hindrance. Because of the objective deception my shorter range infantry were out of position and unable to reposition. A satisfying win for Steve, congrats to him, a satisfying game for me too... I think we'd both do some things differently in retrospect. I'd replay it tomorrow. Great scenario.
