The only way to stop Poland from being overrun by
the Red Army was to counterattack the Soviet
bridgeheads before they could reinforce. One such
bridgehead was located along the Narev at Dzerzhinin.
The 65th Army’s 105th Rifle Corps had
already begun to dig in around the village as guns
of the 921st Artillery regiment were emplaced in
support. Before more heavy weapons could be
brought across the Narew, the salient was attacked
by the 25th and 3rd Panzer Divisions, which were
recently reinforced with the King Tigers Schwere
Pz abt 505. Surprised at the rejuvenated offensive
capability of the panzerwaffe, the Russian infantry
in the forward positions ran from their foxholes, terrorized
by the massive Tigers and the speed and
coordination of the German assault. This was no
beaten enemy they were facing. This was blitzkrieg
with a second wind.
Attacker: German (Panzer-Division 25 and Schwere Panzer Abteilung 505/Panzer- Division 3)
Defender: Russian (1023rd Rifle Regiment and 921st Artillery Regiment/16th Heavy Tank Regiment)
6.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:17.0 D:15.0
AFVs: A:12
PzKpfw VIB x 2 StuG IIIG x 2 PzKpfw VG x 3 SPW 251/1 x 4 SPW 251/10
D:4
IS-2 x 4
Guns: A:0 D:2
122mm P obr. 31 x 2 50mm RM obr. 40
Misc Rules:
D: Infantry may set up Entrenched in suitable terrain. Guns - no HIP, but may set up Emplaced.
Map Board(s):
4
17
Overlays:
NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
My second playing of the scenario, this time as the defending Russians. I opted for putting some effort in delaying the Germans in their entry phase which worked to an extent. Ultimately, it cost me a few squads that could not fall back in time after breaking (though I misplayed at least one that should have escaped). I did have a strong position around the central building but not as massive as the one of my previous Russian opponent. When my tanks entered, I was able to catch one of the German King Tigers in Motion in an unfavorable position. The AFPh shot did not yield a hit alas. As the key to this scenario for the Russian IMHO is to inflict German vehicle losses for the large amount of CVP these generate, I was of course looking forward to kill the King Tiger next turn. The Germans assaulted my IS-2 with both King Tigers - quite audacious, as I would gladly trade one of my IS-2 vs. a King Tiger. I hit one in the turret (good) but the shot did not penetrate (bad). That was the end of my first IS-2 which had at least served the purpose to keep the King Tigers busy and managed to have them maneuver out of the focus of the German attack. The German reinforcements entered rather cautiously. The position of the Russian Guns was known to the Germans before their entry and had caused some KIAs among the German infantry. Of course, this enabled the Germans to move their vehicles to avoid the threat of the guns. Nevertheless, I did manage to dispatch of one of the Panthers before one Gun crew was taken out. I concentrated my tanks with the other Gun on one side of the building to be able to put up a significant threat to any approaching German AFVs. At this point, the Germans should have advanced agressively towards the central building from the other side but instead elected to pound it for a turn from the distance. This might have been a mistake that cost him the game. The King Tigers approached from the far side, my tanks fired and hit - but only the impenetrable hulls. The return fire cost me another IS-2. On the bright side, I killed a ht with MG fire and continued to harm and delay the German infantry that attempted to close in. In Turn 6, the Germans had closed in and the Russians were under dire pressure. At that point, I was missing 11 CVP to push the Germans over the CVP-cap. The surviving crew of one of my IS-2's had managed to recover a Gun, the crew of which had previously died. A Sniper recalled one of the King Tigers, while I lost another IS-2 with one remaining. Before the last German half-turn, I had mostly brokies with some GO Russians that had advanced out of Trenches in the central building in both levels. So the Germans needed to kill everything at Ground Level, move in to eliminate most of the upper Level units for FtR and to break the rest by Advancing Fire or to kill them in CC. In addition, the 127 crew of the remaining Gun would need to be killed or scared away from it. My infantry got a severe beating but still managed to stop some Russians closing in. More importantly, some of the units at Ground Level survived the PFPh. At the start of the German last MPh, the Recalled King Tiger had to move first. The vehicular crew turned around the 122L Gun for a shot, got a turret hit and killed the King Tiger! Still one CVP to go to push the Russians over the CVP cap. This was finally achieved by a FPF-shot of a surviving Russian squad that scored a K/2 on an approaching 468 for a Russian win.
2017-10-19
(A) X von Marwitz
vs
Chris Mazzei
Russian win
Played this one as the Germans. Nice meaty scenario with fun heavy metal on both sides. Basically, the Germans have to time to lose to close with the central compound they need to take. At the same time, the Russians must delay the Germans as long as they can but be careful that their inevitable retreat to the compound is not cut off. In our playing, I did not manage to interfere with his retreat, so the central compound turned into a massive blob of Russian units. It became apparent that the Germans would be fighting uphill from now on. Due to time restraints, a brute force attack was inevitable. This did cost a little more in units and vehicles than it should have, causing the CVP going up. The Germans managed to eliminate the Russian tanks and Guns but a Shocked King Tiger who first turned to UK and was unable to recover busted the CVP cap for a Russian win. Even without that (and the MA of the 2nd King Tiger not malfing...) time would probably have been insufficient to root out the Russians from the building due to their earlier successful retreat. Good scenario.
