As the Russian 1st Belorussian Front reached the Oder river, units of the newly-formed Heeresgruppe Weichsel were issued their marching orders. Himmler's order number 831 reached no-one less than the infamous Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny, in charge of the SS-Jagdverbände. Skorzeny was to form a bridgehead east of the Oder large enough to fit retreating units - all in preperation of a counter offensive. The Russians soon realized the danger of the bridgehead and its intact bridge, and it was repeatedly attacked.
Attacker: Russian (2nd Guards Tank Army)
Defender: German (SS) (3. Kompanie, SS-Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon 600)
5.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:12.0 D:9.0
AFVs: A:4
T-34/85 x 2 M4/76(a) x 2
D:0
Guns: A:0 D:1
7.5cm LG 40
Misc Rules:
D: Mines must set up Daisy Chain. RCL may set up HIP.
Map Board(s):
3a
Overlays:
NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
This very late war action pits a tough Kompanie of SS-Fallschirmjägers with one recoilless Leichtgeschütz against a Guards Russian force supported by T-34/85s and lend-lease M4/76(a) Shermans. The objective of the Russians is to eliminate a bridgehead on the east bank of the Oder, for which they have to secure all stone buildings and the bridge locations.
Board 3a is well suited to reflect the tactical situation. With 5.5 Turns, the Russians do not have a lot of time, especially because the brigde locations to secure are at least 17 hexes from the Russian entry area. The Germans are very tough to root out, because in the village, they have good TEM and a morale of 8. Even if broken, they pose a serious obstacle, since they can block the Russian path of attack, all the while having a broken morale of 9.
I had the attacking Russians in this one. My opponent opted for a forward defence. Probably, this is a good idea, because it inhibits the Russian movement right from the start and makes it very difficult to rout anywhere or to gain some cover.
For that very reason, I opted to enter the Russian forces on the right flank, with the column of tanks acting as a ruse seemingly deployed to attack along the road. I would have preferred the left flank as the way into the village and to the bridge is shorter and time is at a premium. But in 1945 with ubiquituous Panzerfausts and VBM being extremely hazardous vs. ATMMs, I was concerned to lose my tanks too early and to be forced to attack across more or less open ground. To avoid this, I hoped to get away paying with time for the longer route.
An extensive AAR can be found at Gamesquad forum in the following thread:
This one will be very hard for the Russians. Taking four stone buildings (one of which is a multi-level church across the street from the town) as well as taking two bridge hexes. All in 5.5 Turns. It's a given the Germans will send a unit to lay a FL down the bridge, so you really need to plan on having one tank available to deal with this. That will most likely be a luxury you cannot afford, as you will probably need to VBM 1-2 Germans every turn (and should count on losing at least one tank per turn). I moved hard and fast Turn 1, clearing my path of the dummies that were there to stop me. By the end of Turn 2 I had the two outlying buildings and a bit of Russian smoke after two of my tanks were fried. We did have wind, but it mostly blew off the southern end. I could not yet afford to lose another tank, so Turn 3 I'd have to risk my infantry the hard way grabbing the center building (a bit tricky with that damned pond in the middle). But those SS know enough not to surrender to the Russians, so I'd have to risk a "5" self-rally on the unit who routed upstairs. Thankfully that was a no-go. There were a couple other situations where the SS were able to rout due to not surrendering, and of course they bounced back. I had three turns to get the church and the bridge with only two tanks left. In one of the worst half turns I have ever seen, I survived all kinds of -2 fire to surround the church and freeze a key German position. I eliminated that position, but created two heroes in the church and made the squad fanatic. Even my point blank fire would have a hard time knocking these boys out. I used one of my two tanks to freeze them, losing it in the process, but at least was able to survive to get into CC. I moved a bunch of units up to the N tree line in preparation for their assault on the bridge, and somehow managed to survive a shot from the HIP RCL across the way. It proceeded to MALF its first shot, and then I added salt to the wound by getting a CR on the crew. I couldn't take out the toughies in the church that CC, but did get lucky the following turn. I needed my last tank to freeze a squad sitting next to the bridge. Had he moved this guy out into the road I don't think I could've won. As it was I had to survive a plethora of minus shots to make it to the bridge, but somehow I did for the victory. This scenario was a dud.
2017-03-11
(D) Richard Jenulis
vs
George Kelln
Russian win
NWASL Championship 2017
2013-09-09
(D) Andy Beaton
vs
Jonathan Kay
German (SS) win
Russians took heavy casualties and couldn't muster enough survivors to capture all the buildings
