A light howitzer battery was surrounded by enemy infantry and half a dozen Russian tanks from the 29th Tank Brigade. The situation was a stalemate; the German force with its howitzers were powerful enough to keep the Russian tanks at bay, but lacked the offensive capability to break out. A company of German tanks, including some captured T-34s, supported by mechanized infantry, was ordered to break the siege.
Attacker: German (Elements of 3 Batterie, I Battalion, Artillery Regiment 36 / 2nd Companie Kradschutzen-Battalion 36, 36th Infantry Division / Reinforced elements of 8 Company, II. Abteilung, Panzer Regiment 3)
Defender: Russian (Elements of 20th Tank Brigade, 20th Army)
6.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:9.5 D:10.0
AFVs: A:11
T-34 M41 PzKpfw IVF1 PzKpfw IIIH x 2 PzKpfw 38(t) E x 4 SPW 251/1 x 3 SdKfz 11 x 3
I played this one again, this time as the Germans. My opponent came up with a clever setup, placing the bulk of his forces in the 62AA5 area. This leaves the Germans in a dilemma from the start. You can't get at the Russian tanks in the woods from the back, because you would have to risk bog and don't have enough MF. Furthermore you are threatened by Russian AFV reinforcements to your rear if you try. You can't get at them from the front, because even with some of the T34s abandoned, trying to go vs their frontal armor is a losing game especially because the Germans would have move into position and to give the Russians the first shot. But if you don't engage them, the Russians will likely be able to man all T34s which will then be tough to overcome. As the German, you would rush in across bd FrFA, but in doing so, you will present the Russians an opportunity to get in your flank on the way in and to block you on the way out with infantry support. At the same time, your guns within the village will not be able to shoot at much. So the German HAS to move the guns and HAS to move into the Russians. Luckily, the first Russian attack using three T34s by my opponent might have been a bit too rash. Together with two Pz38 which I had kept offboard and a little luck, I managed to take out two T34s by dancing around them and getting in with those Pz38s from the rear. The placement of my artillery pieces and movement of my prime movers was not optimal in view of pulling them out. Placed a little differently, I could have managed to hook them up a turn earlier. But even then, the way out would be blocked by Russians. I withdrew from the village immediately except for a few units covering the guns until they hooked up. This way I was able to intercept some of the Russian infantry with my infantry as they moved up from bd62. Meanwhile, my Panzers lead a dance with the thick-hided Russian ones with casualties on both sides. I diverted two tanks to deal with the Russian infantry which could be dangerous with their inherent FP vs the prime movers pulling the guns. Eventually, I managed to break and scatter the infantry force. The Russian was unlucky in failing twice to kill one moving ART piece with MGs from within the same hex. The second moving gun was killed by a CH of the KV-behemoth. The third artillery piece failed to get out of the village but managed to immobilize the KV monster. My audacious 9-2 placed a DC on one T34 to kill it. One of the T70 had gone down, too. But the Russian scaringly had a stationary T34 and T70 in the same hex and adjacent to my moving gun. If he could kill it, then it would be hard for the Germans to win requiring the despatch of all 8 russian tanks. I moved my two remaining Pz38s into the hexes of the Russian tanks, which in turn allowed me to pull out the gun unscathed. The gun could not exit because the roads were blocked by a lot of wrecks, so I tried ESB and immobed the prime mover (still having the gun hooked up, though). Everything else converged on the two Russian tanks that would have good chances to kill the prime mover if they could move towards it. However, the during the AFPh both Russian tanks were taken out by adjacent German tanks not before depleting all special ammo which was left at that point. Again, it was loads of fun to play this scenario. And I think that the Russian plan was very good.
