On 26 January the breakout attempt of the now-encircled 4. Armee began. The main blow fell on Russian 53rd Rifle Corps of the 48th Army. Two Russian rifle divisions were enveloped and two more driven to the rear. The 131. Infanterie-Division supported by Jagdpanzer IVs and Jadgpanthers of Panzerjager-Abteilung 563 seized the village of Scharnigk after heavy fighting. During the next day the division would attack Liebstadt, heavily defended by Russian infantry and armor.
Attacker: German (131.Infanterie-Division and Panzerjager-Abteilung 563)
Defender: Russian (53rd Rifle Corps, 48th Army)
6 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:12.0 D:12.5
AFVs: A:2
JgdPz V x 2
D:3
SU-85 x 3 GAZ-MM x 2
Guns: A:1
8cm GrW 34
D:1
45mm PTP obr. 42
Misc Rules:
GS, FS also in effect
Map Board(s):
64
65
Overlays:
NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
Due to the ROAR/Sceanrio Archive record, we gave the Germans the balance. I set up heavy around the hill-area VC location and just a couple squads in the other building location. I should have place at least one unit to cover the open ground on the south-west. Because I did not, Nathan ran his troops quickly over that terrain to pressure the west VC building and interdict my reinforcements. the latter's only impact was to divert some of his forces; I never got them in the western VC building... As usual, Nathan played his AFVs well. His two nasty JgPz Vs pushed forward and took out one of my SUs on Turn 2. He did run out of HE quickly which did help. My two remaining SUs also ran out of HE (crazy with the SSR giving us both HE9). His near-invulnerable armor moved up adjacent to one of my SUs and I took a desperate APCR shot. I hit, then rolled a "2" TK, resulting in a burning JgPz. On my turn 4, my two remaining SUs bracketed his remaining JgPz; the SU with my AL rolled a "2" on the bounding fire shot and that burned the other JgPz. He pressed forward with a large infantry force into the western VC building, but I KIA'd one leader and a squad and broke two other squads on the assault; I then I rolled a "2" in CC to kill a squad and HS. At that point, I would have been able to get two more squads and a leader into the building in preparation for the last turn. We called it at that point as a Russian victory. The record is certainly pro-Russian, but as the Russian player, it really seemed like I was barely able to hold on. A series of '2" DRs decided the victory. The combination of PFs and the JgPz Vs are just tough. Nathan had a great attack. Always fun and a challenging game with him!
2021-01-12
(A) Andy Bagley
vs
Simon Staniforth
Russian win
Great scenario, very close, went down to the last player-turn, plenty of good and bad DRs for both sides. I came in from the East and South, focusing on the hilltop village and ignoring the other VC building (correctly guessing that the Russian AT Gun would be on that side). The falling snow quickly turned heavy, which made firing very difficult, particularly for the Germans as the Russians can just sit there concealed. This meant I had to try some risky advances and CCs to dig him out. I made slow but steady progress, and by the last turn had cleared all the buildings surrounding 64T8. But the Russians have the last player-turn, and my DF failed to stop him sneaking back into one adjacent hex to claim victory.
