Kursk 1943: The Opening Moves

Written by Dead1

Friday, 06 November 2009 18:25

The Battle of Kursk (4 July 1943 - 23 August 1943) is without a doubt one of the most important battles of World War II.

The battle saw the the Germans lose the initiative in the Eastern Front and as such it was the last massive offensive ever launched by the Germans.

Urrah! The battle also saw a shift in the dominance of the skies by the Luftwaffe and is famous for the largest tank battle in the history of armoured warfare (Battle of Prokhorovka).

The scale of the battle was titanic. On the German side there were 3000 tanks, 900,000 infantry and 2100 aircraft. The Soviet forces consisted of 1,300,000 troops, 3,600 tanks and 2,800 aircraft.

The battle can be divided in the following phases:

^{Kursk Strategic Defensive Operation (5 - 23 July)
Orel-Kursk Defensive Operation (5 - 11 July)
Belgorod-Kursk Defensive Operation (5 - 23 July)
Denial air operations over the Kursk Bulge (5 - 23 July)
Air superiority operations in Operation Kutuzov
Orel Strategic Counter-offensive Operation (codenamed Operation Kutuzov) (12 July – 18 August)
Volkhov-Orel Offensive Operation (12 July – 18 August)
Kromy-Orel Offensive Operation (15 July – 18 August)
Air superiority operations in Operation Rumyantsev
Belgorod-Kharkov Counter-offensive Offensive Operation (codenamed Operation Rumyantsev) (3 - 23 August)
Belgorod-Bogodukhov Offensive Operation (3 - 23 August)
Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation (3 - 23 August)
Battle of Prokhorovka (12 July)
Zmiyev Offensive Operation (12 - 23 August)}

The initial German offensive was as per the below map:

^{Image courtesy of Battlefront (www.flamesofwar.com)}

Historical Aspect

The campaign represents the Soviet 7th Guards Army stopping Army Group Kempf after it had crossed the Donets River.

Planning ahead To its east, Army Detachment Kempf also drove northwards into the positions of the 69th Army around Rzhavets, which was captured that night by elements of the 6th Panzer Division.

On the 12th, the 6th Panzer Division had managed to gain a small bridgehead over the Donets River to the north of Rzhavets, while further east the remainder of the Division was still involved in heavy fighting around the village of Alexsandrovka, which it did not capture until the following day.

Some elements won't necessarily be true to history such as the inclusion of Tiger tanks or Ferdinands (present at battle but not necessarily with two divisions we're using) or even whether the 2 divisions were pitted against one another (most sources merely state that Armee Group Kempf fought against the 7th Guards Army).

From what we can discern from research Su-76’s and Su-152’s were rare but seem to have deployed with the 7th Guards in the form of 1438 SU Regiment (Su-76/-122) and 1529 SU regiment (Su-152).

But for the sake of a good time we'll allow the Tigers/Ferdinands!

Terrain

The area around Kursk and in particular the area of attack for Army Group Kempf was relatively open and dominated by farms on gently sloping hills with sparse groups of trees and occasionally small ravines (balka). There was a number of streams as well as the Donets River. All were mainly fordable but heavy rain had swelled them thus slowing down tracked vehicles and limiting wheeled vehicles to road usage.

The main sources of cover and concealment were the many villages that dotted the area. Most of these villages had been fortified by the Russian military. Though the Germans could have bypassed the villages, the muddy terrain meant that bypassing the villages was not possible. Roads were sparse in the Kursk area and were often of very poor quality.

Pictures of terrain at Kursk: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/vy75/terrain.htm
Analysis of terrain and battle: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?p=440925

The Campaign

The campaign will utilise the following tree structure:

Participants

Cailus: 6 Panzer Division, 3. Panzer Corps

Dead1: 73rd Guards Rifle Division, 7th Guards Army + 201 Tank Brigade, 1438 SU Regiment (Su-76/-122) and 1529 SU regiment (Su-152)

Starting Points:
Each force will start with a list of 1,750 points.

Casualty System:
At the end of each battle, a D6 will be rolled for each destroyed team:

Combat Platoons: On a roll of 3+ the team is replaced or is regrouped and may be used in the next battle. On a 1-2 the team is permanently destroyed.

Weapon Platoons: On a roll of 4+ the team is replaced or is regrouped and may be used in the next battle. On a 1-3 the team is permanently destroyed.

Support Platoons: On a roll of 5+ the team is replaced or is regrouped and may be used in the next battle. On a 1-4 the team is permanently destroyed.

Rare Platoons: On a roll of 6+ the team is replaced or is regrouped and may be used in the next battle. On a 1-5 the team is permanently destroyed.

German rare units:
- Ferdinand
- Tiger 1e

Russian rare units:
Su-152
Su-76M (these were quite rare at Kursk having only been in service for a short time)

Winning Recovery:
The winner gets to add +1 to dice roll. This represents the notion that it's easier to reclaim damaged equipment when you control the territory.

Coming Up Next:

In our next article, we'll have a look at each of the players' starting army lists.

^{Article by Dead1
Editor and Layout: Cailus}

Last Updated on Friday, 06 November 2009 18:57