In the first battle in the Kursk Campaign, Germans attack fortified Soviet positions using the Big Push Scenario.

The Calm Before the Storm

Dead1: As much as I look forward to this game, I do have a sense of trepidation when I read the mission special rules.  The rule that I feel will give me the most grief is the Preliminary Bombardment.  Every unit on the board gets hit on a 4+ by German artillery.  They’re allowed a save but that’s it.  Given my opponent’s good luck and my own atrocious luck, I could we be starting without a force!

This has dictated my choice of units to be placed on the board.  If it were not for the preliminary bombardment, my choice for units on the board would have included one infantry company, the anti-tank platoon and the heavy mortars to rain high explosives on the Panzergrenadiers and I would have kept one infantry company and the two assault gun units as reserves.

Instead I will deploy the two infantry companies in two lines supported by the anti-tank guns and anti-tank rifles.  I hope that some of the guns survive the bombardment.

My fortifications will be deployed in such a manner as to enable me to pepper the Germans with short range fire thus maximising my ability to hurt German tanks with my 45mm guns and using rifle and machine gunfire on the infantry.

This means my guys will spend the first turn or two sitting quietly in their trenches thus making it next to impossible for the German tanks to engage them effectively (with long range, concealed and gone to ground my units are hit on a 6).  When the enemy gets within 16 inches, my units will engage.  To enable this, I intend to deploy my minefields and razor wire within 16 inches of my infantry and guns with the minefields providing the first obstacle and the razor wire the second.  This should delay the enemy for a couple of turns while I shoot them up and my reserves arrive.

It is hoped that my second line of infantry is bolstered by the assault guns from the reserve.  So when the Germans do finally break my first line, my second line has a bit of anti-tank punch.

The heavy mortar observer will be deployed initially and wait the arrival of the heavy mortars.  I do not expect them to play an important role but it would be great if they can pin the panzer grenadiers and maybe even pop a Panzer.

In many ways I think the game will be dictated by the preliminary bombardment and in particular its effect on the anti-tank guns.  Without the anti-tank guns, the Germans won’t have any problems steamrolling the defenceless infantry.

Stepping onto the Welcome Mat

Cailus: So the attack is finally about to being!

Having read the Big Push scenario it’s going to be an “interesting” for my German armour.
I’m welcomed by a big, red carpet of Soviet Guard infantry dug into trench lines along with their dug in anti tank support. Between them will no doubt be mines and dragon’s teeth so that my attack is going to be forced into a certain position, no doubt well prepared for the inevitable assault.

Worst still is that I have no pioneers to gap the mines and it’s just too risky going through them. Knowing my Motivation rolls, the tanks would be stuck at the very beginning of the dangerous fields anyway.
I’ve got nothing capable of providing a decent smoke screen either.

As per the scenario parameters, I’ve got six turns to place a firm hold of a position within the Soviet half of the battlefield otherwise it will be all over. That means I won’t be able to stand back and use my superior firepower to reduce their numbers for too long.

I have no choice but to pick one of the less dangerous routes designed by the Russians and just hope that the mobile fire support will be able to knock out some of the anti-tank assets.

If I manage to break through the first wave, I can afford to spend some time blasting away the remaining anti tank threats. Being dug in, the Russian infantry most likely will not charge my tanks. However if the Russians catch on, they would realise that such a charge could be lethal for my limited number of tanks. There’s a difference between shooting Conscript and Trained troops (3+ instead of 2+), they still take 10 hits to be pinned and number the same amount of teams per Soviet company.

Tiger Ace Skills: It was agreed beforehand that any Tiger Ace given would remain for the rest of the campaign or until the Tiger is destroyed. I was afraid of getting "Clever Hanz" stuck behind the wheel for he usually leads the tank into trouble. I was fortunate for I rolled a 6 - A Real Kanone! I rolled again and obtained "Rapid Fire" (3 shots when Stationary) and die result of 6! For other the skill I to choose "For The Fatherland" (2+ Motivation). A re-roll to hit is good but in a campaign I'd rather have excellent morale in case it ends up in assault.

The Battle Begins

As part of the preparation for Operation Citadelle, German reconnaissance elements of the 6th Panzer Division had discovered that despite the overall solid defence lines established by the Soviets, several gaps still existed.

One such gap was a near Alexsandrovka.  Though the surrounding terrain around the village was heavily enforced, the actual Soviet force guiding the village was light.  Only a single weak battalion of the 73rd Guards Battalion with some 197 men and officers was based in the village supported by six 45mm anti tank guns.  An observer team from a heavy mortar company was also present.

The battalion’s third company and integral sapper support had been redeployed to other parts of the front thus reducing the battalion’s strength considerably.  As such only a single trench had been dug in which the 1st company had deployed in.  The second company had dug in a second line backed up by two 45mm antitank guns on the right flank and 4 on the right flank. A shortage of anti-tank obstacles and mines also resulted in only partial coverage along the front in front of the village. Most of this had been concentrated on the right flank in a hope to funnel the Germans down the left flank.

Along with the rest of Army Group Kempf, 6th Panzer Division had been stalled by muddy weather.  This had resulted in some artillery units not being ready.  As such the bombardment on the village was lighter than expected.  Casualties on the Soviet side were light through 2 45mm anti tank guns were destroyed by the preliminary bombardment.  The artillery then shifted to fire on positions behind the village in order to restrict movement by any reinforcements. (Given lack of fortifications we reduced effectiveness of the preliminary bombardment to a 5+ instead of the usual 4+). 

The German assault saw most of the force concentrated on the Soviet left flank in order to avoid minefields and anti-tank obstacles.  The attack was spearheaded by a mixed Zug of Panzer IVF-1’s and Panzer IIIJ(late) with half track mounted. Panzer Grenadiers close behind. The second Panzer zug provided fire support knocking out another 45mm gun. The Tiger from 503rd Heavy Panzer battalion drove down the centre.

After firing the Panzers continued to move forward while the Panzergrenadiers dismounted from their half tracks (using their Stormtrooper move).

The Soviet command managed to unpin all their units.  The remaining HQ 45mm gun and two anti-tank rifle teams started to redeploy from the right flank to the left flank.  They would be useless against Tiger which was the only tank in sight.  Soviet fire was not effective as most of the 45mm guns failed to scratch the Panzers though infantry fire did cause some light casualties to the panzer grenadiers and managed to pin them down though they quickly rallied.

The Germans continued to readjust their gun line though most German fire was ineffective.  The only success was the Tiger knocking out the remaining HQ 45mm gun.  This meant that the entire Soviet anti-tank capability had dwindled to two guns and some anti-tank rifles.

The Soviet anti-tank guns continued to pour fire at the mixed zug, bailing two tanks, one of which was remounted straight away.

The Germans inched forwards and resumed fire on the anti-tank battery, knocking out another gun and causing several casualties in the command team.  The remaining gun was spiked and abandoned.

Mass machine gun fire at the first company in the trenches was ineffective. 

Realising that the Germans would breakthrough on the left, the Soviet colonel ordered that the 1st platoon of the second company redeploy from the right flank through the village to bolster the left flank.  PTRD teams on the right flank also moved through the trenches to the right flank in a bid to reinforce the flank before it collapsed.  With telephone wires cut by the artillery bombardment, the Soviets were unable to call for reinforcements.

With the anti-tank guns neutralised the Germans prepared to launch their assault the company in the trenches with their mixed Zug minus the one bailed tank.  The impressive amount of machine gun fire did not deter the Soviets but their PTRD’s failed to scratch the tanks.  (37 MG shots scored only 9 hits on the Soviet company thus not pinning the unit.) 

The German assault ploughs through the trenches scattering most of a platoon.  The second platoon is too far away to react.  The remaining two squads of 1st platoon break off allowing the Germans to consolidate through the trenches.

With no reinforcements at hand, the Soviet Colonel ordered the remnants of 1st platoon, 1st company to dig in, which they duly did.  The 1st platoon of the 2nd company continued to move towards the rear of the right flank in order to bolster it.

The mixed Panzer zug was joined by the second zug equipped with Panzer IVF-2’s.  The German tanks tore through the remnants of 1st platoon, 1st company and then proceeded to attack 2nd platoon, 2nd company.  The Soviets withdrew.  The Panzer IVF-2’s overran the battalion HQ, killing the Kommissar though Soviet colonel managed to escape and join 1st platoon, 2nd company.  The German infantry managed to neutralise a PTRD team.

With machine gun and cannon fire tearing through their ranks, all Soviet units simply to hunker down and hope the storm would be pushed back by their own reinforcements.

With the bailed out Panzer IVF-1 finally running again (after three turns of being bailed, even with the Protected Ammo rule), the mixed zug wiped out 2nd platoon, 2nd company.  The Panzer IF-2 equipped zug  proceeded to drive down the main street of Alexsandrovka whilst mowing down the fleeing Russians with machine gun fire.  As a result, the Soviet colonel was grievously wounded.

With no reinforcements in sight and their command structure shattered, the two remaining Soviet platoons were scattered.

With Alexandrovka cleared, the 6th Panzer would continue their assault against the 7th Guards Army.

GERMAN VICTORY!

Bleeding, but still breathing?

Soviet casualties
3 45mm Obr 1942 guns destroyed/captured, 12 KIA/WIA/MIA (3 guns permanently destroyed)
2 PTRD destroyed/captured, 4 KIA/WIA/MIA (1 team permanently destroyed)
1st company: 5 KIA/WIA/MIA (1 infantry team permanently destroyed)
2nd company: 22 KIA/WIA/MIA (5 teams permanently destroyed)
Battalion HQ: 6 KIA/WIA/MIA (all replaced from Divisional HQ)

Dead1: What a debacle.  That was one of the worst games I ever played.  It was a turkey shoot.  I lost half of my anti-tank guns before they even fired a shot (2 of them to the preliminary bombardment).

So what went wrong?

I was completely out of my depth.  I really had no idea what I was doing.  Apparently I could have assaulted the mixed Panzer zug at one stage and they couldn’t defensive fire because I was in concealing cover.  Didn’t know that.  I also forgot that as Trained I can deploy units 4 inches apart instead of 2 for conscript.  

My deployment was rubbish.  I tried to arrange the infantry and guns to look cool.  Instead I should have just deployed them as blobs with one on each flanks.  ATG’s should have been deployed out of sight though that wouldn’t have helped them getting blasted by the Panzers.

The fortifications were useless.  You get 60 points of fortifications for this mission and I had about 20.  I didn’t have enough minefields to cover the board.  Nor did I have enough trenches to put all my units into them.  The few minefields I had helped funnel the German panzers but when you have nothing to hit them with after they have funnelled it’s all pointless.

No reinforcements did not bother me.  My assault guns and heavy mortars are there for flavour and I do not expect anything from them.  I know from experience that 2 Su-152’s versus 3 Panzer IVF-2’s equals to 2 dead Su-152’s. Still it’s impressive that I failed to get a single 5 with 10 dice. 

My opponent had awful luck so I can’t use that as an excuse.

So other than more fortifications and different deployment I don’t know how I would have played any differently.  Everything went so wrong from turn 1 that it’s hard to analyse the battle.

If anything the game was very realistic.  It was indeed a good representation of utilising tanks to breakthrough enemy positions and the vulnerability of infantry to tank attacks.  It also highlights the need for well prepared and fully fortified defensive lines and the need for careful placement of anti tank assets.

Next mission I am defending in Hold the Line.  I have been allowed to pool my 3 remaining 45mm’s into 1 unit which is handy given how depleted they are.   Last time I played Hold the Line, I was wiped out in turn 2.  Goal will be to last longer than that!

The Living Space grows further!

German Casualties:
2 Panzergrenadiers KIA/WIA (1 team permanently destroyed)

Cailus: It is no understatement that this has been a great start to the German offence! All tanks remain fully operational and only minor casualties have been sustained within the armoured Panzergrenadiers. Meanwhile the Ruski’s have been either slaughtered or scattered leaving a gap for the Germans to exploit.

It was a major victory but filled with gaming concerns. Obviously the Russians did not get enough resources for their defence (minefields, tank traps, etc) as we simply did not own enough model-wise. This problem  was marginally reduced by increasing the difficulty of Preliminary Bombardment (needing 5’s instead of 4+’s) however in hind sight I would have increased the difficulty to needing 6’s or removed it altogether.

With retrospect, if I were the Russians I would have denied one flank with the limited number of minefields and tank traps, extended along with the walls surrounding the fields. On this flank I would have only placed a few token infantry stands and the Maxim gun just in case the Panzergrendiers tried something foolish. Along the other flank front line where the German thrust is most likely to happen, if possible a few more speed bump stands would have been placed.

With the remaining majority of infantry, I would have tried to form an “L” shaped defence line on the other flank. The majority of anti-tank guns would be placed along parallel to the long edge with the village houses blocking line of sight to begin with. A couple of other anti tank guns would have been placed near the objective in concealing terrain.

Yes, this would draw the Germans towards the objective quicker to begin with but they wouldn’t be able to touch the dug in ATG’s until the Germans moved in a position where the Russian wanted them to be. With the ATG’s being on two sides, some would have had shots on the sides of the tanks.
The L shaped deployment of troops would also make it possibly easier to assault with more teams.
If the Germans turned left early to avoid the guns they would be entering the streets where they would be funnelled even further and soviet infantry could assault them piecemeal.

This of course wouldn’t have been a sure win tactic but I think it would have faired better than the one that actually occurred. Every casualty sustained by the Germans is far more costly.

Playing defence is a relatively static game and so deployment is of the utmost importance. It was our first time to try the Big Push and it has been a learning curve!

I only hope that the next mission is balanced and enjoyable for both sides.