Barbarossa Army group North : Crossing at Jekabpils June 1941

I have been super busy over the last couple of weeks, hence the lack of posting. However last week we saw a long overdue return to our ongoing Barbarossa ‘campaign’ not really a campaign rather a series of battles tracking the progress of Army Group North. I certainly had to trawl through the blog to remember where we were upto. Anyway enough of the preamble.

Our previous battles saw the Germans attempting to capture a bridge head over the Dvina River at Daugavpils, here a small brandenburg contingent successfully captured the bridges. The Germans tried the same at Jekabpils historically but failed and became engaged in a tough fight, as the Russian pulled back the bridges were blown. Engineers were able to bridge the river and push back the 12th Mechanised who were holding the area. Our fight is one very much ‘inspired by’ the battle rather than anything historical and really it was an excuse to get all the Russian forces on the table as they have been underused for some time.

Both sides have some air support, the Germans engineers have already been at work

We did have the Brandenburg units lead the way, represented by some Fallschirmjager in Russian trucks

Basically both sides were allowed 24 units each so a chance for the Germans to bring out their artillery

German infantry in armoured carriers start to cross one branch of the river Dvina, the smoke on the ridge makes the location where the Russian defenders were wiped out by a very lucky bombing strike by German Stukas

A rush for the northern bridge

Which at the start is unopposed 

The central bridge is also assaulted

1941 and the Germans are yet to bear up their armour but they have plenty of tanks

The Germans have two antitank guns but initially set them up too cautiously near the rear

The Russians have been churning out LOTS of tanks

Infantry deploy in the town together with a KV !

Oooops in hindsight I should have limited the Russian armour but it did look impressive 

Way too much Russian armour

The Germans start to come under heavy fire from the defenders but are out gunned

The Germans do their best to force crossings, some of their infantry carry additional boats to get across and the tanks use cover to force a way over

A single German PzIII gets across the main bridge but it is pinned down by a T34

One of the German planes take a hit and is blown from the sky

Lots of German infantry advance but they are lacking effective armoured support

Germans have captured the island but can’t get off the other side in the face of the Russian armour

They do manage to force the northern bridge but again find it hard to make any further progress

The Russian big cats stalking the open ground. It is often easy to forget how the Russians outgunned to German armour in 1941, we did reduce their leadership to try and balance things but this did have a big enough effect

The German boats have been successfully used to cross the river

But it is too little too late

The northern bridge is still the scene of hard fighting but the Germans have lost to impetus

As always a splendid battle, it reminded us that the Russian tanks are deadly in 1941 and you need to make allowances for this, but as a chance to get everything on the table the battle worked pretty well. 

I also had a trip down to George’s to try out CoC2 he set up a lovely German vs French 1940 battle, the Germans were attacking, always a tough prospect unless you have very superior numbers.

 An overview of the battlefield

The french defenders are able to deploy in a strong position

The Germans do their best but ultimately they get bogged down unable to advance. We now have a 1940 campaign planned to start in the next couple of weeks.

Somewhere in the last weeks we had a few days down in the Cotswolds on a family reunion holiday, including a trip to Cirencester where there is a fairly informative Museum including some nice Roman artefacts and mosaics

In have also seen an improvement in my health leading to a return to active cycling and plenty of time out in the mountains, one recent trip with some friends saw a beautiful trip up Scafell the highest point in England.

The view North from Scafell

That’s it for now, we played a big AWI battle on Friday so I will try and post that up. I have also been spending a lot of time planning my next holiday at the end of August.

I’m heading across to Europe in the van heading to Vienna picking up as much military history as I can. No doubt I will post some of this at a later date.

Thanks as always for your patience Matt ❤️

Battle of Lubino (Valutino) : 19th August 1812

This week saw another ‘big’ Napoleonic battle out in the shed with the French facing off against the Russians. After a little research I came across the Battle of Lubino which neatly fit our collections and gave a potentially interesting tactical battle. 

In a nut shell the french are chasing the Russians, Ney attempts to pin them but Barclay De Tolly takes up an excellent defensive position. If Junot had bothered to enter the battle the french May have secured a significant win but without them Ney struggled to outnumber or out manoeuvre the Russians who held their position long enough to get away.

A number of helpful maps can be located on the web and there is a useful scenario with some OB which can be adapted.

Our set up, very much historical with the Russian division on the ridge with reserves being brought forward to defend the position. You’ll note I reduced the streams down by one given the space needed in 28mm. One key feature of the battle seems to be the marshy ground meant that the significantly superior french cavalry couldn’t really make an impact. To give a feel of this the marshy areas and woods are difficult terrain for the cavalry which also can’t reform in those areas bringing down their effectiveness. the french objective is the tow which would block any further retreat for the Russians.

No point hanging about Ney pushes forward his leading infantry knowing that he will need space to bring on reserves and it will only get harder to take the ridge.

The Russians defenders open up on the attackers and start to bring up reserves across the stream

French light cavalry face off against Cossacks across the marshy ground

Ney brings forward his first wave of reserves, whilst the leading French start to move up onto the ridge

French dragoons arrive but are also forced to move to the right where the marshy ground will restrict them

The french infantry now assault across the ridge and start to drive the defenders back

The light cavalry clashes across the boggy ground, eventually the Cossacks get the best of it

The spectacle of the french infantry advancing to battle

The thin Russian line starts to break up, but there is not enough space for the french to bring their superior numbers to bear

The french start to drive over the ridge, the Russians bring some light Uhlans forward to hold the flank, the Russians have also managed after several delays to bring forward their final reserves into Lubino, they are just in time

French heavy cavalry from Murats corps arrive and move onto the ridge

The dragoons now seek revenge agains the Cossacks in the marsh

The Russian reserves take up a defensive position on the second ridge

They watch their compatriots being driven back into the stream

The french heavies see off the Uhlans but then fail to make any further progress failing to activate !

The french are still pushing forward with a number of regiments now crossing the second stream

The battle is finely balanced……..

The final Russians in the valley are chased off but the assault up to the village will be a tough business

The leading French make a final drive up the hill but are beaten back by the Grenadiers, the defensive position is now too strong for the remaining french in the time they have

On the right flank the french cavalry has finally made it through the marsh but it is too late and with the french heavy cavalry stubbornly refusing to move off the hill, we called the battle as a win for the Russians as they had held out long enough.

A fun battle and the scenario played out really well giving both sides lots of challenges. We may try this one again in the future ?

Not much painting but I have finished a couple of basic buildings which I picked up off eBay.

A second barn as well

Another day walking out in the Lakes

That’s it for now…..thanks as always for checking in

Matt❤️