The 18th Army Drives North : Barbarossa June 1941

After the initial bombardment the 18th Army under Generaloberst Von Kuchler is tasked with driving north up the Lithuanian coast. The leading elements include the 11th, 61st and 291st Infanterie Divisions. They all make rapid progress against the scattered soviet 10th Rifle Corps. The defence is peacemeal and concentrated at small urban centres or river crossings. For our latest Barbarossa battle we have chosen one such contested river crossing.

A small detachment of Russian troops have been told to hold the main river crossing whilst reinforcements are brought up. For the Germans speed is everything and the rapidly advancing Infantry of the 61st ID are supported by much needed armour.

The scene is set the main river crossing in the centre of the small settlement a single unit of infantry and an anti tank gun hold the crossing. The river has two other potential crossings and both sides will fight to control them

The 61st Infantrie Division surges forward towards the river

In 1941 the Czech 35(t) remains a powerful support tank, just behind it can be seen a unit of well armed pioneers

Soviet reinforcements are order upto the river full of patriotic fervour 

No shortage of men to defend mother Russia 

The Germans are well armed and intend to brush the defence out the way, a Panzer IV infantry support and an early Stug in the distance

Siegfried Haenicke the commander of the 61st ID orders a flamethrower forward to clear the bridge 

The Divisions reconnaissance regiment, Kradschutzen, move quickly towards the eastern crossing

On reaching the river they come under fire and quickly dismount

On the high ground Russian infantry open fire and push forward

The Russian reinforcements are deploying either side of the road

Siegfried appears in two minds whether to push straight for the bridge, his indecision may be costly

Russian infantry is now dug in at the bridge supported by a BT7

The Kradschutzen having dismounted are assaulted before they are able to take cover or dig in and are wiped out

More Germans infantry is on hand but having watched their komrades being slaughtered they are reluctant to charge in

The german pioneers are pushing slowly towards the bridge but they are met by a hail of bullets

Clearly the invasion of Russia is not going to be that easy, rather than holding their position Russian infantry is ordered to assault across the bridge armed on.y with light weapons!

Russian infantry prepared to die for their country 

German supporting artillery is now in place and firing ineffectively at the troops and armour over the river, the Panzer IV begins to drive forward to clear the bridge...........

Unbelievably the Russian political commissar has order the troops to assault the tank, despite some redimentaty anti tank grenades they have no effect on the heavily armoured tank

Not all Russian infantry is so brave, these guys will find themselves in Siberia soon enough !

After exchanging fire across the river the

The German pioneers attempt to make it to the bridge but a random events forced them st the last minute to search the nearby building for vodka 😡

The commissar is either brave or so indoctrinated, that he is leading from the front he is encouraging more infantry to charge across the bridge ..... not surprisingly they are reluctant to move

One man does however earn the first ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ by single handedly charging the German Pak 36. His mother would be proud 

The defenders remain in control of the crossings 

On the far left flank German mountain troops have been badly mauled by fire from across the river so they choose to make their final advance using the stug as cover

Finally the remaining German infantry make a dash for the crossing

Infantry still take pot shots at each other across the village but both sides lack the numbers to make a decisive move

The panzer IV has charged across the bridge pushing the Russian infantry out the way, it will leave the infantry to mop up any defence

On the left with the stug support the Germans have also pushed across the river, the commissar can be seen ordering the infantry to attack the tank..... but his threats go unheeded and they slip away to fight another day.

Hard to describe this as anything other than a fantastic game. The Russian put up a fantastic spirited defence. We gave it as a minor victory to the Germans but they don’t need too many victories like this one 🧐 our campaign is shaping up nicely with loads of options for the futute😋