Attack at Gavrishi : Operation Rumyantsev August 1943

Introduced Martin to WW2 6mm with a game very loosely based around my ongoing Rumyantsev campaign. The SS Das Reich Division has pushed north and attacked Krivoshein’s 3rd Mechanised Corps. Near Gavrishi on the morning of 12th August 1943. This threatened to split the 1st Tank Army and the 5th Guards Tank Army. Rotmistrov immediately sent a brigade from the 29 Tank Corps. What resulted was a fearce tank engagement where historically both sides were badly mauled. Only 4 or 5 hours of gaming would see if history would be repeated ?

Overview of the battlefield looking West Das Reich entering from the left

Remnants of the 3rd Mechanised Corps remain close to the village and take up defensive positions on the wooded hills

The ominous armour of Das Reich...smoke can already be seen in the distance as one of the Tiger Tanks claims its first victim

The 29 Tank Corps Brigade arrives with powerful SU152’s and SU76’s

Unsure whether to hold or run the heavy antitank battery of the 3rd MC refuses to obey orders and won’t unlimbers their guns! 

If Stalin founds out it will be Siberia for this lot

German antitank armour moves into position to support the attack 2 Marders dig in in one of the small farms

Suddenly the first Battalion of Tanks of the 29th TC arrive and immediate try to engage the SS division but initially they are outgunned

A view looking East, Russian antitank Battery dug in on the hill

After about an hour of fearce fighting the Russian play their ‘joker’ and a second Battalion attack’s from the flank

a single german Tiger sits in wait

I wider shot....the Russian General appears to be waving a white flag or are they fresh orders from Uncle Joe to hold the line ?

On the German alert flank the second SS Battalion is turning East to travel down the road

Another wide shot..mainly taken to give s ense of the terrain (ps I do need to tidy up the dungeon)

Panzers advance down the road

But they come under fire from the Russian Heavy KV1 Battalion

On the right flank, two Marders and the Tiger have been knocked out and the Russian flank attack is looking very dangerous

two Stugs have redeployed to hopefully plug the gap

Germans are being held in the centre

Finally the german Artillery support has arrived on the battlefield, they deploy immediately to hold the right flank

....but the Russian tanks redeploy around the hill and surge forward towards the gap between the fields

Those fresh orders have finally arrived at the front, and the commander of the Russian heavy artillery has been threatened

with a long holiday in Siberia, they immediately unlimbers and open fire

In the centre the German reserve Tank Battalion (slightly inferior Pz IV’s and III’s) pushes forward

theough the trees towards the village, in the distance many Russian and german tanks are burning 

A wide angle shot of the battlefield at this point both sides are now moving closer to their own break points the 

Russian general well aware that his leadership is lower than the german SS commander.

Through the smoke the Russian flank attack has reformed again when they are threatened themselves in the flank by the company of Wespe’s

At this stage both sides have reached their breaking point, but the Germans in a last ditch attempt to swing the battle rich forward a company

of Pak 40 antitank guns, with German efficiency they are able to limber up move unlimber and fire in a single turn, knocking out a key enemy 

Tank, they then fail their test with a ‘blunder’ and choose to move forward! With their guns.

But it is too late for the Russians who have broken (when you reach break point you have to test at the start of each turn), Das Reich 

have won thought but they have been badly mauled and only their obsessive belief in their commanders has held them on the battlefield.

The guns of the 3rd Mechanised Corps can withdraw knowing that they have held their position and the fearsome SS Panzer Divisions

are not invincible

A splendid game, after a brief skirmish to teach Martin the rules it ran pretty well. Sadly when we play again he may have learnt the true value of the KV-1’s which weren’t put to the best use. So our game reflect the historical outcome.

Battle for the Merchyk : 12 August 1943

Back to the Eastern front and the Tank Battles of 1943. This I think is our 4th battle of the Rumyantsev offensive (you could play many more as the campaign provides an almost limitless list of scenarios) However on the 12th August 1943 Hoth counter attacked the Russian offensive south of the River Merchyk. Historically he had three SS Panzer Divisions at his disposal Wiking, Das Reich and Totenkopf. All reasonably well equipped and with numerous Tiger Tanks. These were facing Katukov's 1st Tank Army and the 5th Guards Tank Army. Alhtuogh the Russian had superiority of numbers they had extended their position across the Merchyk River. The Panzers of Totenkopf took the town of Vysokopol'ye and pushed all the way to the river, surprising Katukov, when he sought to bring reinforcements up as the river crossings were already in German hands. The Russian line was stabilised by the intervention of a brigade of the 29 Tank Corps.

So to create an interesting scenario I planned to fight the advance of Totenkopf upto and crossing the River Merchyk. We gave the Germans considerable superiority in points as previous battle have shown it very difficult to stage any kind of attack without this advantage. The Russians have been forced to deploy south of the river but can pull back if they get the chance...Stalin of course wouldn't be happy with this defensive approach. The Germans must attempt to drive to the river and seize the crossing.

The River Merchyk, Russian forces have pulled back to the three bridges to hold the Germans back

Russian T34's in considerably numbers out of the river but their range still can't match that of the better german tanks

The Germans advance with Panzer III's , IV's Stug's and Wespe artillery support, the artillery is moving into the wooded hill to give cover and better line of sight

The SS have deployed a strong force of anti tank guns to the other hill but they mistakenly delay getting into the woods the Russians make them pay and quickly blow up tow of the guns. 

The Russian have dug artillery in around the bridges and pull some of their tanks back across in case they need to counter attack

The Germans have some air support in the form of Stuka Dive bombers, these can be called in by a forward observer unit this immediately causes problems for the Russians knocking out an SU76 gun close to the town.

Close up action as the screams of dive bombers fill the air !!  

A general view down the advancing german line looking West a strong Panzer formation is heading directly for the town and although it is hard to see they have already knocked out two SU 122's so the defence of the central crossing appears wide open 

However, the initial success is not the whole story, in the foreground the anti tank unit without adequate support has been completely wiped out, due to a command blunder the Heavy Tiger tanks have been delayed reaching the battle and in the distance the Russians have staged an audacious sweeping out flanking movement completely catching the advancing Germans by surprise.

An overview of the battlefield, the initial fast advance of the SS has been slowed

The german commander is screaming into his radio "where are the Tigers" ......well the answer is on the first turn they rolled a double six command blunder causing them to be delayed by one turn. Ok not a disaster with their long range coming in on turn three they can still be effective. Turn three UNBELIEVABLY they roll a second command blunder, this is unheard of they still don't arrive on the battlefield and when they do their leadership is no reduced.😱

So without the heavy Tigers the Russian T34's are able to outflank the german line to the west catching the Panzers in the open on the flank, this is not good news 

The artillery from the wooded hill by the road have regrouped to provide support but the Panzers in the middle ground are being picked off one by one before they can reform

At this point the german commander realised the Wespe's range was too short !

Desperate measures the German commander has split a unit of Panzers off to attack the far bridge only protected by a single 85mm gun. To support this he calls in more air support !!!!!!! Another command blunder (you really couldn't make this up) causing the dive bombers to target the advancing german tanks in error. Two are blown up the third immobilised! 

The smoke in the centre of the picture shows where the Germans have been caught in the open, they are at least now being supported by the Artillery form the wood which has advanced down the hill to shorten the range.

FINALLY the Tigers arrive on the battlefield with superior range and killing power they immediately start to cut into the Russian flank attack but instead of advancing across the table they are having to stabilise their own german lines

To the East The Russians have knocked out the diversionary german attack and are now moving west to close the pincer movement

T34's heading along the banks of the river to support their infantry dug in in the town

Just a close up shot....as the T34's close in for the kill !

The german commander called a halt at this point the german advance simply hadn't made the progress needed and we can assume the Russian will be able with the delay to bring reinforcements up to stabilise their position on the river.

A very enjoyable game, we thought the Germans would steamroller over the Russian forces. We worked out the Germans had an incredible SEVEN command blunders in something like six turns of combat. The two delaying the Tigers had a big impact as they were delayed getting into the battle. Somebody will no doubt pay for this ! The blunder on the dive bombers was a classic and will live in our memories for a long time 😀😀😀

Engagement at Kovyagi : Operation Rumyantsev 1943

Our third battle in this mini campaign sees the 1st Guards Tank Brigade under Vladimir M Gorelov being counterattacked by the 1SS 3rd Panzer Regiment under Edwin Meiderdress. The Battle which took place on the 11 th August 1943 saw vicious fighting in the town of Kovyagi.

The Russian advance under Katukov had fought its way across the River Merchyk. Not surprisingly with tank vs tank battles in the town it was a tough battle. Only lasting the day the town was then bypassed by further Russian tank units looking to drive deep into german held territory.

As usual I have not been strict with order of battle looking to create a game which has some balance. This was the first run out for the new base maps and the first time we had attempted a more substantial town battle. It was extremely tough to make any progress in the built up area and both commanders were crying out for infantry support. But none came ! We learnt lots and I am hoping at some stage to try more....roll on Stalingrad 😱

Anyway on to the action

A shot looking West of the town of Kovyagi early morning the railway still open !

Russian tanks of the 1st Gurads Tank Brigade charge into the town from the north

The Germans surge forward to counter attack leading the way Panthers and PzIV's of the 1SS Panzer Regiment 3 

Heading into town the leading German column

Overview of the town at this early stage. A few technical notes, we were using Blitzkrieg Commander, we identified the roads in the town as cover and the built up blocks as hard cover. The whole was subject to a minus 1 on orders. All this meant it was going to be difficult without any infantry to get control. The railway line just counted as a road. The objective for both sides was the central station which is the red building in the centre of the town.

Line of sight was quite difficult in the town so units are forced to get up really close before opening fire

The Russian bring on a powerful assault gun unit of SU76 's and SU152's these look to outflank the town to the east

Another aerial shot of the town from the SW more Germans Panzers deploying in the rubble

The last train escapes west......this was of no play value it just look fun....😀

I took a couple of these shots....again just for fun. It shows the Russians have crossed the railway line in the centre and have control of the station

The outflanking movement attempts to push into the town from the east, a single panther dug into the rubble looks to hold them back

Period shot of the Germans closing in on the area around the church

Germans tanks have broken onto the railway smokes is starting to plume into the sky

All pretty confused at this stage. We had plenty of amusing command failures, the Russians still have the station and have broken in form the flank but the Germans are closing into the area around the church

The Battle became a challenging game of cat and mouse with tanks shooting at point blank range, due to the excellent cover it was still hard for anybody to get the upper hand. It was great fun but we recognised we were unlikely to get any sort of result so at this stage we reduced all the cover by one, working on the basis that after a couple of hours of battle they had now got the range of the enemy.

More black plumes of smoke rise into the sky

This was the point the battle ended.....the Russians have clearly got control of the east of the town but are making slow progress,

The Germans have managed eventually by concentrating fire captured the railway station

Final shot of the town at the end, this was the first run out with the new mats and happy with the effect

Another shot of the town as the Germans pull back. The railway is cut. Historically the Russian 49th Tank Brigade and 17th Tank Regiment slipped past the Totenkopf reconnaissance screen threatening to break right through the German front. The Battle continued the following day the 12th August with the Germans now reinforced by the Wiking Division attempting to push the Russians back over the river Merchyk...........