Operation Citadel Campaign Begins

Having pushed past the initial defensive lines, Grossdeutschland found itself within a few kilometers of Cherkasskoye. The 199th Guards Rifle Regiment stood in their way.

Grossdeutschland advances headlong into the Soviet center - now with the regimental AT battery. In the background, the beans represent mined grid spaces.

The Soviets demonstrated an iron will to fight and only yielded ground after several hours of fighting. Two AT batteries of the 67th Guards Rifle Division reinforced what remained of the 199th. Grossdeutschland's Panzer regiment attacked the village from the west, while the Pioneer battalion flanked the village to the East. The Germans were careful to avoid the mine fields between the defensive works and Cherkasskoye.

The Soviet HQ surveys the scene : it does not look promising .

GD Pioneers overrun the 199th's regimental mortar battery before making an assault on the AT battery in the village.

The GD Pioneers fought their way into the village where fierce close fighting with one of the AT batteries went unexpectedly wrong.

The Regimental HQ survives in the village, but for how long?

Heavy artillery called in by the 199th's FOO attached to the Regimental HQ scattered II/PzGrenadier GD. Bogged down during the initial contact, Grossdeutschland's drive to the village had been delayed and at a significant cost. Despite the presence of two Panzer battalions on the outskirts of Cherkasskoye,  III/PzGrenadier was still a kilometer from the village and at risk from increasingly dialed in artillery fire; Grossdeutschland had run out of momentum and soon would run out of daylight.

To their relief, from the East, the tell-tale rumble of tanks and armored half-tracks grew louder; reinforcements from 11th Panzer Division were arriving.

***

You're probably tired of seeing this table set up. Me too! I'm ready to try the next scenario.

So, Friday night I decided that I would play for the campaign points with the Morschauser-fied version of my battalion-per-base grid rules. I also modified some things for the scenario - like I decided to forgo 11th Panzer's arrival as part of the game and instead this is just about Grossdeutschland's effort.

The game ended after 14 turns, with both sides having reached their break point (the Soviets had reached theirs several turns before the assault on the village itself began). 

For this game, I tried out the rule that units could move or shoot but not both in the same  (with assault counting as movement). Because I'm tracking hit points per unit, the units last a bit longer and the initial break through took a little longer than hoped. More artillery fire and more combined attacks on a single target could help there.

Because the Soviets held the village at the end, they were awarded 2 points for the win. In addition 50% of German units were eliminated, which gives the Soviet 2 additional points, for a total of 4.

The Germans failed to take the village but they did eliminate just over 80% of the Soviet regiment, for a total of 4 points.

At the end of the first campaign game, the campaign is a tie at 4-4.