Fictional Citadel : July 7, 1943 Part 1

On July 7, 1943 PanGermania advanced to capture Berezovka and collided with the 1st Soviet Guard Rifle Division supported by elements of 1st Tank Corps. 

The Germans advanced quickly into the town - 1st Recon followed closely by 1st PanzerGrenadiers with support from the division's armored elements. The artillery deployed on the hill south of Berezovka.

Division Commander Ouspensky provided all three of his tank brigades to General Novikov who would be commanding the attack. The three tank brigades descended on the town to meet the invader's armor.

1st Recon moved to protect the perimeter from advancing Soviet rifle divisions and 1st PanzerGrenadier was tasked with pushing back the 1st Tank Brigade. Intense fighting in the streets and alleys raged and possession of the town was up for grabs for several hours.

The Soviets 1st Guard Rifle Regiment took up positions in the woods East of Berezovka and engaged 1st Recon. From their position they were able to call in artillery support to devastating effect. Meanwhile 2nd and 3rd Rifle Regiments cautiously advanced towards the fighting via the two roads leading into the town.

In close fighting, 1st Tank Brigade managed to push 1st Panzer Grenadier South of the town. With the Germans pushed out of the fields East of the town as well, Novikov turned cautions and opted to use his armor to hold their positions while the infantry caught up.

Fichte brought up his PanGermania Fusiliers who had been held in reserve, along with the 1st PanzerJaeger battalion. The armor battle continued on the German right, and Tank Brigades 1 and 2 combined their efforts and rendered 1st Panzer combat ineffective, leaving only 1st StuG battalion.

Unfortunately for the Soviets, 1st Tank Brigade suffered extensive losses at the hand of German artillery and were forced from the field.

1st PanzerGrenadier drove the Soviets from the woods and then, along with the Fusiliers, engaged in fierce combat with the 2nd Rifle Regiment East of Berezovka.
 

General Novikov held 3rd Soviet Rifle Division in the fields north of the town in preparation to counter attack should the Germans make some headway, while sending 2nd Tank Brigade to engage the German artillery in an attempt to end their harassment.

With support from their AT battalion, the 2nd Rifle Regiment drove off the Panzer Grenadiers and engaged in a wrestling match with the Fusiliers for possession of the fields and farms.

In an effort to flank the Soviet infantry, Fichte sent his engineers to take up positions in the woods from where they launched repeated attacks on the Soviet AT battalion.

However, Fichte was running out of army to command. Although his force had caused quite a few casualties, they had taken more themselves. 1st StuG battalion made a last valiant effort to gain a foothold in Berezovka and engaged 2nd Tank Brigade in a close range shootout but were overwhelmed, they were forced back. The German attack ran out of momentum and Fichte was forced to order PanGemania's withdrawal.

Berezovka was in Soviet hands, but as the scene of most of the days fighting, it was mostly rubble.

******* Campaign Notes ******

This was fought on an 8x8 grid on my 4' x 4' table (since I was combining Soviet forces). The rules again are The Portable Wargame by Bob Cordery. The only changes I make are for initiative (i use the solo card activation rules but I don't shuffle the sides together, instead they dice for initiative and then draw from their own card deck) and MGs/Armored Cars roll 3d6, but instead of all hits counting, if 1 or more die hits, it's a single hit total.

Both armies had exhaustion points of 9SP. The game lasted 13 turns, with both sides losing 11 SP. The Soviets lost 3 of those in turn 13!

For the Soviets, just more than half of the losses came from 1st Tank Corps. Division Commander Ouspensky, already peeved that Novikov was tapped to organize the attack, is now even more annoyed. 1st Tank Brigade was completely eliminated, 2nd Tank Brigade has 1 SP remaining and 3rd Tank Brigade has 2 SP remaining.

Although I left it on the table, the 1st AT battalion only went into the battle with 1 SP and was eliminated. I had forgotten they were starting from a weakened state due to the fighting on July 5.

However, because I let the Soviets combine their force, both division sized forces are still in relatively good shape, although they must allocate recovered SP between the two units. We'll see if Ouspensky can lobby for a greater share of the replacements.

PanGermania is in bad shape despite their successful encounters on 5th and 6th of July. In this battle, Fichte lost his recon, 1st Panzer, and 1st Panzer Grenadiers, plus sustained damage to 1st StuG and the Fusiliers. That's a lot to ask of the recovered SP.

Phantom Division will face its own challenges against 2nd and 3rd Soviet Guard Rifle Divisions the next time I get a chance to play. That will be Part 2, but I don't know when I'll get to set up the table next.

Oh, and for those interested in such things, here is the map after the movement phase at the start of campaign turn 3: