Fictional Citadel : July 8, 1943 Part 1

General Blavatsky, 2nd Soviet Guard Rifle Division (SGRD), fresh off his victory over Phantom Division, advanced his force to meet the German 1st Panzer Grenadier Division in hopes of forcing them out of the fight and gaining the flank on Phantom Division.  The Germans, led by General Schopenhauer, had been held back since July 5th, after suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Blavatsky's 2nd SGRD.

Both generals were intent on capturing the majority of the settlements in the area and due to their locations, it really left only Chernit (pictured as the black building below) to be contested. The Soviet 5th Rifle Regiment was tasked with the objective and made a quick advance, supported by the 2nd Sapper Battalion to their rear, and the 4th Rifle Regiment to their right. The Soviet artillery rapidly advanced to a hill within range of Chernit.

The German advance was haphazard with the 2nd Pioneer Battalion racing for the woods west of Chernit. The 2nd Anti-tank Battalion outpaced the grenadiers and were forced to halt their advance while Schopenhauer addressed the situation. Meanwhile the division's artillery deployed west of the woods nearest the road leading north to another settlement.

With the arrival of the 2nd Panzer Grenadiers a fierce battle for Chernit began, supported by artillery and the engineering battalions for both sides. While Blavatsky took personal lead of the Soviet attack, Schopenhauer took command of the German artillery.

2nd Panzer Grenadiers held off repeated counter-attacks by the 5th and 6th Rifle Regiments and the Soviets were forced to fall back and regroup.

Blavatsky's re-organized his troops to extend their ability to fight and and his inspiring speeches had remarkable impact on the forces in his command.

Schopenhauer, seeking the decisive blow, sent 3rd Panzer Grenadier to assault and silence the Soviet artillery. However, the Soviet 2nd Recon Battalion halted their initial efforts.

To the surprise of all involved, when the 3rd Panzer Grenadiers did finally make contact, they were beaten back the gun crews and forced to fall back.

The Soviet artillery, fueled by their local victory, began to find their targets with astounding accuracy. The Soviet infantry rallied to the sound of the guns and forced 2nd Pioneer and 2nd Panzer Grenadier from the field.  The Soviet recon unit made a run for the German occupied settlement to the south but was soundly destroyed by the guns of the German 2nd Anti-tank Battalion.

Schopenhauer recognized that his hold on Chernit was slipping and ordered 3rd Panzer Grenadier to take and hold the settlement.  They would make no further advance.

The Soviet infantry crashed repeatedly against the German defense. Unable to continue his attack, Blavatsky was forced to withdraw to the north.

**** Campaign Notes ****

Here is the map of the table - again, randomly generated using Bob Cordery's terrain generator - the road was dictated by the campaign map:

Barring total domination by one side over the other, I decided victory would be dependent on control of two of the three settlements. 

The Germans looked like they were gong to crush  the Soviets - having lost only 3 strength points to the Soviet 6 as late as turn 8. But then on turn 9, the Soviets won initiative  and suddenly they could not miss. The Germans went from 3 strength points lost to 7 and hit their exhaustion point. 

Luckily for them, they lost control of Chernit when 2nd Panzer Grenadier Division was destroyed, but then quickly regained possession with the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Regiment on their initiative. No more offensive movement was permitted but that worked out for them.

On the next turn, the Soviets won the initiative again, and while they inflicted some damage, they they were unable to unseat the Germans from the settlement. On their half of the turn, the Germans pushed the Soviets to exhaustion and the game ended with the Germans in control of two of the three settlements.

However, while 2nd SGRD was forced back two spaces on the campaign map, as per my rules, the Germans could not follow up on their victory as 1st Panzer Grenadier Division was found to have reached it's campaign exhaustion point even after recovering lost casualties. They aren't totally out of the fight yet - as they are on their baseline and will regain 1 strength point next turn and have 1 casualty in the hospital to dice for, and it will be two turns before they would face a threat from 2nd SGRD again 

That said, they have maybe one more battle left in them. There are two more battles to fight for July 8th and then I'll assess the German position as a whole. If Phantom loses to 3rd SGRD, that would knock out Phantom entirely, and put 3rd SGRD on the left flank of 1st Panzer Grenadier Division  and hasten their probable demise.