Fictional Citadel : July 8, 1943, Part 3

On July 8th, the ground shook under the advancing Soviet 1st Tank Corps as they moved south towards Cherkasskoye in pursuit of the falling back PanGermania Division. Commanded by Divsion Commander Ouspensky, who had, since the invasion began been relatively untested, the Soviets had the benefit of three tank brigades, to the German's sole Panzer regiment.

The paper tells me the unit ID as all of my tanks look alike. All but one non-commander unit (total, counting both sides) started the battle already in a deficit of Strength Points - hence the little dice next to the units indicating such.

Unlike his Soviet opponent, General Fichte had been involved in the fighting for days. That he was forced to concede Berezovka to the 1st Soviet Guard Rifle Division, who had been supported by Ouspensky's tank brigades, made the oncoming collision a personal matter. He would command the division's PanzerJaeger battalion personally. However it was 1st Panzer Regiment that made first contact - a long range barrage that damaged several AFVs in the Soviet 3rd Tank Brigade and forcing them into a cautious defensive stance.

The German artillery advanced far to the East and set up within range of both the cross roads and the small village overlooking the bridge over the river - the Germans hoped to capture the village and the crossroad.


Ficthe had opted to keep the 1sts Fusilier Regiment in the rear to recover from their mauling the day prior. 1st Panzer Grenadier Regiment was committed to capturing the village and 1st Pioneer Battalion was sent forward to harass the Soviet right in the event Ouspensky sent his Motor Rifle Regiment forward at that spot.


The Soviet 1st Tank Brigade crossed the bridge and moved west o engage 1st Panzer Regiment and prevent the crossroads from falling into German hands.

In the event, 10th Motor Rifle Regiment advanced quickly on the Soviet right behind the 2nd Tank Brigade. Intense fighting for the village began with the German artillery reigning shells on the Soviets, followed by a German attack led by the Panzer Grenadiers, and eventually supported by the Division HQ - which Ficthe reluctantly committed to the battle due to the overall shortage of manpower and viable units remaining in his command.


Through deft maneuvering by lGerman local commanders, the 1st Panzer Regiment eliminated the 3rd Tank Brigade. Meanwhile a breakdown in command stalled the Soviets and hamstrung efforts to contain PanGermania.


Although Ficthe led from the field, himself coming under direct fire from 1st Tank Brigade when hells landed among the PAK 40 crews, Ouspensky had to be cooerced by his subordinates to make an appearance at the front.

When he arrived it was to join 1st Tank Brigade behind the hill, supported by the 1st Tank Corps recon unit. Historians continue to second guess the general's decision to take command of the 1st Tank Brigade. Ignoring that it had been forced back by accurate AT fire from both the PanzerJaegers and Panzer Regiment, without infantry support, their ability to take and then hold the crossroads was limited at best .


Meanwhile 2nd Tank Brigade and the 10th Motor Rifle Regiment engaged in a struggle for the village which the Soviets had a much higher probability of holding - and might have done so had they had the Commander's morale boosting presence.

As it was, brutal no-quarter-asked-no-quarter-given man-to-man fighting swept through the village and nearby forest, and forced the 10th Motor Rifle Regiment to abandon the village, leaving their transports behind. 1st Panzer and 1st Panzer Grenadier continued to harass the battered Soviet regiment and a last ditch effort to retake the village faltered under the lack of manpower and competent command.


Trapped in the open, they were easy targets for the German artillery. When the smoke cleared little remained of the 10th Motor Rifle.

The Soviet 2nd Tank Brigade managed to drive the PanzerGrenadiers out of the village but they were quickly replaced by the 1st Panzer regiment and the two tank units engaged in a long range exchange of fire.

With no infantry, down one unit of tanks, and with the 1st Tank Brigade on the brink of defeat, the Soviet advance could not continue and Ouspensky ordered a general retreat. (1)

Fichte having received reports from the two German divisions to the east opted not to pursue the retreating Soviets but instead held his position. It would give his men rest and allow the other divisions to advance in line.







(1) Historians suggest that it was only his personal friendships with officers close to Stalin that prevented his disposal at the hands of NKVD. In 1948, Ouspensky escaped the Soviet Union and defected to the United States. He died of entirely natural causes that should not be questioned in 1956 on his farm in rural Central Pennsylvania.

**************************

A completely surprising ending.

I thought this would be the last nail in the German coffin, but PanGermania has kept the invasion alive - or at least on life support.

I did forget that once one side reaches exhaustion you fight until the other side does as well, but in the excitement of the Germans pushing the Soviets to exhaustion (6 strength points lost in this case) while they had only lost 2 strength points, I started to tear down the table and think about the write up!

However, I think it makes more sense narratively this way.

Since the Soviets couldn't advance. the Germans could just bomb the snot out of 2nd Tank Brigade with artillery and with Panzer fire from the protection of the village. There is no need for PanzerJaeger or the Pioneers to advance any further and risk being cut up by the Soviet recon or 1st Tank Brigade, as they already had control of the crossroad.

So, if anything not attacking 2nd Tank Brigade further benefitted the Soviets.

One odd thing this game.

For the first time, I decided that a mounted unit that had dismounted and was then forced back wouldn't have time to bring their vehicles. This was wrong I think in retrospect though it mattered little in this game. The turns by my calculation are 30-60 minutes of time. And trucks wouldn't sit around in the combat zone to be shot up, they'd be at the rear already. If anything, they'd reach the fall back space first. The 10th Motor Rifle Regiment then should have 1)fallen back one space when losing the close combat 2)ended up in that space with their vehicles and 3)remained dismounted.

The biggest factors in working against the Soviets in this battle were:

1. The Soviets only had 6 units including the commander, so they could only activate 2,3, or 4 units.
2. They rolled terribly on my special events table (roll a d12 each turn after artillery fire and before drawing that side's card):
• 1 -Enemy artillery fires again
• 2 - Units in melee range of enemy must retreat 1 space
• 3 - No movement this turn
• 4 - No shooting this turn
• 5-8 Nothing
• 9 - One unit may fire twice
• 10 - Artillery may fire again
• 11 - One unit may move twice (including moving shooting and moving)
• 12 - one unit regains 1 lost SP

They rolled "No Movement" three times, "No Fire" once, and "Enemy artillery fires again" . Ten turns and five of them were negative events. It definitely made it interesting!

In any case, PanGermania is doing OK but the other German units are in pretty bad shape. The Soviets, by the rules I wrote for reinforcements will slowly be able to resupply in ways the Germans cannot - particularly Soviet units on a rail space. It's just a matter of time.

That said, it's still holding my interest so I'll play another campaign turn and see what happens!