Operation Citadel : Soviet Counterattack (Final campaign game)

On July 10, 1943, the Allies invaded Sicily. In response, Hitler called off Operation:Citadel despite what amounted to a successful, if slower than expected, operation, in order to return forces to Italy.  For this final battle in my campaign, I opted for a  hypothetical Soviet counter-attack on the withdrawing Grossdeutschland division.

The scenario is a slightly stretched out version of scenario 20, Fighting Retreat from One Hour Wargames.

GD Pioneers, a Panzer unit, and GD PanzerJagers prepare to cross the ford on the German left. GD PzGrenadier Regiment and Division HQ would cross on the right.

The Germans crossed uneventfully with the Soviets on their heels - six battalions of infantry, a mortar battery, regimental HQ,  and an AT battery.

The view on GD's right. I and II/PzG hold up the Soviets  at the ford.

The GD panzer battalion was the first to fall. The Pioneers fell back to join elements of GD already on the hill.

HQ ordered the PzGrens to fall back and allow the Soviets to cross in order to draw them into range of more of the unit.

I/PzGren held off the Soviets.

On the G right (they're now facing the opposite table edge so their direction reversed), the pioneers would hold off several attacks by the Soviets.

The Soviet steamroller sets its sights on taking out the pioneers an then advancing on the hill.

The pioneers force them back, and III/PzGen sweeps down to flank the Soviets.

GD HQ orders a counter-attack and I and II/PzGren descend on the Soviet forces causing them losses and pushing them back across the river.

Soviet infantry takes to the woods in an effort to mass for a concentrated attack against the pioneers.

The pioneers finally fell after gallantly holding out. The Soviets attempted to roll up the PanzerJagers only to find out that they were outmatched. 

Forced to fall back to the woods to lick their wounds, it would be the last effort of the Soviets.

With the elimination of the mortar battery, the Soviet HQ was forced to call off the attack and withdraw.

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

The big lesson learned here is that I should have given the Soviets some motorized infantry, and that veteran troops (like the GD pioneers and Panzergrenadier regiment) are very hard to eliminate even if you're scoring hits on them (which is fine, that's how I want my rules to play).

Grossdeutschland lost pioneers and their Panzers but wore out the Soviet attack and held the hill uncontested.

The Soviets took heavy losses (5 units).

GD earned 2 points for units eliminated and 2 points for the win. The Soviets earned 1 point for the units they eliminated.

Grossdeutschland 17, Soviets 11. A German campaign victory. 

It was quite enjoyable to pretend I was fielding a division or close to it in each scenario - and while my units don't look anything like a battalion, 2 infantry stands or 1 vehicle = 1 battalion worked for me once  was playing (i see them as counters in hex-and-chit game). I'm not sure I did anything that fell into that level of gaming though or if I was focused to low in the action. No matter, I had fun.

I plan to play this campaign again, but less like a tournament, and more like a campaign, with Grossdeutschland's losses carrying from battle to battle, weather, and of course air support. I also think artillery should have played more of a role in some of the scenarios.

However, that will wait a bit. I am turning my focus to my late 19th century forces and any gaming in between now and then will probably be just one-off WWII games to tie me over - I want to play some lower level games with Battalion Squares, G Company,  maybe try Crossfire, and some 1:1 with One Hour Skirmish or Fistful of Lead.

Operation Citadel : Verkopenye

"The village of Verkopenye was another important objective for Gross Deutschland as the town had one of the few bridges over the river Pena so it was critical that it be captured to open the way to Oboyan." (Axis of Attack: Kursk)  

For the actual scenario, rather than historical research, I used my favorite Table Top Teaser (and one of the only one's I've played), "The Bridge Demolition" 

The Soviets had a rifle regiment supported by two tank battalions and divisional artillery. Gross Deutschland had a recon battalion, two PZ IV battalions, the Panzer Grenadier regiment, the Panzer-Fusilier regiment, a PanzerJaeger, an on-table battalion of of howitzers/field guns, and off-table artillery.

A view of the Soviet defenses. Aufklarung Abt. can be seen on the hill surveying the field.

Gratuitous close-up.

Turn 1. PZ IV and PanzerJaeger units advance.

German right flank. Panzer-Fusiliers on the hill preparing to advance on the Soviets in the woods

Initial contact between the tank units went quickly in Gross Deutschland's favor.

The Panzer-Grenadiers arrive and advance up the road towards Verkopenye.

The battle for the woods is fierce, but the Fusiliers gain the advantage. The Soviets opted then to abandon the position to get the battalion over the bridge before detonation.

Gross Deutschland closes in on Verkopenye but not without some losses.

With the second tank battalion eliminated, the last Soviet infantry battalion abandons their hold in the part of town South of the river.

With the Germans hot on their heels, the plucky Soviets fight hard for Mother Russia and force the Gross Deutschland armor to break off.

The Soviet engineers are ready to blow the bridge but they opt to wait for infantry to make it across.

As soon as they cross, the command is given. The bridge goes up at once. A Soviet victory.

*******

Rules used were my own Division Squares, which are now on their 6th iteration and have proven themselves in the last two games. 

The German advance was hampered by my playing around with limits on unit activation. This was a terrible idea, given the piecemeal arrival of units already due to the scenario. Lesson learned. Around turn 8 or so I opted to switch back to a more traditional, all units can be activated method. 

Per the scenario's advice, the Soviet engineers would need 12 turns to set the explosives. I used a variant of the suggested die roll to determine what happens when the Soviets try to blow the bridge. In this case, I rolled and it blew up immediately - snatching victory away from the Germans who were so close they could taste it.

The Soviets lost 44% of their force, Gross Deutschland lost 25%.

With the 2 points for the win, and 1 point for damage inflicted, the Soviets scored 3 points total. Gross Deutschland earned 2 points for damage inflicted.

The campaign score is now Gross Deutschland 11 to the Soviet's 8.

And just for giggles, here's my conversion of the map to my 8 x 6 grid:

Operation Citadel : Syrtsevo

 This is game 2 in my Operation Citadel campaign.

July 7, 1943, elements of Grossdeutschland advanced on Syrtsevo which was held by elements of 10th Motor Brigade, 1st (?) Motor Brigade, 90th Guards Rifle Division, and 112th Tank Brigade. Or at least that's what the internet told me.

I'll let the pictures tell the story -ish.

Two Soviet SMG units, an AT unit, and a mortar unit have taken positions in and around the village. Meanwhile, the Grossdeutschland Recon battalion observes the village from the hill.

Usual close up sot. The Germans are Matchbox, the armored car is 32x or one of those brands.

II/PanzerGrenadier arrives opposite the Soviet tank unit.

Stug battalion in the house. II/PzG leave their vehicles in order to make use of the woods for cover.

Same turn (3) two Panzer IV battalions arrive on the hill South East of the village. The Tiger company arrived shortly after.

A bit of a log jam on GD's right.

"Pretty sure we didn't sign up for this."

Soviets hold on the village despite shelling and an assault by the Stug battalion.

A battalion of Pz IV from 3rd Panzer Division arrives on the left to offset the loss of one of GD's Pz battalions.The Soviets are being squeezed.

A collapse on the Soviet right opens the door for GD to enter the village.With remaining units in bad shape and outnumbered by the Germans, the Soviet HQ concedes the village and orders the village abandoned.

GD captures the village.

Some Notes:

Changing the scenario so that both sides arrived piecemeal made for a much more interesting battle. I can't be sure, but I think it helped to break up the scrum I ran into in previous plays of this scenario.

The Tiger company was only given two Hit Points/Strength Points to reflect it's company size, but could only be hit on 6s, and still had saving roll.

Here's the map I created for the table - I stole the general layout of the roads from someone else on the web, and I can't find it now. If I do, i"ll update this with a link:

My grid is 6 inch squares, so the total space is 3' x 4'.

For campaign points: 

• GD held the village for the win: 2 points.
• GD eliminated 60% of the Soviet force:  3 points.
• Soviets eliminated 25% of the German force: 1 point

Total in the campaign now is: GD: 9 to Soviets: 5.

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.

Add More Morschauser

 Rules tinkering continues.

After another dozen or so games played on the computer using Google Draw for the map and units, I learned quite a few things. I could go into a deep dive about what I found "wrong" with my recent rules attempts, but in short, they weren't Morschauser enough for me.

So, last night, I ran through a grid-based homage to Morschauser with an overall feeling that was just "better" to me.

The only thing I think the scenario needs now is some mine fields.

The now familiar opening moves of Cherkasskoye.

The Soviet middle melted away before the combined Panzers and PanzerGrenadiers of Grossdeutschland.

The Soviet left fell away shortly after. Effective Soviet ATG fire dealt a blow to the Panzers.

11th Panzer Division (the "Ghost Division") sends help [turn 9]. The Soviets are in an even tougher spot now.

A hard fought battle for the town ensued - including an accidentally suicidal assault by the Grossdeutschland Pioneer battalion which opened the way for Recon to advance.

After turn 8, I roll for how many turns remain and with a roll of 3 it was going to be tight. In the end, the Germans could not quite clear the entire village, although they managed a foothold. 

The Soviets suffered an overwhelming loss of units - because I kept going well past their break point. I'm not sure if that makes sense or not for the scenario. I kind of feel like it does, but the fact that it came down to the last turn, I feel, means they should get some additional credit.

If I scored this per Featherstone, it'd be 5-2 , in favor of the Germans (the battle was a draw, plus 1 point for every loss of 20% inflicted). However, given the Germans had to call on 11th Panzer, even if they never reached the village, to me, means the Soviets deserve some extra credit for delaying the German advance. I would score this 5-3 if this was for the campaign.

Like I said, I want to add mine fields, which, given the change in rules, seems a necessity to balance out the sides a little better.

I Am Not Good at Leaving Well Enough Alone

As an inveterate rules tinkerer, I decided to make some changes to my own grid-based battalion per base rules - particularly regarding effects vs armor (I didn't like that mortars could eliminate tanks). However, I made some other tweaks, that, frankly, broke the game in some respects during play testing.

So here are some pictures while I reset some of the changes. Please note, the game pictured does not count towards the campaign, although it is the Cherkasskoye, July 5, 1943, scenario I posted.

I/PzGr, and I and II/Pz advance up the middle, while Recon races up the road. All units encounter fierce Soviet resistance, but the Soviets on the German right collapse, opening the advance on that flank.

With their lines breached, the commander of the 67th Guards Rifle Division orders two ATG batteries to provide support for the 199th, as it falls back towards the town.

To say things don't look good for the Red Army is an understatement.

Another view of the same scene. This is my favorite picture of the night.

The Soviet side of the line.

I and II/Pz reach the village, swinging to the left flank, and engage in a shootout with ATG batteries (the 1st was destroyed by combined artillery and I/Pz fire)

Recon arrives on the right flank and I/PzGr advances in preparation to storm the town. (Yellow dice are my "Overwatch" markers. It did them little good,)

It was an overwhelming German win, and a victory for GrossDeutschland , as there was no need for 11th Panzer Division's support.