The second battle of Rob Avery's campaign booklet Vyazma or Bust! takes place in late September 1941 as the Germans continue Operation Teifun (Typhoon), with an attempt to take Sychevka, a town just to the north of Vyazma.

The German player is tasked with capturing the bridge at the hamlet of Urk which his division will use to outflank a strong Soviet position. The Soviet player, currently in disgrace after defeat in the last game, commands a motley bunch of poor quality conscript troops dug in around Urk.

The battlefield from the NE corner, entry point of the Germans

The river

The hamlet of Urk

View from the heights near Urk

Another view of the hamlet

Pre battle german bombardment of the area of attack

The first Blinds enter from the north eastern road

The bombardment continues

A German Blind over the bridge

Sdkfz 222 and the Hauptmann’s Kubelwagen

The armored vehicles of the recon platoon move on

The PzII of the recon platoon took up position over the hill

The Soviets entrenched sideways of the hamlet’s main road

A Stuka missed its target during the motorcycles’ advance

The motorcycle squads found it impossible to go on

Another Stuka, another mission with no result

The motorcycle squad withdrew with heavy casualties

Third pass of the Stuka, nothing special to mention

The Soviet armor arrived, fired and…

…knocked out the PzII on the hill

BT-7s and T-34s act in concert

One of the three PzIV blew up

The Soviets fired repeatedly and…

…knocked out the PzIV platoon

After the loss of his armor, the German player didn't have the will to continue the battle and retreated. An impressive display of Soviet firepower in combination with a lot of German tactical mistakes gave the victory to the Soviet side.

Vaggelis

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