AAR 1944 Eastern Front: Attack on Worker's Settlement No.5 by Mark Luther

Worker Settlement No 5

Occupying slightly higher ground than the marshy areas to the east, the Germans fortified this feature. The remnants of a company (platoon strength) was in the trenches along with a pair of Pak 35s an infantry gun and a tripod MMG. The Sdkfz 10/4 was also in this settlement. All of these builings are from Leva.

Overview of Table

The Soviets would enter from the left above the marshy area. The Panzers came in from the bottom edge, left of the stream. The land rises left to right.

More Entrenchments

Another infantry platoon-sized unit was emplaced on this small hill that anchored the left of the line. This was to be the focus of the renewed Soviet attack. It would be up to the Tigers of 502 Btn to stop any Russian Tanks since there were no ATGs in this position.

The Attack Begins

An Infantry platoon leads the T34s and T70s of the 98th Tank Brigade. We allowed for three Russian elements to come on board every turn.

The Russian player (Rick) drew three unit cards at random, looked at what they were and placed them where he wanted them to enter. As long as the company or platoon leader's tank was leading, we let the rest of the platoon's tanks manoeuvre/fire under the leader's card.

Of course the Germans tried to knock out the leader vehicles first, which meant that we had to put separate cards in for each tank at that point.

2nd Platoon Taking Hits From MMGs

As luck would have it, the 2nd platoon took the lead and was the first to take some long range small arms fire.

Pinned Down

The Germans saw that they were going to have a time stopping all of the Red infantry. The 2nd platoon got pinned early.

Tigers

The PZVIEs were the lead tanks for the Germans. This was to be one of the few lucky breaks the panzers received. After two German Blinds cards were drawn, the next one would announce the arrival of the first pair of German tanks, randomly selected. GHQ minis.

Pz III Ns

Next turn the short 75-armed PZIIINs came in and shot past the Tigers to engage the Russian infantry in the flank.

Picking on the 2nd Platoon

The two PzIIIns drop some 75 HE on the 2nd platoon as the defenders of the hillock also fire their small arms into them. Somewhere in there, the platoon leader is KIA. Big problem for the Soviets who only have that one Big Man in the platoon.

Slow Advance

The Russian elect to open fire on the entrenchment with their tanks as their remaining infantry move up. The Tigers have managed to blow up the Battalion commander's vehicle.

Panzers on Receiving End

Once the Russian started firing back at the panzers, they quickly scored. One Tiger bailed after taking several hits and losing its engine, one of the PzIIINs left when its gun was KO'ed. Next turn the remaining Pz IIIN is flamed. In the exchange another T34 is destroyed. Bad exchange rate for the Germans.

More Red Infantry

The 1st platoon moves up and begins to take some small arms hits. The tanks start to turn their attention to the Panzers. The Infantry HQ squad and some ATR-teams bring up the rear.

Smoking T34s

The Battalion leader tank and a company command T34s are burning, but the majority of Russkie tanks are unfazed and untouched.

Taking Hits from the 75s

This is the last turn that the PzIIIN would be around. The 2nd platoon is in bad shape and leaderless. The 1st platoon stops short of coming under fire from the Panzers.

Burning Panzer

Remaining PzIIIn goes up in flames after hits from T70s. Its partner had already retired with a broken gun tube.

Abandoned Tiger

The Germans are really doing poorly in the exchange so far. Only one tank remains functioning.

Pinned Down Red Infantry

Small arms and 75 HE from the PzIIIs stalled out the infantry advance. Still no response from off-board German 105s. The 76mm fire from the T34s are whittling down the defenders on the hillock.

T60s and T34s

The T60s pass the T34s that have stopped to fire at the panzers. Their HMGs are not very effective when firing on the move against entrenched troops.

More Russians Moving Up

The 3rd platoon is advancing along with the Company Commander. The three ATR teams are heading to the marsh to get some shots at the German armor.

Russian Air Support

Two SU-2s show up to assist in the attack (Navwar models). Their bombs all fall wide of the mark. The explosions are from the T34s shells.

Another Burning T-34

The panzers claim their third victim.

PzIIILs

Actually they are PzIIIJ (CinC models). They move onboard and immediately KO a T-34.

High Point of the Panzer Advance

The PzIIIs move pass the Tiger and their smoking comrade to engage the Russkie tanks.

Everything Heading Their Way

Not the best odds. The MMG is about to disappear under more 76mm shelling and most of the defending squads have taken hits.

Sdkfz 10/4

So far they haven't been too effective. It might be because their barrel is bent.

T-34s and T-70s

The T-70s are not whitewashed, but still capable of taking out a PzIII. These are all CinC models.

T-60s advance

Following their commander, the T-60s head towards the entrenched Germans. Their firing is pretty inaccurate. At least they will give the Pak and 20mm AAA something to shoot at.

Soviets getting ready for final push

The leaderless platoon moved towards the center to link up with the Company command. The last platoon is getting hit with MMG fire and HE from the infantry gun, which pins a couple of squads. A round from off-board 105s finally arrives:  behind the Russian infantry though. The T-60s are getting shot at by a Pak35 and the 20mm AAA.

Another View of the Advance

Still a lot of Russians within striking range of the entrenchments.

Damaged PzIIIs

Both of the PzIIILs are now out of the fight. Only one Tiger left to take on the Russian armor and the way the dice have been going for the panzers, that will not be enough to stop all the T-34s.

More SU-2s

They make a second run on the entrenchments. This time on the main buildings. Wise choice (luck actually:  we rolled for their target) since their bombs fall so far from the target they would probably have hit their own troops if they were going after the other position.

Another View of the SU-2s

These are neat looking planes. Much more sophisticated looking than IL-2s, but more costly to manufacture. You can see the postion of the infantry gun on the left.

Into the Trenches

The 1st platoon rushes the defenders and overwhelms the survivors. They had just consolidated two of the squads into one before this attack but were unable to hold off the Russians. The German Platoon Commander went down fighting.

HE Falling Behind the Reds

A little late and a bit over. The artillery came too late to hold off the close assault. The Germans had some problems getting their cards when they needed it in this game.

T-60s Driven Off

The Pak 35 and Sdkfz 10/4 finally managed to convince these light tanks to retire. Another case of not so great dice rolls by the Germans. The best they got was a 'retire' result on the leader's tank, which caused the rest to follow.

Last Tiger Bails

Remaining Tiger is forced to abandon ship after recieving a couple of engine damage results. It did manage to force another T-34 to bail also. Overall the Panzers did a lousy job against the Russian armour.

Last Turn Positions

With one platoon in the entrenchments, it would be relatively easy to move the rest of the infantry up to the table edge. The German infantry onboard is too weak for much of an attempt to retake the hillock. No German armor to stop the Russian tanks, so a clear win for the Russkies.

View from the Back

T-34s wondering why the little guys are running back. Final score was four KO'd T-34s for two Tigers and four PzIIIs. The Germans lost the platoon sized unit (with MMG) in the works and the Soviets lost around a third of their infantry.

Field of Broken Panzers

Two burning and three abandoned and one already off the table. Stopping the Russian breakthrough was the job of these tanks and they failed. Rick wisely focused his attention on the left side of the defences. This would've left him very vulnerable to the Panzers. But they did a poor job of hitting anything and took damage amazingly easily. The German artillery was also absent for almost the whole game.