The first part of a 6mm I Ain't Been Shot Mum game played via text 6/2020

I ran another remote game of IABSM using Messenger and my 6mm stuff. It was a late war East Front game that was suggested by one of the players. I decided to do something a bit different and set this up to be a game run over two sessions with a different pair of gamers each time. Being a lazy git it meant that I didn't have to make up a new table for the second game!

The scenario was to depict the defense of Wulkow in eastern Germany on April 18, 1945 by elements of the 27th Fallschirmjager Regiment.

A larger overview of the battle from Bob Mackenzie's excellent site:

On the 16th of April 1945 the Soviet army unleashed its last offensive against the German Reich. The bridgeheads over the Oder River split asunder and spewed forth red infantry and armor which forged forward to take Berlin. Although by this late stage in the war the German army was on its knees, it had a strong defensive position on the Seelow heights and gave a good account of itself, selling each meter of the Reich dearly.

Pressure began to mount and the German line broke. Soviet forces flowed either side of Seelow and pushed along Reichstrasse 1 into the country beyond. As the best German forces were deployed along the road, which was the direct route to Berlin progress was slow. However to the north of the road the Soviets had penetrated several km's further. This meant that the Germans around Reichstrasse 1 were on a salient. Guarding the North edge of the Salient was the village of Wulkow. The Soviets wished to take it and push to the south east to support their advance down the road to Berlin.

The main assault fell to the 301st Rifle Division, supported by the 220th Tank brigade. Behind were the tank brigades of the 11th Tank Corps and 1st Mechanised Corps waiting to exploit the the breakthrough. All the Soviet troops were seasoned fighting men.

Eastern side of Wulkow

Western edge of Wulkow

This was open ground with some fields just coming into sprouting. The village is on slightly higher ground on the southern 6 ' edge of the table. The Soviets would come in from the north edge.

Martin (in Florida) had the defending force made up of the remains of I and III Bttn. This was really just 2 weak companies, each of 2 platoons of 2 sections of 8 men and a command section They were rated as having more automatic weapons so rec'd and additional dice when firing up to 18". They also had 2 MMG teams, 2 PaK 40s, and 2 Puppchen teams. Each 'bttn' had a Panzerschreck team. There was a faust for each section. They also had a FO for 120mm mortars and one FO for 150mm sFH18 off table support. These might go away because of other attacking Red units threatening their positions.

As before the players got pictures of the table along with the briefings. Martin gave me a detailed description of where he was to be deployed. He could set up on the southern half of the table, including a small industrial area on the NE side.

Industrial area

Walled area to the northeast of Wulkow.

Road to the west

This gives an ideal of the openness of the table.

Pre-game Stonk

The Russian player had 1 pregame stonk and William laid it across the town. It was pretty effective in causing lots of shock. I think it was about 27 points of shock but few dead. There are several FJ Big Men around so it made it easier to take off the shock. The German 'Rally' card was also in the deck. The FJ had a good chance to dig in and make loopholes across the village.

I didn't bother to use blinds for the FJ-I would show Martin the positions and results, but William just saw the explosions and the walls from his position.

What the Russians kinda saw

The picture sent to William was close to the ground so their visibility was more limited.

Russian Blinds

William had a nice force to attack with--Elements of the 1050th Inf Rgt of the 301st Rifle Div. 2 companies, each of 3 platoons with 2 sections each (12 sections) of 8 men. There was also a small command group for each company. There is also a MMG platoon of 3 guns with a Big Man. A FO for a 82mm mortar btty. And 4 IS-2s for blasting down the walls.

William decided he would swing to his left and take the industrial area first and use that as a base to come into the east side of town.

The attack comes across the fields

Russians were identified pretty quickly

First objective captured

I think it was a surprise to William that there was no defenders in this complex.

PaK 40 under attack

The crew was down a couple of men after the stonk and missed 2 shots before it was silenced by the 122s on the IS2s.

Advance on the east side

William kept the troops moving

Advance through the spinach field

This was field was sprinkled with a dark green looking flock with a spinach color so that is what how we referred to this field.

The MMG platoon is moving into the industrial area, and another Russian infantry platoon just leapfrogged out in front.

2Dwargaming Russian infantry

These are newer sculpts from 2Dwargaming. The LMG team strips comes with 1 gunner and 3 ammo carriers. Bad photo does not do them justice.

So far so good

Full company of Russian infantry advancing

Russians overwhelm the eastern side

The FJ troops had to scramble to get troops over to their right. They did have a couple of sections dug in along the hedges, but they and a MMG team couldn't stop the hordes.

The first close assault was beaten back along the road, but the German pla ldr was killed. Another 2 sections got around the flank and tried to get into the village, but were stopped by fire from a FJ section along the hedge perpendicular to the road.

First assualt beaten back

A platoon is forced back from the road. 1 of the IS2s broke down out in the center field off pic. Another Pak40 moved up to take the place of the one already shot up by the IS2s at the top right of the picture. It is able to target the moving tanks -barely. The Soviet MMGs are firing into the village from the industrial area, trying to pin the defenders.

Pak scores a hit

The tanks had been concentrating their fire on the wall and buildings on the east side. The Pak was able to move up into position without being spotted close to the original ATG.

122s blasting away on the east corner

The FJ MMG team is in bad shape there.

Russians in the trenches and back along the road

William ran into some automatic weapon fire that forced his left most units back to the road. The sections in the FJ trenches were taking a lot of fire from Germans back in the village.

IS2s

The German mortars fire a ranging round that is off considerably. The broken down IS2 (random event card) is able to target the Pak to the right.

Hetzers arrive.

4 of these panzejagers arrived just before the ISs got into the town. Martin spread them out to mainly cover the east side. There is a puppchen in the lower center. This is similar to a wheeled Panzerschreck. More stable than a handheld weapon but not nearly as mobile. It fell back from the east side before it was overrun by the red infantry.

Stalemate between the infantry

Both sides were losing men and the Russians were especially having trouble keeping their leaders alive

IS2s going in

Good armor and great gun, but only able to get 1 shot off per phase. The Hetzers would move up, fire and pull back. They might hit but it seemed that the IS2s would generally get at least as many saves as strikes from the TDs.

The FJ troops pull back from the behemoths

And getting out of the way of their TD muzzle blasts. The game was now a cat and mouse game between the bigger guns.

Run away

Or at least tactically disperse towards the rear. There is a pzschk team waiting for a shot

Be very quiet

It’s a real game of hide and seek with the IS2s stalking the diminutive Hetzers. When in doubt blast the building down it might be behind.

And the 'schreck strikes

Hits the CO tank in the flank. One less IS2.

House fire

The building catches fire after a hit from the 122

Shootin' and scootin'

The Hetzers have so far failed to cause any damage on the IS2s. It was the PaK that took 1 out and then the Schreck.

Shoot out time

One of the Hetzer is caught and hit. It manages to only get its gun knocked out and suffers 3 shock, so the crew bails.

Other panzerjagers looking for a target

Hot spot

No contact from the command tank and a world of heat. It does see an abandoned TD in front of it.

Overview near the end

Infantry made themselves scarce as the tanks roamed about. The Soviets were down 5 of 8 Big men and had a couple of sections still capable of action. The MMGs were getting mortared. Meanwhile the FJ lost a pla CO and one company was kaput. The only good units were still on the west side of Wulkow in their original positions.

Back up slowly

Too many TDs and handheld ATGs to stick around

Back to the friendly infantry

So we ended the first part at this stage.

The FJ still held Wulkow but had heavy loses. Both Pak40s were gone. 1 MMG was down to 2 crew. Total infantry loses were 28 out of 76 FJ. 1 of the 4 Hetzers was out of the gameThe Soviets had a rough time with their Big Men. Losing 5 of 8 including 1 company CO. Infantry was down 59 of 108 with only 4 functioning sections. 2 IS2s were knocked out and 1 immobile of the original 4.

Part 2 would be a second wave attack with Sheridan taking over for the Soviets and Jess handling the Paras.

Mark Luther