Over the last couple of days, Phil visited and we decided to have a go at a WW2 scenario.
This battle is based upon the Rapid Fire scenario (which adapts the historical action to make it more challenging) and reflects the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. The game sees the German 18th Panzer Division mount an amphibious assault over the River Bug on the Polish border. The Germans have three objectives. Launching from their harbour area around Patulin, they must cross the river Bug and construct a pontoon bridge, break through the first defence line and take the town of Matykaly, and finally capture the bridge over the river Ljasnaja;
Map copyright Rapid Fire
The Germans start in a surprise move with the assault boats in the water and the first troops landing. An initial view showing the bulk of 18th Panzer Division, with the assault just beginning:
The Germans have a significant advantage in artillery with a complete regiment in support:
The initial objective, once across the river, will be to break through the soviet first line of defence, which consists of a pill box, a T-26 turret and quite thinly spread infantry. There are wire and minefield obstacles too:
Beyond that is a soviet Rifle battalion holding the village of Matykaly with several anti-tank guns:
Further on, after crossing a railway line, is the river Ljasnaja and the key bridge. A further soviet battalion is defending here, along with artillery and air defence weapons:
The Germans have two battalions in the initial assault, with a third following on. There is also a Panzer regiment, as well as the full regiment of field artillery. Here is the initial assault going in:
With more troops waiting in nearby woods:
The engineer field park is in the village of Patulin and nearby the tanks of 18th Panzer wait for the bridge to be built:
During the previous night German recce teams sneak across the river and take up positions in the trees on the enemy bank:
Soon the Germans have several companies across the river but they are exposed to fire from the pill box, the T-26 turret and a machine gun in the wheat field. Casualties are heavy as the German infantry attempt to advance over open ground:
Air support is called in but is not very effective. German casualties continue to mount and now they begin to receive soviet artillery fire, directed from a nearby hill:
Even more worrying, the first tanks from the soviet reserve begin to arrive on the field. Seen here is a T-26 trundling over the railway beyond Matykaly.
As soon as possible the Germans begin the construction of the pontoon bridge, having first laid a smoke screen. Meanwhile the boats continue ferry troops across.
After suffering heavy casualties from machine gun fire from the bunkers, the pill box is pounded into submission. Meanwhile, under cover of another smoke screen German engineers take out the T-26 turret with a flame thrower.
The first T-26 advances around the village but is hit by an airstrike and burns:
German Panzer IIIs line the bank to provide cover as engineers are close to completing the bridge. They receive a setback though when a soviet shell damages the roadway. The engineers work frantically to finish the bridge.
Now that the bunkers have been dealt with the German infantry can make some progress.
At last the bridge is completed and German tanks begin to cross. The minefields have yet to be cleared and this creates an obstruction that will need to be bypassed:
The tanks fan out and begin to deal with the remaining soviet forward defences:
They flank the hill that caused the infantry so much trouble and approach the village. To the rear of the village is an anti-tank screen, which will have to be dealt with before the tanks can break through.
An overview of the scene at this point in the battle. Soviet tanks sent forward piecemeal are quickly dealt with as two burn in the foreground as clearing the village begins.
Back at the bridge more tanks cross the river:
The Soviets bring forward another tank and their 3rd rifle battalion, but their anti-tank capability is all but destroyed.
The final German infantry units cross the Bug.
Using a spotter aircraft, artillery is rained down onto the German advance with little effect, however the one remaining anti-tank gun scores a hit on a Panzer III.
At this point, the remaining Soviet units begin to withdraw. Their ability to stop the tanks is now very limited and their infantry are being cut down by heavy German artillery strikes. At the same time, the Germans have been severely bruised and decide to lick their wounds until more infantry support can be brought up, before attempting to capture the Ljanaja bridge.
The German chefs cook up a well earned gulash for the tired troops!
This was an immensely enjoyable game. I played the Germans and Phil the Soviets. Fortune swung from side to side. During the early stages it looked like the Germanswould be stalled by the first line of defences. Fortunately attempts to disrupt the bridge building were limited and the late arrival of Soviet tanks in any number helped tip the balance. Once the German tanks had crossed the river the end became inevitable, but it could have gone the other way. This was a costly victory for the Germans.
We used home grown rules for the game. The German figures are mostly from the collection of Eric Knowles and the Russians are from my own collection, consisting of a mix of Hinchliffe and Zvezda figures. The bridge, engineers and boats are all originally from Eric Knowles. The tanks and vehicles, mostly plastic come from a variety of sources. The river came from the ABC wargamers collection and may have been made by Jack Alexander. It was great to get all of these wonderful modles onto the table.
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