The Road to Tamarovka

 This scenario follows on straight from the Streletshoya game, and covers 1st Tank Army exploiting south after penetrating the defences of LII Infantry Corps west of Belgorod in the afternoon of 3rd August 1943.

Tamarovka was the main rear rail link for 4th Panzer Army, and also provided an east-west road/rail link to Belgorod and Armee Abteilung Kempf. As such, it was a vital objective for 1st Tank Army in the encirclement of Belgorod. It was also a key point for the Germans, who had stationed 19th Panzer Division in the area as a tactical reserve..

Battlefield from the south. Tamarovka is the church in the bottom left. The Vorshla valley is off to the left and the terrain in this part of Ukraine is a raised plateau with Balkas leading off to east and west. The plateau has the main N-S highway, and nowadays, also a rail line, but the line wasn't there in 1943. It is mainly open farmland with a few rises and depressions. The major feature is Hill 116 in the top left corner.

The main blocking force is IR 677 from 322 Infantry Division. Here they are dug in behind the stream, supported by anti-tank and infantry guns and a battalion of towed 105mm guns. There is a roadblock across the road on the south side of the stream.

Their aim is too prevent more than two Russian units exiting the south road hex. 

John A commanded the Germans. 

Riding to the rescue is the bulk of 19th Panzer Division! They will enter on turn 1 from the west. 19th Panzer was also a converted infantry division, but emerged from Kursk with 60 operational tanks in one large battalion of four companies. As Grossdeutschland was gallivanting around on the Mius, the division was also assigned 52nd Panzer Battalion, with an authorised strength of 96 Panthers...

52nd Panzer Battalion claimed nearly 300 tank kills by the end of August 1943, and the Russians persistently misidentified the Panthers as Tigers. Hardly surprising as the Panther was brand new in Summer 43. 

KG Koenig has I/27th Panzer Regiment and II/73rd PGR. 52nd Panzer battalion only had around 15 operational Panthers at this time, so I've just done them as a reinforcing company. The battalion had 46 Panthers under repair, which was partly why they were still in Ukraine and not on the Mius.

KG Johann has II/27th Panzer Regt and I/73rd PGR, the armoured panzergrenadier battalion.

And finally, divisional services. HQ, medical and repair units. a battalion of Wespes and a flight of Me110 fighter bombers. The rest of the division is fending off 6th Guards Army to the northwest.

Rolling towards them is the whole of 3rd Mechanised Corps. It was supposed to be the whole of 1st Tank Army, but the crossing of the Vorshla proved to be very difficult for 1TA, so 3 Mech ended up leading the advance on its own.

3rd Mech was the pride of 1st Tank Army, with three Mechanised Brigades, three Tank Regiments and two Tank Brigades. We've already met one of their Tank Brigades doing Forward Detachment stuff.

In the lead are 1st and 3rd Mechanised Brigades, commanded by Jerry and Simon respectively. Each has three motorised rifle battalions, a Tank Regiment and their own artillery battalion. I've modelled each them as two units, one with tank support. 1 MB also has the Corps engineer battalion and FAC, while 3 MB has the Corps towed AT Regiment and the FOO for the Corps artillery. 

Next up is 1st Guards Tank Brigade, then 10th Mech Brigade and the Corps services: HQ, supply columns, Guards Mortar Regiments and a flight of Sturmoviks.

These are just line units, so I rated them as 'poor' (5 hits each) apart from 1 GTB which was one of the best units in the Russian Army. The other Tank Brigade and motorcycle battalion are off doing deep recce and Forward Detachment stuff, as including them would make the Corps overwhelmingly powerful.

The Russians have to get three or more units off the southern road edge. Eagle eyed readers will notice that this one of the 'Flank Attack' Neil Thomas scenarios, and we've actually done it before as 'Escape from Tula'. The OBs are historical, and the terrain is lifted straight from Google Earth, apart from Hill 116, which I added in as scenario terrain. This actual battle took place slightly further south, but it captures the flavour of it. As with the previous engagement, my main source for this is Glantz's 'From the Don to the Dneipr', an excellent if somewhat obscure book. 

The action opened with a very aggressive drive south by 1st and 3rd Mech Brigades, fanning out as they hit the German line along the stream. 19th Panzer contented itself with occupying Hill 116, bringing the road under long range fire. The rest of 3rd Mech piled on down the road, ignoring the threat to their flank for now.

The German armour was up on the ridge with the panzergrenadiers in support. Long range fire from these positions inflicted a few hits on the Russian column.

The Russians had decided early on to go hell-for-leather across the river and try to overwhelm the defenders. 1st Guards Tank Brigade moved up to support 1st MB, as the engineers crossed the bridge to try and clear the wire and roadblocks on the other side covered by Katyusha fire. 3rd MB bypassed the defenders and crossed the steam further west, and 10th Mech Brigade ignored the German tanks completely and just continued down the road.

I think I must be missing a photo here as at least one Russian unit had already been destroyed by massed German artillery and defensive fire along the river barrier. 1st GTB is actually occupying the space previously held by 14th Tank Regiment.

Faced with the headlong Russian advance, the German armour didn't have any choice but to set off in pursuit, scattering rear echelon elements as they came. The figure standing in the road is the Russian Corps Commander (Tim) with his megaphone, shouting imprecations at the German tanks.

Personally I would have been inclined to leave a rearguard behind to slow the Germans up, but the Russian units aren't very resilient with only five hits each. It might not sound like much, but 5 hits vs 6 makes a big difference in game terms.

The 1st MB engineers reorganise while 3 MB assaults the bridge defenders supported by air and Katyushas. This reduces hem to two hits and leaves them disorganised. 1st GTB plinks away at the other German infantry but just one unit engaging dug in defenders is never going to be decisive.

10th Mech decides to stand and fight, and manages to inflict enough losses to actually disorganise one of the Panzer battalions. By now though, the German armour is perilously close to the rear of the Russian forces. The cornfields break up the LOS for many units however.

The German response is quite muted. The damaged Panzer unit is reorganised, but otherwise the Germans content themselves with fairly ineffective shooting. Artillery ammunition is running low now but the 1st MB engineers are disorganised again.

Frustrated by a lack of targets, 19th Panzer pushes on through the fields en masse, running up against the rear of 10th Mech Brigade.

Time for another big Russian effort at the bridge. 3rd Mech closes up with the bridge defenders, while they are pummelled with the last of the Katyusha and Sturmovik ammo and 10th Mech Brigade slips some units across the river too.

The Germans mange to resupply the bridge defenders, back from the brink as they were carrying five hits but still disorganised. The 1st Mech Brigade engineers finally succumb to German defensive fire and the Panzers push right up to the Russians crushed against the river. If the Russians can just shift that one German infantry battalion, they can still get three units off the southern road. 

3rd Mechanised Brigade manages to overrun II/677 and the road is open! However I/677 still exerts a ZOC and the Russians are faced with retaliation from 19th Panzer, who are all now nicely lined up in firing positions.

Kabloom! The German fire is devastating and two more Russian units vanish from the table. There are only three Russian units left, but that might still be just enough...

The Russians cook up a bold plan, all their remaining indirect fire assets pound I/677, and 1st Guards Tank Brigade attempts to overrun it, crossing the stream in the process!

Sadly the overrun just fails, as the battered German infantry hang on with 1 hit remaining. 1GTB falls back. The remains of 3rd and 10th Mechanised Brigades slip off the table to south however.

The German units in range fire on 1 GTB, but only inflict one hit. However the Panthers of 52nd Pz Abt are in position to simply drive down the road and block the exit route, and I don't think even 1st Guards Tank Brigade can take on half a Panzer Division on its own. We called it a day at that point, 1 GTB could slip away to the east but wasn't going to be heading south today.

That was sooo close, but actually a fairly historical result. IRL 3rd Mech Corps was surprised by 19th Panzer and took quite a battering, falling away to the east to reorganise and wait for the rest of 1st Tank Army to come up. The Germans had won for now, but the Battle for Tamarovka would resume the next day.

That worked OK, although the big battle around the bridge was quite hectic to run and left me exhausted afterwards. That happens sometimes with remote games. I think the Russian plan was sound, they either need to focus on a rapid breakout OR focus on defeating the flank force first, and they came close to pulling it off. Being outflanked is always hard. It was great fun putting an entire Mechanised Corps on the table, interesting formations which are a bit under represented in wargames I feel. I also greatly enjoyed getting my Zvezda Panther Ds out, they don't come out to play very often, and this is a battle they took part in historically. As always, the historical research on the various units involved and the terrain is also fascinating. We shall be meeting 19th Panzer and 1st Tank Army again.