One Hour Grossdeutschland at Kursk

 A game I've been planning for a (very) long time is the attack by Grossdeutschland Division at the start of the Battle of Kursk. It is interesting because GD had been reinforced by an entire brigade of brand new Panthers (51st and 52nd Panzer Abt) with 200(!) Panthers. This gave the division a strength of over 330 tanks and assault guns, more than most Panzer Corps. 

Facing them was the veteran 67th Guards Division, heavily reinforced with artillery, and dug in with a view to defeating the Germans typical armoured attack with a combination of minefields and interlocked AT defences in depth.

The deployment and battle is covered in exhaustive depth in David Glantz's 'Kursk', and in castign around for how best to run the battle, I realised that the terrain and situation mapped quite well onto the 'Fortified Defence' scenario in the One Hour Wargames book, as did the OBs of the units involved. I had to fudge things a bit to make it work, but it was close enough.

Battlefield from the south, the main road to Oboian runs up the middle. The marshy Vorskolets valley is on the right (the original scenario just has a big wood), and I added the low ridge at the far end as irl the ground rose into a plateau cut up by balkas.

The Cherkasskoe strong point on the Soviet right. irl there was a huge minefield just west of here, which  nicely truncated the front on this side. There is one Guards infantry regiment in the strongpoint, reinforced with an Army level AT regiment and the light tanks from a tank regiment. Just next to them to the northeast is the 201st Regiment (attached to the division) reinforced with an SP artillery regiment with SU76s.

And the Butuvo strong point on the Soviet left, garrisoned by 99th GIR with 241st Independant Tank Regiment behind. The divisional AT reserve is just off to the right with an infantry battalion (3/99 GIR), divisional sapper battalion and the divisional AT battalion. The tank regiment detached all its T70s for infantry support, leaving it with just its T34s. 

The woods are impassable to tanks, but not infantry, and although the division is holding a six mile front, the 'attackable' bit is only really four miles. In the real battle GD attacked on a front of 3000m (or two miles), so it will be interesting to see what the players do.

67th Guards HQ, along with their NKVD pals. Tim and Jerry were running the Russians as they are both wily veterans, and the Russians knew what they were doing in this engagement.

The Russians also had lavish support assets. The division was reinforced with two entire 152mm Gun Artillery regiments, which meant I could use my shiny new 152mm guns for the first time. I added an AA battalion to the artillery as well. There were also various aircraft in attendance.

Grossdeutschland lined up waiting to attack. John and Pete commanded this lot. To keep the scenario manageable, the division attacks in two waves (each of six units), which nicely corresponded with the panzer regiment, Panther brigade and six panzergrenadier battalions the division had. irl it was the tanks which were held up by minefields, but I split each wave into a PG regiment and a panzer regiment.

There were two bases of Panthers and two bases of Pz III/IV, including one reinforced with the divisional Tiger company. Strictly there should have been four bases of Panthers, but they lost half their number due to breakdown and minefields before they made contact.

German air support. Combat debut for my Ju 88, the Stuka and Henschel have been out before.

GD had two PG regiments, the Fusilier and Grenadier Regiments, each with a gepanzert battalion and two lorried. For the first wave I added in the divisional Stug battalion as a support option, and for the second wave, the divisional AT battalion and panzer engineer assault company (vehicles parked off to the right).

This was the combat debut for my PSC Sturmhaubitze, standing in for the Stug battalion.

The German artillery, a Wespe and 105mm howitzer, plus some light flak. This unit would be part of each wave (making the total units up to six for each).

One of the Russian strongpoints, garrisoned by a weak Guards rifle regiment (the 96th GIR in this case) as various elements were detached as outposts or as Div reserve, plus its extra 76mm AT Regiment and some T70s from the 241st Tank Regt. As long as this garrison unit was intact, it got a 'free shot' of heavy AT fire, but once it was knocked out, the extra guns were lost.

The main Russian defences were nicely echeloned back across the battlefield, and looked very neat and tidy. Montgomery would have approved.

The Germans very wisely decided to attack in great depth on a very narrow front, funnily enough on a two mile front, just like the real division. Dismounted Grenadier Regiment infantry on the left, Panzer Regiment GD on the right with the armoured panzergrenadiers behind (I/GRGD).

The Germans flowed around Cherkasskoe while the town was pounded by artillery, Stukas and Ju88s. The supporting fires were effective at suppressing the defenders, but didn't inflict much damage on the deep entrenchments.

The Russians responded with a torrent of artillery fire and air strikes, scattering death, destruction and disorganisation among the leading German units. The NKVD provided some encouragement to the defenders.

Tim shifted his HQ west, and the T34s motored along the ridge and took up new positions on the main road.

The bombing and artillery fire continued on the town, and the defenders finally took some losses.

The leading Panzerkeil had had enough by now, and the Tigers and I/PRGD fell back to reorganise. The panzergrenadiers and second panzer battalion passed through to carry on the attack.

II/PRGD rolled forward to engage the 201st and their SU76s supported by Henschels.

But in a shock development 241st ITR raced forwards down the road and outflanked them!

Grenadier Regiment GD assaulted Cherkasskoe from two sides through Russian artillery fire and bombing.

Now the fighting was in close, the Russian support assets switched their attention to the German units reorganising in the second line.

The 201st was badly knocked around by the panzers, but the counterttack by 241st ITR was decisive and burning Pz IIIs and IVs littered the ground in front of the Soviet defences.

German infantry losses were mounting but things were looking very sticky for 96th GIR as the defenders were worn down with no possibility of rallying under the constant assaults.

German bombers continued to pound the 201st, and the rejuvenated I/PRGD with its Tigers shot up the T34s who retreated unceremoniously back to where they'd come from in a state of disorder.

But sadly my shiny new Ju88 was shot down! That is traditional for new models in wargames I find.

The 96th GIR finally collapsed, leaving Jerry all alone with his megaphone while the NKVD looked on.

The Russians responded with a final airstrike against the armoured panzergrenadiers and their supporting Stugs.

This battalion also collapsed, leaving my StuH burning. Another successful combat debut!

The Tigers and infantry rolled forward again and this time managed to occupy Cherkassoe. The first Russian strongpoint had fallen.

The defences opened up a withering fire on the remaining panzers.

And they joined their pals as blazing wrecks on the steppe. 'The Tigers are burning'.

At this point, the Germans removed the remains of their first wave and prepared to bring the second wave on, which was also a handy point to break for the evening. In the distance was the sound of hundreds of revving Panther engines as the next lot of Germans lined up...

And what a mighty armada it turned out to be. Overnight the German had decided to advance and reoccupy Cherkasskoe, then roll up the Russian line to the northeast. 51st and 52nd Panzer Battalions led the way, and the panzergrenadiers followed. Fusilier Regiment GD (FRGD) was supported by Marders from the divisional AT battalion, and the armoured engineer company from the divisional pioneer battalion. 

The view from the Russian side was a bit alarming. The Panthers are mostly Zvezda Panther Ds, with a couple of Peter Pig Panther Gs to make up the numbers. Both models have the same chassis size, but the metal gun barrels are about twice as thick as the plastic ones. These aren't all my 15mm Panthers, but it is the most I've ever put on the table at once.

The 201st and 241st had also already planned what they were going to do.

And before the Germans could get there, the 201st rushed forwards and re-occupied the strongpoint, albeit without all the extra guns. Jerry and the NKVD also took up residence, Jerry bellowing insults at the Panthers with his megaphone.

The Germans realised that simply running a load of tanks into the fortified village probably wasn't a great idea, so one battalion of Panthers swerved off to the right, and the infantry followed up behind an artillery bombardment and Stuka barrage.

The Russians responded in kind and inflicted losses on the armoured panzergrenadiers. One of the IL-2s was finally shot down however, so both sides were back to air parity.

The leading Panthers ran into a hail of AT fire from T34s, the divisional AT/Sapper detachment and the AT regiments in Butuvo. The Panthers heavy frontal armour shrugged off a lot of the fire, but some hits were registered.

The panzergrenadiers piled in behind artillery and Stukas. The final squadron of Stukas succumbed to AA fire, but it didn't matter as vicious close quarters fighting erupted in the village. The 201st took heavy losses and became disorganised.

51st Pz Abt decided to close the range with the 241st and assaulted them to pin them in place. The T34s took heavy losses the brigade also became disorganised. 

Perhaps unwisely, II/FRGD had advanced next to the 52nd Panzer Abt, and with nothing else to fire at, every Russian gun in range plus all the artillery and remaining air landed on the unfortunate Landsers.

Exposed to this weight of fire in open ground, the battalion disintegrated, leaving burning Marders scattered across the battlefield. The German response managed to pin 3/99, but in their trenches, their losses were light. 

Back in Cherkasskoe, I/FRGD pulled back to reorganise (its halftracks allowed it to break off) and III/FRGD moved through and continued the fight.

Faced with this fresh onslaught, the regiment was destroyed leaving burning SU76s, and once more, Jerry was left on his own in the village! 

51st Panzer Abt finished off the T34s, but not before sustaining heavy losses in the close quarter fighting and it became disorganised. The battalion was down to a single hit left.

The dismounted panzergrenadiers cleared through Cherkasskoe and Jerry fell back to join the NKVD outside the village.

Meanwhile every Russian gun in range opened up on the weakened 51st Pz Abt, and rolled three sixes and a five. Ouch. The battalion was completely destroyed. The interlocked AT defences were proving to be formidable.

With that, the remaining Germans had enough. They might have rolled up the 3/99th, but there wasn't enough time left to take Butuvo before nightfall, so instead the surviving Panthers fell back to Cherkasskoe and waiting for the maintenance and recovery troops to get some tanks back into service for the next day. 

The Russian 67th Guards Division was left still covering the main road to Oboian, albeit having lost two thirds of their division. Order of Lenin all around!

Well that was fun and rattled along at a fair old pace as the mass of firepower removed units quite quickly, despite their ability (in my rules) to rally hits off. Once again, a very clever scenario from Neil Thomas, which felt very well balanced and with lots of critical decisions for the players to make. I think the Germans were quite right to focus on Cherkasskoe as their first objective, but I'm not sure the second wave made the  best use of their forces - they would probably have been better off leaving Cherkasskoe to the infantry and concentrating the Panther Brigade in the centre against the tanks and infantry dug in to the gap there. Oh well, we will never know.

The well tried mechanisms worked fine, although I'm wondering if the rally option is a bit generous in its current form and I might revert to the dice throwing approach I used to use.

It was nice to get so many toys out, and I was particularly pleased to use so much stuff for the first time. It was very gratifying that the game also obeyed the immutable rule of wargaming - that new toys never survive their first battle!

Cleudo Hostage Rescue - once more unto the breach

 We were at a bit of a loose end in the week before COW. I'd run a game the previous week so didn't fancy putting something else on right away, and John stepped up to put on another session of Cluedo Hostage Rescue. We've played it several times already, but John was planning on taking it to COW and welcomed the chance for a pre conference run through.

Numbers were a bit light but we assembled a crack team of myself, Jerry, Tim with Zoe the K9 all led by Simon. Jerry and I had all the grunts (numbers 3,4,5,6,7), Simon had the officer (1) and medic (2) while Tim was the K9 handler (8) plus the dog.

As ever we had to rescue hostages from a lareg country house which looked suspiciously like the Cleudo house.

For once the local security forces intel seemed to be fairly credible and we had a fair idea of where the hostages might be, and as an added bonus, half the hostages had managed to escape before the terrorists could round them up, so we only had to rescue three of them. Unfortunately they'd captured Colonel Mustard, who could have given us intel on terrorist numbers.

Simon, Tim and I went for the safe approach via the conservatory. Jerry went into the kitchen via a hail of flashbangs and carbine fire as there turned out to be three terrorists and three hostages in there!

Simon headed over to help out in the kitchen, so Tim and I made our way to the ballroom (which local security had indicated might also be occupied) accompanied by Zoe the dog.

There were two more terrorists and a hostage in the ballroom. This flashbang didn't work so well, and one of the bad guys was left unstunned. He managed to shoot one of my guys in the chest, but luckily the body armour saved him and he was just stunned.

Zoe the dog went in to deal with him and the baddie shot her! This was going to look really bad in the press. Tim went in to follow up and we finally got the upper hand in the firefight and both terrorists went down.

Jerry was busy evacuating hostages from the kitchen, I got Mrs Peacock out of the ballroom and Simon and the medic turned up to save Zoe the dog, so it all worked out OK in the end. Another nail biting rescue game, and many thanks to John. 

Crossing the Waal

 Time for another Market Garden game using NBC WW2. This particular operation isn't something you often see gamed with figures (although I've done it enough times playing Victory Games 'Hells Highway'), the assault crossing of the Waal at Nijmegen. As usual, this was lifted from the Command Decision 'Market Garden' scenario book.

As the battlefield is pretty congested with buildings, I did this in 6mm, which meant I could use my Leven bridges for the Nijmegen road and rail bridges. Being MG, we also had a good turnout for this one, John and Tim G took on the defenders from IInd SS Panzer Corps, and Tim C, Jerry. John and Nick the combined efforts of Guards Armoured Div and 82nd Airborne. 

The southwest flank. The 504 PIR prepares to cross the Waal, supported by the Irish Guards and half the divisional artillery of 82nd AB and Guards AD. This lot was commanded by Tim C.

Facing them are KG Henke, composed of a mixed bag of trainee Fallschirmjagers, infantry replacements and  various assorted police and railway maintenance workers(!). John commanded these. A key feature of the defence is Fort Hof van Holland (the Valkhof) on the hill to the northwest of the rail bridge.

Over in the east and holding the road bridge and Lent north of the Waal is KG Reinhold, drawn heavily from 10th SS Panzer Division units ferried across the Rhine at Pannerden. These units are quite tough. Tim G commanded these. Not typecast at all.

Lurking offtable are the divisional artillery units, but also the rail and road bridge assault forces. Both were a mix of US Paras from the 505th, supported by a combat team from the Grenadier Guards. Famously, Lord Carrington, future Foreign Secretary, commanded the tank troop assigned to the rail bridge. His troop also included Lt Gorman, who rammed a Tiger II outside Caen. Clearly they had quite an exciting war.

It is notable that Guards Armoured 'Division' is now down to three squadrons of Shermans and a single motor infantry company, albeit supported by a whole Field Regiment. The rest of the Division is strung out along Hells Highway supporting the US para divisions. 

View from Lent on the road north to Arnhem. Tim established his HQ here, along with a battery of SS artillery and the entire 10th SS Panzer Regiment! Sadly the SS Panzer guys didn't have any tanks and were fighting on foot. In the distance are the Flak positions at the north end of each bridge, the 88mm guns at each being key AT defences. The rail bridge guns were manned by Henkes troops, while 10th SS Flak Bn manned the road bridge batteries. 

Tim Cs 504th. Two rifle battalions and the Irish Guards (two squadrons plus some US paras). The scenario starts as 'Robert Redfords' battalion is about to hit the water in D2. All the artillery is dedicated to the assault until the Valkhof is captured. The Waal is half a mile wide at this point, so quite scary.

John/Henke had his HQ in the fort and could see the river assault forming up. The defences here are quite thin, with just an Ersatz infantry company holding the river embankment, backed up by heavy weapons in the fort. 

The road bridge. On the south side is Karl Eulings SS Panzergrenadier battalion supported by Jagdpanzer IVs, dug in at Hunner Park, the major road intersection. To the North is 10th SS Flak Bn on the far side of the Waal.

The rail bridge. Flak battery to the north, and various FJ, police and rail workers holding the south in the city itself. The rail line is on a raised embankment, as are all the roads etc on the north side of the river.

There were only enough boats for two US companies to cross at a time, so the first wave paddled bravely across behind a smoke screen. It was quite windy so the screen only reduced the effect of fire, but it was enough to shelter the assault troops, who splashed across under shell fire from the battery in Lent. "Hail Mary, full of grace" etc.

In the city Nicks Guardsmen and Paras made contact with the SS, making full use of the cover of the buildings.

Jerrys Paras and Lord Carrington made contact with the rail garrison. This combat team came under heavy artillery fire from SS artillery east of Lent and were suppressed and suffered some losses, despite the buildings.

Further west, the second wave was swept downriver and landed on the opposite bank to the power station. Ooops! The first wave passed their morale test and charged out from the artillery fire, through the defensive mortar and MG fire  and into the rifle company holding the embankment.

Veteran US paras vs a bunch of half trained teenagers. It wasn't much of a contest. The smoke screen was proving really useful in protecting the Americans.

Back in Nijmegen, the SS and Grenadier Guards settled into a firefight. The Guards weren't strong enough to assault the Germans without artillery support, and the buildings screened them from the 88s. The Germans initially got the upper hand, but the plentiful cover kept losses low.

Back at the river, the 75mm pack howitzers shelled the Fort. This was enough to suppress the defenders but the thick walls of the fortress protected them from any serious losses.

Things weren't going to so well at the rail bridge where the German artillery inflicted more losses. Some Shermans were disabled by 150mm shells. The German infantry were unscathed so far, but their fire had been completely ineffective. The Allies didn't have seemed to have noticed how awful the German defenders were.

Back at the fort, the Royal Artillery had run out of smoke shells and the fighting became an artillery duel as the Americans tried to get more troops over the river. 25pdr HE was a bit more effective against the brick fort, but the Lent battery shifted its fire and hit the US troops ashore. Both sides were now disorganised, but more US troops pressed ahead, avoiding the artillery barrages.

The third wave began crossing, but again were disrupted as some units were swept downriver. Fortunately boat losses had been very light, so the engineers could keep up a maximum crossing effort.  

With the 504th crossing going well, the Irish Guards moved across to support the beleagured units attacking the rail bridge. They came under fire from the 88s at the north end and lost a few tanks, but not before the German defenders finally suffered some losses. 

A combination of artillery fire, small arms and direct tank fire was enough to break the rail workers and police who fled across the bridge. The Guards then assaulted the few surviving FJ over the rail embankment.

Outnumbered 5:1, the trainee FJ didn't put up much of a fight and the remaining German units on the south side disintegrated. The south end of the bridge was captured!

Most of the US Paras were now over the river, and having reorganised, the lead battalion easily stormed the Valkhof. Responding to the threat, the 10th SS tank crews moved over to the western side of Lent to block them along the rail embankment.

At the road bridge, the fighting continued, and both sides had now suffered significant losses. Amazingly, none of the armour had suffered any significant damage yet, despite the close range. The mass of infantry support was proving invaluable.

Back at the rail bridge, Lord Carringtons team formed up on the road ready to rush the bridge.

The rail workers assessed their options for a safe retreat as more and more US paras were appearing to the west.

In Nijmegen, a vicious exchange of fire resulted in the SS infantry disintegrating. This was a  bit of a shock, but they'd been fighting for hours already. The Jagdpanzers on the road junction started to look a bit nervous as their infantry support vanished. 

Intense fire from the 88s on the north side of the river knocked out an entire Squadron of the Irish Guards, who were now looking rather shaky. Lord Carrington wasn't deterred however, and the Grenadier Guards charged the rail bridge along the embankment.

Over they went as the rail workers ran off to Lent. The Flak battery commander frantically operated the demo charge plunger, and..... nothing happened! The Germans just missed their demo roll, and the Shermans rolled over the bridge. Just like the film.

Meanwhile, the SS tank crews, supported by artillery, were doing an amazing job of holding Lent against the 504th. The US just couldn't seem to dent them.

Back at the road bridge the Jagdpanzers pulled back to the north bank and joined up with the SS Flak crews

The entire allied divisional artillery landed on the Flak positions north of the rail bridge, just as the US troops on the Valkhof became disorganised.  Carrington charged the Flak positions behind the barrage.

Ouch! The troops with the red counter are the rail workers who have withdrawn into Lent to reorganise. 

In bloody close combat, the Flak position was overrun, but both Jerry's HQ and Carringtons tank troop took hits, and poor Lord Carrington went up in flames. Mrs Thatcher would need a new foreign secretary. Jerry was left holding the far end of the bridge with a handful of US paras.

With the rail bridge captured, Nick went for the road bridge. The Guards Shermans piled ahead as the infantry marched behind. 

Allied artillery fire smashed into the defences on the north end, scatterring death and destruction. The defensive fire knocked some Shermans out, but this didn't deter them. The Germans failed their demo roll hopelessly (a 3 on 2D6!). The Jagdpanzers decided enough was enough and drove up the main road back to Lent.

The Allies just couldn't seem to make any progress against Lent in the absence of their artillery support. The German artillery meanwhile were firing over open sights, and Tim moved his HQ forward to rally the rail workers supported by the Jagdpanzers.

To make matters worse for the Allies, all the German artillery now rained down on the US paras in the open, and they were also hit by their own guns in the densely packed area. Danger Close! 

The Irish Guards now crossed the rail bridge to reinforce Jerry, and having secured both bridges and the fort, the Allies called things off as night fell. The Germans were firmly dug in to Lent and would have to wait until the next day. "Are you going to sit there and....make tea?" 

At the road bridge the infantry reinforced the Grenadier Guards bridghead. The British were down to a squadron of tanks and half an infantry company, and in no position to advance further.

 Sadly their brave efforts were too late, just as the the US paras were jumping off, the Germans launched another assault on Frosts battalion in Arhem and bludgeoned their way through to the road bridge. Now the way was clear for the rest of 10th SS Panzer Division to drive down the road to Elst and Lent and block the direct route to Arnhem. 

Meanwhile Festung Lent was holding off all comers. Tomorrow, KG Knaust would arrive, with its Tigers from Schwere Kompanie Hummel. But that battle will have to wait for another day.

That went really well. I was a bit apprehensive about the river crossing as it could easily have degenerated into a dull massacre, but Tim managed the crossing excellently. I was also very pleased that we obtained a fairly historical result, although it was a shame abut poor old Lord Carrington.

The German chances of blowing the bridges were not high (9+ on 2D6) as they'd been fought over for days with lots of damage to the wiring. Besides, if they blew up, we wouldn't be able to attack them with frogmen in a couple of weeks time.  Many thanks to the players for participating with such gusto, I loved all the great hats.