CALF 2024 continued, Brochow 1939

 I've run quite a few remote games of my latest iteration of One Hour WW2, and the general consensus of the regular players was that it would make a good COW session. I thought I'd run it at the recent CALF at Tapton too.

Battlefield from the north. A brief reminder, the German Army has advanced out of Silesia to Warsaw, and the Army Poznan has made a counterattack into their northern flank. The Germans are hastily sending forces westwards to halt and encircle the Poles. So the Poles are to the right (west) and the Germans to left (east). This is one of those unusual events, a real life encounter battle.

There are six objectives on the table: four villages, the southern road/rail junction and the southern bridge. Winner is the side left holding four of them, otherwise it is a draw.

 

The German northern column are those charming chaps, SS Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler (SSLAH), led by the equally charming Sepp Dietrich. They have a 105mm artillery battalion, two motorised infantry battalions and a motorised recce battalion. The SS infantry are poorly trained at this stage of the war so only have 5 hits, but the recce battalion has six hits, and one of the armoured cars is driven by no less than Micheal Wittmann.

Ian Drury commanded these.

The southern column is 35th Panzer Regiment, 4th Panzer Div. They have two battalions of tanks (Pz I and Pz II), the divisional towed AT battalion and another battalion of 105mm guns. Chris Ager commanded these.

The Brigade commander was Russell, who looked after the supply and maintenance columns and the Luftwaffe Stukas. The first outing for my Bergepanzer III conversion.

The Poles had three Regiments of cavalry, each of which was a large formation with five squadrons and well equipped with AT rifles and 37mm AT guns.  I represented each Regiment as two units.

Terry commanded the northern column, which was a single regiment.

The southern column was another cavalry regiment, plus the Polish 'tank' battalion - a mixture of Armoured Cars and TKS Tankettes. Lloyd took these.

In the centre was another cavalry Regiment and the brigade towed 75mm guns. These guns required a dedicated spotter, unlike the Germans and the Poles only had a single supply column, due to German air interdiction.

Chris K of NQM fame was brigade commander and also took these units.

The Germans advanced aggressively in the south and cautiously in the north, while the Polish cavalry dashed forwards and occupied a number of objectives. Irl an Italian film crew was accompanying the SSLAH recce unit.

Fighting erupts at Brochow! Lloyds cavaly take the bridge, and come under fire from the 37mm guns in Brochow. The Germans throw in all their artillery and air power, which causes heavy losses among the cavalry and they become disorganised.

The rest of the Poles are content to hang onto their gains and dig in along the line. The panzers and SS infantry and concentrate at Brochow.

Heavy fighting continues in and around Brochow. The town and bridge are attracting all the German units towards them, but they are hampered by the stream which is impassable to wheeled vehicles. The Polish armour is in position just behind the bridge now. Both sides are rotating damaged units out of combat by now to reorganise them.

Fighting rages. The SS take heavy losses and become disorganised. The Germans are extending along the river. I found out after the game that Chris didn't realise his tanks could simply drive over the river!

With all the Germans concentrated in the south, Terry sends his cavalry over the northern bridge, heading for the rail junction. The battered SS recce are in the way.

The SS cross the river in the far south supported by artillery fire, but the Polish line is looking formidable.

The Polish efforts at cycliung units are more successful. While Lloyds battered cavalry reorganise in the rear, concentrated fire destroys one panzer battalion and sends the other reeling to rear with six hits on it, only saved by its 'veteran' status.

The Polish cavalry and SS recce exchange fire near the rail junction, but the Polish cavalry charge is repulsed, filmed by the Italians (as happened irl and became the Cavalry vs Tanks myth).

The Germans respond violently to the Polish incursion, but the Poles hang on in the shelter of the dense, swampy forest.

At game end the Germans are in disarray and the Poles hold the majority of objectives, so it is a definitive win for Poland. Hurrah!

That went well, the players seemed to enjoy themselves and the game moved along quickly. Including briefings we managed to play and wrap the whole thing up in one hour 40 minutes. So not exactly 'One Hour WW2, but close enough. It plays much faster f2f than it does remotely as they players can move their own stuff, roll their own dice etc rather than me doing it. It is also an interesting scenario as the forces are quite asymmetrical, whereas Leshnov, which I ran before, is a more conventional infantry/armour battle. Looking good for COW at any rate.