The Battle for Tamarovka

 This engagement follows on from the previous 'Road to Tamarovka' game in which 19th Panzer Division ambushed and mauled 3rd Mechanised Corps on 3rd August 1943. On the 4th, Soviet forces began to attack Tamorovka from multiple directions, and 6th Tank Corps from 1st Tank Army was tasked with attacking from the east while infantry from 5th Guards Army moved up rapidly behind. 

Battlefield from the west, I've swung the orientation 90 degrees. Tamarovka is the village in the foreground, east of the River Vorshla, and in the far distance is Hill 152. The Russians need to capture both these features. The road and railway leading east go to Belgorod, and cutting these would isolate Armee Abteilung Kempf. Tamarovka is also the principle railhead for 4th Panzer Army, hence its importance.

Readers familiar with Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames will recognise that this is the 'Twin Objectives' scenario, although I've adjusted the terrain to reflect the actual ground in the region of Tamarovka. The only fictional bit of terrain is the heavily wooded hill in the top right corner (it is actually a marshy wooded valley). 

Defending Tamarovka we have half of 19th Panzer Division, the other half is holding off 6th Guards Army to the northwest. Kampfgruppe Markus (commanded by Mark) comprises a battalion of Panzer IVs supported by Panthers from 52nd Panzer Abt, and both battalions of 73rd Panzer Grenadier Regiment (Simon and Terry). In support are a battalion of Wespes and a flight of Fw 190s configured as fighter bombers.

Mark had elected to put the Panzergrenadiers in the town and the Panzer battalion up on the ridge to the north. This is a strong defensive position.

Over on Hill 152 is I/IR 677 from 332nd Infantry Division commanded by Tim. They are (rather thinly) blocking the way south, or at least being an annoyance. They are supported by a battalion of 105mm howitzers. The Russians need to clear this feature as well as capture Tamarovka.

Mark had also elected to do something of a forward defence here, with IR 677 on the front edge of the wood facing the Russians.

And here is 6th Tank Corps, quite an armada. It is a fairly typical mid 1943 Tank Corps, with three Tank Brigades and a Mechanised Brigade, it also has a Light Assault Gun Regiment, Guards Mortar Regiments and its own Motorcycle Battalion (the 85th). As yet it lacks a Heavy Tank Regiment and SP Tank Destroyer Regiment, these will come later in the war. The Corps suffered heavy losses at Kursk but was rebuilt with primarily Soviet equipment, so fleets of T34s and T70s.

Facing I/677 is 6th Motor Rifle Brigade, supported by the 270th Guards Mortars Regt. The wooded hill is a major obstacle and a job for infantry to clear. Jerry commanded the 6th MRB.

Piling down the road are 85th Motorcycle Bn and 22nd tank Brigade (John B), to their left are the 112th and 200th Tank Brigades (Russell) and the whole Corps is commanded by John A. Bringing up the rear is 39th Guards Rifle Regiment from 5th Guards Army, reinforced with infantry support T70s, commanded by Pete. The usual fleet of trucks and Sturmoviks are in attendance, and 85th McB has the FAC attached.

Johns plan was for 6th Motorised Brigade to clear the hill, while everyone else advanced in a direct assault on Tamarovka. 39th GRR was the tactical reserve, to be committed as required.

The action opened with withering fire on the exposed I/677 from the entire 6th Mot Brigade, its attached assault guns and maximum rate of fire Katyusha strikes. Ouch! The Germans took some hits and were suppressed. 

Russells Tank Brigades shook out into line along the railway, but John Bs detachment charged straight down the road into the teeth of the German defences.

That didn't go very well as the Germans dumped their artillery fire on the motorcyclists, and followed it up with close range fire from the panzers and armoured panzergrenadiers. The Russian units can only take five hits and the motorcycle battalion was blown apart.

Their sacrifice allowed Russells tanks to close in relatively unscathed however, concentrating on the southern panzergrenadier battalion, II/73. 

Tim very wisely scuttled back into the forest, dropping artillery as he went, and Jerry followed up. The Russian infantry had to dismount at the edge of the dense woods.

This gave Tim an opportunity to reorganise.

Russell pouring fire into the southern end of Tamarovka, inflicted some losses. Further north, the Panthers and panzergrenadiers switched their fire to Johns Tank Brigade. It survived as the armor provided good protection against the German infantry fire, if not the long 75s of the Panthers, but the brigade took sufficient loses to disorganise it.

The battered Russian tankers withdrew to reorganise next turn, sadly they were delayed by the German airstrikes so weren't quite able to get out of range of the Panthers up on the ridge.

Jerrys infantry swept the northern edge of the forest.

And the firefight continued to rage at Tamarovka. The Russians elected to bomb I/73 while Russell concentrated on II/73, who had taken some losses by now.

Tim made a stand on Hill 152, and with Luftwaffe support managed to inflict enough hits to disorganise one of Jerrys units.

The Russians had now inflicted four hits on II/73 who were disorganised, so one of Russells Tank Brigades assaulted them, but were hideously unlucky in only inflicting one hit (3 dice needing 3+ to hit!). The unlucky Russian tankers were repulsed and fell back, while Simon breathed a sight of relief.

Meanwhile further north, 39th Guards Rifle Regiment came marching down the road, and Johns Tank Brigade was reorganised into good order, albeit still with 2 hits on it. 

Sadly for Russell, his brigade which remained in contact now became the focus of fire from the entire force defending Tamarovka, and it disintegrated. Simons II/73 still looked pretty shaky though, as despite reorganising, they were still on four hits.

Jerry put in another strong attack on I/677, and even after resupply, the Germans were left at half strength and disordered.

And finally the Russian infantry, supported by SU76s, managed to overrun the defenders. Tim motored off in his little staff car... That is one objective to the Russians.

Back at Tamarovka, Russell opened fire to soften up the panzergrenadiers. Very wise as unsupported armour assaulting infantry in close terrain is at a disadvantage.

In turn the Germans absolutely mullered 39th GRR, even the Fw 190s went in. Concentration of effort and all that. The Russians suffered five (!) hits, but being Guardsmen, they survived, the regular Russians can only take five hits, which makes quite a difference.

The Guards retired, although sadly they were delayed by being under air strikes, so unable to withdraw out of range. They would perhaps have been better off reorganising in place.

Russell continued to shell II/73 PGR who had now suffered enough losses to become disorganised., so followed up with an assault. This was hideously unlucky, rolling just one hit and the Russian tankers were repulsed. II/73 was reeling now though.

Jerrys Brigade left Hill 152 and began to form up across the railway line. 

But back at Tamarovka, the weakened Russian units in the cornfields were destroyed. What a disaster! II/73 was unable to reorganise, having been assaulted, so added its fire into the devastating fusilade.

Jerry was fully formed up now and ready to intervene.

But Russell was driven back by the defenders, and strafed by the Luftwaffe as they retired in disorder, just one hit away from destruction. In a slightly alarming development, the German panzer battalion set off across the fields in pursuit.

View from the air of the situation at Tamarovka after seven turns. The Germans have swapped out the battered II/73 so it can reorg in pace, and replaced it with the armoured panzergrenaders.

The Motor Rifle Brigade ponders its options. We broke for evening at that point, and with the loss ratio at 4:1 in the Axis favour, the Russians considered some different approaches.

The next evening the Russian master plan was revealed! All three remaining units used their mobility to occupy an arc of hilltops east of Tamarovka. This also neatly put them three hexes away from the panzer battalion, which they could engage with the height advantage of the rises, but left the Germans in big trouble. The Russians pounded I/73 in Tamarovka with air and Katyushas while these manouvres took place.

This development caused a certain degree of consternation in the German camp, and after some discussion, the panzers hunkered down at the end of the rail bridge as II/73 was resupplied.

The Russians responded with more manouvre. Russell put his battered brigade on the reverse slope of the rise he'd occupied, while Jerry dashed forward and occupied the ridge north of Tamarovka, dominating the town. Excellent use of terrain there guys.

After some more German discussion, the panzers set off after the disordered T34s. There was even talk of trying to re-take Hill 152, or maybe not. I've never seen such a moral collapse in a player team, the drastic change in the Russian approach had quite discombobulated the Germans.

\

The Germans hammered 1/6 MRB with air and artillery while frantically resupplying II/73.

The Russians responded by bombing and rocketing the panzers, who by now were taking losses, and the T34s skipped away across the steppe to occupy another rise. Jerry meanwhile took the town under steady fire, inflicting hits on II/73 as fast as they were rallied off. The Germans were thoroughly pinned down in the town.

The Bergepanzer finally had some actual tanks to fix as to resupplied the Panzer battalion. 

Although they kept suffering hits, II/73 PGR was able to recover (some) of them as the Russians weren't in a position to assault them.

Time was runnning down and Russells last Tank Brigade finally made a move down the road covering by Jerrys infantry. They didn't have enough movement to get into contact with the Germans, but they had moved into range. 

Artillery dropped all over both sides of the town, and masked by the terrain, the Panthers had to manouvre to get into a firing position on the Russian tanks.

The Soviet airforce strafed the exposed panzers and the Russian tankers closed in on Tamarovka for one last effort.

The Germans responded in kind, and massed fires were sufficient to disorder the T34s, putting paid to any attempt to assault the town. At that point time ran out (end of Turn 13) and we called it a day. Although they'd lost Hill 152, the Germans still held Tamarovka, so a win for them.

The Russians were perhaps a bit too gung ho at first, but they really put the Germans on the back foot in the latter part of the game. The key in these rules is concentration of effort, whether by being able to mass fires or mass units adjacent to the enemy, but using terrain to protect your units and fragment the enemy fire is also vital. So, well played to both sides, and amazingly we played until time ran out, as I think everyone thought it would all be over on turn 8.

In real life, 19th Panzer beat off the Russian attack but with heavy losses. The defence of the town came under increasing pressure as both 5th and 6th Guards Armies assaulted it from the north, but the Germans were determined to hang on to the key railhead. We shall see where that gets them in the fourth and final game of this series.