Drive on Moscow - revisited

 After the recent instalment of the Battle for Tula, I was prompted by the post game discussion to try a different approach (a right flanking attack) as a solo effort. I wanted to try out the historical approach, although one of the German players had suggested another potential approach using the cover of the wood in the centre.

I set it up pretty much the same as the remote game. To reduce the number of moving parts I left off all the HQ elements, but I used all the unit bases. I also set it up so I could grab all the various markers etc without having to bend over too much. 

As a reminder the Germans have to capture either the fortified town on the left (Venyov) or the big hill in the top right (the Suchuye Mound). The Russians are constrained by having to keep at least two units within three hexes of each feature at all times.

On the right I went with the same setup as used in the remote game. Both elements of 340 Rifle Division dug in, 112th Tank Div on the right and 31st Cavalry Div in the woods on the left. These units are deployed at the extreme south of their allowed area, funnelling the Germans in between the difficult going in the woods.

On the left, both elements of 340 Rifle Div are in Venyov along with the NKVD, FOO and FAC. In a departure from the original setup, I put the 32nd Tank Brigade down the road with the heroic leader to cramp the German deployment. I've put all the aircraft, support and logistics stuff on the left hand side so I can reach it easily.

So, the German plan is to fight a battle of annihilation east of the forest, and then exploit northwards, screening the left flank, as 24th Panzer Corps did historically.

To this end the Germans come on in a compact mass, 10th Motorised on the left (planning to use the woods as cover), 4th Panzer in the middle with its panzer regiment and armoured Schutzen brigade, and 17th Panzer on the right. The 17th Schutzen brigade are on the extreme right as they plan on using the woods on the right just over the river as cover. The bad going has already cramped the German deployment a bit but it cannot be helped.

The Russians respond by shifting both the FAC and FOO over to 3rd Army, and the 112th Tank pushes south with the FAC, but being careful to keep out of range of the Germans.

The Germans roll forward, slightly modifying their deployment. They have carefully managed it so that they are only in range of the 112th Tank Div. Both the leading infantry units are poised to jump into the woods next turn.

The Russians dont fancy fighting a tank battle at a 4:1 disadvantage, so call in the Sturmoviks and Katyushas on 17th Schutzen, which suppresses them and inflicts a couple of hits.

The Russian tanks then fall back, while 2/340 hops out of its trenches and into the adjacent woods, blocking the route of 17th Schutzen. 32nd Tank Brigade (from 50th Army) waited until the Germans were committed, but is now in its long march around the forest to join 3rd Army. It is visible in the top left.

Panzers vorwarts! No point in attacking in dribs and drabs. The entire Corps rolls forwards - well not quite: 11th Motorised Rifle Regiment and the Corps artillery cover 17th Schutzen Brigade assaulting the woods on the right.

The German support fire is very effective, and 2/340 is reduced to two hits and disorganised. Despite being suppressed, 17th Schutzen then successfully carry the position and 2/340 disintegrates. First blood to the Germans.

The Russian response is swift and brutal. The Katyushas plaster 17th Schutzen, inflicting enough losses to disorganise it. Everyone else fires at 4th Panzer Regt, with both the 112th Tank Div and 1/340 reinforced with AT guns, there is a lot of AT firepower. 4th PR takes five hits and becomes disorganised - ouch. The superior unit cohesion of the Germans comes into play there, a Russian unit would have disintegrated under that weight of fire.

32nd Tank Brigade is meanwhile finally moving into position behind the Russian line.

4th Panzer Regt falls back to reorganise, while 17th Panzer Regt and 17th Schutzen engage 112th Tank Div which takes three hits and becomes disorganised. On the left flank, the Corps artillery shells 31st cavalry div, suppressing it, and both Regiments of 10th Motorised Div fan out through the woods to attack it next turn. 

The Russian response is a bit muted. The suppressed cavalry cant do much damage so focus on digging in. The Sturmoviks strafe 17th Schutzen but the Russians are very short of supplies this turn and rely on the NKVD (!) to try and rally 112th Tank Div. Their 'encouragement' takes a hit off.

32nd tank Brigade moves into line, taking the place of 112th Tank Div. 

The Germans resupply 4th Panzer Regiment and the Luftwaffe drop supplies to 17th Schutzen who are now dangerously weak. Although this was a good turn logistically for the Germans, in general their lack of supplies is a real problem. I may have overdone that a bit.

Once more demonstrating the power of mass, 17th Panzer Regt, 4th Schutzen Brigade and 11th Motorised Regt open up on 31st Cavalry, followed up by a close assault by 10th Motorised which overruns the Russians but also uses up the last German artillery ammo.

The Russian concentrate on 17th Panzer Regt and disorganise it, while a revived 112th Tank Div moves back into the fray, parking up east of 32nd Tank Brigade. Katyusha fire disorganises 17th Schutzen.

Another big turn for the Germans, both their panzer regiments are in reserve to reorganise, but in the absence of any supply trucks, the Luftwaffe once again lends a hand. Every other German unit in range opens up on 32nd tank Brigade and destroy it! I think I must have missed a photo sequence somewhere as this result is almost impossible in a single turn, particularly is it is rated as a 'heavy' armoured unit and is commanded by a heroic leader. 

The German artillery is busy softening up 2/340 as the Russians counterattack 17th Schutzen. 112th Tank Brigade assaults, supported by Sturmoviks and the weakened Germans disintegrate. The Russians are about to advance then realise they can't as that would put them more than three hexes from the Suchuye Mound. Curses! 

Again, I've missed some pictures. The Germans managed to overrun 2/340 and the battered 112th Tank Div fell back to the hill. The Germans then spent a couple of turns reorganising out of range. It was slow as the Russian airforce kept bombing their supply lines. The Germans have essentially managed to replicate their historical breakthrough by attacking en masse though. 

Eventually 24th Panzer Corps rolled forwards! I think this was turn 11 maybe? I'm trying to engage on as long a flank as possible. What I've missed here is that some of the defenders of Venyov have come out from the defences and dug in on the hill due west of here with their 85mm AA guns

You can see the guns just in the far left. Along with Sturmoviks they handily destroyed 10th Motorised as they tried to outflank the hill. 112th Tank disorganises 17th Panzer Regt as it was still weak from its earlier battering.

I allow the Germans one more Luftwaffe supply run as I realise the scenario as written cripples the German supplies too much. Meanwhile 11th Motorised closes with 112th Tank Div covered by 4th Panzer Div and the Corps artillery. The NKVD keep recovering hits from 112th Tank Div,  I've made that too easy.

The Russians plaster 11th Motorised and they become disorganised. Very little time left now.

Despite being disorganised 11th Motorised assaults, covered by the rest of the Corps. 112th Tank Div survives, but having been assaulted, it can't reorganise....

Going into the last turn of the game it still has two hits left, and there are  no Germans left nearby to assault it.

The only way the Germans can pull this off is by destroying 112th Tank with gun fire and having one unit left to physically move onto the hill. This requires inflicting two hits with five combat dice needing 5+ each. You can work out the odds, but in this case the dice came up trumps, 112th collapsed as 4th Panzer Regiment motored onto the hill.

 

At game end you can see the defenders of Venyov and their new hilltop outpost. It is still within three hexes of Venyov so OK.

The Russians don't have anything left to contest the hill so it is a German win. 24th Panzer Corps is now down to three battalion sized units!

The dead pile attests to the ferocity of the fighting. That was an incredibly close run thing for the Germans and tbh I had to use every ounce of my knowledge of how these rules work coupled with laser focussed force management to pull that off. I think that unfortunately I've added in so many bits and pieces which favour the Russians that this is fairly unbalanced. Individually they make sense in scenario terms, but collectively they make the German task extremely hard.

If I'm running this game in future I'm going to allow unlimited Luftwaffe supply runs (they only have a 66% chance of success anyway) and tone down the Russian advantages. All their units would  now have five hits, not some with six, but they'll keep the 50th Army Leader. The NKVD will revert to restoring a hit on 5+ and inflicting a hit on 1, and they need to be treated as a normal reorganisation, not a special action. The main thing though is restoring the German supply situation to a degree, as the game mechanisms rely on having (restricted) reorganisation due to the high level of attrition. 

The Last Redoubt, Belgium 1914 with Funny Little Wars

 Our latest f2f 54mm outing was back to 1914, and the Belgian defence of Antwerp, or at least the approaches to it. Tim ran it with his liberal interpretation of 'Funny Little Wars'.

The general layout, Antwerp and the National Redoubt are up in the top left with Russell modelling for scale. There is a canal  cutting across the battlefield and various towns dotted around. We christened the larger town on the canal Louvian.

Tim had recently scored a good eBay deal on a load of model railway buildings, and really lovely they were too. They really enhanced the look of the battlefield. Here is 'Louvain' with a few civilians scattered about, anxiously looking eastwards where Beastly Germans might be.

The National Redoubt. No, those aren't Airfix coastal gun emplacements but a carefully modelled Belgian fort. I was designated as overall commander of 6th Mixed Brigade and had my HQ here along with a company of Carabinieri and the mighty 40cm fortress battery. There are a couple of field batteries in evidence, I would allocate those to the front line units.

A nunnery nervously awaits the Germans, there was a monastery on the other side of the battlefield.

The Teutonic horde! An entire German Reserve Corps with two divisions of four Regiments and a reserve brigade of two Regiments. The Corps also had a cavalry regiment and seven field or howitzer batteries.

Pete and Lloyd commanded a division each while Simon was Corps commander.

The mobile element of 6th Mixed Brigade. A Cavalry Regiment supported by cyclists, a battalion of Chasseurs and a detachment of Minerva armoured cars! Russell commanded these - I assigned them to a mobile screening role well forward.

The infantry component was two small battalions of infantry with an MG detachment plus a mobile field kitchen (!). I assigned both field batteries to support them.

This force was the pivot of manouvre, holding both Louvain and one of the villages behind the canal which we had further fortified with inundations to act as a strongpoint.

We had to designate three objectives, the Germans then secretly assigned points values to them. We selected Louvain, the flooded village and the outskirts of Antwerp.

Close up of the fort with my personal figure manning the ramparts. I had a lengthy list of personal objectives which included giving as many press briefings as possible to emphasise the 'plucky; nature of our defence. Another was to appear to support the forward units, while actually amassing as many resources as possible for the defence of Antwerp...

Lloyds division came marching on down the main road in column, and then diverted off the highway across country (assume minor roads).

This was followed by Petes division which came straight down the highway in march column. It really looked quite menacing. The German Corps HQ with its howitzer batteries was further back, and there was no sign of the Reserve brigade. Unfortunately Lloyd had forgotten the German cavalry, so we used dismounted cavalry figures as scout squadrons. These busied themselves visiting the various settlements and engaging in beastly behaviour.

Russell meanwhile had conducted a masterful mobile defence and withdrawn across the canal, before marching north to defend the this canal crossing - the same one Lloyd was approaching. The Minerva was extremely mobile and reached the bridge long before anyone else.

The Germans deployed into fighting lines as they were sprayed with MG fire from the armoured cars. Their return fire was shrugged off by the vehicles armour, although the German field batteries can just be seen deploying in the distance.

The armoured cars brave defence allowed the Chasseurs and Cavalry to move into position. A ring of steel around the bridge!

Meanwhile the Germans were lining up for a frontal assault on Louvain, their two leading Regiments covered by artillery and MGs. The Belgian field batteries were hotly engaging the Germans now.

A bit of an overview, the flooded village is to the right and the Belgian artillery can just be seen to the bottom left of the inundations.

Sadly the defenders of Louvain didn't hold out for long as they were outnumbered about 8:1 and the town fell. Petes Germans fought their way through the town.

This brought them into cannister range of the Belgian guns. Instead of matchsticks, they got to fire Party Poppers at this range, and John got to fire two salvoes. Just look at the streamers all over those massed Germans...

The close range artillery fire shredded the Germans, and although they struggled to maintain their position for a while, the writing was on the wall for these two Regiments.

A German aircraft surveys the battlefield! The miracle of AI photo editing has removed the arm holding it....

One of the great things about playing at Tapton Hall are the lunches. I was going out in the evening, I 'just' had this very nice Shepherds Pie with gravy, cabbage and broccoli.

After lunch the massacre resumed, more close range cannon/Party Popper fire.

Followed up a cavalry/cyclist charge!

Which largely put Petes boys to flight. This division was finished now.

With most of Russells troops now in the centre, Lloyd finally managed to cross the canal on the left, while Petes artillery pounded the flooded village. This inflicted losses on the defenders and knocked out one of the field batteries. The Field Kitchen can just be seen in the foreground falling back to Antwerp.

Having crossed the canal, Lloyds Germans started marching right to relieve the pressure on Pete. This put their marching columns right across the front of the mighty Fortress artillery, personally directed by me, in the awed presence of the world press.

Hopefully you can see the German columns in the distance. Closer than it looks for matchstick cannon.

Much of Russells cavalry and the Minerva was now reinforcing the flooded village, which was still holding out. Lloyds first Regiments can be seen lined up along the highway, but flanking fire from the fortress had thinned their numbers considerably.

Back in Antwerp, the surviving Field Battery is set up on the highway, while Russells Chasseurs and busy digging in between the fortress and the outskirts of the city, awaiting the arrival of the British Naval Division.

The Germans clearly weren't going to take the village with the force they still had available. The Reserve Brigade never turned up at all, and with that we called it a day.

Most of us had achieved at least some of our personal objectives but when we totted up the Victory Points, it was a draw!

I think the Belgians can be quite pleased with that, and although I didn't capture it in pictures, the mobile force spent the game charging around all over the place, very heroic.

That was a great day out, very enjoyable, and while it may not be 100% historically accurate, captured the flavour of the period very well. Lovely toys too, a pleasure to push them around.