Escape from Tula

 This the last in my One Hour WW2 trilogy covering the battle for Tula in late 1941. This one has Guderians 2nd Panzer Army trying to escape Soviet encirclement as the great Soviet winter offensive unrolls.

This action takes place on 16th December 1941, and I managed to run it in December 2025, so sort of seasonal. I've done it as our old friends 24th Panzer Corps trying escape Boldins 50th Army. The German units are all at around 15% strength, so entire divisions are represented as a couple of units. The Russians are stronger but still under strength. 

Battlefield from the south. Apologies for the quality of the first few pictures, I set this up in the afternoon on one of those winter days of blazing sunshine with the sun skimming the horizon, so there are a lot of shadows.

Main features are the railway line running east-west and a ridge in the northwest plus a few woods dotted around. The river is frozen and the villages are purely cosmetic.

We've actually done this exact scenario before in my pre-hex days, and the general scenario on two other occasions as it is one of my favourite 'flank attack' OHW scenarios. Lets see if the players remember.

The Germans start strung out along the railway line with a couple of Russian units ahead blocking the way while the other Russians charge on from the north. The Germans need to get three units off the west rail hex to win.

Here is a the raggedy German column, lots of horse carts and not many lorries! I've put the logistic and artillery elements on too as it adds to the Grand Armee 1812 look of the thing.

It is thick snow but given the units involved it all sort of cancels out, so I left the movement rates as standard, although the German 'motorised' units are treated as leg infantry. Making everything move just one hex per turn would slow the game to a crawl.

Tim, Mark and Terry commanded the Germans.

In the way of the Germans is 7th ski brigade. I let this move as cavalry cross country over the snow. It has literally just arrived, so hasn't dug in yet. Ian commanded this on Tuesday.

And the rest of Russian horde! Commanded by John A, Jerry, Simon, Russell and John B. Some players could only do one night, it added to the command confusion. These guys all come on from the north on turn one.

The main striking elements, 15th Cavalry Division (Jerry) and 18th Rifle Brigade (Simon/Russell). Each has two units and an attached field artillery battalion without much ammo. All the transport is horse drawn as  the minor roads are snowed in. You can also see the Russian logistics, two more horse cart columns.

The more modern stuff is 141st Tank Brigade, under direct command of the CO (John A) and a wing of IL4s. The weather is appalling so their sortie rate is low, if they do rock up, they can attempt to bomb the German supply lines or drop supplies to partisans.

The partisans have more chance of success attacking supply lines, but need regular supply drops.

4th Panzer 'Division' commanded by Mark. One armour unit, one mechanised infantry, both veterans. You can also see the Germans single logistic unit, a horse drawn ambulance.

The Germans came up with the innovative idea of putting the armour at the back of the column, which I think is a great idea.

In the middle we have 3rd Motorised Division with two 'regiments', each of one infantry unit and a load of horse carts. One of them is dragging some heavy infantry guns along. Terry commands these as well as running the Corps.

And in the lead with have Tims 3rd 'Panzer' division, with two leg infantry units and more horse carts, although the lead Regiment has some 37mm AT guns.

And finally we have a wing of Ju 52 supply planes. These are available every turn and can't be interdicted, but there is a chance their drops will scatter. Combined with the horse carts, this actually gives the Germans a much better supply situation than in the last game. As they are falling back along their LOC that seemed sensible.

Right, to battle!

The Russian offensive opens with a fortunate strike by IL4s (through the snow storms) on the German supply units.

And the Russian army streams on in the northwest. I realised to my horror that I'd forgotten to restrict the Russian entry to the eastern half of northern edge. With unrestricted entry they could just run their entire force down the the exit hex. Was the game over before it had started? Too late to change it now. The ski brigade started digging in.

The German response was interesting, 3rd Panzer pushed forwards a hex or so into the range of 7th Ski, while 4th Panzer and 3rd Motorised fanned out north of the railway line. Putting the most mobile troops at the back was paying off.

The headlong Russian advance continued. 18th Rifle Brigade was marching down column C and 15th Cavalry down column D followed by the 141st Tank. The cavalry fanned out a bit as they approached the rail line and the tanks pulled up alongside.

There was a certain amount of jostling for position. Most of the units hung around a long range, and everyone had suddenly realised there wasn't much cover out here. 7th Ski Brigade finished digging in, a very wise move. The question now was who could concentrate sufficient superiority of force at critical points. With lots of units strung out in long lines, that wasn't looking too promising.

To everyones surprise the Luftwaffe managed to mount an air raid. I'd actually forgotten I'd given the Germans a (small) chance of air raids, so had to press the Ju 52s into service as bombers. They flew around the Russian rear areas and missed.

A certain mount of fighting now broke out, the Germans mainly concentrated on 15th Cavalry, both units were shot up, one enough to become disorganised. The Germans used up some of their artillery, both sides were very short of ammo due to the transport problems in deep winter.

The Russian cavalry fell back to reorganise, while the Ski troops concentrated their fire on 3rd Panzer very effectively and one Regiment became disorganised. 141st Tank moved up in a very threatening way, opening up the possibility of an overrun attack.

The Germans responded with an artillery barrage on the disorganised Russian cavalry, which was enough to finish them off and then the battered German infantry fell back to the rail line.

Everything in range opened fire on the 141st Tank as 4th Panzer Regiment moved up. The Russian tanks had moved in range of the German anti-tank guns and suffered such heavy losses they became disorganised too.

By now 18th Rifle had lined up with the cavalry.

The Russians fired everything they had, including all their divisional artillery, at 4th Panzer Regiment and inflicted enough hits to disorganise it. The battered Russian tankers withdrew out of range and parked up next the Ski troops.

The Germans put in a maximum resupply effort to resupply their guns and reorganise the panzers. The Luftwaffe dropped urgently needed supplies of schnapps and chocolate laced with benzedrine. 

Russian partisans were busy attacking the German supply lines. The partisans only had a certain number of attacks available, but could be resupplied by Russian bombers (if they could get airborne).

The German infantry pushed forwards covered by 4th Panzer. The battered infantry unit was still awaiting resupply. The Russian cavalry took enough damage to become disorganised, and the Russian have apparently failed to resupply 141st Tank.

The battered Russian cavalry fell back out of sight behind the woods while 18th Rifle Brigade put one of its units in a bold outflanking manouvre behind 4th Panzer Regiment.

The Germans in turn concentrated every unit in range on 141st Tank, including some of their resupplied artillery, and inflcited enough losses to cause it to disintegrate. Burning T26s and Matildas littered the snow fields.

With their ground supply disrupted by partisans it was up the Luftwaffe to resupply 3rd Schutzen Brigade, which they did in fine style. So far the Luftwaffe hadn't missed a single drop. I'm sure Goering will make a note of that for future reference.

Russian supply units reorganised the battered Russian cavalry.

In a very exciting move, 18th Rifle Brigade put in an assault on 4th Panzer Regiment, covered by its brigade artillery and fire from its elements in the village. The assault was repulsed but not without inflicted yet more damage on 4th Panzer Regt which became disorganised.

Time for the  Luftwaffe to step up, more supplies rained down on the Panzers from the air. The other German units in range, plus the last of the German artillery ammo, poured devastating fire into the village and routed the Russian infantry inside. It didn't provide much cover at all. The very deliberate German approach was paying dividends, but how were they doing for time?

Back in the southwest, 3rd Panzer realised they were just presenting an easy target for 7th Ski Brigade so pulled back out of range while the battle in the north took place. They even dug in!

In a serious blow to Russian hopes, the last cavalry unit moved south only to be destroyed by German fire as it moved adjacent to 7th Ski Brigade. The Germans took the opportunity of the collapsed flank to move 4th Panzer around the northeastern side of 7th Ski Brigade. 

It was starting to look rather like a cauldron, but with the Russians inside it and not the Germans.

We broke for the evening at that point after seven turns. With 7th Ski Brigade now isolated, it is a question of how long it will take the Germans to reduce the Russian entrenchments and get their units off. All the German units are now carrying two or three hits, apart from the panzergrenadier brigade.

The Russians still have the battered remains of 18th Rifle Brigade outside the cauldron, along with its accompanying artillery. It is in a position to run interference and disrupt the German plans, but needs to be careful.

OK, lets see what happens tomorrow.

The Russians realised fairly quickly that the partisans were far more effective than their rather erratic bombing missions, so used a timely appearance of aircraft to drop supplies to the partisan instead. During the game the Partisan attacks never failed, although they did burn through their supplies of explosives and ammunition. 

The Germans weren't left with much option other  than a frontal assault.. They spent a turn shooting the Russians up from the north while infantry in the centre closed for a potential assault. At close range the Russian defensive fire was devastating and one of the German units was left reeling with five hits on it. 

The Russians simply reorganised the battered unit holding the rail line, they could go on doing that forever unless the Germans did something a bit more decisive....

The panzers  and resupplied artillery shot in an assault by 4th Motorised Rifle Regiment, accompanied by Geyr von Schweppenburg himself! . The Germans cycled some of their more battered units to the rear and resupplied one by air. 

The assault was (just) successful. The Germans were slightly lucky, I thought it would take two assaults. 6th MRR rolled forward and occupied the exit hex.. The remains of 7 th Ski declined a heroic counterattack,  but instead shot the Germans to bits as they milled around in the open. Under the stern eye bof the Corps commander they (just) hung on. 

The Russian partisan kept hammering the German supply lines, hampering their efforts to keeep their battered  units in good order. 

18th Rifle Brigade moved up to attack the rear of the German units, covered by it's artillery. The weakened 3rd MRR be came disorganised in the face of this unexpected attack. 

The Germans now had the interesting problem of how to get their units off through a Russian zone of control! They didn't really have to time or strength to clear the rest of the Russian position. 

Essentially they could exit one unit per turn. The first battered infantry  marched off, it's place taken by 4th Panzer Regiment. Von Schweppenburg stayed in the exit hex to direct traffic and boost morale. That will look good on the cover of Signal! 

The units queuing up to leave engaged 18th Rifle Brigade and a vicious fire fight broke out in the German rear. 

The Panzer managed to escape and their place was taken by the Panzergrenadiers. 

The Russians managed to destroy 3rd Schutzen Regiment as they queued up at the exit, but not before  18th Rifle Brigade had finally succumbed. 

As the clock counted down, the Panzergrenadiers made their escape, leaving the last German infantry to fend for themselves. They  could slip away later. With three German units exited, we called it there with two turns left on the clock. 

Well, that was just great. I'm still not not not not quite sure how the Germans managed to blow most of the Russian army to bits and only lose one unit in the process but for the first ever playing of those scenario, the escapees have managed to escape! I think it just shows what a deliberate approach rather than a mad dash for the exit can achieve. Perhaps that was the key? It was the Russians making a mad dash for the exit, while the Germans managed to position themselves to gain fire superiority over small portions of the Russian force. Obviously it helped that unit for unit the German units are better, but they still have the task of attacking a force superior in size and forcing their way offtable. 

Iron Crosses  all around to the Luftwaffe for their sterling air supply efforts, Order of Lenin to the 7th Ski Brigade and the Red Partisans who contribute so much to blocking the German advance. 

I really enjoyed running that trio of games, early war kit on snow boards, fabulous. It was also good to deploy lots of toys for the first time, my Lend Lease Matilda, 85mm AA guns and Sdkfz 251/10. Many thanks to all the players for taking part in such good spirit and for displaying outrageous levels of hat wearing.