All,
Drive on Minsk
28 June 1941
1030 Local Time
Following 1st Grenadiere Company's successful assault on the 26th, KG Klink went back into Corps Reserve, falling in with the endless columns of panzers, halftracks, staff cars, prime movers, and trucks streaming east. But they didn't have to wait long. Once again the panzer spearheads ran into resistance; they streamed past as the Corps Commander called on Colonel Klink and his mechanized task force to mop up.
The Kampfgruppe Executive Officer, Lt Col Schultz, looked at his commander: "Shall I handle this, Sir?" "No, Schultz, I need some exercise, I'll handle this myself. Don't fret, you'll get your chance! Send me Lt Ost and his 3rd Company."
Overview, north is up. The Germans will enter from the southeast (bottom right), attacking across the stream (only thigh-deep, easily waded), to clear the outskirts of another nameless Soviet village (bottom left and top left).
Opposing forces, Germans on left, Soviets on right.
German Order of Battle for this fight:
Battlefield Commander:
Kampfgruppe Commander,
Colonel Klink (IAB, WB (1), KC,IC1, and IC2)
Poland, France, Greece, Barbarossa,Battlefield Second in Command:
3rd Grenadiere Company Commander: 1st Lt Ost (IAB, WB (2), IC2)
Poland, France, Greece, Barbarossa1st Rifle Plt PC: 2nd Lt WolfBarbarossa
1st Squad: SSgt Lehmkuhl (IAB, WB (1)) Poland, France, Greece, Barbarossa, 2nd Squad: SSgt Creuzburg (IAB)
Poland, France, Greece, Barbarossa, 3rd Squad: Sgt Reiswitz,
France, Greece, Barbarossa 2nd Rifle Plt PC: Sergeant 1st Class Mader (IAB, TKB (1), WB (1), IC2)
Poland, France, Greece, Barbarossa1st Squad: Sgt Axthelm (IAB, WB (1)) Poland, France, Greece, Barbarossa, 2nd Squad: Cpl Klostermann (TKB (1), IC2)
Greece, Barbarossa 3rd Squad: Cpl WustlichBarbarossaMachine Gun: Sgt Salz, (WB (1)) France, Greece, BarbarossaMortar: Cpl GraehmeGreece, BarbarossaGun3: Cpl GrunGreece, Barbarossa The Soviet force consists of:
-Command Officer
-Commissar (wanted to up the ante a little on this one, see how it goes)
-Four rifle squads
-Two Maxim machine gun teams
-Two 82mm mortar teams
Basically the Soviets have two separate forces manning two separate strongpoints, each consisting of a commander, two rifle squads, an MG team, and a mortar team.
Overview, now with troops. You can see the Germans deployed at bottom right, up to the stream's edge, and the Soviets spread across the left side of the table.
The Germans, with 2nd Platoon concentrated at top right as the assault element, 1st Platoon spread across the left as the support element, and their heavy weapons at center/bottom right.
Colonel Klink is shepherding the heavy weapons in order to make sure they stay in the fight as lines of sight are quite extensive, meaning the German heavy weapons will likely experience direct fire.
A look at the very inexperienced Lt Wolf's 1st Platoon spread across the German left as a holding force...
For the very experienced Lt Ost (company commander, far left) and Sgt Mader (center) to lead 2nd Platoon across the stream and into the northern strongpoint, which should flank the southern strongpoint and force the enemy to withdraw.
The Soviet strongpoint, with rifle squads in the huts, MG team and CO dug-in on the street, mortar team dug-in at top left.
Damn, all these pictures and I forgot to take a pic of the northern strongpoint? Same force composition, basically set up the same way I suppose.
The fight begins when Colonel Klink (far right) signals his 75mm Infantry Gun to fire on the southern strongpoint, looking to suppress them so they can't mess with 2nd Platoon as it crosses the stream at top right.
WHAM! The shell slams into a peasant hut, suppressing the Commie rifle squad inside.
The German mortar and machine gun teams go to work.
But they are embarrassingly ineffective, which allows the Soviet MG team (bottom left) to return fire....
Pinning the IG crew.
Told ya they'd be under direct fire...
The southern mortar team goes to work.
And now Colonel Klink and his command team are pinned as well.
Although the Soviet strongpoint HAS NOT been suppressed, Sgt Mader nevertheless leads 2nd Platoon forward, the grenadiers slowly wading across the stream.
Yes, the enemy in the southern strongpoint (bottom left) spots them (top right) and brings them under heavy fire...
Two rifle squads are immediately suppressed.
Lt Ost sloshes into the creek to rally some of his boys.
And they're good.
While in the southern strongpoint, the Soviet commander there moves into the hut to rally his rifle squad suppressed by the IG.
The Soviet rifle squads in the southern strongpoint lend their fire against 2nd Platoon (top left).
Pinning Sgt Mader's command element and his 3rd Squad...
The southern mortar team (bottom left) begins dropping 82mm HE on 2nd Platoon (top right).
Knocking out Sgt Mader's command element and suppressing 2nd Squad!
As the northern Soviet mortar team (bottom left) says 'hell with it, let's finish them off,' and fires on 2nd Platoon (top right) as well.
It's absolute hell on earth: 1st Squad is knocked out (left), Lt Ost's command team is suppressed, and 2nd Squad, already suppressed, is force to fall back (far right, from left)!
The Soviet northern strongpoint MG team (bottom center) adds its fire to the maelstrom assaulting 2nd Platoon (top right).
Panicking 3rd Squad (top center) and forcing Lt Ost and his command team to fall back next to 2nd Squad!
Colonel Klink is a very unhappy man at this point, so he rallies his command team.
And orders the mortar team to go to work on the southern strongpoint...
Which makes amends for its earlier piss-poor marksmanship by dropping the rounds right on top of the entrenched Soviet MG team, knocking them out!
The infantry gun, though still pinned, gets in on the act.
But only manages to pin the southern Soviet mortar team.
As the German MG team (bottom right) rakes the southern strongpoint, again ineffectively...
Some of the infantry from 1st Platoon open fire, to no effect.
While another 1st Platoon Squad fires on the northern strongpoint.
And somehow manages to suppress the northern MG team!
A '6' on 1D6! Finally something is going my way...
The northernmost 1st Platoon rifle squad fires on the Soviet northern mortar team (top left)...
But pins the Soviet rifle squad in front of them (the mortar team can just be seen at bottom left).
Lt Ost, the Company Commander, gets to work.
He successfully rallies his command team and 2nd Platoon's 2nd Squad (bottom right), then ponders how the hell to get across the stream, rescue 3rd Squad (panicked at top center), and press home the attack. "Ze Colonel has only a very small amount of ze patience viss his commanders."
Colonel Klink rallies the infantry gun crew.
And gets them (bottom right) tossing 75mm shells at the southern strongpoint again.
And this time they are on the money, knocking out the mortar team (far left), suppressing a nearby rifle squad (red bead), and pinning their CO (yellow bead)!
Then the German mortar team sights in and fires...
Targeting the northern Soviet mortar position, but the rounds fall long, harming nothing and no one...
Colonel Klink (bottom right) orders 1st Platoon to shift right, so each squad essentially jumps one terrain feature to the right. 1st Squad, 1st Platoon (center top, on the edge of the river) is standing by to detach from 1st Platoon and join Lt Ost (far right) and the remnants of 2nd Platoon in the assault.
But Reds in the northern strongpoint have spotted them lurking in the bushes near the stream (top right) and open fire.
But end up suppressing 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon (red bead at bottom left), leaving 1st Squad (top right) still set to jump across the stream.
The Soviets try and rally in the southern strongpoint...
The commander is fine but the rifle squad remains suppressed.
While in the northern strongpoint, the Kommisar moves into a nearby hut to rally his suppressed Maxim machine gun team.
He's successful and they open fire on the German assault element (top right).
Suppressing 1st Squad, 1st Platoon.
Good grief...
Once again, Colonel Klink is forced to spend his action rallying his own command team...
The remaining Soviet mortar team opens fire on the German heavy weapons...
The round is off target but STILL MANAGES TO PIN COLONEL KLINK'S COMMAND TEAM AGAIN!!!!
He quickly rallies it back off...
Lt Ost moves left and rallies 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, give them a quick pep talk. This might hurt a little or it might hurt a lot, but we gotta get across this river.
Lt Ost moves back right and rallies 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon.
They're good to go.
The German mortar team goes to work again.
Knocking out the Soviet rifle squad in the north that was defending the mortar team.
I always roll for casualties randomly, so the Soviets have gotten pretty lucky with the results continuing to fall on that poor rifle squad, but they're gone now...
The German MG team (bottom right) fires on the southern strongpoint.
Pinning the Soviet commander and forcing the already suppressed rifle squad next to him (yellow bead at center) to fall back (top left)!
The infantry gun (bottom right) fires on the northern strongpoint (top left).
The northern MG team is knocked out and the Komisar is pinned!
The German heavy weapons struggled at first, but now are red hot and literally winning this fight. The Reds are dug-in so the Germans are not getting many kill dice, but they're getting really lucky now and knocking out Soviet units left and right. Kinda doesn't feel right, but it's really just luck, rolling 1D6 and getting a 6 each time you see a dead Soviet unit.
3rd Squad, 1st Platoon (bottom right) fires on the lone Soviet rifle squad remaining in the southern strongpoint, to no effect.
While 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon (bottom right) fires on the northern strongpoint (top left).
Pinning the sole remaining rifle squad there.
Finally 1st Squad, 1st Platoon (bottom right, with Lt Ost next to them) fires on the Soviet mortar position (top left).
Suppressing them, too!
Quite fantastical... Each rifle squad is only rolling 1 Shock dice when firing at a dug-in enemy unit.
The Soviet rifle squad still manning the southern strongpoint (bottom left, with their commander pinned in the house above them and the other southern rifle squad suppressed off camera to top left, having fled the house with the commander) sights in on the Germans at the stream (a mix of 1st and 2nd Platoons) and fires.
As the southern Soviet commander self rallies.
The Komisar does the same in the north.
Back in the south, having lost his mortar and MG and having his one rifle squad getting suppressed and pulling a runner to the north (off camera to top center right), the Soviet commander there decides it's time to go, head north and link up with the Komisar and his remaining troops. But he can't bring himself to leave the pinned rifle squad in the southermost house... "Dammit," he exclaims to himself as he leads his command team into the street (center) determined to get over there and rally his men in the southern house (bottom left).
Sgt Salz' MG-34 team (bottom right) spots the Soviet commander in the street (top left) and opens fire..
But somehow the young Soviet Lieutenant makes into the house, unhit!
He rallies his squad and they begin moving back north...
But 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon (bottom right) spots them (top left) and opens fire.
But the Reds make it to the safety of cover, behind the northern house.
In the north, the Komisar sprints right, trying to get to his suppressed mortar team (bottom right).
German infantry (bottom right) spot him (top left) and fire.
But he makes it. He quickly rallies them...
And then they both fall back (far left, from bottom right), behind the Party House.
This isn't shaping up how I thought it would, largely because of how deadly the German heavy weapons have been. I did foresee the Reds falling back on the Party House, where I figured a helluva squabble would occur, but there just aren't very many Commies left.
The German infantry gun (bottom right) continues shelling the northern strongpoint (top left).
Panicking a Soviet rifle squad.
Uh-oh, going to be tough to rescue them, should have pulled back to the Party House...
Lt Ost leads 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, and 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon across the stream.
Where they stop to check on 3rd Squad, 2nd Platoon.
But they are too far gone, out of the fight!
I'm having the worst luck with panicked troops...
Seeing the Soviets abandoning the southern strongpoint, Colonel Klink shifts troops to the right.
In the south, the Soviet commander finally catches up to the suppressed rifle squad, in the cover just north of the strongpoint.
But those rascals from 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon (bottom right) once again spot him (top left) and open fire.
Pinning the commander, as his good rifle squad moves up to rally his suppressed rifle squad!
But they fail and fall back into the knocked out mortar position!
Which actually probably saves all their lives...
In the north, the Komisar decides he needs to risk life and limb to rescue his panicked rifle squad in the house (top center), so he takes off at a sprint (just below the house, from bottom left, where the mortar team is set up).
1st Squad, 1st Platoon (bottom right, with Lt Ost next to them) spots him (top left) and opens fire.
Pinning him in the street!
Colonel Klink and Lt Wolf consolidate the German center with a rifle squad and Sgt Salz's MG team, ready to support Lt Ost's push into the northern strongpoint.
Lt Ost leads the assault platoon (or what's left of it/cobbled together forward.
The 'good' Soviet rifle squad from the southern strongpoint (bottom left; the other rifle squad is suppressed off camera to bottom left, next to their commander, who is pinned) spots the German movement (top right) and opens fire.
Suppressing 1st Squad, 1st Platoon!
The German mortar team, "we're on it, was wondering where those guys went!"
The 'good' rifle squad (right) and the commander are suppressed!
Though this is immediately followed by a lull that allows them to rally.
As does the Komisar...
But he fails and is still pinned, stuck in the street, and his boys (rifle squad) are still panicked in the house, unable to help themselves.
Lt Ost, on the enemy side of the stream, falls back to rally 1st Squad, 1st Platoon.
And is successful.
As 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon lays down fire.
Suppressing the Komisar and forcing him to fall back into cover, thus abandoning his panicked rifle squad (in house just visible at bottom center).
And it's mortar time.
Having the Colonel on site will definitely make sure the Supply Officer ensures the mortar team doesn't run out of ammo ;)
The freshly rallied commander and rifle squad from the southern strongpoint are immediately re-suppressed.
The infantry gun takes a shot as well.
The poor, brave Soviet Lieutenant is killed...
Colonel Klink pushes another rifle squad across the stream.
As Lt Ost and his two rifle squads push forward.
In the rear of the northern strongpoint, the Soviet mortar team realizes the Fascist vipers are too close, so the spike their tube.>>
And grab their rifles.
The move up to the Komisar and help him rally his command team.
And the Komisar says "hell naw, I'm not leavin those men," so he dashes back across the street and into the house with his panicked rifle squad (top left, from bottom right)!
They successfully rally (far right), but aren't so hot about the Germans creeping up in the garden (Lt Ost's men, far left).
In the south, the 'good' rifle squad falls back to rally the suppressed rifle squad...
But they fail and run for the hills! The 'good' rifle squad ponders following them...
But remembers their duty to the Rodina and sprints north (top left, from bottom right), looking to find the Komisar and get in the fight.
But the German MG team (bottom right) spots them and opens fire...
Suppressing them!
Meanwhile, further north, the Komisar and his rifle squad fire on Lt Ost and his two squads.
Pinning 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, and suppressing Lt Ost and his command team!
The infantry gun (bottom right) replies...
The Komisar goes down, and the rifle squad is pinned!
The infantry gun slams a fresh round in the breech...
And gives'em a fresh one!
The Soviet infantrymen have had enough, and emerge with hands held high.
The Soviet mortar team-turned rifle team and the suppressed rifle squad quietly exit, stage left.
The opposing forces' casualties, German at top left, Soviets on right.
German casualties:
-2nd Platoon Commander, Sergeant 1st Class Mader, was badly wounded, out for three months, will return on 1 October 1941. He is temporarily replaced by SSgt Arndt, a squad leader from 3rd Platoon, 3rd Company.
-1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, Sergeant Axthelm, suffered a permanent injury. The veteran of Poland, France, and Greece lost a leg to Soviet machine gun fire and is medically retired, ending his war. He is replaced by Cpl Haupt.
-3rd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Cpl Wustlich, suffered a flesh wound and now has a dramatic scar to show off
Soviet losses:
-Commanding Officer
-Komisar
-two Maxim machine gun teams
-82mm mortar team
-two rifle squads
And one rifle squad surrendered.
One rifle squad and an 82mm mortar team escaped, living to fight another day.
So there we go, fight #2 is in the books, another hard fight. If it wasn't for Colonel Klink being on the scene I might have had the Germans throw in the towel right after the assault element suffered its setback (2nd Platoon moved up into the stream and got whacked by both Soviet machine guns and both mortars, knocking a squad out, knocking the platoon commander out, panicking a squad, and forcing the company commander and last remaining rifle squad to fall back, suppressed). But I figured Klink wouldn't give up so easily, and his subordinates would b afraid to show any 'quit' before their CO, so on it went and it all worked out.
I'm a little concerned, from a rules standpoint, about how many dug-in Soviet units were knocked out by supporting fires, but after all the games I've played, I'm pretty sure it was just a bit of a fluke (lucky dice). I do need to do a better job of keeping the enemy mortar teams in defiladed positions so they are not exposed to direct fire from German weapons (at least in the initial setup, can't always be helped once maneuver has begun). But overall, the rules are working like a charm, the games are quick, lots of decisions, and lots of tension, so I can't complain at all.
Stay tuned, more on the way.
V/R,
Jack
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