AAR - "Their Toughest Battle" Scenario

[heinrich55]

AAR for Their Toughest Battle
Scenario by Mad Russian.
Spoilers for the Battle

I just finished Their Toughest Battle, a scenario of a meeting engagement between German forces probing beyond the Alytus bridgehead towards Vilnius. It was quite a struggle and another of Mad Russian’s excellent scenarios. I had it on normal with all the recommended settings for the scenario.

I moved everyone straight east up the road at first but then broke off two units of 38t and the Mark II panzers to move northeast. Just about everyone else moved for the village area.

I pushed three squads and the three snipers off to the south to explore that area and catch some flags. I kept the Mark IV tanks back for the moment to see where they might be needed.

Reinforcements came in rather quickly and I loaded up the squads and move them east too. There were plenty of air strikes going off to the north and southeast, which didn’t bode well. I hoped that they were making many kills, as intelligence from the briefing noted the expectation of Soviet armor.
As an ill omen, one of the Stukas peeled off and blasted one of the halftracks. The squad must have bailed at the last moment as they survived. After that I pretty much drove through the woods, even though it took much longer to advance.

Russians really fought tooth and nail at the west end of the village. It was truly a combined arms effort, with armor and dismounted infantry side by side reducing the enemy strong points.

The squads on the south flank had an easy time of it, merely taking flags and providing me with a measure of comfort knowing my right flank was fairly secure.

[heinrich55]

To the north, as I pushed my light tanks into the woods, they started spotting enemy tanks rushing down from the north on the main roadway. Therein began a game of hide-and-go-seek as the enemy traded shells with my tankers. I lost several to their gunnery, but finally prevailed. The scene along the roadway looked eerily similar to photographs of broken enemy tanks along roadways in the early days of Barbarossa.

The battle for the village was pretty vicious. I forgot about my artillery and ended up not using it at all for the entire battle. One of my squads went hand-to-hand in a building and killed the enemy squad but then they were themselves killed by covering fire. The dreaded friendly fire works for small arms too, not just Stukas.

At the village fell to my troops, I pushed a platoon of 38t tanks to the southeast, preparing to rush across a huge meadow. At about that time the sound of trees being crushed alerted me to trouble. My light tanks finally spotted a T-34, crushing its way through the forest. I immediately faced everyone towards it and started to flank the beast with the outlying tanks, hoping for a side shot.

The T-34 traded shots with some of my light tanks, stunning several of them before almost disdainfully turning away and pushing on through the woods towards my bridgehead.

It was at this point that the armor unit commander punched a shell into the side of the T-34, killing it. It was an amazing shot, and I started breathing a little easier.

I didn’t let those tanks charge across the meadow until the snipers had scouted the Russian-held flag on the far flank. The snipers found a blown up T-34 there, thanks to the Luftwaffe.

Just as I had cleared the village and was preparing to push east up the wooded slope, a wave of Soviet armor pushed through just northeast of the village. Had I pushed faster through the village, they would have caught my tanks in a clearing.

As it was, my tanks were on the fringe of the woods around the village, and the Soviets drove right into my flank attack. Many were blown apart with side shots, but I lost two tanks in the process. It was just the fact that I had taken the village slowly that I didn’t find myself being flanked by the Russian armor.

I was about to push east when a wave of Soviet infantry charged me from the north, threatening my left flank.
The reinforcements of two 8.8 cm guns had suddenly appeared. I am hoping the inclusion of towed guns can be part of the next patch. It is a little un-nerving to suddenly have them drop into place, and you have to hope they are in the right place to begin with. As it was, one was perfectly placed and the other never saw any action.

Some Russian armor pushed down along the map edge, supporting the infantry but mainly pushing for my entry area. The 8.8 cm flak gun opened up and Russian armor was torn apart.

The infantry attack was quite a charge though. I had to rush my pioneers and a squad of infantry across from the center of the map. I had three halftracks fully loaded with infantry and pulled them back to a supporting position in case I was not able to slow the rush. Had I remembered I had artillery, this would have helped greatly, but No, I didn’t remember that.

I pulled the Mark II tanks away from the road and they actually had a field day cutting up the enemy infantry. One scout car Psw 222 also held a position that blunted the infantry.

More troublesome was the fact that 4 KV-1 tanks were rumbling their way down the hill from the north, and were pushing into my left flank. I rushed my Mark IV tanks into positions I felt might work for ambushes. They had some HEAT rounds, but not many.

The 38t tanks tried for ambush positions but the KV-1s spotted them through breaks in the woods. Slowly they were being torn open one by one.
I had one left in the area by now, and he was trying to back away from three KV-1 tanks. One was actually driving past him on the road, maybe 50 meters away. The 38t bounced several shells off his flank, and the KV-1 stopped and spun on its treads to face the troublesome bother. The 38t gunner lined up for the shot of his life and….Blammo….got a kill shot. It was amazing, but short-lived, as within the next 40 seconds they were hit and knocked out by angry gunners from the other two KV-1 tanks.

That left three KV-1 tanks to deal with, and I only had Mark IV and Mark II tanks left in the area. The Mark IIs were fleeing in the woods, rushing past the bodies of the Russian squads they had mauled, not looking at getting mauled themselves.

I positioned a Mark IV where I thought it would be in good position for flank shots. I also moved a panzer grenadier platoon into the suspected area where the tanks would be plowing through. As the panzer grenadiers didn’t really have the equipment, I was sure this wouldn’t end well. I had pushed the pioneers away from the area to cover the road, thinking the third KV-1 would push that way.

The one KV-1 spotted the infantry and shot at them, so they promptly broke and melted into the woods. The enemy tank turned to continue on, but my troops rallied and pushed towards the side of the tank, hoping to knock it out. The tank suddenly realized it was being stalked and stopped, swinging its gun to bear. One squad managed to throw grenades while roaring a battle cry, but the other two squads broke again. The tank backed wildly away and fired off more shots.

Again, my troops managed to rally, and again I ordered them forward to torment the tank. The tank turned to face two squads coming through the woods, leaving its flank open to the third one. This time there was an ear-splitting road and the tank erupted in flames – Hurrah, the attack was successful! For a shot of that one, see my post in the general section entitled “It Can Be Done.”

The third KV-1 was pushing into the flank of my Mark II tanks. One was not able to rush through the woods due to track damage it sustained in earlier tank-to-tank engagements. I was sure they were toast.

Two other Mark II tanks had rushed to relative safety, but hearing their comrades on the radio, they turned and took on the giant Soviet tank. It was very much a case of ants swarming an elephant.

The two Mark II tanks blanketed the KV-1 with volley after volley of 20mm canon shells, none of which could kill the beast. They actually did track damage though. In the meantime, their semi-crippled brother was pretty much at point-blank range, maybe 30 meters away partially concealed in the heavy wood, face to face with death. They were firing everything they had right at the face of the giant.

At this time, the Mark IV got a line of sight on the KV-1 and started firing. The Russian tankers were getting shells from the front and both flanks. They took more track damage from the Mark IV, fired a shell at the little Mark II in front as a gesture of anger and frustration, and then took a Mark IV shell in the side that knocked them out. The little Mark II survived, as the last KV-1 shell had missed in the heavy woods. All this happened at very close range.
If they hadn’t stopped the beast, the last resort would have been the 8.8 cm flak gun. As it was, that wasn’t necessary.

The last KV-1 was pushing south on the road, weaving around the broken hulls of its lighter brethren. It was heading right for my pioneer squad, set for Defend>Hold Fire>Close Assault. I figured these guys had the best chance of taking out the mighty KV-1. They were in woods and hiding.
Naah, the closest squad broke and ran like rabbits. The Feldwebel held the command squad together though, and as the KV-1 pushed into range of them, the close attack took place. The other two squads also pushed in from the sides, the one having rallied and rushed back with red faces from embarrassment.

Satchel charges were thrown as well as a wave of grenades but the KV-1 survived the assault. I was sure I would get him the next turn, as everyone didn’t break this time but……Game Over. Doggone it; I wanted to see the attack succeed.

I managed a Decisive Victory, and was just short of taking the farthest Soviet flags near Vilnius when the game ended.

It was a hard-fought contest, had a very real feel to it, and the AI performed in a very convincing fashion. I took heavy losses and, but for a few moves that proved to be fortuitous, I might have been on the receiving end of flank attacks.

Recon of the battlefield showed just how many Russian tanks the Luftwaffe had blasted. Courtesy of the airmen, there were many T-34 and KV-1 tanks destroyed, along with BT-7 and T-26 versions. It was very good to have the air cover.

Thanks to Mad Russian for putting this one together for our enjoyment. The desperation of going hand-to-hand with KV-1 tanks really made for plenty of dramatic moments.
Heinrich505

[rickier65]

heinrich,

Thanks for this AAR. You had me feeling like I was watching the scenario unfold myself. Made for a very nice read.

Thanks
Rick

[Enigma6584]

Excellent read.