Winter Rage....Orzel vs Hellcat

[hellcat]

Breakthru?

In the North we have destroyed 1 pziv and a Stug leaving the German counterattack with only 1 or 2 tanks up there... however there is still at least 1 Tiger negotiating the Frozen river and recon reports another Stug at the German bridges...

At the hill we killed another Tiger crew who have bailed, leaving just 1 Tiger and a Stug - neither of which seem to be in good shape. We're firing katushas directly into the infantry holding the hill.

At the junction we're bringing down a lot of fire onto the pziv on the other side of the river.

Further south our forces managed to ambush an 88 en route to tackle this small scratch force... It's transport destroyed it's now under fire and should no longer be a problem for us...

Is this it? Is this the breakthrough we needed??

[Orzel Bialy]

Another report crackles in. It is Major Kappel, commanding the elements of our detachment to the south of our sector. He reports that Ivan is slipping units across the river and he can not prevent it.
Herr Oberst grabs the radio and calls on Kappel to regain his composure and await Hauptman Briess' arrival. At that same moment Hauptman Briess reports that a Russian Maxim Lorry has destroyed one of our towed 88's.
" Fluch!" exclaims Thielemann as he throws the microphone against the chart-table, which startles me...for I have never seen Herr Oberst react in such a manner. After a few seconds and a couple deep breaths he reaches over and picks up the microphone and calls to Kappel "Ivan muß angehalten werden. Verstehen Sie? "
Major Kappel doesn't reply immediately...when he does, it is obvious that he doesn't believe his own words.
As this exchange goes on yet another report filters in...Hauptman Keller reports he has lost a Stug and a PzIV to Ivan in the north. The news is not what Herr Oberst was hoping for...it shows in his eyes. It is at this moment that I see something that I had seen only once before...outside of Rostov a few months ago when Operation Winter Tempest was winding down having failed to break through to the Sixth Army in Stalingrad...the look of true concern that events may be out of control.
Herr Oberst hands me the radio gear and says "Ich muß Frischluft haben." and then exits the tank via the turret hatch. I watch him go and then glance at Karl...our expressions say it all.

[hellcat]

another pziv crew have bailed in th North, but there's still Tigers up there! my recon tank at the german bridges just got hit so that's any chance of turning the flags there gone now

more annoying still is the loss of a t-34 at the junction, to a recon team!

at the village we have brought a 2nd katusha into the direct fire role and the battle for the hill continues witha Stug and 2 Tigers still holding the ground there.

Orzel's still putting a fight but the bitter end is drawing near now... one way or the other. Something destroyed my tachanka down in the south, so my advance there has slowed also...

we only have a handful of turns left now...

[Orzel Bialy]

I crawl half way out of the side turret hatch, sitting on the lip of the frame. Herr Oberst is standing ontop of the turret itself looking out at the battle marred landscape...whisps of smoke sail by on the wind. Everywhere is the smell and sound of battle.
"Ich fühle hilflos." Herr Oberst says as he looks down at me for a moment, before the bark of an 88 firing draws his attention in that direction.
I pull my coat tighter together to block out the cold and proceed to climb out of the hatch and stand on the tread running rail. I look up at herr Oberst and then look around at the tree lines...worried that some damned Partisan or Russian sniper might be near by. I remind him of the risk he is taking standing on the turret like he is...he smiles and oblidges me.
As he hops down onto the engine deck Karl yells out that Major Kappel is reporting in once more. He then appears with the radio gear and hands them to me.
Major Kappels voice comes over the radio...broken every once in a while by the din of battle in the background.
" Ich nehme die russischen panzers in Angriff! " he yells as the retort of his 75mm main gun fills the radio and hurts my ear, forcing me to pull the earpiece away for a second.
It seems the Major took herr Oberst's last exchange of words as an insult...accusing him in so many words "of cowardice".
"Bitten Sie ihn, zurück sofort zu fallen!" Thielemann says as he lunges forward and takes the radio gear. He yells at Kappel to dis-engage from any frontal engagement and await Hauptman Briess' arrival.
There is no reply...and herr Oberst yells out his orders twice more. Only radio static comes back...with the sounds of battle and the voices of Major Kappel and his crew as they fire on three Russian tanks.
"Dieser mann ist bald tot." Thielemann says as he hands me the gear...no longer caring to hear what is coming over the radio.
As we stand there the snow begins to fall once more...herr Oberst looks up at the flakes as the come down and drift upon the winds, he then turns to me and says "die Engel weinen frozen Risse." (The Angels weep frozen tears)
I can say nothing...I only watch him as he stares off into the distance.

[Orzel Bialy]

here's just a few snap shots of the hotspots...The Hill, The Orchard, The Junction. What a nasty little fight this one has been. Just a slug-fest that is going down to the wire.

[hellcat]

in the very far south, two pzivs are burning as the scratch force makes its way through to the German rear area. Plus a flak halftrack has also been trashed

At the junction it's still a standoff and I lost another Ot134 to the pzivs across the river...

At the bridge we're still trying to remove the Tigers and the germans still have pinned down in the North...

the lines have become well drawn, except in the far South where we may yet take one last VH...

[Orzel Bialy]

As Herr Oberst continues to scan the horizon through his Ziess binoculars I continue to monitor radio traffic.
Major Kappel continues to engage two KV-1's on the opposite side of the river in the area of "die verzweigung"...until his better judgement returns and he finally pulls back into the trees in order to head to another firing position. It's a wonder he didn't get killed.
To the far south one of our AA units reports the presence of Ivan AFV's...Huaptman Briess is instructed to make sure they get no further north.
The area around "der Hugel" continues to be a hornet's nest of activity and firefights. Several waves of Russian infantry have rushed forward in an attempt to retake the strategic hill...most have been beaten back. On the opposite side of the river, near the small "isba" Major Kleinamen reports in that the two Katuska's that were laying down heavy fire have be silenced at last. A Su-76 has also met its demise on the frozen river as it attempted to sneak up the western side of the river bank.
Perhaps the best reports come in from Hauptman Keller to the north. The supporting infantry have finally caught up with his panzers and they have begun to clear the woods and gullies that are acting as the last natural defensive line separating his group from the northern part of the isba. A KV-1, a T-34, a HT and some infantry have all been routed. I pass this welcomed information on to Herr Oberst.
"Das ist gut." he replies in a somewhat detached tone as he continues to peer out over the turret of our panzer.
"Ja" I add...not knowing what else to say.
And so we both stand on top of the Panzer as the snow continues to fall, leaving us covered in a fine layer of powder. We have forgotten the cold that numbs us...our minds are elsewhere.

[hellcat]

well the infantry in the northern gullies just blew up a pziv. I have been amazed at how many more german tanks have come out of the woodwork in these last rounds...

correction - only one katusha has been killed in the village so far, the other is still firing. Not much happening round the bridgehead really... the Tigers and Stug sit there and our Kvs don't seem to be able to damage them anymore.

We're still (!) flushing out infantry at the junction and the pzivs have disappeared from the other side of the frozen river...

In the south we took a victory hex! for the glory of the people!

[Orzel Bialy]

There is good news to report to herr Oberst...there is a relief force approaching from the south which means we should be able to hold the river line as General Manstein ordered.
"wir vollendeten unsere Aufgabe, herr Oberst." I say with a smile.
"Möglicherweise. Jedoch sollten wir mehr getan haben." replies herr Oberst as he leans against the turret.
Done more? I think to myself.
"Wir haben einen Brückenkopf auf der östlichen Seite des Flusses." I say reminding him that Hauptman Keller has established a bridgehead on the eastern side of the river.
"Ja und das Frühling Tauwetter zwingt uns, es zu verlassen." herr Oberst says with a slight smirk.
Inside I know he is right...Hauptman Keller will eventually have to surrender the bridgehead for we can not support it once the spring thaw arrives. It is not a pleasant thought, to think that men may have died in vain.
"Das Dorf war der Schlüssel." Thielemann then adds.
I think about that for a second or two...then I have to agree....if we had taken the village then perhaps we could have held on to the gains.
With that exchange we fall silent for several minutes...listening to the gunfire that echoes across the landscape. The volume of fire has slackened a good deal...a sign that the two sides may have spent themselves. Some of the billowing columns of smoke have also begun to pale and thin...they have raged and consumed their fuel...man and machine alike and now they begin to fade as well.
So, just as the waters of the ocean rise...so they fall. The high tides of this battle seemed to have run their course too...and the ebbing has begun.

[hellcat]

Colonel Belchekov burps quite quietly for once and mutters that it will be time to return home soon and that he is hungry. 'What about the Fascist pigs?' I ask.

He peers through his, German, binoculars and says ' Look, what are they going to do?' He pauses for a moment 'They will lick their wounds, they will retreat, and then, then Vasily, we will catch up with them once more...'

[Orzel Bialy]

After spending almost twenty minutes outside herr Oberst and I dust the snow off our jackets and caps and then slide back into the turret.
As we get ourselves arranged Hauptman Briess comes over the radio with news of his success to the south. His Tiger has helped put an end to a T-34 that was roaming our flanks. However, he is not declaring his operation over....as he is sure this Ivan machine was not alone. Herr Oberst tells herr Hauptman to continue "holding the line".
We then turn to the maps and begin to plan for how we shall dis-engage once our re-inforcements arrive from the south. There will be much to do in terms of repairs and over-hauls to the detachments equipment...and training for whatever meager number of replacements we may be lucky enough to receive.
A few minutes pass before there is a thump on the turret hatch. Karl swings it open and takes a note from a runner and then passes in over to me.
"gute Nachrichten?" Herr Oberst inquires.
"Ja!" I reply. Major Kappel reports he has managed to take out another KV-1 along the river bed near "die verzweigung". That should help Hauptman Briess remain free to deal with any other Ivan machines that may have snuck over further south.
As if that news were not good enough we begin to also receive reports from Major Kleinamen that he is attempting to shove Ivan back across the river in the area of "der Hugel".
"Herrlich!" herr Oberst comments and slaps his knee. For the first time this day a true smile appears on his red, wind-chapped face. I can not help but to smile myself.
Hauptman Keller joins in the radio chatter with the news that he has made some further progress and is just north of the isba...in the large farmers field. Herr Oberst knods agreeingly...but says nothing. Perhaps he doesn't want Hauptman Keller to know just yet that his hard won territory will probably have to be abandoned for tactical purposes later on.
"Wenn nur wir nicht so viele Verluste früh an erlitten hatten." I say to herr Oberst...who knods once again in agreement and replies, "Es könnte ein herrlicher Tag gewesen sein."
Yes...if only we had not suffered so many losses early on...at der Hugel especially...we could have been in a much better position to force our hand on Ivan.
Alas, it was not to be.

[hellcat]

Ivan has just about packed up to head for home, we're not achieving any gains now...

[hellcat]

I got one last Stug in the North on the last round... It's a Draw...

Germany 10284
Glorious People's Army 8090

Losses (Germany first)

Men 402/806
Art 0/0
Soft 0/2
APCs 16/25
AFVs 19/46 (man I didn't know I had that many!)

OOBs and analysis to follow after we swap passwords

[Orzel Bialy]

The radio traffic continues to deliver promising reports...so much so that the tense atmosphere that filled the command tank for a better part of the day seems to have lifted. There are smiles from time to time now...and even a joke or two. However, whatever joy we feel at having accomplished the mission we were given is tempered by the losses that we have suffered. The count is high both in men and material.
As we sit there listening to the radio chatter Karl slowly reaches into his jacket and produces a flask. As he twists off the cap the sweet smell of schnapps fills the turret. He glances at me and then at Herr Oberst.
"ja ja. Gehen Sie voran." Herr Oberst says with a quick smile.
Karl takes a swig and passes it to me. I raise it to my lips and take in a quick gulp...the taste is wonderful to my cold, numb body and weary mind.
I then hold it out to herr Oberst. He looks at the flask and then at me. I smile and nod. He gives a glance at Karl, who also smiles and with that he takes the flask from my hand and puts it to his lips and takes in two large swigs. He then hands it back to Karl and says" danke".
At this point, for whatever reason, we all laugh a little bit and nod our heads...as if the act of drinking has finalized the fact that we have managed to hold off Ivan for another day.
But soon we realize that there are still matters to be attended to and we get back to work co-ordinating our plans to wind up our operations. It would seem that Ivan is no longer in a position to threaten us with a breakthrough now...so now comes the task of consolidating our positions...no small task. We forge ahead with our planning...outside the snow has stopped...and the din of battle has faded as well. The battle is winding down and only some parting shots fill the air.

[hellcat]

Soviet OOB

HQ
1 cavalry platoon
1 Motorcycle platoon
1 KV-1E m.41 squadron (5 tanks)
1 T-34E m.42 squadron (10 tanks)
1 T-30 Platoon (Recon tanks)
1 122mm Artillery battery
2 fwd Obs
1 BM-13 Katyusha Platoon
1 120mm Mortar platoon
2 Tachanka Platoon
1 SMG Platoon
4 M5 Halftrack Platoons
2 Partisan Platoon
1 Sappers Platoon
1 Ammo carrier section
1 GAZ-AA-25 Platoon
1 82mm Mortar Platoon
1 Engineer Platoon
1 SMG company
1 Paratroop Company
1 Guard Inf Company
1 T-34 m.42 platoon
2 SU 76 platoons
1 OT 134 Platoon
1 KV1E m.41 section
1 T-34 m.42 section
1 GAZ M1 emka utility vehicle

Reinforcements

1 KV1E m.41 Squadron
2 M5 Halftrack Platoon
1 smg platoon
1 motorcycle platoon
1 T-34 m.42 platoon
1 Paratroop platoon
1 conscript company
1 gaz m1 emka utility vehicle

[Orzel Bialy]

1 x Ger HQ
1 x 150mm Baty
1 x Hvy Mtr Sec. (2x120mm)
2 x Pz Plt ( 4xSdkfz7/1) * 8 total
4 x Ju52 Transport
1 X FJ Plt (never used due to deployment error!)
3 x Recon Plt
2 x Spec Ops Plt
1 x Hvy Pz Plt ( 4 x Tigers)
1 X Med Pz Co (12 x PzIVg)
1 x StuG40 Bat (10 x Stug40)
2 x Pioneer Plt
1 x PzG Mech Plt
1 x SS Mech Plt
1 x Sdkfz Mech FO
2 x FO
5 x sniper
1 x 88 AT/Flak Plt (x4)
4 x Sdkfz 7

Re-inforcements

1 x Hvy Pz Plt (4 x Tigers)
1 x Med Pz Plt (4 x PzIV)

[Orzel Bialy]

Wow...where to begin?
First of all, great game Hellcat! Talk about thrillers! At no point was there a side that had a clear cut advantage across the board. If Hellcat pushed me back at the Hill, I pushed him back up at the orchard...if I, in turn, pushed him back at the hill, he pushed me back at the junction. Back and forth it went all battle...which was just great.
Hellcat certainly came close to breaking my front in the center and to the south. Only the presence of the Tigers held him up. Even though they had poor kill-to-shot ratios ( I calculated about 20% tops) the amount of punishment they were able to absorb made the difference.
Having lost "der Hugel" once was more than enough for me...I had no desire (and not enough forces to lose!) to try and have to take it back a second time. Several times Hellcat pushed infantry right up to the edge of the hill...only to have the Tigers and one valliant StuG40 beat them back.
Not having enough forces to start with ( in my opinion) I took the advice of Goblin and called for re-inforcements on my first turn. A good thing too...as without them I would not have been able to fend off Hellcat's attacks. I also used a lot of snipers as scouts and posted them along the front...moving them out of harms way in order to keep tabs on points where I though Hellcat might be able to sneak in behind me. They spotted several of Hellcats units this way...and it helped me deploy ambushes on a couple occassions.
Another tactic that paid off was taking my 4 88mm ATG's and placing them along the river bank, further back...as a bulwark defensive line should Hellcat brush aside my smaller force I had deployed to the south. Though they may not have scored a lot of kills...just one or two shots was enough at times to slow the advances enough to buy time.
Holding in the south as best I could and not allowing the center to break were mainstays of my battle plan...but the biggest gamble that paid off (to me at least) was my spur of the moment decision to open an offensive push in the north...which turned into the battle for the orchard. I did it in order to force Hellcat to send forces up north and away from the hill...where any extra Russian forces probably would have allowed him to break through and take the hill and possibly the game as well. What started as a "trick of sorts" soon turned into a real blessing as I was later able to use this force to assist the center forces in pushing the Russian forces back in the center as well.
The last thing I did that really saved me from Hellcat's "bleed him to death" tactics was saving four tanks (2 Tigers and 2 PzIV's) as a Fire Brigade...which rushed to the hill two times to check Hellcats infantry...and then headed south to check his break through in the south. Without that force I would have been in serious trouble.
As for Hellcat...all I can say is he is a Hell of an opponent! He had me on the ropes twice and I thought he just might carry the day. Only some tough Tigers and luck helped me hold him off.
I look forward to our sequel battles to follow. Yes, that's right...we will meet again.

[hellcat]

Man what a fight! btw - I had a couple of HT recon platoons (mixed rifle and smg squads) in place of probably an extra HT platoon and SMG squad as noted in my OOB. I have taken to writing my OOB down during selection now to avoid confusion later.

Despite early success on both the hill and in the orchard I did not consolidate it enough early enough to be able to hold onto either. I fear I was too cautious in the first turns and not cautious enough in the later ones. Breakdowns were not such a problem for me this time although I did have two KV1s and two T-34s immobilised for most of the game and unable to get into the action. The frozen river was the main issue that stopped me in this fight, forcing me to swap long range shots with Tigers and Stugs that rarely ever landed a successful hit. The river stopped me closing with the enemy to the point that I could get some good kills.

Orzel really turned around my success in the North and although I didn't vector that many forces t deal with it, I had to pull back and force a defensive line which thankfully held. There was also a field with bushes lining the frozen river along my bank which allowed me to spot Orzel's movements opposite and also to pop out and take shots from time to time when there weren't too many Tigers looking my way.

My partisans didn't achieve much and not all even turned up, which was a shame.

What would have I done diferently in retrospect? I would have moved everything with speed at the beginning in order to invest Orzel's side of the river with as much of my force as possible rather than stopping in the village. I would also have sent a proper force to that far South route where I came so close to breaking through to Orzel's rear areas. And maybe I would have used more partisans or dropped some paras too. I think I would also have taken some AT Guns as at several points in the game I cursed myself for not having them.

'43 (I find) is a tough time for Russkies as their guns begin to develop issues with killing German armour and this doesn't really resolve until much later in the year.

part 2 - 'Summer Fury' will be starting up soon... May '43.

It really was an amazing fight and quite amazing in that despite spirited aggression on both parts the spirited defences managed to pretty much hold regardless of side. Just about every unit earned their value.

[Orzel Bialy]

Got to like the sound of that one! Oberst Thielemann and Colonel Belchekov will be trading blows once again.
Better get busy training our replacements and patching up those StuG's and Tigers!
From here on in...it will only get harder for my German units, especially when Hellcat is able to start putting JSU's and T-34/85's in the field!
Better enjoy this next battle as much as I can!

[Goblin]

An excellent DAR guys! Hurry and start 'Summer Fury'! We can't wait....

Goblin- A Goblin is eager:)