Flames of War: FIRESTORM KURSK - Game 7 North

Exterminate! Exterminate!

On Thursday the Wollongong Wargamers played their seventh game in our Firestorm Kursk Campaign, this time set on the Northern Front on the 7th July. The German push continues, with the Germans well and truly astride (enmeshed?) in the middle of the Soviet defensive zone, but beginning to run out of momentum…or not?. A small Kampfgruppe has been tasked to capture the tracks towards the eastern flank: Netrubezh Station was nothing more than a few buildings and train sidings and tracks, but if cut would disrupt Soviet communications...  

The campaign so far:

Game #	Date Played	Historical Date	Sector	Result	Organiser
1		Z1 5 July	North	Soviets Hold	Ralph
2		Z1 5 July	South	Soviets Hold	Ralph
3		Z2 6 July	North	Soviets Hold	Bryan
4	11 July	Z2 6 July	South – Pena R	German breakthrough Soviet 1st Line	Ralph
5	5 Sept	Z3 7 July	North	German breakthrough Soviet 1st Line	Peter
6	19 Sept	Z3 7 July	South	Sov CA - Germans Hold	Bryan
7	31 Oct		North		Colin
8	14 Nov		South		Ralph
9	tba	12 July	South - Prokhorovka	Soviet CA	Ralph

The main characteristic of the Northern sector was that the German command did not want to commit too many panzers, aware that the Soviets were massing armour to their north for their own forthcoming offensive. So actions tended to be infantry centric, supported by Tigers, with limited objectives for each offensive pulse.

Accordingly Colin picked the Bridgehead scenario, and together with Bryan laid out an attractive table for us to battle over:

He based his 120 point German force on a Tiger platoon of 2 Tigers and escorting Pz III, a PanzerJager section of 3 x Marders, 2 x Panzer grenadier platoons, and an Assault Pioneer Platoon – the German forces in the Northern Sector generally seemed much more professional in anticipating the needs presented by lavish Soviet minefields and swampy terrain...

 As to picking our Soviet force, I was tired of seeing mounds of burning T-34s and wanted to try out some shiny new KV-1s I had recently picked up at the MOAB bring and buy. 

Whilst they have identical firepower, their frontal armour of 9 might help when facing Tigers! A company of 6 neatly comes in at 60 points, my exact share of our joint force. For his infantry force, Bryan astutely plumped on the Hero Motor Rifle Bn, which allowed him to take a single, but very large, MR company and a rather handy  SMG armed Assault Group of his beloved Cossacks, supported by 3 x 120mm mortars. In ambush was a battery of anti-tank guns, modelled on lend-lease US 57mm/UK 6 Pounders but using Russian ZIS-2 57mm stats.

In accordance with the scenario, we had a very generous 5 minefields to lay, entirely in keeping with the Kursk battlefield, where the Soviets even deployed Army level mobile mine laying units who were quickly able to lay thousands of additional minefields in the path of any German breakthrough. We laid the mines in a near contiguous belt sealing off the left and centre approaches to the bridgehead. We laid the 120mm mortar DF marker on the remaining road junction that wasn’t mined.

My KVs were kept in immediate scattered deep reserve, at 50% of our points, which meant that Bryan was free to deploy all of his infantry formation, which he did, concentrating on a loose knit defense of the overall objective area. Combined with the mines and DF, I have to confess to feeling a little smug at this stage. Then Colin deployed…down both flanks!

He didn't waste much time going into the assault with his infantry from our centre right and with the pioneers sneaking around our extreme right flank, infiltrating in through a big loco shed...The resulting assaults...

Were beaten off by the skin of our teeth - but Colin's infantry and pioneers had been allowed to get way too close to the objectives! I had failed every reinforcement roll so far, but on the third turn my sole reinforcing platoon got to come on automatically and fortuitously the die roll for where it came on put them right behind Colins left most platoon, which had been sneaking up on the left hand objective. Now my natural instinct was to head straight over to say hello to the Tigers, but Colin pointed out that there was no point in mixing it with Tigers if we lost the objective! Reluctantly I headed for the infantry...

And owing to the 4 mgs these beasts carry, and an assualt rating of 3+, pretty much banjaxed the entire mob of Landsers, poor devils!

In the centre it was Bryan's turn to assault, counterattacking with both his Motor Rifles and Cossacks, pretty much destroying another Infantry platoon with the Cossack SMGs...



Colin realised he was running out of options, but still had his all powerful Tiger platoon in hand...

However Colin also had a trick up his sleeve - the Anti Tank Platoon was still held in Ambush, and now seemed the moment to deploy from some cover nicely positioned on the flank of said Tigers...

 And they claimed one Tiger - Game over!  It is beginning to look as if the German offensive has run its course, in the Northern sector at least...In a couple of weeks we will return to the South to see it the 2nd SS Panzer Korps can keep things moving...

Thanks to Colin for another interesting and challenging scenario and to Bryan for helping out with the terrain - and for restraining my wilder impulses!