Tiger Ambush?

 

Sometimes we tinker with historical scenarios at our peril!

 

 

Take last Thursday's Battle Group Kursk game at the uni - I wanted to recreate the ambush of an entire Soviet Tank Corps by 18 Tigers of the 505th Heavy Tank Bn....A historical outcome should have resulted in a table littered with burnt out T34s and T70s, with the half dozen Tigers barely getting their paint burnt. On the actual day, 6th July 1943 - Day 2 of Operation CITADEL- the 505th destroyed 69 tanks of the 16th Tank Corps at no loss to themselves, albeit with artillery support. However, our game did not replicate this wanton slaughter in anyway! And I can't even blame John's tactical expertise, old soldier though he may be, nor his gift of apparently having the dice Gods at his beck and call!

 

 

No, the reason was I tried to turn it into a balanced scenario, and clearly got it wrong. So instead of a one sided, but historical game, we actually ended up with an interesting and thought provoking evening's play that seemed to get the most out of the Battle Group rules, although we did not have any infantry on the table.  

Some say that the ability of a much weakly gunned tank to temporarily neutralise - pin - a much more heavily armoured opponent is unrealistic.
And it certainly feels odd for your fearsome Tiger to be pinned by the 45mm gun of a T70! But I simply don't have a problem with it - after all, after capturing an intact Tiger in late 1942, the Soviets went to a lot of time and trouble to research and train their troops in how to score immobilising or disorientating hits on Tigers by aiming at the running gear, periscopes etc. And you do need a 6D6 to achieve a pinning hit, so its not happening all the time.

No, the problem with the scenario was how I had interpreted the terrain. Unable to obtain specific information about the ground over which this ambush was sprung, other than that it happened 2-3 klicks due south of Podsoborovka, halfway between the village and Hill 274, I decided to give the Soviets a chance by providing some lateral dead ground and a balka on each flank of the village, this giving a choice of covered approaches to the attacker.

In the foreground, a covered approach, and in the far background is the balka - nice approaches for fast moving armour...

I suspect that, even if such dead ground had been available, the tankers of the 107th Tank Brigade, rushed in to seal the gap in the line the 505th had caused the previous day, had not had time to scout approaches and were not expecting to meet the 505th so far south, hence the devastating ambush...

 

As it was, John made good use of both the balka and the dead ground to get up close and then lay down heavy pinning fire at medium range from hull down positions...Whilst enough of a credible force survived the artillery gauntlet in the balka to emerge and keep half the Tigers pinned on the other flank:

The constant need to draw Battle Rating Chits to unpin Tigers was slowly but steadily whittling down the 505th's Battlegroup rating...So that at the crisis of the battle, when the T34's were out in the open and closing at medium to close range and the Tigers were just starting to exact a toll....

My Battlegroup rating fell below zero and the company had to withdraw...

If you feel challenged to produce a better scenario of this ambush, or just get hold of a damn good read anyway, may I recommend Colonel Chris Wilbeck's Sledgehammers: Strengths and flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in WW2, published by The Aberjona Press, USA 2004.

Battle Group Kursk - Charge of the Death Brigade

 

There are some battles and operations that just defy translation into a wargameable scenario, not necessarily because of size, everything is scaleable, but because of the unbalanced odds and the sheer lunacy of the fighting. The actions of  3^rd SS Panzer Division ‘Totenkopf’ to take Hill 213.9, as part of the Mius River actions in the aftermath of the Battle of Kursk is one such action.

 

Essentially it is a WW2 armoured version of the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’: German Panzers and Panzer Grenadiers charging along a neck of land overlooked by heights on 3 sides which are lined with heavy Russian guns. The offensive action undertaken was foolhardy in the extreme, as the failure of supporting actions to clear the Totenkopf flanks meant that they were assaulting into a ‘kill sack’ of long range effective anti-tank crossfire.

 



 

Ground. The area of Southern Ukraine around the Mius river is heavily undulating, with the terrain furrowed by ridges and carved by numerous watercourses, often dried out in fierce Russian high summer, but liable to flash flooding - balkas. The land is fertile and well watered, so that the ground is covered with high vegetation and crops.

 

The Red Box in this map was be the table area, representing the high ground between the two balkas stretching from Height 214.9 to 213.9.

Hill 213.9 is the end of a rising finger of land isolated by deep river valleys (Balka) on both sides, so that it forms a peninsular of high ground, yet overlooked by the next higher range of hills on either side. The startline for the attack was at the Western end of this peninsular, the objective at the Eastern end. The entire area is overlooked by the surrounding high ground, used by the Soviets to emplace large calibre artillery and long range anti-tank guns.

The 213-214 ridge was densely vegetated yet overlooked on both sides...

Table layout. Two 6 x12 Foot tables laid side by side represented the Hill 213.9 ridge. Observation and Gunnery from the surrounding ridges was calculated off table - two batteries of 203mm Heavy guns! The table was covered with one contour elevations and patches of vegetation at random, and any static unit was automatically deemed to be in cover.

Situation. As Operation ZITADELLE, the battle of Kursk was drawing down, with Totenkopf having fought bitterly to establish the Southern pincers high water mark at the Pena bridgehead, the Soviets launched their strategic counter stroke, Operation RUMYANTSEV, both North and South of the Kursk salient.

 

Particularly threatening was the Soviet 1^st Guards Tank Army’s lodgement across the Mius River to the South of the salient. In order to push this back, the II SS Panzer Corps was moved South and reassigned to General der Infanterie Karl-Adolf Hollidt’s reformed 6.Armee in the Southern Ukraine. The Bridgehead had to be pinched out at all costs before it was given time to develop into a full scale offensive.

 

Together Totenkopf, Das Reich and 3^rd Panzer (replacing Liebstandarte, en route for Italy),  conducted a counterattack from July 30 to August 2 that eventually eliminated the strong Soviet bridgehead over the Mius River. During these July-August battles for Hill 213.9 and the town of Stepanowka, Totenkopf suffered heavy losses, and over the course of the campaign on the Mius it suffered more casualties than it had during Operation Citadel. By the time the Soviet bridgehead was eliminated, the division had lost 1500 men dead and the Panzer regiment was reduced to 20 tanks.

For this scenario, we focused on the first Totenkopf effort to drive an all arms Battle Group across the neck of land linking Height 214.9 to Hill 213.9.

 

 The Totenkopf battlegroup had to advance in the teeth of dug in infantry and anti tank guns, localised tank counterattacks, and medium and heavy artillery fire directed from three sides, as well as crossing a heavily mined area.

The Soviets had ample artillery assets, on and off table. Photo courtesy of Kaptain Kobold

Mission - German team (Mark and John G): Totenkopf Battle Group is to assault Hill 213.9 using shock action and fire and manoeuver.
 



Photo courtesy of Kaptain Kobold

  

Mission - Soviet team (Alan and John T):
 
Second Guards Mechanised Corps is to destroy assaulting elements of 3^rd SS Panzer division Totenkopf.
 
  
 
German Assault Engineer and all recce troops were designated 'hard targets' for the game, representing their particular skill in maximising the ample cover, and to discourage the targeting of what should have been the crucial role of the Engineers in clearing a path through the minefields.



This scenario and game was always going to be a challenge, but it was specifically requested by our mate Mark as having always been on his bucket list, and as he has been unwell I wanted to make it short but memorable – lots of toys on the table but a quick evening game. This involved several local rules and some heavy manipulation of the respective battle group ratings. 

Both teams; Mark and John G as the Germans and Alan and John T for the Russians; were given the opportunity to pre-register artillery targets. Having just lost their field artillery to an airstrike, the German team seized the opportunity to make best use of their remaining Mortar platoon. For the Soviets, concentrating their lavish artillery assets at Corps level, as a scenario specific rule, would have given them twice the beaten zone with 4 such fireblows, at the sacrifice of being able to request impromptu missions as normal. This was an attempt to reflect the burgeoning concentration and sophistication of Russian artillery tactics detected in the late summer of 1943. However apparently this course would have stifled Alan’s creativity or somesuch… Fine.

 

I’m sure Stalin will be understanding if it all goes pear-shaped…

 

Given the victory conditions, the Germans had a choice between methodically mopping up the Soviet defences, perhaps paving the way for a follow-on attack (as actually happened) or going ‘blitzkreig’ hell for leather to capture Hill 213.9 and ensure that no unpinned Soviet units remained within a metre radius of the spot height. How quite by chance, my pregame ‘random’ sprinkling of small copses and small hummocks of ground ended up with the Eastern table looking quite well covered, and the Western one much more open. Perhaps because of this reason the German team seemed to decide on a combination of tactics.

 

I had insisted that they had to deploy the Tiger company on the left, historically, and the German team used the 88’s useful HE firepower to methodically start blowing apart the Soviet trenches. Whilst on the other more open table, the Panzer IV’s and mounted infantry were pushing hard for the objective.  

 

However with the scenario set for 7 moves, as it was inevitably going to be a slow game with ambitious size forces for relatively inexperienced Battle Group Kursk, and the mutually supporting Russian Infantry, antitank guns, and dug-in T34's proved a challenging task for the Tigers to overcome in close country.

 

A 57mm Anti Tank gun is on equal terms with a Tiger with a close range shot into its rear, and even the venerable PTRD anti-tank rifle can take out a Sdkfz APC when the infantry is concealed and keep their nerve.

Over on the (unintentionally) more open flank, fast moving PzIVs proved vulnerable to the overwhelming Soviet heavy 203mm and 122mm barrages, so that by the end of move 5 the only German armour close to Hill 213.9 was ablaze! As time was running out we drew stumps. 

As well as thanking all who took part, I am especially grateful to John G (pictured left) as the German commander for putting his heart and soul into what was really a pretty hopeless proposition from the outset! The main thing is that Mark (on the right) enjoyed the game and can now cross that one off the bucket list! 

Additionally, having calculated seemingly endless Soviet off table artillery missions, I at least am now much more confident in using the Battle Group Kursk artillery rules, which seems to me to be one of this ruleset's big pluses, that and the reactive orders, and the chance to lay suppressive fire.

Battle Group Kursk - the Psel Bridgehead

This Thursday at the Uni we played another game of Battle Group Kursk, this time with the aim of getting a better understanding of indirect artillery fire and air raids. The scenario was loosely based around the struggles in the river Psel Bridgehead on the 12th July 1943 between a Totenkopf battlegroup and elements of the 52nd Guards Rifles. The scenario I prepared quotes liberally, but in bowdlerised format, from Dennis Showalter's excellent 'Armour and Blood', which for me is the seminal overall account of Kursk.

 

Ground:

Rising ground stretches North from the the Psel River around Bogoroditskoe to Hill 226.6, behind which lies the key Karteschevka-Prokhorovka road. (Kart-Prok Road).

 

The area is dotted with woods, folds in the ground and small villages. The outskirts of the village of Mikhailovka is on the Eastern edge of the table.

 

The yellow rectangle represents the 12 x 6 foot table.

 

Totenkopf’s forward edge of the battle area is delineated by the Blue map trace, just South of the railway embankment.

 

Soviet elements of 52^nd Guards Rifle Division are located North of the Red trace.

Situation:

" II SS Panzer Corp commander Paul Hausser’s orders for July 12 were straightforward. No more fooling around. This time apply the panzers' mantra: Klotzen, nicht kleckern ("Stomp, don't tickle" is an approximate rendering of the German colloquialism). That, however, did not mean a massed frontal attack, three divisions abreast, into the teeth of Russian guns. Hausser intended a sequential operation. Totenkopf's armored battle group would cross the Psel and push north, then turn east on reaching the Karteschevka-Prokhorovka road, which on the map offered a clear route into the rear of the main Russian position.

The Sixty-ninth Army had taken a predictable initiative by ordering its counterintelligence department-a uniformed branch of SMERSH (the Russian acronym for "Death to Spies")-to prevent further abandonment of the battlefield. By 4:00 P.M. on July 13, the responsible senior officer reported 2,842 officers and men "detained" and the mass retreat stopped.

 

Otherwise, the front commander was playing with an empty pocket. Every available formation of any useful size was committed to the defense or the counterattack. The commander of the 81st Guards Rifle Division ordered his regimental commanders to "introduce the strictest discipline" and "implement Order No. 227." Order No. 227, mentioned earlier in the text, was Stalin's "not a step back" directive of July 28, 1942, forbidding any commander to retreat without orders and allowing the summary execution of "panic-mongers and cowards" by specially organized "blocking detachments." That aspect of the order had been unofficially dropped a few months later. But on July 12, the Sixty-ninth Army's SMERSH detachment improvised seven of them. But if the Soviet defenses were shaken, the front never cracked.

For their part, the Germans were showing the effects of wear, tear, and grit in the machinery. Here, as elsewhere in Manstein's sector, it was not just a matter of too few tanks at the sharp end. Too many veteran crewmen, too many experienced company officers, were gone. At dawn, Totenkopf's advancing panzer group discovered that the Russian infantry to its front had been relieved by the Fifth Guards Army's fresh 3rd Guards Rifle Corps: three divisions reinforced by extra guns, rocket launchers, and antitank guns.

Totenkopf's panzer grenadiers were sufficiently hard pressed that tanks repeatedly had to be brought forward in support. Heavy Soviet artillery fire forced SS riflemen to seek protection under their own tanks-a last resort for an experienced infantryman. Then the Shturmoviks joined in-unopposed.

The initial objectives of Totenkopf's armor, however, remained: two hills high enough to command the surrounding terrain.

 

Occupying that ground were two Guards rifle divisions. The 52nd, moving into its own assault positions, was taken by surprise when the SS appeared to the front. But the Guardsmen were a match and more for Totenkopf's panzer grenadiers in both courage and tactical skill. According to a political commissar, their political spirit was also high. "

Mission:

German Commander’s Intent – Seize Hill 226.6 to dominate the Kart – Prok Road.

Totenkopf Battle Group ‘Kaiser’ is to clear the wooded area South of the Kart – Prok Road of enemy infantry and guns.

 

Execution:

The Soviet player will deploy first anywhere N of the Red map trace, including positions in Mikhailovka if desired. Any positions in the wooded area, or Mikhailovka village, may be dug in prior to game start. All other positions are hasty and have no protective value.

 

The German player will then deploy on the start line, anywhere up to the Blue Map trace. All units to be on table.

 

The Soviet player will then start with one Sturmovik air raid, 2 A/C each carrying one large bomb, and 1 artillery bombardment of both 122mm batteries.

The German player will then start the first ‘free’ move…The game will end when either BG reaches its BG rating or the German Player has cleared the objective. 

 

Air strikes. Preliminary Soviet strike as above, Stuka strike as below, then if drawn, armament as specified.
 

Local rules.  As detailed below, Totenkopf AFVs made a point of crushing Soviet slit trenches. Any unpinned German tank which spends half its movement on a Soviet position destroys that gun or section.
 

 

Battle Group ‘Kaiser’   3 x Tiger 1E 3 X Pz IV 6 x Pz III 2 x Panzer Grenadier Platoons with 251 APC 1 x Panzer Grenadier Weapons platoon with 251 APC (3 x 81mm Mortar, 2 X MFC, 2 x SFMG) 2 x Wespe and support group, FAO (netted and surveyed prior to game start)   1 X Stuka Strike (2 x Medium Bomb) Order move before.   Battle Group Rating 37 (Exhausted troops) Elite Orders 3D6+2 (Exhausted troops)

52nd Guards Rifle Division ‘Mikhailovka PakFront’   1 x 76.2mm DP AT gun battery (4) 1 x 57mm AT Gun battery (4) 2 x 122mm Howitzer batteries (4 each) 1 x AT platoon (2 x 45mm AT gun) 1 x MG Platoon (4 x Maxim) 1 x Rifle Platoon (4 x Infantry Squads)   Battle Group Rating 25 Inexperienced Orders 2D6+1

How it played

 

Its fair to say the initial Soviet airstrike lived up to its historical role, knocking out the handful of Tigers still remaining to Totenkopf. Glum faces on the German team! To add insult to injury the preliminary Soviet 122mm Howitzer bombardment then pinned half the remaining panzers... Well, if you will send an entire armoured division into the rear zone where all the guns are, across a single river crossing... 

Did I mention the Soviets has lots of guns? To many for our command dice rolls, anyhow, as it left very few order activations for our infantry and anti-tank guns by the time we'd fired off two whole batteries of howitzers!

 

Nonetheless with admirable fortitude the German team pressed on - it was beginning to look as if their plan was to clear out the village of Mikahilovka which presented a threat to their right flank from the battery of 57mm ZIS 2s we had in there...

 

I was too hard pressed trying to coordinate the Soviet defence with consistently low orders rolls to take any photos, but John's infantry and panzers worked together with faultess all-arms cooperation to systematically clear the village - but not without cost and slowing up the main advance as the German panzers hesitated to present their flanks until the village was cleared...

 

However it was our artillery which was holding the Totenkopf advance up, consistently pinning sufficient of their AFVs and infantry trying to advance up the centre of the table. 

 

So that it was actually the German panzer grenadiers that were making the running, forcing our forward observers to pull back from their forward positions on the edge of Hill 226.6. I think that the subsequent disruption to the previously continuous hail of effective artillery fire gave the German team the clue as to what they needed to do if they were to reach the objective - target our artillery with their pre-booked airstrike!

 

With devastating results! Most of our guns destroyed, those remaining pinned! This reduced our Battlegroup rating to a dangerously low level! The panzers forged ahead past the village with renewed confidence...Only to lose a few more Panzer IIIs to flanking shots from our remaining anti tank guns.

 

However as the German Panzer grenadiers eventually assaulted and destroyed the Russian infantry in the village, as feared our Battle Group rating tilted past break point - only to be told the Germans had also just reached theirs - with the objective, the woods, still untaken and full of fresh Russian infantry. We decided to call it a draw!

 

Most of the feedback from the players was positive about the scenario, although as always some players are more comfortable with absolute adherence to the rules and balanced point systems, whereas I prefer to think of the rules and points values as an aid to recreating a historical scenario. Given the historical outcome of the day's fighting, once again given in much abbreviated format below from Showalter, I think the scenario and game was a success. It was certainly in balance down to the wire!

 

What actually happened:

"Positions changed hands so often that the exact course of events remains vague. The SS, with Stuka support as welcome as it was belated, made enough initial progress to generate hope for the long-delayed linkup with Leibstandarte.

 

 

German accounts describe spectacular explosions, huge fireballs-and enough losses of their own to instill caution by the time Hill 226.6 was firmly in German hands. The tanks and panzer grenadiers encountered a series of defensive positions, some prepared and others improvised, all bristling with antitank guns.

Totenkopf's tankers made a point of crushing trenches and foxholes, burying defenders alive under their treads. But not until 3:00 P.M. did the Germans begin breaking Soviet defenses beyond immediate restoration.

Not all the comrades were valiant. Some of the 52nd's regiment and battalion commanders reported sick, straggled to the rear, or just ran away. When the panzers reached Hill 236.7, elements of the 95th Guards Rifle Division also broke and scattered. But around 4:00 P.M., 33rd Corps ordered maximum protective fire: every gun and rocket launcher that could come to bear was to target Totenkopf's tanks, even if they were in Russian positions. The barrage removed the impetus from an SS attack already eroded by a defense stubborn enough in some positions to be suicidal.

Small-scale advances nonetheless continued. As of 10:45 P.M., Totenkopf was comfortable reporting that its panzer group had reached the Karteschevka-Prokhorovka road-a day late and a large number of men and tanks short. On the map, only a few miles separated Totenkopf from the road leading into Voronezh Front's rear zone.

By now, Totenkopf's panzer grenadier companies were down to fifty men or fewer, so tired after days of close combat that the standard stimulants were having an opposite effect. The panzer regiment had lost almost half its tanks fighting its way out of the Psel bridgehead. Forty-five had been destroyed or damaged, including all the Tigers. "