So back in Fallen Heroes Square...
Facing each other across the quiet of the Square are a platoon of Panzer Pioneers from PzPio Abt 50 lead by Feldwebel Karl Trost (AKA Paul D), and on the Soviet side an Infantry Platoon from the 339th Infantry Regiment of 308th Rifle Division under Jnr Leytenant Mikhail Saburov (Andy P).
Both platoons are already under strength - as a side note we (possibly foolishly) decided to start the campaign with some randomly determined losses so we rolled a D6 per squad to determine how many short we were from full strength. This is following the historical example - I had always assumed the Pioneers at Stalingrad were at full strength when they started, which had caused me some problems when I was writing a scenario for Battlefront WW2 battalion level games some years ago as we couldnt get everyone on the table! Since then many new sources of information have become available from authors such as Glantz and Mark and it is clear that those "fresh" units were already close to half strength BEFORE being sent to Stalingrad, and the Soviets had to survive a crossing of the Volga under fire to reach the city. In this case Trost was short 8 men from his book strength of 40, Saburov was short 15 men from his book strength of 41. We took this into account and recalculated Force Ratings at the campaign start. Andy P running the Sovs also decided to scrap one Squad from his orbat to boost numbers in other squads, Paul D had fewer missing so kept his "book" ORBAT for now.
Soviets deploy their 50mm mortar team and a rifle squad under Sgt Belik in
the trenches on the East of the Square, taking up overwatch positions. A second Squad under Sgr Zelenko is
holding the building on the North West corner of the Square known as Dom 1
Immediately the Germans deploy 1 Squad under in the
buildings West of the Square (Haus 4) , the other an LMG team with Trost in the centre of
their positions at Haus 2. Their fire kills a Soviet infantryman in Dom 1.
The Soviets return fire with their light mortar and place
suppressible fire on the German positions, but in return the light mortar is hit
again and the crew retires, costing the Soviets a Force Morale point.
More Soviets mass on the East of the square and consolidate their positions in Dom 4. They have a small but potent squad under Sgt Rashkova with a pair of DP "Record Players".
This position allows them to shoot up the German squad in Haus 4 across the Square. Obergefreiter Winkler is hit and wounded in Haus 4
Luckily the Germans have an attached Medic, and he quickly
moves to tend the NCO
On the East of the Square the Soviets squad under Sgt Shlepin start to move down the
trenches, attempting to outflank the German positions and consolidating around Dom 4.
In response to this outflanking move the Germans deploy
their Senior Leader to rally the forces in Haus 2 - what is rapidly turning into a
strongpoint. Their fire wounds a Soviet NCO.
The Soviets now have accumulated enough Chain Of Command
points to have a CoC dice – and after pushing forward to further outflank the
German strongpoint they use their CoC dice to move their Jump Off Point on the
East side of the Square behind Haus 1.
Meanwhile on the West side German fire is starting to tell –
three Soviets are now dead in Dom 1.
Back in the strongpoint the Trost deploys some troops to cover the threatened flank. All three Squads are committed.
The Soviet Senior Leader Lt Mikhail Saburov now bravely moves to join his
flanking Squad – under heavy fire from Haus 2. Totally ignoring enemy
fire he stands on the parapet of the trench and fires his pistol at the
Fascists, who respond with a huge volume of MG fire – and miss!
In the strongpoint two Germans on the ground floor are
killed by Soviet fire.
Saburov, still exposed, orders his men forward
with a Urragh!!, Shlepin and his men surge forward and at the same time behind the attacking Squad a small group
of pioneers with a ROKS2 Flamethrower deploys from Ambush using a CoC dice.
Although their fire and that of the attacking infantry causes a kill and 2 shock,
they fail to get close enough to close assault the German position.
The Germans respond with a hail of fire on the now exposed
Soviets – cutting down the squad with the exception of Shlepin who is wounded,
and two of the ROKs crew. The rest are forced to withdraw.
Shlepin calls out “Do svidaniya Rodina!” and throws a
grenade into the building before attempting to assault – but his bravery is not
rewarded and he slumps against the outside of the building hit again.
An eerie quiet descends, broken only by the cries of the
wounded. Both sides have suffered heavy casualties, and both are now at Force
Morale 4. Neither side has achieved their objective, and much blood has been
spent.
Losses on both sides were heavy, particularly the Soviets. Had the assault on Haus 2 been more successful they would have almost certainly forced a German withdrawal, but it failed, leading to a mutually agreed draw.
The wounded Shlepin manages to crawl back to his lines under cover of darkness
As both sides withdraw, their positions are already being taken by fresh platoons who will try again to take control of Fallen Heroes Square!
So a rather good game - we still have some homework to do - decide on post game results, possible medals etc. I was lucky enough that my platoon from Pio Abt 305 was not involved, but orders have just arrived, and it looks like were off to Fallen Heroes Square to see if we can succeed where the Panzer Pioneers failed.
