Games and Reports
Assault on the Minsk Highway
With the recent focus on the 80th anniversary of D Day and the Normandy campaign it seemed appropriate to also do game to mark the 80th anniversary of Operation Bagration that launched on the 22nd June 1944.
The scenario we played was taken from the 3rd Rapid Fire supplement by Richard Marsh – Scenarios for the Russian Front 1941-1945. The game was played using Rapid Fire Reloaded rules.
The Russian objective was to get at least 2 tanks and 8 Infantry figures off the Minsk end of the board by turn 12. The Germans objective was to stop them.
The Germans decided to deploy their limited forces in three distinct defensive lines to try and slow the Soviet advance and hope they could delay the attacking forces long enough before they were overwhelmed.
The advancing Soviet armour was faced with a line of anti-tank defences and marked minefields they also suspected that there were some “unmarked” minefields deployed behind the barbed wire.
As the armour advanced they took the opportunity to for and start destroying the anti-tank defences and preparing the way for the advance.
One problem the Soviets had was lack of transport for their infantry who were forced to race up behind the tanks as fast as they could.
The Soviets quickly clear the road with the mine-roller but an SU152 falls victim to anti-tank fire, first blood to the Germans.
As the Soviet armour prepares to attack the frontline of German infantry become nervous as the direct fire HE fire starts to come in their direction.
The Soviet Airforce arrives spots the artillery and drops its bombs and misses! It then spends the next two turns flying about trying to spot new targets and fails before flying back to its base!
In the meantime the Soviet armour seems transfixed by the barbwire and the minefields and the attack seems stalled while the clock is ticking. The next wave of the Soviet aircover appears but this time before it can attack is promptly shot down by the German AA fire 😒.
A traffic jam is now developing after the mine-roller tank has been destroyed and vehicles will have to edge around it on the road.
Further casualties are being inflicted on the Soviet forces by indirect fire while they edge forward the heavy JSII tanks start to move to the flank. However the heavy fire on the first line of German infantry has forced a morale test and they break clearing the way for the advance.
As the Soviet armour finally starts to advance they become distracted again by a pair of Stugs who destroy the lead T34 and then attract the fire from all the Soviet armour for a couple of turns. 
Once the Stugs are destroyed the Soviet armour starts to load infantry to try and achieve their objective. But again the lead T34 and its tank riders are destroyed by the German third line of defence. 
By now turn 11 had been reached and the Soviets could no longer reach their objective so the game was called with a German victory. The Soviets had become distracted trying to destroy all the German forces rather than concentrating on the objective🤔.So in the end the Soviet players concentrated on destroying the German opposition rather than the victory conditions and basically blew it.
However there would be plenty of work for the Soviet recovery vehicle 😊.
A cracking and well balanced scenario using asymmetrical forces that did leave the German players feeling slightly outnumbered 😊.
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