Bucha, Ukraine - 27 Feb 2022 - 15mm
Stalingrad Playtesting Almost Complete
Down to the last few scenarios – playing out engagements in the hellish winter of 1942-43.
Scenario 10: Operation Uranus (Zhukov Strikes): November 18, 1942 - Sirotinskaya, South of the Don River. The Germans in Stalingrad have driven themselves to exhaustion, and the Soviet defenders stand at the brink of collapse. Only now does Soviet Marshal Zhukov release his carefully-hoarded reserves in Operation Uranus, This is a huge double pincer smashing through the Axis flanks miles behind Stalingrad, encircling all of the German 6th Army (and part of the 4th Panzer Army as well). Ill-prepared Rumanian troops were largely responsible for holding these flanks, but German units were struck as well. Here we see reeling remnants of the German 384th Infantry Division (Infantry Regiment 535) struggle to hold back rampaging spearheads of the Soviet 65th Army, including 4th Guards Rifle Division (11th Guards Rifle Regiment) and 3rd Tank Brigade.
Right off the bat, things get very hairy here on the German left. Sturmovik air strikes have hit some (but not all) of the German 7.5 cm antitank guns. So the Soviet tanks are wary of advancing toodeep in that frozen brush until Guards infantry can clear them out. A massed infantry assault is bloody, and the Germans hit back with a battalion-level mortar barrage. Making matters worse, a bad Soviet roll activates a German sniper hidden in that barn to the right.
With the German left wing caved in, the Soviets set to work rolling up the German line. They have to take TWO road exit hexes to score a wide enough breakthrough for commanders back at Battalion and Regiment. But those German antitank guns are still in position, and the Soviet tanks use buildings to screen their initial movement. The ATGs hit Soviet infantry instead, inflicting enough damage that, well ... the infantry won't be able to clear out those ATGs for the tanks after all. The tanks will have to charge sooner or later.
The tank charge is bloody, but not as bad as initially feared. The first gun is overrun after missing a point-blank opportunity fire roll.The second gun hits one the tanks afterwards, but now the Soviets in their next turn should be able to knock out that last gun position dug into that Soviet farmhouse. Steiner is there, but he has no antitank grenades and only a four-man MG team ... Even Steiner (note the "Valourous" medal indicated unlocked abilities) can't assault two T-34/cs with so little firepower.
"Winter Storm" - Manstein's Gambit: December 18, 1942 - Near the Myshkova River, Southern Russia. Huge Soviet armies have sealed 6th Army and units of 4th Panzer Army in a vast pocket, pinning them in the ruins of Stalingrad. These Germans are ordered to stand fast, despite their desperate situation. Help is promised in the form of Operation "Winter Storm" under the command of the legendary Erich von Manstein. This is an armored drive from the southwest, aiming to punch through the Soviet encirclement to relieve “Festung Stalingrad.” One of the obstacles this German relief effort must overcome is the Myshkova River, defended by elements of the Soviet 2nd Guards Army. Here we see units of Panzer Grenadier Regiment 126 and Panzer Regiment 201 (23rd Panzer Division), hitting elements of 6th Guards Mechanized Brigade and 117th Corps Artillery Regiment.
Two PzKpfw-IIIJs have flanked the Soviet left,sealing off one of two objective bridges. They could only make this move after blowing that Soviet 76.2mm divisional gun out of that barn behind them. In their flanking maneuver, however, they got too close to some Soviet guardsmen in that farmhouse, and one of them had antitank grenades, which they then MISSED with in their attack. Bad luck plagues the Germans as well, TWO hits were scored on flank armor on that T-34 (the last one) and both failed to penetrate that sloped armor.
One of the playtesting games ends in a draw. A handful of German infantry (mostly leftover mortar crews) and the last PzKpfw-IIIJ hold the two bridges. The Soviets gather everything they have left and launch two assaults on the last turn of the game. The German mortar crews ... against all odds, hold out at one of the bridges. The tank does not. Each side thus holds one of the two objective bridges, indicating a draw.
Part of the map and set up for the final, hopeless, doomed defense of Festung Stalingrad. Freezing, starving, diseased, abandoned ... a collection of German half-squads braces for the inevitable end in the ruins of the downtown civic district, probably not far from the "Universimag" department store where Paulus has his headquarters bunker. The scenario takes place on January 27, with elements of the 100th Jaeger Division against the 52nd Guards Rifle Division. Paulus will surrender in four days. The last German holdouts in the north (XI Corps) will surrender three days after that.
Wow Jim you’ve been a busy bunny I see some of your sitreps video’s to catch up with.
Thanks very much, @zorg . Yeah, it has been literally insane this summer and fall. Litrally TODAY or early tomorrow at the latest this will be wrapped up with final playtesting updates and results submitted to my publisher / developer … and this will finally be complete.
Might actually get back to painting some minis at the end of this year! 😀