Dec 23, 2013

AAR - Blitzkrieg!

Sergei looked up on the warm Autumn sun, and thought, 'I should have had more of vodka.' He and his platoon were waiting just a little off the muddy road leading to Bolshaya Poluninka, from where, judging by a tall cloud of dust, the fascists were advancing. Next to him, Ivan fiddled with his Mosin and of course almost stabbed his own palm with a bayonet. 'Quiet, you two! Learn discipline like good Communist!', groaned Sergeant Pulakhyev, a stout Ukrainian. A few moments later the engines of the German tanks could be heard, the battle was commencing.

Early times on the Eastern Front, a company of fresh Red Army troops faces the German advance. The germans have two Regular quality platoons and a squad of Elite SS infantry.

Edit: forgot to add the "read more" option, now here it is. Don't like walls of text on the main page.

Soviet OOB
BT-5 (Light armor, Medium gun)
T-26 (Light armor, Medium gun)
BA-10 (Light armor, Medium gun)

2x Rifle Platoon with LMG
1x Rifle Platoon with SMGs and LMG squad

Air support: 1x Il-2, 1x LaGG-3

German OOB
2x PIVD (Medium armor, Medium gun)
1x StuG III (Medium armor, Medium gun)
1x Pz. 38t (Light armor, Light gun)
1x Opel Blitz
2x Sd.Kfz. 251 with MG-34

SS Infantry squad, deployed in a 251
2x Infantry squads with LMG
2x Infantry squads deployed in the Blitz and the other 251

Air support: 1x Me 109E, 1x Fw-190A, 1x Ju-87

Overlay of the map. The Russians (sadly as it turned out) did not concentrate their infantry.

Sergei still missed Captain Ivanova, that red-headed bitch. She has been the last in a long chain of 'mopping up' the remnants of those who presumably opposed Comrade Stalin and were exterminated. The new company commander, Volcheyev, was a very stupid man.
The company started moving slowly, without the precise motion expected from well-trained soldiers. Sergei fought against the Finns two years earlier and he did not like what he saw now. 'Hand me the vodka', he told a fresh conscript kid. His rifle was taller than him, yet he drank like there was no tomorrow.
But was there?


German deployment, they begin with a quick movement forward along the road.



Sergei now could see the oncoming planes on the edge of the hills. There were three of them and the Soviet air support was nowhere to be seen. 'Son of sow radio break up again', he muttered.



On the left flank the 251s circle round the enemy and deploy the two squads of infantry ready to fight. The BA-10, with some difficulty, climbs up the small hill and tries to attack them in the rear - resulting in death by AT rifle. The hit is hard and the vehicle burns out.


The BT-5 outflanks one of the PzIVs and kills it dead, while the German tank commander's PzIV destroys the T-26.


Artillery barrage hits the largest Soviet platoon, killing and wounding 18 men. 


The German planes arrive at the scene but cause little to no damage. One can also observe the two German squads lining up the stone fence from one side, the shooting here was very fierce, however, both sides being mostly in cover, the losses were few.

Sergei dared not yell at Captain Volcheyev to commence a charge. The Reds were pinned down and there was nobody else to give the order to attack the fence the Germans were hiding behind. He has gone through five clips of ammo now, the stock of his Mosin was hot and he wished the battle to be over. The German Messerschmitt soared above them after a short burst from its machine guns, but luckily no man was hit. Everybody fell to confusion as there were reports on the now magically working radio: Platoon 1 was attacked by the devils of the SS while Platoon 2 was essentially wiped out with an artillery barrage. This is when, according to Sergei, Comrade Frunze would have started a bayonet charge. But there was no Frunze nor Voroshilov around.

The German platoon commander gave orders for his MG team to climb the hill and the Russians came under crossfire, holding their ground.


The BT-5 engages with the HQ PzIV and is killed. The Russian commander orders retreat (still having two platoons almost intact and air support on the move). The Russian commander was very frustrated because the BT blew up, so the surrounded infantry yielded in an instant instead of retreating properly.

This AAR would be dedicated to Mikhail Kalashnikov, had the Russians not lost.

8 comments:

  1. really fascinating, thanks for sharing!
    may mr. Kalashnikov rest in peace.
    bye

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  2. Nice battle report and pics.

    Merry Christmas to you and your family buddy!

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  3. Nice work and play. The aircraft blasting through the sky are terrific.

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  4. Hi András!

    Merry Christmas! Nice report, but one little mistake.
    Early war panzerfaust? Bit of a time travel equipment Mate, use anti tank rifle instead.

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  5. A nice, free-wheeling sort of game. I dare say you have mentioned it before, but I'll ask here: what rule set were you using? Just curious, you understand...
    Cheers,
    Ion

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. It's my house rules Inter Arma, the modern version.

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