Zelva, Near Minsk : 26th June 1941

Scenario played : Saturday April 12th 2008

This scenario is designed to represent Soviet forces trapped amongst the encircling and fast-moving Panzer Divisions in the opening stages of Barbarossa. At the town of Zelva near Minsk, a battalion sized infantry force from the Soviet 29th Tank Division, supported with some squadrons of cavalry and also of T26 tanks attempted to breakthrough the encircling Wehrmacht and back to their own lines. Facing them was just one reinforced company of the 15th Motorized Infantry Regiment.

At 1100am the Soviet forces could be seen by the German motorized company some 2.5km away. The 5th company had deployed on a line dominated by hill 230 to the North and a small wood to the South. On the hill were deployed an 81mm mortar platoon and a section of 37mm AT guns, supported by the HMG platoon and an infantry platoon. 700m to the South were deployed two infantry platoons in the woods plus one more infantry platoon some 500m further South of the wood. As soon as the Soviets were spotted, the order to ‘dig-in’ was given whilst the mortar platoon opened up at 2km at the screening cavalry but with minimal effect.

By 1115am the mortar platoon began directing fire towards the Russian infantry. This long range fire did nothing to hold up the advance and the Soviets continued to stream forward practically unhindered. By 1145am the Soviet forces had pushed to within 400m-800m of the German positions all along the line. Strangely, the Soviet Commander had failed to send his T26 tanks to the fore? The attack had been little interrupted and the Soviets must have been happy at seemingly delivering an initially coordinated blow at the 15th Motorized positions.

By midday the Soviet assaults had begun at hill 230 and the woods. The Soviet commander inexplicably unleashed an unsupported cavalry charge at the now dug-in Machine gun platoon atop the hill and not surprisingly suffered horrid casualties with no effect on the enemy. The leading elements of the Soviet infantry were also mauled by the defenders, absorbing enough casualties to lend themselves to a demoralized state. At the woods too, the Red infantry suffered 75 casualties or more as the German infantry platoons positioned there were able to bring down a heavy and accurate small arms fire at their attackers. Despite this, at 1215pm, the Soviets were very much enveloping the wood. In balance, the first wave of assaulting infantry at hill 230 had been repulsed with losses of some 100 men or so.

With the hill looking much safer by 1245pm, the Germans released the two platoons of infantry on it and dispatched them with haste in order to support the position at the woods which was by now much outnumbered and also to try and hinder any Russians attempting to slip past and to safety beyond. It was not clear at this time whether this move was perhaps too late. Soviet infantry were now engaged in close quarters combat within the wood thus holding the German infantry there in check whilst their comrades continued to sweep round the area towards what appeared undefended territory beyond and perhaps a successful break-out?

Now two hours into the battle, four platoons of Soviet infantry engaged at the wood broke off and away eastwards to affect the break-out. To the North, the T26’s appeared to be passing hill 230 seemingly unmolested? Despite this apparent advantage, there were many Soviet troops from the first assault on the hill retreating back towards Zelva for the safety of the town having taken some punishment in that first assault. At 1.15pm, the German infantry released from hill 230 make contact with the four Soviet platoons trying to exit. The German infantry attacked them and halted them from making further progress as both sides engage in a firefight. At the hill, one squadron of T26’s are disrupted as their supporting infantry, perhaps as many as 100 are wiped out by the MG and Mortar platoon defending the hill. As a result, some of the tanks became reticent to advance further.

1.30pm and the Soviets engaged in the firefight with the German infantry lose some 50-60 men in the exchange as opposed to perhaps 10-12 German casualties. One Soviet platoon breaks out and the T26 tanks head east for what appears safety. By this time, the Soviet attack is bitty and uncoordinated and the battle had now settled down to a cluster of smaller actions that would all prove important to the final outcome. But as time wore on it became more and more evident that the Soviets had sustained too many casualties, including a number of tanks to the now re-deployed AT guns. As the battle petered out, Soviet break-outs totaled some 400 men and a squadron of tanks. By 4pm, some 500 or more Soviets had retreated back to Zelva, about 400-450 had been killed as opposed to only 40-70 German casualties. The break-out attempt had failed, perhaps only just? But enough to be considered a Russian defeat. The 5th Company, 15th Motorized Regiment had performed exceptionally in the face of over-whelming odds.