At 1545 on July 5, 1943, elements of the German 19th Panzer Division of Army Detachment Kempf established a bridgehead over the Northern Donets River during the first day of Operation Citadel. Once the bridgeheads were secured to protect the flank of the advancing II SS Panzer Corps, the tankers could move northward. However, determined Soviet forces from the 228th Guards Rifle Regiment and 78th Guards Rifle Division were entrenched along with the 4th Anti-tank Rifle Battalion on a ridge East of the German position. In the area due east of the hill, elements of both the 262nd Tank Regiment and 1438th Self-propelled Artillery Regiment remained out of sight of the German advance. Both flanks below the hillside were also mined. As the German infantry probed the left flank, they were surprised by three platoons of T-34’s, which caused a rapid retreat along with significant casualties. The fighting then centered on a series of skirmishes between the two ridges on the hilltop east of the river. At 1645, the Panzers began to arrive to support the infantry; however, by then the T-34’s and an Su-122 had moved forward along the German left flank, and they caught the arriving Panzers in a vicious crossfire that destroyed both a Panzer IIIg and IIIj. By 1715, the Panzers had established their position on the battlefield and moved forward behind the Soviet troops on the ridge. They were able to inflict damage on the Soviet reserves east of the hills, and, by 1830, ultimately took control of the town and trail over a mile east of the hilltop. Then, a contingent of the German infantry, along with an engineer platoon, moved forward on the German right flank toward the village SE of the hilltop. Meanwhile, the Soviet troops on the hilltop had moved west with support from the T-34’s (the Su-122 had succumbed to fire from the Panzers by 1800). A series of clashes on the west edge of the hilltop resulted in the loss of Major Higgendorff, and Captain Faschenbader replaced him in command resulting in morale issues with two of the other officers. The Soviet progress had the German troops back on their heels, but a logistical shortfall that occurred around 1915, followed by a critical shortfall at 2000, compromised the Soviet opportunity to push the beleaguered Germans from the hilltop. During this period, the Panzers and the engineer platoon, now transported in an SPW-251, had moved eastward out of range. Based on victory points that were determined at 2030, the Germans had a 61-48 edge for a “major victory”.

This scenario has been described by others as a “slugfest” and I found it to be much the same. If I hadn’t used the shortfall optional rules, the Soviets would no doubt fared better, but could they have picked up the additional 13 points needed for a draw? Probably not based on the way the hilltop skirmishes played out. So, despite some remarkably fortunate die rolls for the Soviets throughout the scenario, they fell short. The final count on actual step loss points was 39-38 in favor of the Soviets. The Germans held the only town that was not contested at the end, while the Soviets claimed the hilltop hexes 9-3, with one still being contested. The big difference came from the 14 points that the Germans accrued from moving units off the east edge of the map (14 points) and a one-step engineer unit and full strength Pz.IIIn east of the trail at the end of the game (5 points). Both of the latter options seemed a bit gamey, since a real-life situation would have left those units isolated behind the lines with the Soviets reclaiming the bridgehead; however, these were the victory conditions, and the German army played it to win.