At 1300 on July 5, 1943, elements of the German 7th Panzer Division and 503rd Heavy Panzer Detachment of Army Detachment Kempf ran into stiff opposition during the first day of Operation Citadel. As they moved westward, they encountered a Soviet defensive line with minefields and entrenched & dug-in units from the 228th Guards Rifle Regiment, 78th Guards Rifle Division, 1st Anti-tank Rifle Battalion and 1438th Self-propelled Artillery Regiment. The central portion of the line was mined, with T-34, T-70 and SU-122 platoons dug in behind the minefields. The Germans opened fire with a massive artillery barrage and FW-190 sweep, and Soviet artillery responded once German targets were in sight. This was followed by a German armor advance in Panzerkeil formation with Tiger platoons at the point across the front. By 1330, the Soviet supply lines were compromised by Luftwaffe strafing of supply convoys resulting in a logistical shortfall. Meanwhile, fire from the Tiger platoons had claimed both a T-34B and a T-70. Tanks continued to exchange fire on both flanks, and a T-34C was destroyed on the German right by 1400. At 1415, another T-34C was brewed up by a PzIVH, but German supplies began to run short as well, a situation that became critical by 1500. By that time, the Germans had overrun an entrenchment with one of the Tigers on their right flank and were starting to open a lane from West to East. Another T-34B was eliminated by a PzIVH on that flank, but two PzIIIN’s ran out of fuel and were stalled. While continuous German assaults on the other Soviet entrenched units went on for another 1 ½ hours, the Germans were unable to clear a wide enough path free of Soviet resistance to claim success. This gave the Soviets a minor victory.

This scenario can be tough for a German victory if a strong Soviet defensive line is set up. In this case, the Soviets had interspersed their minefields and entrenchments in a defensive line from North to South, with all units in between dug in. The line was five hexes from the Western edge, which limited the amount of German units that could get into play without suffering stalls due to opportunity fire. When the Germans were able to penetrate the line and breakthrough, it was easy to get 15 points off the board to achieve one objective, but the Soviet forces were tough to clear from the entrenchments. There were two factors that prevented the Germans from achieving at least a minor victory by establishing a 4 hex wide path across the board: 1) the critical shortfall was very limiting, particularly in terms of armor survival, and this optional rule was probably inappropriate for this scenario; 2) fog of war came into play on 9 of the 14 turns, and some turns were extremely time-limited for the Germans to have a chance to move units into position. The Germans only captured one of the six Soviet entrenchments, but were engaged in assaults in the other five; however, they could never rout all of the Soviet units from them. In terms of step losses, the Soviets lost 44 steps to the Germans’ 24, and a good number Soviet units were either disrupted or demoralized for many of the latter turns, but enough of them retained their positions in the entrenchments to hold the line.