Maloye Utorgosh 15th July 1941

Scenario played : 26th July 2009

The advancing 8th Panzer Division had encountered increasing opposition since July 13th. On the morning of the 15th it became a full-blown Soviet attack. Soon the Panzer Division was cut off and under fire from nine enemy Divisions, and desperate calls for help went unanswered since 8th Panzer’s supporting Division, the 3rd Motorised had just been hit by a Soviet pinning attack at Maloye Utorgosh. At best, 3rd Motorised could hold position whilst 8th Panzer broke out and escaped to their lines. At worst, they would be cut off themselves.

The battle at Maloye Utorgosh kicked off with Soviet advances from the north and east at 0815 hours. Some 4 battalions led the assault, supported by a mixture of varying tank quality and a heavy mass of artillery support. The Germans set their MG coys in M.Utorgosh along with artillery and AT guns and the ‘stubble-hopper’ infantry dug themselves in at the grainfields and were generally not observable. They set their 3 platoons of PzIII’s, one at each ‘corner’ of the L-shaped line. The infantry and tanks would concentrate on destroying the eastern attack of the Soviets, meaning the northern wing would be dealt with by the town defences and any reinforcements left from the east part of the battle.

The Soviet attackers were allowed few targets to actually use their OBA against, whilst the German tanks and their own OBA hindered Soviet AFV moves. Right from the off, Russians began falling on the east side of the attack, 100 men in the first 45 minutes. In the next half hour around another 200 became casualties in what was turning into a massacre of the east wing. The Germans lost 50 soldiers themselves and came under pressure when Soviet troops finally entered the grainfields and vicious close-combat in the fields ensued. Despite this pressure, the attack was beaten off with the Soviets, if not killed, then the vast majority of others fleeing and demoralised.

Meanwhile the northern attack was being engaged at range and very much disrupted. The Soviets failed to get within 400 yards of Maloye Utorgosh and yet still suffered heavy losses. Only one bright spot occurred in the battle when six T28’s went head to head against four PzIII’s and destroyed them all. Two of the T28’s were eventually taken out by German infantry, but the Soviets had notched a mini-tank win against the Panzers.

Overall though, the slaughter had been pretty one way traffic, with the town never under threat. Both attacks from the north and east had been decimated and thrown back. The Soviets retreated in much disorder having sustained around 500 losses plus 4 tanks. The German defenders lost around 200 men and 6 tanks, but the attack had been truly beaten off.