The Battle - 0700

We left elements of the 8th Panzer Division behind as we approached the Dvina River bridge. The Soviet uniforms were itchy as our truck bounded along the road.

We passed some SMG platoons who seemed to take no notice of us. I assume they just thought we were returning from the front.

We got to the bridge and disembarked from the trucks. The Soviets got suspicious so we opened fire and took out half the infantry platoon. We stopped the Soviets from blowing the bridge and within minutes the armour and APCs of the 8th Panzer had arrived.

The fighting was swift and fierce, but the Soviet SMG platoons were too far forward and were swamped by the 8th before they could effectively react.

Some reinforcements attacked us from the east while we were finishing off the Soviet infantry. We lost about half of our men, but soon had the Soviets running back to town. It was about 0800.

The 8th Pz sent a couple infantry platoons after the Soviets while we tended our wounded and began to remove the explosives from the bridge.

Within half an hour, the 8th informed us the area was clear. A handful of Soviets were holed up in a small warehouse in town, but were expected to surrender as soon as the Panzers rolled in.

Aside from the loss of half my commandos, the operation was a complete success. About 150 Soviets were captured or killed.

Lt. Von Trapp, Brandenburg Detachment

Aftermath

An interesting situation and a very quick scenario to play. As noted, the Soviets may have done a bit better had their SMG platoons clogged up the road. Only for the purpose of slowing down the Panzers. There was plenty of time available for the Brandenburgers to advance.

Scenario Rating 2/5: Interesting situation but quite “scripted”.

COMING SOON! - SCENARIO 15 – Zelva, The Soviet Break-Out.