Drive on Ponyri I: Grand Ambitions Burning Tigers #20 |
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(Attacker) Germany | vs | Soviet Union (Defender) |
Formations Involved | ||
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Germany | 292nd Infantry Division | |
Germany | 656th Panzerjäger Brigade | |
Soviet Union | 676th Rifle Regiment |
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Overall Rating, 8 votes |
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4
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Scenario Rank: 109 of 940 |
Parent Game | Burning Tigers |
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Historicity | Historical |
Date | 1943-07-05 |
Start Time | 07:30 |
Turn Count | 17 |
Visibility | Day |
Counters | 97 |
Net Morale | 1 |
Net Initiative | 2 |
Maps | 2: 40, 42 |
Layout Dimensions | 56 x 43 cm 22 x 17 in |
Play Bounty | 150 |
AAR Bounty | 165 |
Total Plays | 6 |
Total AARs | 2 |
Battle Types |
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Breakout |
Delaying Action |
Road Control |
Urban Assault |
Conditions |
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Entrenchments |
Minefields |
Off-board Artillery |
Randomly-drawn Aircraft |
Smoke |
Scenario Requirements & Playability | |
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Burning Tigers | Base Game |
Introduction |
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The 292nd Infantry Division planned to quickly secure Aleksandrovka on the first day of Operation Citadel, then wheel to the left and take Ponyri in conjunction with the 86th Infantry Division. Such success by the foot soldiers would set the stage for the exploiting panzers to shine as they had in Operation Barbarossa. But this was no longer 1941. |
Conclusion |
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In their quest for Ponyri the grenadiers received support from a detachment of Elefants. These monsters boasted 200mm of front armor and mounted a KwK 43 88mm gun comparable to those on a modern battlefield. Several shortcomings offset these advantages: no cupola for the commander and no secondary armament for self-defense. To compound such matters their slow speed made it difficult for them to escape enemy tank killing squads. German officers quickly learned that fighting here would be different than before. Soviet soldiers, trained rigorously by Kommissars and technicians to deal with enemy armor, could contain German attacks. They allowed the Elefants to roll over their foxholes, then emerged to wreak havoc on the supporting infantry. Time and again they forced the Elefants to turn back and fight over ground their commanders considered already won. Even worse, once the Elefants became separated from their supporting infantry they became easy prey for tank killer squads who favored firing flamethrowers into the air intake vents. Despite these setbacks Aleksandrovka fell under the German boot. |
AFV Rules Pertaining to this Scenario's Order of Battle |
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4 Errata Items | |
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The reduced direct fire value of the Heer HMG became 5-5 starting with Fall of France. (plloyd1010
on 2015 Jul 31)
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The morale and combat modifiers of German Sergeant #1614 should be "0", not "8". (Shad
on 2010 Dec 15)
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The movement allowance on the counters in Airborne is misprinted. It should be "3." (rerathbun
on 2012 Jan 30)
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The reduced direct fire value in Kursk: Burning Tigers is 4-4. (plloyd1010
on 2015 Jul 31)
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Grand embitions, meh, results | ||||||||||||
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The Germans initially had a major victory in mind. However, with there being 17 turns and FoW shortening 3 of them, time was on the Soviets side. The Germans did manage clear the town hexes, on the very last turn in fact. The Soviets held on grimly, drawing out each assault on an entrenchment or town hex. The Goliath did well, better than recent scenarios. The Germans, after engaging with the elefants at range, knocked out Soviet positions closer in. In the end the Soviets just didn’t have enough to prevent a German minor victory. The Germans hit each strongpoint en masse and managed to clear the town hexes and the road for a minor victory. |
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0 Comments |
Elefant letdown |
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Thought this one would go to the Hitlerites pretty easily. I mean they have 2 Elefants and a Goliath. The Soviets set up mainly in the town with entrenchments and very strong minefiel draws ringing the city approaches from the North. A few observation outposts and a few dug in emplacements were placed to slow down the Hitlerite advance. The Wermacht set up in 2 lines all the way from board side to side in a manner to activate all units thru subordinate leader activation in basically 3 turns. The attack started from both flanks with the Wermacht right making good progress most of the game. The Elefants move up slowly and attacked dug in positions at range. They were impervious to any a/t attempts. They got a little too far ahead of the infantry and were assaulted. One was demoralized which lost the Goliath attached to it. It was getting late and the rest of the Germans attacked in a full Pickett's charge assault. The hope was to clear the town and the road at the same time and achieve a minor victory. They were 2 late starting the assault and got mauled by mines and triple stacked, entrenched, Soviet infantry and HMG units guarding the minefields. Learned the value of a good minefield defense. Fog of war was pretty helpful to the Russians. Another 7-10 turns and the Hitlerites probably would have won. |
0 Comments |