‘Neva Rumble’

Sinister Forces Scenario No.7

Ostradnoe 7th September 1941

Scenario completed : 19th May 2010

As the former Karelian border guards made ready to defend the Neva River up to the mouth of the Mga River, the Germans attacked. Forcing the line and crossing the Neva would cause the Soviets tremendous difficulties in operational depth for their 42nd Army. Already the noose around Leningrad's west side was closing to artillery range, and STAVKA desperately needed the German advance to the east stopped, lest they achieve artillery range on that side as well. Although the former border guards were lacking in heavy weapons of any sort they had one thing in their favor: heart.

The German attack was given only a short operational time to be effected. Just three and a half hours to assault the town of Ostradnoe and at the same time, sending more Divisional troops onwards to further objectives. With speed of the essence in that case, at 0800 the German commander sent his infantry forward straight ahead towards Ostradnoe. Taking the initial bombardment with very few casualties, their numerous MG teams came in behind them and instantly begun sending down effective supportive fire over their heads at the town’s defenders. Having weakened the defences on the perimeter of Ostradnoe, the infantrymen assaulted the town’s suburbs. Of course, the fighting was tough, but the Germans were making some headway. Also, Russian local tank support in the form of weak T60’s had in general, been knocked out by the German Pz III’s.

For the defenders part, the Soviet infantry forces consisted mainly of keen NKVD men backed up by some RKKA troops. With no MG support at all, they were well served with long range fire in the form of 6 x 76mm batteries and decent OBA. They had manned Ostradnoe quite deeply and the chances of the Germans capturing the town quickly appeared pretty much very slim. The Russian command had also protected the bridge over the River Neva quite densely with ordnance and men in order to discourage any Axis ideas of advancing across the river. But in the meantime, the Germans had captured their outer objectives of Ostadnoe at the cost of 185 men and 4 Pz III’s. The Russian defence at this point had losses of 315 men plus 16 tanks.

With part of the town in their grip, the Germans now attempted stage two of their objectives. That was to get men away and further forward deep into the enemy lands.(exit board). A mix of infantry and tanks now pushed for the thin corridor between the river and the large wooded area in the distance. Finally sensing what was afoot, the Soviets dispatched whatever forces they had available to try and prevent this breakthrough. A mix of Russian infantry and KV-1’s headed for the bottle-neck. About half of this German force managed to squeeze past, but the rest were held up by the determined Russian defence. Both sides threw whatever they had at the location. Tanks, infantry and artillery bombardments, but the thin Russian line refused to crack against the desperate efforts of the strung out attackers.

At 1100, and with time running out, the Germans switched to a furious assault on the rest of Ostadnoe. They decided that if they could not get the requisite troop movement forward, then they would throw the Soviets out of the town. With engineers, tanks, infantry, MG’s and their best officers, the Axis troops carved through the town’s streets, emptying house after house in a mercilessly short time. Russian casualties totted up at a frightening level as no surrender was accepted from demoralized defenders and the Kommisar order appeared to be enacted to the letter. German losses too, due to the house-to-house nature of the fight, were higher than would normally be expected. But for all this fury, the Russians just held onto the smallest of toe-holds as one platoon and its officer could not be budged out of the town’s environs in time. This bloody battle ended with the smallest of minor Russian victories as the German attempts fell short by mere yards (1 town hex & 1 hex short on exit). : Losses German = 405 men + 16 tanks (34 steps), Soviet = 812 men + 20 tanks (55 steps) :

In this short but counter heavy scenario a mixed German force have to cross one board and exit and also gain a toehold into a town on the way. All this in 15 turns is a big ask. The Soviet's also have 2 KV1 platoons and 6 76.2 batteries to bolster the defence. My redoubtable German commander started well with an excellent manoeuvre which brough a withering HMG fire on the outskirts of the town. The brave Soviet defence started to crumble, however when the Germans tried to exploit thier sucess they got bogged down in urban fighting. On such a tight timetable this proved to be the turning point and although the Panzers made a dash to get off the board and win the game they fell just short by a couple of turns.

This scenario looked like a tough slog, so I thought I would try the Laskas variant rules for PG that are meant to speed it up. The rules did play faster, since it is IGO-UGO, and I think they made this scenario a bit more enjoyable, but I don't think I would use the variant very often. Most PG games, with 1-2 battalions per side, are pretty tense and exciting.

In this scenario the RKKA piled into the town, one of the German objectives. The NKVD and the AT guns spread out in the woods and open ground between the town and the exit edge objective of the Germans. Half the German force went for the town, half went on a sweeping move around the town. Russian AT guns shredded the PzIIIs, but the flanking force succeeded in getting off the map. The town assault was partially successful, claiming over half the town, but petering out with heavy casualties.

The Russians and Germans both achieved a minor victory, for a scenario draw. I don't think this scenario is winnable as the Germans. It is very tough and only the variant rules I used kept this one close.