A Stronger Effort Workers and Peasants #23 |
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(Attacker) Germany | vs | Soviet Union (Defender) |
Formations Involved | ||
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Germany | 10th Panzer Division | |
Germany | 2nd SS "Das Reich" Division | |
Soviet Union | 29th Guards Rifle Division | |
Soviet Union | 42nd Guards Tank |
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Overall Rating, 2 votes |
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3.5
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Scenario Rank: --- of 940 |
Parent Game | Workers and Peasants |
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Historicity | Historical |
Date | 1941-10-15 |
Start Time | 10:30 |
Turn Count | 15 |
Visibility | Day |
Counters | 123 |
Net Morale | 0 |
Net Initiative | 2 |
Maps | 2: 11, 23 |
Layout Dimensions | 56 x 43 cm 22 x 17 in |
Play Bounty | 166 |
AAR Bounty | 165 |
Total Plays | 2 |
Total AARs | 2 |
Battle Types |
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Urban Assault |
Conditions |
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Off-board Artillery |
Randomly-drawn Aircraft |
Terrain Mods |
Scenario Requirements & Playability | |
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Battle of the Bulge | Maps |
Eastern Front | Counters |
Elsenborn Ridge | Maps |
Sinister Forces | Counters |
Workers and Peasants | Base Game |
Introduction |
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With SS Reich Division having taken and then lost both Artemki and Utitzy all on the same day, LX Panzer Corps ordered Brigade von Hauenschild to swing part of their force south to retake Utitzy. Both sides had been bloodied on the previous day but the stakes were too high to allow time for regrouping. |
Conclusion |
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Early in the battle, the commander of SS Reich Division was seriously wounded when his halftrack was hit by a Katyusha rocket. Nevertheless, the SS men rallied to take Artemki in heavy fighting, only to be thrown out again by a counterattack. On the other hand, Utizy fell to Brigade von Hauenschild and remained in German hands. Farther north the Soviet 5th Army's commander would be seriously wounded organizing a defensive line against Brigade von Hauenschild. |
Additional Notes |
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German army SK9 substituted for the Luftwaffe one in the scenario book. |
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 Pz IVe appearing in the original Panzer Grenadier game had an Anti tank value of 4-7. As of Afrika Korps (2002), continuing onward through the 3rd and 4th edition games, the anti tank value has been 4-4. (plloyd1010
on 2016 Jul 25)
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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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Kommissars never get morale or combat modifiers. Ignore misprints. (Shad
on 2010 Dec 15)
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Stronger, but still not enough | ||||||||||||
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This is a continuation of the Borodino mini-campaign in the W&P supplement. After the loss of Armenki, the Germans throw the 10th Panzer Division with the 2nd SS Division to retake the town. The Soviets have a purely defensive force of infantry and guns to defend the town. The Germans have the advantage of the number of troops, number of tanks, OBA and aircraft. But the Germans have some flaws, namely morale of the SS troops and that the 10th must attack the farthest away from attack on Armenki. This will force them to reduce the other towns of Borodino Station and Ozety before they join the main attack. The Soviets understand this issue and setup to defend Armenki but position enough of a force to make the 10th Panzer Division attack before pivoting south. This is slow them down and burn through time, which is also an issue for the Germans. The 2nd SS Division is too weak to attack alone against the defended town. They will need to probe for weak spots and force them while waiting for the 10th to arrive. The 10th advances onto board 24 and proceeds to close on both Borodino Station and Ozety. Two groups of battle groups close on the towns but Soviet defenders are tough and put up a stiff fight. This ties up the 10th for most of game but they do reduce Ozety and Borodino Station, but this keeps them out of the fight for Armemki, which is left to the 2nd SS. There fight is the one that is a bit more interesting. The 2nd SS move to attack the town of Armemki along the southern edge. The Soviets have placed 76.2mm AT guns to guard the western approaches with dug in infantry to their front. With the lower morale this will make assaults tougher to close on and more infantry units will be disrupted and demoralized before any assaults. In the southern end of the town there is only a Soviet INF and reduced HMG. As the Germans close the Soviets shift infantry to support the INF/HMG. The SS men are able to close and assault but not after having to recover from the OP fire. Soviet artillery was keep to slowing the Germans. Just as the SS STUG rolled up to help with initial town assault, they are hit with OBA and the STUG is demoralized. Later the OBA hits and kills the SS Colonel leading the battalions. Slowed and temporarily stop the SS floundered at the outer Soviet defenses. Repeated assault finally take two town hexes but this is not enough to get twice as much VP's than the Soviets, so the German assault fails. Despite this short AAR the scenario is quite fun and can go either way. German luck was failing with several repeat assaults were required by the 10th. Soviet troops were in good spirits to hold the towns while the Germans seemed easily broken by fire. The SS were particularly a challenge with the lower morale and with the 7-0-0 Colonel who panic and was killed. |
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0 Comments |
A Stronger Effort Succeeds for Germany |
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This scenario is a classic demonstration of the advantages of higher morale and good infantry/armor cooperation. In the northern half of the battle area, German Heer with good morale and plenty of armor face two villages defended by Soviet infantry with equal morale. In the south, poorer quality SS troops with practically no armor support face a larger town defended by more Soviet infantry. Both sides have off-board artillery. In the north, the Germans advance quickly to good firing range and begin to reduce the towns with Direct fire and artillery. Once they soften up the defenders, combined arms teams of armor and infantry move into the assault. Both northern towns are cleared by 1230 and the northern forces move south to assist the SS. The Russians use most of their artillery in the south to break up the SS infantry's advance. Disruptions and Demoralizations slow the Germans to a crawl. The SS troops spend a lot of activations regrouping. As the number of activations per turn rises, they are also hindered by Fog-of-War rolls, as the Germans give priority to the north where things are going well for them. In the last hour-and-a-half of the scenario, the German armor and nearer infantry move down from the north to help out the SS. The SS is finally able to close on the town and commence some assaults, with the armor doing most of the heavy lifting. The Germans are able to take just under half of the southern town, with one-third still in Russian hands and the remainder still contested. Between the town hexes controlled and the heavy losses inflicted on the Russians, the Germans get the victory. |
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