Counterattack Near Uman-Scenario 3 Part 3 Bloody Footing

 Dawn broke and the Soviets had landed on the far bank. Could they keep it?

The Soviet left pushes inland. 

The Russians had made inroads across the front and landed infantry on the left, middle and right, and they did it with minimal casualties. The bombardment slowed the Axis response but German and Hungarian reserves were beginning to arrive. Soviet riflemen pushed into a wheat field on the left but were checked by a German infantry squad, two Hungarian rifle squads and a Panzer 3.  The death of one of the Russian squad leaders had slowed their  advance but a Senior leader now grabbed control of the squad and tried to push them forward. While one squad exchanged fire with the Germans, a second squad slipped into a fenced in yard near the smaller bridge. 

 The Hungarians shifted left to meet the new threat and responded with rifle fire.  Suddenly, the Panzer, throwing caution out with the beer stein (that’s an Old German saying…maybe) lurched forward, crashed through the fence, and managed to crush five Soviets to death under its tracks and wound the Senior leader who was trying to lend a hand.   The remaining Soviets fell back in terror but quickly devised a plan to send a tank hunting team with a satchel charge to deal the tank a lethal blow.   Using an interrupt action with a COC die, the Panzer reversed to the safety of the Infantry support behind it. 

The never ending tank duel on the bridge finally ended.  The Toldi again missed the T-26.  The T-26 bounced a round off the Csaba’s front armor and the Toldi likewise hit but couldn’t penetrate the little Russian tank’s shell.  The Csaba sidled to its left behind a haystack just in time for a Russian 45mm tank gun shell to rip into the hull of the Toldi and strike ammunition, causing the under strengthed Hungarian tank to go up in a giant ball of tank parts. 

Boom 

The T-26 smugly raced forward ripping out the barbwire obstacle blocking the exit to the bridge while Soviet infantry attempted to follow.

On the Soviet far right two infantry squads also began to cross the large bridge that led into the edge of the  German occupied city.  They used the carnage in the middle (soon to be described) to try to steal the flank of the distracted Germans holding the edge of the city.  No German troops occupied the giant warehouse facing the bridge, and the Germans were sending all reserves to the middle. 

In the middle of the line the meat was being grindered(definitely a word or should be.). A Soviet rifle squad had climbed from the raft into a small walled yard and into oblivion.  Obtaining a crossfire, a German infantry squad in an adjacent building hit the Soviets while a tripod mounted MG 34 and another rifle squad across the street poured fire into the flank of the hapless Soviets.   Then it became worse..

Worse

Metal tracks grindered (again…awesome) on the stone street as a StugD assault gun lumbered between the two occupied German buildings and poured fire into the pinned down Russians.  It was too much.  Just as a second Soviet squad entered the walled yard, the first squad was forced to pull back and out of the fight.  

There were more Russians. (There are always more Russians.). The newly arrived second Russian infantry squad took up positions along the same wall the other squad had just vacated and a Maxim machine gun was crossing the riverside wall behind.  Two more infantry squads entered the built up area from a small dacha to the left of the walled yard. 

Entering the city. The Soviet view

Soviet casualties were mounting and morale was dropping but they weren’t about to quit.  The volley of the evening was launched by the Soviet squad that was on the far side of the stone walled courtyard.  Aiming their rifles with care, the men of this brave squad shot down five Germans and wounded their Senior leader in a single round. 

Note: in game terms the Soviet squad rolled 16 dice and hit eight times on 4+ followed by rolling six sixes of the eight hits and essentially removing the German squad from the fight.  

Leader casualties were piling up on both sides. A German Junior leader in the house on the river fell followed by the Junior leader in the Russian infantry squad in the stone walled yard.  

The Soviets hopped a wall in the village in an attempt to get around the flank of the Germans in the city. 

The fight was now on all along the line.  No less than eight Soviet infantry squads were across the river.  The Axis forces were only able to engage with five.  The Soviets were finally starting to take punishment and the loss of leaders was concerning. Could the Soviets use their weight of numbers to overwhelm the Germans or would they falter?

Soviet Army Morale-26 (starting 35)

German Army Morale 20 (starting 20)

Counterattack Near Uman-Scenario 3 Part 2-The Crossing Begins

 In the pre-dawn darkness the Soviet troops quietly carried their assault rafts to the banks of the small river.  The German advance troops posted up on the far bank and waited for reinforcements to come up for the next day’s assault, not realizing the Russians had beaten them to the attack. 

All Quiet…

The Hungarian sentry detachment was posted up on the Axis right with a Junior Leader manning a searchlight.  Two German sentry teams held the middle and left.  A Second Searchlight stood by the larger bridge.  The three Soviet Jump Off Points were evenly spaced out on the opposite bank; one in the woods on Soviet left, one behind a small dacha in the middle, and a third behind a church on the right. 

Unloading and preparing to cross 

The Russian infantry squads creeped down to the river bank in the darkness and slipped the rafts into the water.  A near miss from a searchlight almost exposed the Reds in the woods but the light’s beam was too weak.  Quietly the rafts were crewed and the troops began paddling across.

The Germans and Hungarians failed to spot the rafts and soon seven rafts filled to the brim with khaki bodies were half way across the river. 

The crossing progresses. 

Meanwhile two turns ended and only one turn of darkness remained. On the Russian left one of the rafts was overly motivated and paddled ahead of the others.  The rest of the raft crews realized it was only a matter of time before the alarm would sound and didn’t want to be in a raft in the middle of the river when that happened, so picked up the pace. 

The motivated raft can barely be seen beyond the bridge like a khaki Loch Ness Monster

Sure enough, the Hungarian-manned searchlight caught the advancing raft in its beam at the same time a German sentry on the far flank sighted another pair of rafts.  The alarm howled; but was it in time? The first raft struck dirt on the Russian left and the squad disembarked onto dry land, scaring the lone Hungarian into bolting for the rear. The Russian invasion had begun.

Land Uurah!

The alarm bells triggered an immediate response from the God of War and Russian shells rained down on the German defenders.

Game Note: In this scenario the Soviets were given a delayed preliminary bombardment that could delay Axis reinforcements.  Although short lived, this one was effective)

The Hungarians were undaunted by the falling shells and deployed to meet the first landing party.  A panzer 3F was also able to arrive to support the Axis right flank.  All along the front the Russians were able to make landfall with minimal resistance due to the covering fire of the artillery.

For example…in the middle

The barrage, although effective was short.   The Germans brought an end to the barrage and the start of the dawn (they rolled three sixes to activate) and deployed from their bivouacs to meet the threat.

On the far Axis right an unlucky Serzhant leading his men across a wheat field was first wounded by a Hungarian bullet and then killed by a German bullet.  Otherwise, casualties were low.

More rafts landed in front of the built up area on the Soviet right and in the village in the middle.  Several brave squads even pushed across the bridges.

Next came the highlight of the session and an excellent example of why 1941 was a good timeframe for WW2 wargaming.

A very brave T-26 Soviet light tank raced across the smaller bridge.  An equally brave Hungarian Toldi tank rolled up on the opposite side of the bridge.   The Toldi claimed the first shot…and missed.  It shot again…and missed.  The T-26 halted and fired..and missed.   Hungarian reinforcements arrived in the form of a Csaba armored car which pulled up next to the Toldi tank   The Toldi fired and scored a hit…that bounced off the T-26.  The Csaba blasted away and also hit..which bounced off the T-26.  The war of the ineffectuals had officially begun.

This could take a minute 

The battle was now on.  

The first phase of the fight was over, and the second phase was about to begin.  The Soviets had a full six squads on the enemy bank with minimal casualties but there was a long way to go.

Soviet Army Morale-32 (starting 35)

German Army Morale 20 (starting 20)

Counterattack Near Uman-Scenario 3 Part 1 (The Rules)

 The Soviet repulse of Axis forces attempting to force a crossing at one of many rivers did not stop at Axis Juggernaut. Soon the German and Hungarian armies of the Southern Front worked around the Russians defending the river crossing and scooped up thousands of prisoners.  July 1941 was coming to a close and Uman was on the horizon. 

The Germans and Hungarians again came to the banks of another one of the ubiquitous rivers south of the soon to be encircled Uman. Advanced units reached the river near a now forgotten city and easily pushed the Soviets back across the river.  The main body of Axis forces and artillery were called up and en-route, but before any attack could be staged the Soviets pounced first…

Game Note

We did not plan to play this scenario immediately after already fighting a pre-dawn river crossing but decided to do so while all the rule changes we made from scenario 2 were rolling around our addled brains. Two significant changes were made: There would be a wider front with less depth (12’ wide by 6’ across versus 6’ wide by 14’ across) and this time the Soviets would attack. 

The Soviets would have two bridges and a boatload of..well..boats.  They could sneak or they could Uurah in a hurry before the Germans could set up a defense. 

The Modified Rules 

The Objectives-  There is a single objective for both armies.  Eliminate the Force Morale of the enemy. The attacking Soviets would start with a Force Morale of 35.  The Germans would start with a Force Morale of 20. This may seem high but there are three platoons per side. 

Recycling- Infantry squads of the Patriotic Motherland (The Reds) can be endlessly recycled.  When a Soviet squad is wiped out or Routs off the board, it is placed back in reserve.  Alternatively a Soviet player  may pull a squad of their choice off the board and place it back in reserves at any time but has to roll on the Squad Wiped Out chart  of the Very Bad Things chart (COC main book).  This second option could be useful when a squad is down to too few models to be combat effective.   Squads that are recycled are not available until the start of a new turn. 

                -Boats that reach the far bank or that are sunk can be recycled. They are placed in reserve and can immediately be used by attaching them to a squad entering via a Jump Off Point or can be placed within 6” of a Jump Off Point and picked up by any squad that makes contact with them.  Boats otherwise work under the rules of the Blitzkrieg Rulebook. 

Pre-dawn-The attack begins in the darkness of the Pre-dawn.  This means visibility is 16”.  Light comes at the end of three natural turns. 

               - The German defenders will only have 2 sentries per player and one Junior leader per every three players on the board when the game starts.  They will have three JOPs but these cannot be used until the alarm is sounded. Only one squad (or gun team) can use a JOP per phase . Only one vehicle can enter per phase. 

              -The Soviet attackers start with three Jump of Points placed on their table edge wherever they like.  These JOPs are immediately available but only one squad or gun team can enter per phase. Only one vehicle can enter the board per turn. 

             -Noise setting off alarm

Every time an attacker does one of the following the defending side rolls 1d6 

@-Infantry moves at any speed but At the Double- cannot be heard 

@-Infantry moves at the double-1-2 defender hears and sounds alarm 

@-Vehicle moves at normal speed   1-2 defender hears and sound alarm

@-vehicle moves flat out 1-4 defender hears and sounds alarm 

@-tank moves any speed    Automatic defender hears and sounds alarm

@-Attacker fires weapon.   Automatic defender hears and sounds alarm 

@- Attacker assaults defender team - roll 1d6. If the number rolled is equal to or lower than the number of dead defenders alarm is sounded. If any defender survives a round of combat they will automatically sound the alarm. 

      - Spotting Attackers. Any time an attacking squad, vehicle or gun team is in spotting range of a defender who activates; or an attacking squad, vehicle or team is spotted by a searchlight,  place a marker by the spotted team.  A defending squad or team can spot more than one attacking squad or team in the same phase representing an increased chance of seeing multiple squads sneaking by.  An attacking squad or team can be spotted by multiple defenders and have more than one marker placed on it. 

At the end of the next phase whether attacker’s-or in the case of a double phase roll-defender’s, the attacking player rolls a D6 for each marker next to a squad or team..  The attacker can increase or decrease the chance of being spotted by what action they take or don’t take during the phase directly after being spotted. 

Member Infantry standing still or not activated spotted on roll of 1

Infantry moving tactical spotted on roll of 1-2

Infantry moving anything else on a roll of 1-3

Vehicle standing still spotted on roll of 1-2 (tanks are automatically heard)

Vehicle moving spotted on 1-4 (tanks are automatically heard)

Assault raft floating spotted on a roll of 1

Assault raft actively rowing spotted on a roll of 1-2

  

    -Searchlight: The searchlight acts a bit differently. Any Searchlight on the board (there are two in this scenario) can be activated by a sentry team on a roll of a one (or three if ordered by a Junior Leader) When activated, a handy paper template is placed on the front of the searchlight (the template is a sleek design) and a dice is rolled to indicate which direction the spotlight is facing.  A two inch wide beam is projected out 24” in the indicated direction. If the beam crosses an enemy model without being blocked by scenery there is a chance the model will be seen and the alarm sounded. We used the shorter beam to allow the attackers to at least be able to reach the river before being spotted as happened last game. 

Only the finest tools will do 

Sounding the Alarm- The alarm is always sounded at the end of the phase in which a model is heard or seen. 

The Battle Begins…

 

River Assault: Scenario 2

 The German steamroller plowed on into the Russian interior.  Army Group South encircled numerous Soviet armies and appeared unstoppable.  Local Soviet forces resisted but were either crushed or bypassed as Von Rundstedt pursued his goal.  The Soviets under General Tyulenev attempted to blunt the attacks and use terrain to do so.  Rivers are hard to cross for an army. Defended rivers are very hard to cross.

While the Bug and Dniester were major river crossing operations there were also smaller crossings.  

Game Notes

The typical method of crossing rivers involved heavy artillery and air power.  This was effective but does not necessarily make for a tactically interesting game.  We decided to use stealth.   In doing so we had to come up with some additional rules.  There is always a risk that without playtesting we could end up with a lopsided or disaster of a game.  Luckily, we embrace disaster.  

The objective of the scenario is for the Germans to seize and destroy the bridge demolition equipment hidden in one of the river front houses before the Soviets could blow the bridge. They have three natural turns ( those not ending by COC dice) after the alarm sounds to do it.

The attack  starts pre-dawn in darkness. Light arrives at the end of three natural turns.

The Soviets start with only a few pairs of sentries and a Junior Leader. A Jump off Point located near the bridge is inactive until the alarm is sounded. Three additional JOPs are  located at Russian table edge also inactive   

The Germans have four jump off points at their own table edge. These will be inactive until the alarm is sounded   The Germans also have a batch of half tracks and trucks.  These start the game entering the table on the German side   They each can carry a squad or Machine Gun team and also assault rafts   

Visibility is limited to 16” but the Soviets have flares and a search light. By using a COC die the Soviets  can send up a flare and double the visibility to 36” until either the turn ends or the Germans use a COC die to extinguish the flare (it was a dud.) 

The search light acts like a flare but is directionally specific. A random die roll will aim the searchlight. A COC die will allow for a more specifically placed beam.

Flares and searchlights don’t mean automatic sighting  Whispers of “get down” and “make like a statue” might enable detection to be avoided. Vehicles and moving troops are more easily spotted and heard.

The Board 

The possible objectives and Jump off points 

The Germans have several avenues and methods of attack   The woods on their right allow for protection from observation but could be slow. Additionally, it was decided that the river flowed from the German  left to right and if the boats drifted off the board they would be wrecked and the unit in the boat would have to swim back to the shore   (We used the river assault rules out of the Lardies Blitzkrieg book.)

The Germans could also go for the bridge but this is a more open route subject to being spotted.  If the Germans rush the bridge they could catch the Soviets napping (literally) but it’s likely they would be seen or heard and the alarm sounded.  

The Battle

The German (and Hungarian) attack would be stealthy   Six half tracks and three trucks crawled slowly forward, loaded with assault rafts and soldiers. (Suspend belief-these are very quiet half tracks if moving at slow speed.)

The Soviets placed their four sentries led by a Junior Leader near the bridge and Searchlight. The rest of the Russians snoozed away.

Everything is black and white at night.  Look it up.

The Axis troops spread out. Three half tracks drove for the woods while the trucks carrying the Hungarians and three other half tracks drove up the road and kept to the left.  Immediately a turn end was rolled. Two more turns and it would be light   

Everything was going smoothly for the attackers when they again rolled an end of turn.  Only one more turn until daylight.  

The Germans entered the woods to the right and quietly unloaded the rafts   Two squads of infantry and a medium machine gun crew would try to quietly slip across the river to the shelter of woods on the far side. The other six transports became tangled in a traffic jam and moved very slowly up the road and a yard to the right of the road.

Just as the rafts were about to touch water the searchlight popped to life and threw a beam of light into the woods.  The Germans froze to avoid detection but through the miracle of rolling a one, a soon to be highly decorated (possibly posthumously) sentry spotted the Germans and the alarm was sounded.

The stealthy advance was over.  The Soviets roared into action.  Infantry poured from bivouacs in the rear of the riverside village and raced for the river.

A Maxim machine gun crew that was playing cards (probably) in the village poured out of one of the houses and was quickly throwing fire at the Fritzes in the woods.

The Maxim was highly inaccurate in its firing at the lit up Germans.  Elsewhere the Axis forces dropped the stealth and rushed forward.   Even though the alarm was now sounded it was still too dark to see anything.  In an effort to keep it that way the Germans in the woods and a newly arrived pair of German tanks tried to shoot out the searchlight.  They failed…multiple times.

The Soviets were now on the move. Infantry platoons rushed towards the river and a dreaded KV-2 (and a not so dreaded BT-7) showed up.  

Note: For this campaign a high tech 21st century method was deployed. Three giant envelopes-one for each army-were filled with pieces of paper each representing one of the tanks or towed anti tank guns in the group’s collection.   Before the start of each battle players draw two slips of paper to represent available assets.  If a tank is destroyed in battle its slip of paper is removed from the envelope    The KV-2 (of which there are two) has been pulled for both battles.   So far only one of the five T-26s has been pulled. Two of three 38Ts in German service have been destroyed so far…by the KV-2.

The Soviets were waking up and pushing forward towards the river.

Note: it was at this time a discussion halted the game and numerous modifications to rules were discussed. With so many new rules there were bound to be miscalculations and this was coming to fruition.  The biggest issue was that one of the group has a nasty habit of rolling sixes in droves and ending turns.  This means that much more quickly than usual turns were ending   We could go (real life) weeks without anyone rolling three sixes and ending a turn.  In this game three turns were ended by rolls an hour into the second week of the game.  We also addressed changing searchlight rules and Jump Off Placement rules.(more on this in another post….)

And so it was that the sun rose and the Axis was way behind schedule.  The rafting Lancers were still on the near bank and the Hungarian trucks were barreling towards the bridge and the very frightening KV-2.

Who leads an assault with trucks?

The trucks were in a bind so why not hit the gas?  A rare double turn allowed the first truck in line to disgorge a squad of Hungarians who immediately rushed forward to sweep up two sentries and take cover behind a large building that was immediately to their front. The second and third truck tried to tuck in behind the first truck.

Next came the moment of the battle.  It seems there is one of these in every fight.  The KV-2 took aim and fired at the second truck in line.   A hit was scored.  A high explosive shell crashed into the truck and the Soviet tank rolled its 13 dice. Rolling two fives was bad for the truck, rolling three was lethal.   Instead every soldier who could see the event watched as a very large shell poked a clean hole through the canvas truck bed cover and exited harmlessly out the other side.  A grand total of one 5 or 6 out of 13 was rolled.

Meanwhile…paddle paddle paddle. 

That was the highlight of the attacker’s night. Hordes of Soviets poured out of the village.  Two infantry squads swept the disembarked Hungarians from the bank and rifle and machine gun fire did what the KV couldn’t.   Bullets ripped into the second  truck sending it fleeing back across the bridge with several wounded piled in the back.

The third Hungarian squad exited the last truck but was brutally dispatched by two more Soviet infantry squads who charged into them.

The fleeing Hungarian truck takes fire. 

An 88mm anti-flak gun deployed a 1/4 mile down the road(aka 10 feet down the table ) and popped the KV wounding the commander.(This is the second KV commander wounded in the first two battles.) The Germans afloat were able to reach the far bank but it was obvious that it was to little avail. 

A few Germans

A few more Soviets and a building containing a detonator 

It was clear that the Germans would not complete the mission.  Ironically, the big building next to the bridge, behind which the Hungarians briefly hid held the detonator for the bridge.

Conclusion

Several factors doomed rhe Axis effort and led to Soviet victory.  The eagle eyed Soviet who spotted the Germans on the first try and sounded the alarm forced the stealth mission to become a rush.   Then immediately morning  came exposing the Hungarians on the bridge to a massacre.  The very speed of the trucks caused them to be in front.  A bad tactical situation.  Finally, Soviet reinforcements were closer at hand and they were able to overwhelm the attackers with swarming assaults that smashed the ranks of Hungarians who were the tip of the spear.

On to the next fight as the Axis continues to push east…just not here at this river.