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)