Desperate Stand*
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Series: 2nd Battle of Kharkov
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_Soviet Union*
_____vs.*
__Germany*

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Date: 12th of May, 1942*
1000 Hours*
Location: North-East of Kharkov*
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Designed By: Ts4EVER*
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Background 2nd Battle of Kharkov: Following the successful winter offensives in 1941, Stalin was keen to keep the pressure on the enemy, hoping to preempt another assault on Moscow with his own offensive. He was especially in favor of going on the offensive in the Kharkov sector, the city having fallen to the enemy in the summer of 1941. The attack was to be undertaken by the South-West-Front in a pincer movement, from the Barvenkovo salient and the Stariy Saltov bridgehead. Once massed artillery had broken through the German line, mobile group would be fed into the breaches to encircle AOK6 and reconquer Kharkov. However, due to supply issues, especially with artillery ammunition, as well as the undetected presence of German mobile reserves, the plan soon proved ill-advised...
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Briefing: You are in the unenviable shoes of the commander of Gruppe Winkler. While reports are confused, it is clear that the bulk of your infantry has just fled before a strong Soviet offensive and are streaming towards your regimental command post in the rown of Nepokrytaya in a confused and unorganized manner. The retention of this important road hub is of the utmost importance, so a defense must be organized immediately.*
Under your immediate command you have: 2 artillery batteries (10.5cm), a group of artillerymen hastily outfitted with infantry weapons, some flak and your regimental staff. Remnants of the infantry are fleeing towards Nepokrytaya and will come under your command in a piecemeal fashion. The guns have been supporting the infantry throughout the morning and are all but out of HE ammunition, however, in light of the heavy Russian tanks they all have some emergency tank defeating ammunition on hand that might prove useful, provided the guns are brought into good ambush positions.
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The exact makeup of the enemy force is unknown, but stragglers report heavy tanks, as well as infantry.
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Historical Scenario, designed to be played as the Germans. In fact, the German ai will not cope with this scenario well.
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POSSIBLE SPOILERS
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Historical outcome: Overconfident from their remarkable success earlier in the morning, Russian tanks of the 36th tank brigade raced ahead of their infantry into the town of Nepokrytaya. In a desperate move, 2 German artillery batteries engaged the armor in close combat, knocking out 6 Matilda tanks and beating back the attack. The town had to be abandoned in the evening, after the guns had expended all ammunition. The lack of effective antitank guns meant that the Germans were forced to use their divisional artillery in this role throughout the campaign, leading to the loss of not fewer than 16 batteries throughout AOK 6.