KG Krafft, 26 August, 1942 - Eastern Front
Reorganization: KG Krafft has undergone a radical change. Due to political backstabbing by an old nemesis Oberstlt Krafft is initially reassigned to an infantry battalion on the Eastern Front. However, this order is intercepted and changed due to friends of Krafft within the Heer, and he finds himself in Juterbog taking command of a replacement assault gun batterie and assigned to Sturmgeschutz-Abteilung 667 but detached to 1st Panzer Division, XXXIX Panzer Group, 9th Army, Army Group Center. With the assistance of Rommel's chief of staff, some of the members of his old unit who were rotating out currently (or had rotated out recently) for health reasons (Africa's climate was rather rough on germans of more nordic stock) cross trained into his new unit. In effect, his panzer company calved an assualt gun battery.
The resulting TOE with attachments from Army/Corps/Division ends up as:
* 1x SdKfz 250/12 observation vehicle
* 1x StuG IIIf/8 command vehicle
* 3x StuG platoons each with:
** 2x StuG IIIf/8
** 1x SdKfz 250/1 (halftrack plus cannister provides upgrade path from 2x StuGs to 3x Stugs)
** 1x Ammo Cannister
* 1x IG section with:
** 2x sIG Ib
** 2x SdKfz 250/6
* 1x AAA section with:
** 2x SdKfz 7/1 FlaK
* 1x Sturmpioniere platoon gepanzart with:
** 3x Sturmpioniere
** 1x SturmPio(flam)
** 1x Pionier LMG
** 5x SdKfz 251/1
* 1x mechanized scout section with:
** 2x SdKfz 250/10
** 2x Spaehtrupp
Additionally, the core may be temporarily expanded from time to time with a panzergrenadier company.
Situation: His units had barely been detrained than orders came down from XXXIX Panzer Group, KG Krafft was thrown in to replace a panzer company that was responsible for stiffening the defense of the frontlines in a lightly wooded area of broken terrain with a road intersection between a secondary road running east-west about one kilometer north of the southern edge of the area and another secondary road running north south nearly two kilometers from the western edge of the area.
Orders: Reinforce the Panzergrenadier company and hold the area against any Russian breakthrough attempts. No artillery assets other than KG Krafft itself are available. Luftwaffe will be providing intermittent overflights of the area with an observation plane. [Delay mission, visibility 22, length 38, standard victory hexes, map size 80x80]
Battle Plan: The panzergrenadiers will deploy in two up formation making as much use as possible of the terrain. The heavy weapons will deploy so as to overlook the clearing containing the southern objective and the intersection. StuG platoons will deploy in concealed positions with ammo carriers 300 meters or so to the west. Platoon D will cover the north flank, platoon E will support the center, and platoon F will cover the south flank. The scout section will deploy to the far north against the possibility of an outflanking attempt there. The basic plan is, don't let the Russian infantry get into the woods containing the northern and central objective areas. If by some mischance they do, it will fall to the sturmpionieres to eject them.
Execution: All was quiet until the Storch passed overhead, then the sounds of AAA were heard, at least three guns. The pilot reported enemy armor moving west along the road in reinforced company strength, mostly T-60's and T-26's but at least one OT-34. There is a calvary screen ahead of the armor and at least a company of infantry accompanying it. A half a kilometer north of that force is another smaller one headed cross country, it looks to be a company of infantry supported by at least three T-28e M1939 tanks. Oberstlt Krafft immediately calls for interdiction fire from the sIGs upon receiving the pilot's report. The pilot ended transmission abruptly in and was last seen leaving the area trailing a bit of smoke.
In the far north, scouts report a group of three BA-10 armored cars moving west at full speed. After allowing them to approach to within a few hundred meters, the two SdKfz 250/10's of the scout section drive up out of the gully and engage, killing two of the BA-10's with only a few shots each before driving back into the gully and out of sight. A few minutes later the last of the three BA-10's is destroyed. In the south, the T-60's advance past the intersection, platoons E and F, with the aid of the batterie commander, perform popup maneuvers destroying three of the enemy tanks. Oberstlt Krafft orders platoon D to procede south along the road and reinforce platoon E.
Panzergrenadier platoon N and the machineguns of the heavy weapons platoon begin long range fire at desant teams on the road. Oberstlt Krafft calls for 8cm mortar fire to assist the sIG's in interdicting reinforcements. With platoon D arriving to reinforce, the StuG batterie quits playing hide and seek and procedes to slaughter nearly a dozen T-60's. Desant teams all along the road are in retreat or rout. Over the next few minutes the kill count climbs and includes BA-10's, T-26's, OT-34's, and T-28e's. The only warning note is the large numbers of artillery that the enemy is beginning to bring to bear.
Thus far the enemy infantry advance hasn't been too steady, most squads are routing at the near passage of a bullet. One bit of bad news though, the truck that was going to be used to haul the 8cm mortar team to a resupply point was destroyed by incoming artillery. The sIG Ib's are in the process of being resupplied, and the StuG batterie is taking advantage of a short lull in armor concentration to send one vehicle from each platoon to its resupply point.
The N1 squad of the southern platoon routed, a StuG fired a smoke round to block enemy los to them so they should rally soon. The southern 'redoubt' platoon has taken nearly all the heat so far. Relief is on the way though, platoon F is shifting positions to north of the road, this should free up D and E to engage the enemy infantry head on and the sIG's will resume firing very soon. Enemy artillery is becoming a factor, there's no safe place across the entire front, mortars, howitzers, and entire batteries firing all over.
A bit over an hour now since the first enemy units were spotted and its become an artillery slugfest on both sides. Platoon N's position in the south has really become untenable, so much incoming that they are all in rout, the only thing saving them is that all enemy in range is also routed. Resupply units have been ordered to withdraw further to the west, they are too vulnerable to artillery and too valueable to risk.
The batterie commander's StuG was the first one to suffer damage, it lost it's main gun and is being withdrawn. Platoons E and F are swapping positions so that E platoon can begin resupply. Just over an hour and a half since the beginning of the battle and although we haven't given much ground yet, one strong position has been abandoned, the sIGs are out of ammo and beginning resupply, the 8cm mortars are too low on ammo to do much than cover their own sector, and most of the StuG's have run out of HE ammo. Enemy artillery is slowing down the resupply process for the StuG's and degrading the remaining infantry position's ability to prevent the central russian infantry mob from advancing.
The only advantage to the mob advancing is that only a small repositioning is needed to bring the panzergrenadier company's machineguns to bear from the southwest. At the two hour point, the sIGs are back in business and the tide is once again ebbing. A mammoth of a tank, a KV-1 was spotted northeast of the intersection but it was too busy trying to get away to pose a threat.
The sIG storm passed once again, leaving a broken scattering of squads in the place of an advancing mob. Still, the russians continued to rally and return, and occasionally a tank or two would try its luck. Finally, a little more than three hours after the first shots were fired, the Russians called it quits.
Decisive victory, KG Krafft!
Game Notes: This terrain was perfect for this mission with the given forces, well perfect for KG Krafft, quite lousy for the Russians.
Last turn file attached, thanks for reading
