AAR: KG Kreighelm 200 T LC Tweaked

[PanzerBob]

As our second battle came we were still on the advance. Our next target was to take and hold a small town/village which also was an important crossroads in the Corps battleplan.

Higher, gave us in support: 3x HE111’s, 4x Stuka's, 2x HE51’s plus a 15cm Btty. We also had two Kradschützen Zugs attached backed up by 4x Sdkfz221’s. We also asked for a Pioneer Zug with trucks and a 10cm Mortar Zug and these were made part of our KG.


The plan was simply put- SPEED!

A---After our bombers hit the Polish rear area, the attached Recce Zugs were to race into town and on to the hill.

B---Two INF Zugs with the Pioneers and 8x PzIII’s were to get into town and take up defensive positions along the North to West sides of town. The PzIV Zug was to follow in reserve.

C---The other Zug. MG Gruppe and the remaining PzIII Zug were to defend the hill.

Execution:

The HE111’s turned out to be more of an Airshow than any value, despite claims by the Luftwaffe. The strikes were of no effect.

The occupation of the town went fairly smoothly except for the Polish AC’s that met the Recce Elm’s on the west road out of town. Our Kradschützen did a nice job of promptly taking them out with grenades and guts; however the three burning wrecks provided plenty of cover for several rather bloody attacks shortly after the town was occupied.

The hill was another matter. Despite quick moves onto the hill or perhaps because of them, the enemy targeted the hill with artillery as the follow on forces arrived. The early loss of our MG Gruppe was the first result of that. Plus the Artillery made it difficult for the rest to get into position to defend the hill.

The enemy hit our position in three prongs with the strongest attack coming from the wooded area south of the town and the hill. A North Prong consisted of a mixed bag of Armour, Calvary and some Infantry, the central one was Infantry heavy with AC support. The South Prong almost succeeded in pushing around into our rear until 2nd Zug PzIII’s was pulled off the hill and stormed back and blunted their spearhead. This caused the Poles to attack in force to the south of the hill.

Several PzIII’s in town with some support from the KG AAA destroyed the North Prong. The Center Prong biggest blunder was they kept trying to push into town with AC’s on the west road, although they did manage to take out the Pz Kip’s command tank and his second as well. Both crews survived. By the time I got several Gp’s of Inf and some Pioneers up there 150m of road was covered with burning AC’s and our artillery was having good effect as the Polish smoke cleared. Once this attack was retreating of the most part, we turned our sights on the Southern Prong.

The South Prong got to the base of the hill as our artillery shifted fire into their positions, this combined with several successful Stuka strikes and bringing the PzIV’s onto the hill broke the attack. Although several Stuka’s were shot down, the HE51’s did manage to knock out several Polish AAA positions.

Losses in this attack were heavier this attack but I believed the enemy suffered much more. My major losses were 4 PzIII’s and 3 PzIV’s. However, it was a Decisive Victory.

Oberst Panzer Bob

[PanzerBob]

The third battle occurred after finally receiving the halftracks Der Furher promised us. We were given the task of advancing to the Weichel River and securing two towns and a Chateau on the east side of the river. Plus and more importantly, securing and putting up a bridgehead on the wood bridge over the river in the south side of our AOR. Corps assigned two Squadrons from the Luftwaffe in support of our operation. One Sqdn of Stukas and a Sqdn ME109’s. All soldiers in the KG now had SdKfz251’s for transport and protection, and our 10cm mortar Gp had SdKfz 8’s to move them. Our Recce AC’s were upgraded to SdKfz 232’s as well KG Recce now had a Kradschützen Zug. Now we were a force the Heer Lansers envied and they no longer laughed at our Camouflaged Smocks either as battle had now proven their value.

The Objectives were the two larger villages, a Chateau on a rise on the river between the two towns, plus the bridge. The Weichel River cut a meandering path across the battlespace, from the southeast in our AOR in an angle moving to the northwest into area thought to be under enemy control. This AOR was larger than our last couple battles and the terrain was for the most part again typically Polish only we had moved into to an area where there many more hamlets, farms and more minor roads. One area in enemies Zone of Control (ZOC) in the southwest was largely forested with a small hill looking over the bridge from the western of the river.

The plan was based on the thought that the Poles would come from the northwest on the east side of the river to the Northern Village with a strong attack on the bridge from the west out of the forest

A---Initially, the Luftwaffe and Artillery hit bridges and crossroads with little or no results, although several crew spotted enemy tanks heading for the bridge, confirming one assessment.

B---KG Recce split up with the Kradschützen Zug making for the North Village and the AC’s making for the bridge. The rest of the KG was split in three, KG HQ including the SPAA and the MG Gruppe headed off to occupy the Chateau and the rise. Two INF Zugs and 8 PzIII’s were sent to the North Village along with 3 PzIV’s. The remainder and the Pioneer Zug went to the bridge and the South Village near it.

Execution:

Initial occupation of the objectives when off with minor problems. Two AC’s bogged down on the west bridge approach due to the road being dug up and a HT crashed into a building in the North Village.

Several airstrikes against the armour in the south were effective and allowed the Pioneers to establish a bridgehead on the hill west of the bridge. Several PzIII’s joined them and one was lost when trying push out the bridgehead to the north. Interestingly, the Poles only sent tankettes and Lt Tanks to take the bridge. These were dealt with mostly by the Pioneers in close combat; the remainder were taken out by Panzer fire. This effectively ended the battle for the bridge.

The North Village turned into a massacre for the Poles. They attempted to cross to river in mass just north of the Village. While some of the tank support did mange to kill a few more of my panzers, the over all battle was a shooting gallery for my Infantry, Panzers and all other arms. Artillery and Airstrikes beat them down without let up, joined by my HT’s firing direct and indirectly. Near the end of this free for all, a Company of Polish Armoured Corps tanks finally put in an attack from the north but this was too little too late, as they died as well, some only 300m from the North Village. Again this tank force had no Infantry with them and was easy prey.

Looses in this engagement were minimal even in men lost, two PzIII’s and a PzIV plus some damage from various reasons, it was a Decisive Victory

Obersturmbannführer Bob

[PanzerBob]

EPITAIPH for a Kampfgruppe

The fourth battle was to be the last in this Campaign for this Commander. The KG had setup up in a hasty defence guarding a crossroads and two bridges over a stream with swampy banks. This made this area important to the Army Gruppe. We had finally got all our Great War relic MG’s replaced with MG34’s and attached another 10.5cm Battery along with an AC Zug. We managed to liberate some Engineering Stores to fortify our position, plus we had 6x Stukas and some Bombers on call. We were hoping once dug in we could relax for some moments however the Poles had other plans.


Enemy Objectives were the two bridges and the crossroads.

Our defence plan was based around the three areas to be held with a well dug-in fortified MG Nest to build / deploy our forces around for each of the three objectives. The area to be covered was more stretched out than I like but we were confident the Poles were all but finished. We had a 4 km front to cover with 3 Zones anchored on 1 Zug of SS men.

ZONE A--- South most, with the crossroad and one bridge. This Zone had a hill to its front which was farmed and the road ran over it into a light to medium woods. This Zone had a PzIII Zug + 3 PzIV’s and Gp of Pioneers. A Minefield backed with Wire blocked the road in the woods at the bottom of the hill.


ZONE B--- Center Zone was on the N/S road and held the other bridge. It had a small wooded hill which the road ran over. This hill overlooked a large open area which had part of the stream and a lot of swampy land. Zone B had 8 PzIII’s and 3 PzIV’s with 2 Pioneer Gp’s. Hasty Minefields were placed as the woods broke to open fields.


ZONE C— North most overlooking from light woods a split in the stream swamp and fairly good view into ZONE B. The AC’s backed up this zone with 3 Pioneer Gp’s. And the last of the mine stores places in the fords.

ALL ZONES—Had the HT’s of the various units dug in with them. The Kp MMG unit had its 6 MG34’s dug in zeroing in on areas not covered by the MG Nests. All and all it looked to be a perfect KILLZONE.



Enemy Attack and Defence Execution:

The attack was preceded with a light showering of artillery plus a smoke screen, well laid screen at that. This caused the first two things to unravel in my defence. The light barrage had to fortune to suppress my HQ and it started to retreat, it also bagged a HT and figured it was a good place to redouble its efforts in that area. Secondly the heavy smoke took the ability to spot into my fixed fire zones away.

I did loose some indirect fire into the smoke but within much effect due to the range. My HQ HT attempted a rescue of my HQ, it did pick us up only to hit with HE as it left the area, most my staff died and as for me I woke up 5 days later with a buxom dark-haired nurse looking into my face, in a Hospital in Berlin.

The Poles still took a battering but this time the price was high for my KG. The enemy was massed across our front and came out of the smoke screen a relatively unharmed. A large body of mixed armour hit Zone B as well. The KG responded with a storm of HE and Lead but the Poles kept coming it wasn’t until they had closed to 50 to 100m that their resolve broke with the Luftwaffe blowing a large hole in the armour and infantry clambering for our lines in front of Zone B.

AFTERMATH: In terms of men and materials this was a Draw, however in order to save the objectives from enemy hands the KG died and our Campaign with it. All armoured vehicles in Zone B were destroyed, most other were at least damaged. The men fared a little better with mostly the MMG teams being wiped out and heavy causalities amongst other Gp’s

CAMPAIGN DESIGN NOTES

I think I’ve seen that the settings at 100% are preferred over 140%. Spotting and moral for both sides seems to step into the realm of super human. Both sides had armour spotting and firing at ranges I had not seen before and this was Poland 1939. As for morale the Poles while certainly brave they were not suicidal. As for 200 battle Campaigns maybe another time. However as always it was a blast!!!

Obersturmbannführer Bob