DAR: USSR vs. Germany - Tikuin, USSR

[RERomine]

Turn 26

South group still pushing forward. They destroyed one 81mm mortar along the way.

Enemy artillery shifted north on the line a touch, hitting some of the defenders and blinding my tanks. The southern part of the enemy attack force is breaking up. The northern part has bunched up. My line is holding well.

Casualties

Friendly: 1 casualty from my FO.

Enemy: 1x81mm Mortar destroyed. Estimated 15 casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 27

One company of south group taking direct fire from an 100mm mortar. No damage and I'll be him soon.

Enemy artillery lifted and now mortars rounds falling. At least the rounds are smaller. A few of my tanks were able to fire but the rest are blinded by dust kicked up last turn. Enemy infantry is still pinned down. They are about 50m away from the mines. 120mm mortar rounds continue to rain in on them. They can't last much longer.

Enemy counter battery has one of my 82mm mortars crews running. I probably will let them go.

Casualties

Friendly: 1 casualty.

Enemy: Estimated 15 casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 28

Both companies of the south group scored. The northern most company destroyed two 81mm mortars and the other got a 100mm mortar. This is helping the infantry line since they start dropping mortar rounds instead of artillery.

Without any indirect fire coming in on the infantry line, the enemy took more of a beating than usual. Two of their squads were completely destroyed. Many of the others have been pushed back. My tanks can see and are firing again, helping push the enemy back.

Counter battery fire has stopped. Instead, heavy artillery is hitting the extreme flank of the infantry line near the scouts again. One of my tanks was immobilized. I better pull the rest out of the impact zone.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: 1x100mm Mortar and 2x81mm Mortars destroyed. Estimated 25 casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 29

South group is stirring up hornets. They are coming across AA guns, infantry and even a tank or two. Nothing really to worry about, but I do need to be careful. The southern most company took direct fire from a mortar and some AA guns. The northernmost group is at the road intersection and engaged some infantry and a tank heading east. There is one mortar to the west and a couple of howitzers to the northwest.

The infantry line had smoke dropped along the northern half of the contact point with the enemy, leaving them blind. The infantry and tanks engaged infantry to their front and mortar rounds continued to hit them. Artillery started to hit my tanks behind the line, so I will have to move them.

I pulled five tanks back from the right flank, leaving the immobilized tank on his own. Not much else I can do.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: Estimated 15 casualties.

[RERomine]

Turn 30

Tanks at the intersection ran into a mess of trouble. They took fire from a couple of tank destroyers and at least two tanks. I lost one tank and had another damaged, but punched a hole on one of the tank destroyers. My forces were moving on some howitzers and AA guns. Their attention is going to have to be refocused for a while. I'm going to send out a company of the north flank group to take the enemy from the rear, because I'm sure I can hold at the intersection. The southern company is having better luck, taking out two AA guns and another mortar.

Along the infantry line, there still is about a company of enemy still trying to move up. I pulled my tanks back for now. My infantry and mortars still are hitting the enemy and holding them at bay.

Casualties

Friendly: 1xT-34/76A tank destroyed.

Enemy: 2x20mm AA Guns and 1x100mm Mortar destroyed. Estimated 10 casualties.

[RERomine]

Decisive Victory!!!!

Turn 31

My tank company at the intersection destroyed one of the tank destroyers, a tank, a howitzer and an AA gun. Another AA gun was shot up pretty well and would likely have been destroyed had there been time. The other tank company moving north along the west edge destroyed an AA gun and was firing at a nebelwerfer. Enemy tanks were seen entering from the west edge, but they were light and not of any concern. One tank company from the north flank group moved out, but didn't get far before the battle ended.

Enemy artillery was hitting my infantry line harder this turn from the road south about 750m. The foxholes have kept it from hurting my troops. I hit the enemy with small arms, tanks and mortars. They still weren't able to get any closer.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero.

Enemy: 1xPzKw IIIh tank, 1xSdKfz 10/4 Flak, 2x20mm AA guns, 1x75mm Infantry gun destroyed. Estimated 15 casualties.

Total Casualties

USSR

Men: 62
Artillery: 1
Soft Vehicles: 1
APCs: 0
AFVs: 4
Air Transports/Helos: 0
Aircraft: 0

Germany

Men: 1024
Artillery: 13
Soft Vehicles: 0
APCs: 4
AFVs: 180
Air Transports/Helos: 0
Aircraft: 4

Score

USSR: 14128
Germany: 303

Final Comments

This battle turned out nicely. Luck played a role. My larger flanking group happened to be where the enemy's major effort took place. If they weren't completely disorganized, they had enough troops left to make a major push. Counting the tanks entering the map in the last couple of turns, they still had somewhere in the range of 30-40 active AFVs remaining. There also looks like something along the line of 3-4 infantry companies milling about. Had I continued pushing my north flank company forward, it might have really run into a buzz saw.

A vast number of the enemy tanks were weak varieties. There were no Mk IIIj types at all. No real matter in this case. Two of the four companies up north were equipped with T-34/76B tanks. While the T-34/76A and Mk IIIh and Mk IIIj tanks are relatively equal in fights, the T-34/76B with the new gun has a significant edge. Once the Germans have slightly better tanks, it will be more difficult for me to pull off this type of defense.

It is difficult to be unhappy with the results of this defensive battle. I only lost three tanks while destroying 180 AFVs. One of the AFVs I lost must be the bunker, because only lost six units in the whole battle, with one each being a bunker, ammo truck and AA gun. That leaves the other three being tanks and I confirmed this by reviewing my force list after the battle. It helped a great deal that the enemy didn't put as much steel on target with their artillery. Much of their artillery fired over my main infantry line and they didn't target my tanks as much as expected. That isn't to say they didn't at least try. I had a lot of barrages falling behind my south group as it moved along. The AI also fired too much smoke with large caliber guns instead of with mortars.

Attached is the file just before my last turn ended.

[Brian61]

Oh man did that German commander have a bad day or what? 40:1 kill ratio+ yeeouch!! Your spoiling attack in the north definately did its job well. It looks like your southern sweep was running rampant through his rear area at will.

Great read, congrats on the victory

Brian

[RERomine]

It worked out well, but the Germans didn't have any more than 50 PzKw IIIh tanks. That means the remaining 130 AFVs I took out had paper thin armor or guns that couldn't kill tanks. I'll have more of a challenge on my hands when I start running into tanks armed with 50mm L60 or 75mm L43 or L48. Once that happens, I'll have to be a touch more cautious.

My next battle is an assault, so I won't need to do anything exotic. If they don't field 88s, I'll be good.

[bungo]

Thanks RERomine! Reading your account inspired me to play a battle and try a similar defence, simply because yours captured my imagination.

I played USSR defending against a GER assault in Aug 1941. Went with the minefield in depth, infantry behind dragons teeth, and a solid amount of artillery.

My 30 x T34s managed to kill 140 various panzers, at a cost of only 3 friendly tanks knocked out. All the GER infantry were suppressed, pinned or routed.

Final score was around 11,300 points to Germany's 400. A decisive Victory, and one of the most enjoyable SPWW2 games I've ever played.

Thanks mate!