Slovak Mobile Brigade Campaign
since the end of the great war, the newly founded
smaller states of eastern europe found themselves
squeezed in between two thrivingly aggressive regimes
with an unimpeded appetite for conquest.
to make things even worse, the new states were bitterly
divided, constantly brawling over borders the allied
victors of 1918 imposed on them without regard to ethnic
minorities. when the nazis forced the separation of
czechoslovakia in march 1939, they established the
puppet state of slovakia, thus creating a completely
dependent ally for their upcoming warplans. when nazi
germany invaded soviet russia, slovakia, all too aware
of teir security depending on german "protection", was
the first nazi ally to declare war on russia.
consequently, the slovaks sent a small army corps of two
divisions, mostly equipped with ex-czech weapons, to go
with the wehrmacht juggernaught. very soon the more mobile
elements were formed in an ad hoc "Mobile Brigade", to
keep pace with the rapidly advancing germans. this unit
became the nucleus for the later élite "Slovak Mobile
Division".
i selected a 30 battles slovak campaign, starting in june
1941 and ending in february 1945. repair was set at -20%,
with a 1000 point starting force. the remaining
preferences i left at "default". enemy forces are to be
russian exclusively.
core elements:
1x tank coy (Skoda LT vz.35)
1x mot infantry coy
attached A/Tk platoon (mot)
attached AC platoon
the first battle took place near Lvov in june '41,
with orders to advance on russian positions. the map
depicted a wooded area with small rolling hills, a
crossing in the eastern part of the map forming the
obvious objective (three clusters of victory hexes
nearby). high command granted me 25 turns to achieve
my objectives.
available support consisted of 4 Junkers dive bombers,
2 batteries of 76mm field guns and a luftwaffe flak
platoon of 4 88mm AA guns (just in case mr. computer
comes up with a coy of KV-1s...).
setup:
the tank coy was to push straight through the middle,
advancing along the single road onto the crossing.
since the map was quite big, i decided to let the
rest of my battle group follow the tankers, leaving
the flanks recklessly unprotected.
the motorized infantry began as passengers (a thing
i'd regret very soon), as did the supporting arty.
i decided against an opening bombardement, waiting
for proper targets to appear!
prologue:
the soviets opened up with mortars and cannons, mostly
plastering the countryside but a single volley landed
bang on target, taking out 2 of the heavy flaks (gulp)
and blowing up a slovakian lorry plus squad.
all in all relatively unscathed, the slovaks rushed forward
and i didn't encounter any resistance for about 5-6 turns.
then, with the objectives already in sight, i lost 2 of the
leading ACs to russian A/Tk guns. the Skodas provided
suppressing fire and i unloaded 2 inf platoons and the
remaining arty, leaving one platoon of inf skulking out of sight, ready to proceed the charge. the battle group HQ
acted as FOO and ranged in the artillery on what looked
like the russian frontline. a fire base began to
take form, ready to support the final assault on the
disputed crossing.
crescendo:
leaving the flanks virtually unprotected led into a
unpleasant surprise, for suddenly hordes of russian
BT light tanks came crashing out of the woods to the
north. however, the unlimbered A/TK platoon and the
Skodas took out most of them before they even fired
a single shot. the luftwaffe showed up, haphazardly bombed
some bushes and left. hmm. the slovak artillery branch
gave a much better account and devastated the soviet
gun park, while the dismounted infantry kept pressing
on to the objectives.
my smile disintegrated quite quickly when russian mortar
fire miraculously found the remaining lorried platoon
behind a treeline and destroyed 3 trucks/squads out of 4!
to make things worse, i lost 3 Skodas to heavy fire when
the tank coy took position on a crestline near the crossing.
nevertheless, it was the day of the tankers and the Skodas
kept an enormous quick fire on whatever the russians threw
against them. encountering no heavy tanks might've helped
them performing that gloriously, though.
epilogue:
with the tank coy occupying the commanding heights, i was
able to secure the crossing with my remaining infantry.
the greatest annoyance the russians came up with was their
precise and heavy shelling, the only relief being the
relatively small calibre sizes encountered.
when the battle finally ended, the objectives were firmly
in slovakian hands and the smoldering hulks of russian
tanks littered the battlefield.
i lost quite heavily though, almost half my lorries went
up in flames and a total of 70 men became casualties. add
to this the loss of 5 Skodas (most crews bailed out) and
you have what i'd call a costly victory.
conclusion:
a very enjoyable game, with an interesting mobile force
to play. the next game might bring some KVs though and
put an end to my fascination of the less-known smaller
armes of ww2. time permitting (had a day off today),
this is to be continued...
cheers
jan
__________________
A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.
Groucho Marx
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