Right from the very beginning of the battle, the artillery fire, while softening up the rear area of the south flag group, managed to destroy two anti-tank guns on the dirt road.
Force A,
force 1 and
force 2 all advanced towards the north flag group. The tanks faced two armoured recon vehicles and five Panther tanks and all were destroyed by the IS-II tanks. At the same time lots of German’ tanks, mostly Panthers, were advancing on the north road and managed to take the flag, although suffering some losses from the support units on the opposite high ground. Finally the back of the attack was broken by an air attack by the two IL-2 Shturmovic ground attack aircraft, which destroyed two tanks and tracked a further three. After this the T-34/85 tanks could go around, behind the German’ tanks while the IS-II tanks moved in to destroy the remaining tanks. While this was going on , the infantry was slowly but surly advancing and also destroying some tanks. Two IS-II were destroyed, but the third held on, although being tracked, and this combined with the support fire from the opposite high ground, ensured a secure capture of the north flag group.
Force 3 advanced according to plan, but suffered both losses and ran into problems when the fast advancing Panther tanks spotted them after capturing the north and centre flag groups and also called in artillery. It was only after the successes and advancing of the other forces that the infantry was able to capture the centre flag group and also destroy one of the Panther tanks.
Force B,
force C and
force 4 all reached their objective very fast and managed to capture the south flag group in the very beginning, and after this never gave way nor lost a single flag to the German’ forces. Although suffering losses, especially among the T-34/85 tanks, the managed to stop a powerful counter attack by nine PzIV tanks with some help from the T-34/85 tanks from
force A. As the infantry took control of the flags, most of the tanks advanced behind German’ lines, destroying several artillery units and depleting the German’ Panther tanks of their support units.
These combined attacks ensured a near total victory over the German’ taskforce.
Losses:
The Soviet taskforce lost a total of 23 tanks and 295 men, mostly infantry, and the German taskforce a total of 65 tanks, 4 halftracks, 17 artillery and just over 500 men in total.
6 German’ tanks and 9 German’ artillery pieces were found abandoned by the Soviet’ forces - of the 6 tanks, 5 were Panther tanks, of which 4 only had their tracks shot off and the last had its main gun destroyed by its crew before surrendering. The last abandoned tank was a PzIV.
Thus 4 Panther tanks could be put into service right away and after extensive repairs of the main gun, which is going to take some time, the last captured Panther can be put into service as well. The captured PzIV, it was decided, was given to another taskforce, since the captured Panther tanks would have a greater combat value and survivability on the battlefield.
The tank battalion lost 17 tanks and 12 crews. The tank destroyer battery lost 2 tanks and 2 crews. The BM-20M unit lost 1 armoured vehicle and 1 crew. The AA platoon lost 1 vehicle and 1 crew. The IS-II company lost 2 tanks and 2 crews. The IL-2 ground attack aircraft lost 1 airplane and 1 crew.
Claims:
The tank battalion claimed 22 tanks and 5 artillery destroyed. The tank destroyer battery claimed 4 tanks destroyed. The anti-tank gun battery claimed 1 tank and 4 halftracks destroyed. The tank destroyer platoon claimed 3 tank destroyed. The infantry as a whole claimed to have destroyed 6 tanks in close combat actions. The artillery claimed two artillery destroyed. The IS-II company claimed 22 tanks and 1 artillery destroyed. And finally the supporting IL-2 Shturmovics claimed 2 tanks destroyed.
Battle result:
Although the Soviet’ forces controlled all the flags and most of the area behind the German’ lines, three isolated pockets of resistance only made this battle a minor victory.
Replacing losses:
The four captured Panther tanks, renamed T-5g, and a T-44 pre-production tank, given to the taskforce in order to test its performance during combat conditions, meant that only 12 T-34/85 were needed to replace the ones lost during the battle. After the next battle, the fifth T-5g will see service with the Soviet’ taskforce, until then it is being used for training purposes for within the taskforce.
The losses suffered by the tank destroyer battery meant that its force shrunk from seven to just five SU-85. But the commander of the taskforce arranged to have the existing SU-85 replaced by five SU-85M, with stronger frontal armour and a greater chance for the veteran crews survival.
With the success of the two ISU-122, destroying three tanks for the loss of only a single crewmember - one of the two ISU-122 taking more than 15 hits and still surviving the battle - it was decided to give it a further three ISU-122, making it a fully operational tank destroyer platoon.
The BA-20M was not replaced. It will still be decided what to replace the two lost BA-20M with. However, two 76,2 mm anti-tank guns are among the alternatives.
The destroyed GAZ-AA 37 mm was replaced.
New basic force:
Basic force:
-Soviet HQ + Boys Carrier (8 men)
-Tank Battalion (27 T-34/85, 4 T-5g & 1 T-44 pre-production - 159 men)
-Tank Destroyer Battery (5 SU-85M - 20 men)
-Assault Gun Platoon (5 ISU-122 - 20 men)
-Artillery Regiment (8 122 mm - 288 men)
-Anti-Aircraft Platoon (4 GAZ-AA 37 - 24 men)
-Anti-Tank Battery (6 57 mm L73 - 30 men)
-Infantry (8 infantry & 1 MG Companies and 16 Bazooka - 1.160 men)
Battle Two:
Poland, August 1944 - Delay
Support forces:
-Tank Destroyer Group (2 M10 Wolverine)
-Air Support (6 IL-2 Shturmovic - 12 men)
The final push towards Berlin 1944-45!
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