After I had returned to my hometown Bucha in April after the Russian occupation, I was extremely glad to see my wargaming collection intact. My friend-wargamers were glad too! Being caught up in this excitement, I promptly planned a lengthy remote AoT game with my friend Kyrylo from Dnipro.
My idea was to try an offensive with numerous Soviet infantry without much artillery or air support against an elite German group — when the Red Army tries to beat quality through quantity. To do this, we set up a game scenario loosely based on the battles around Bila Tserkva (Kyiv region) in the second half of July 1941 when the 1st Panzer Gruppe was repulsing the counter-attacks of the Soviet 26th Army.
The game was divided into two stages. The first stage: the offensive of the Red Army on the map with 6 large and 6 small mapboards.
Soviet troops advance from the east on Bila Tserkva (the town in Zone B), with a 2.1:1 advantage in units and 1.7:1 in points, but without divisional artillery or air support. The Soviets have got a rifle division without one rifle and artillery regiments plus a combat group of a cavalry division (47 units for 606 points)
The defense is held by the elite German regiment "Westland" supported by limited forces of the Luftwaffe (22 units for 355 points). They did not have time to build fortifications before the start of the battle, but they can start in ambushes.
The German positions are divided into three tactical zones — A, B and C. Each zone has key hexes marked on the map with the corresponding letters. A German ammunition depot is located on one of the hexes of Bila Tserkva - the Red Army player does not know which one, and can only be detected by any unit from a neighboring hex.
The second stage: Wehrmacht counterattack. 6 more mapboards are added to the map below, beyond the river.
After the 14th move, reinforcements from the 13th Panzer Division arrive to the Germans. The composition of the reinforcements depends on the operational situation at the end of the first stage of the game.
Two anti-aircraft platoons arrive at the Red Army, which the divisional headquarters will bring with them to counter the Stukas, as well as a transport convoy with ammunition and two pairs of Po-2 reconnaissance bombers. Plus a T-40 platoon for river reconnaissance. In total for the entire game for the Red Army: 55 units for 754 points.
Tasks for the Red Army:
- 1. The minimum objective is to capture and hold Zone A at the end of the game (there should not be a German combat unit in any key hex of Zone A, even a suppressed one. It is not necessary to physically occupy these hexes with Red Army units).
- The next task is to capture and hold Zones A and B at the end of the game.
- The ultimate goal is to capture and hold all of Zones A, B and C at the end of the game.
Wehrmacht player had mirror goals.
Red Army forces:
Wehrmacht forces for Day 1:
The first echelon of the Soviet offensive, the 777th rifle regiment, in the marching column along the busy July roads is heading to the west, in the direction of Bila Tserkva:
Game Day 1
On May 19, 2022 we started playing it.
Starting positions of the Red Army (only the forward 21st company in the village is visible to the enemy):
Nothing of German presence was visible to the Soviets at the start.
There was a pleasant surprise for the Red Army commander - heavy and medium Soviet mortars eliminated a German recon platoon ambushed in light woods on Turn 2 (nine hits on "1" out of 32 dice!)
Stuka has dive-bombed Soviet infantry on the 2nd turn already, but only suppressed it.
In general, two Soviet rifle regiments had a hard time trying to break through the German lines on day 1, and the platoon of 150 mm sIG heavy infantry guns on the hill was taking a heavy toll on them.
On Turn 5 the German defense plan at last became clear to the Red Army—the brave 23rd rifle company survived a mortar attack without casualties, advanced forward, and saw a lot of interesting behind the village of Uzyn... The idea of the German command seems to be luring the Soviet troops to Uzyn and hitting them there with sIG fire (with the accuracy of "3"!) plus adding with infantry weapons:
So the Soviet reconnaissance in force took six turns costing the Red Army a whole squadron of cavalry and 18 units of infantry in several companies (the Germans lost a machine gun company and a recon platoon). Now the Soviets know the location of all the German troops except HQ, the second leIG platoon and the third machine-gun company (the transport column is also not visible):
It's unbelievable, but on Turn 7 the heroic 23rd company was shelled by sIG with adjustment, lost only 1 unit, and passed the morale test for the fifth time during this game!
What do the Soviets see after Turn 7:
The player for Red Army decided it's the moment for the breakthru - no time to lose as after Turn 14 the Panzers are to arrive... Seeing no possibility to break with the infantry through entrenched German elite battalions with sIG on the hill, the Soviet player used what armor he had by hand - a company of BT-5 and a BA-10 platoon. They are not assault tanks and were intended to expand the breakthrough but the situation dictated to use those fast and light-armored tanks as a brutal force. A common thing for the summer of 1941...
So, on Turn 8 the tanks broke through without infantry because the latter couldn't go forward until the German elite infantry in trenches wasn't taken away. An ambush of the second LeIG platoon was revealed but without casualties for the Germans.
In the forest by the river two cavalry squadrons stumbled upon an AP minefield coupled with an MG ambush... One squadron was immediately annihilated, the other pinned down...
On Turn 9 Soviet tanks were remarkably unsuccessful in shooting: they managed to knock off one Pak 36 unit only and didn't do anything to elite infantry and LeIG. The latter knocked off BA-10 with adjustment from HQ. Ju 87 has departed its airfield again.
On Turn 10 LeIG finished off one BT 5 platoon, but Stuka managed to knock off one tank only. The Soviet commander should have covered the tanks with smoke but miscalculated and covered the village instead.
The trenches near the breakthru were finally cleared of the elite infantry - one was annihilated by a coordinated Soviet fire and the other chose to retreat. An unproductive solution - that company was fired upon heavily on the next turn. The Soviet commander rolled 56 dice on "1" but had only 5 hits - the company lost -2 and was pinned down.
Red Army losses in the first ten turns: 2 infantry companies (+ 19 infantry quantity units), MG company, BA-10, BT-5 platoon + one tank, 3 cavalry squadrons. Soviet cavalry, contrary to the statute, went on the offensive before the enemy's defenses were breached, and was lost entirely... On the other hand, the Soviet commander deliberately risked his cavalry, because it wouldn't be suitable for defense in the second stage of the game.
Wehrmacht lost 1 company of elite infantry, recon platoon, two machine gun companies, and platoons of Pak 36 and LeIG.
Unexpectedly, a Soviet infantry noticed that German stormpioneers had managed to build a pontoon bridge! The German were already thinking of their counter-offensive from beyond the river.
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