Minsk ´44 - The Long Left Hook

[Fhil]

The Long Left Hook

Shumilino
40 kms NW of Vitebsk
June 23rd, 1944

With the success of the recon in force, begun the previous day, 6th Guards Army acted quickly to follow up the success. The 103rd Rifle Corps was introduced late in the day of June 23rd. The plans to introduce the tanks early into the battle met with traffic tie-ups, and swollen streams and swamps, which kept them out of the early fighting. The Germans adopted a strategy of trying to hold the ground long enough to form a defense line anchored on the Obol rail line. This was to keep the Russians as far from the river and a possible bridgehead as possible.

This will cover my game against Gerald (Witblitz), as we´re going to play the various Minsk ´44 scenarios one by one, me as the Soviet commander and him as the Axis commander. Hopefully, these games will go smooth and I will be able to bring you an AAR/DAR from each one of them. But, let´s have it step by step as the bigger the project the easier it will fail to reach the finish. Now, while writing this, we´re at turn two only, so please, I´m not seeking any advices on the game or such, rather I´ll try to explain my tactics used here.

The scenario itself looks interesting, will be definitely very hard for the Axis side. There are two soviet armies attacking two German divisions with a massive artillery support. Time is short though (18 turns) so I believe I need a clear plan with as less improvisation as possible in order to capture the most of the objectives while not bleeding white in the process. I will try to bring it to you in some interesting way, creating various report from different units while still having the overall picture present at all times.

Firstly, I´ll present my plan, then I will go turn by turn reporting everything important that happens, wish us luck gentlemen. I´ll start posting pictures and reports tomorrow.

[Fhil]

THE PLAN

My plan will be pretty straightforward here, as there is not much to speculate about: penetrate the enemy lines using the rifle corps and then unleash the mechanized forces which will rush to the river Zapadnaya. I will try to isolate and destroy as many enemy units as possible on the way there. My priority is in the momentum of the attack, the offensive cannot stop or I may find myself short of important objectives. That means carefull managing of the infantry forces mostly, as they are easy to break if used improperly. Now let´s take a look on the situation and the plan in more detail.

General Plan and the Victory Conditions



The main task lays upon the 6th Guards Army and it´s two Guards Rifle Corps. They will have to open a hole in the center of the enemy lines, pushing him around 10 kms back. If this will go smoothly, released tank brigades will rush towards the river towards the two main objectives (circled in red), threatening the main road to Vitebsk which is to the west of this sector. This will be the main direction of the attack (A). Supporting attacks (B) on the flanks will be launched simultaneously by the easternmost parts of the 6th Guards Army and the parts of the 43rd Army on it´s left.

Victory conditions are as following:

Major Defeat - 750 pts
Minor Defeat - 1000 pts
Minor Victory - 1250 pts
Major Victory - 1500 pts

The overall value of the objectives on the main axis of the attack - 900 pts
Value of the two secondary objectives - 250 pts
Total - 1150 pts

Thus, by capturing the objectives while having serious losses won´t lead to a victory, rather a draw. Both main objectives, some 30 and 50 kms away are on the southern bank of the river Zapadnaya. The closer one, the town Ulla, has it´s bridge reportedly destroyed, while the further one at Beschenkovichi has only medium bridge in there, which itseld is wired. So arriving to them only near the conclusion of the battle might be too late. Engineers will have to be available with a considerable time reserve for their bridging task if these objectives have to be taken, especiialy the Ulla town.

       

Strenght and Disposition of Forces

There are following formations available for the operation, divided and located as following:

1st Baltic Front (43 036 men, 1 414 guns, 439 vehicles, 414 planes)

              6th Guards Army (27 641 men, 1102, guns, 320 vehicles)
                           22nd Guards Rifle Corps        
                                         47th Rifle Division - (2852 men, 36 guns) B
                                         51st Rifle Division II - (2754 men, 36 guns)  A
                                         90th Guards Rifle Division - (3078 men, 36 guns) C
                           23rd Guards Rifle Corps
                                         51st Guards Rifle Division (3183 men, 36 guns) D
                                         67th Guards Rifle Division [i](3183 men, 36 guns) E
                                         71st Guards Rifle Division [i](3183 men, 36 guns) F
                           103rd Rifle Corps FIXED
                                         29th Rifle Division III (2967 men, 36 guns) G
                                         279th Rifle Division II [i](2967 men, 36 guns) H

                           34th Guards Tank Brigade (507 men, 63 vehicles) I [i]FIXED[/i]
                           143 Tank Brigade (507 men, 63 vehicles) J [i]FIXED[/i]
                           21st Artillery Division (248 guns)
                                   25th Mtr Bde (108 guns)
                           8th Guards Breakthrough Artillery Division (72 guns)
                           4th Heavy Cannon Artillery Brigade (36 guns)
                           2nd Guards Mortar Division (144 guns)

              43rd Army (14 320 men, 312 guns, 119 vehicles)
                           1st Rifle Corps [i]FIXED[/i]
                                        179th Rifle Division (2967 men, 36 guns) L
                                        306th Rifle Division (2967 men, 36 guns) K
                                        357th Rifle Division (2967 men, 36 guns) N
                           60th Rifle Corps [i]FIXED[/i]
                                        235th Rifle Division II - 2967 men, 36 guns) M

                           10th Guards Tank Brigade (507 men, 119 vehicles) as reinforcements
                           28th Guards Cannon Artillery Brigade (36 guns)
                           [i][i]28th Guards Cannon Artille[/i]ry Brigade (36 guns) [/i]

[/i][/i][/i]               3rd Air Army (414 planes)
                           11th Recon Aviation Regiment (30 planes)
                           211th Assault Aviation Division (96 planes)
                           332nd Assault Aviation Division (96 planes)
                           335th Assault Aviation Division (96 planes)


                            
The Enemy

As there doesn´t exist anything like a real briefing before the scenario in Panzer campaigns, the other option for most players is to open the scenario seeing both sides of the battle. I usually do so well in advance before deciding to play the scenario, and only briefly, not studying reinforcements, releases, etc. It simply takes away something from the game for me. Sure, sometimes I pay for it, but mostly it only brings more fun to the game. So is the situation here, I know only some general info about my opponent´s forces. There should be two to three infantry divisions opposing my forces, don´t know how much of those formations is in the first line and how much is in the reserve. Let´s see what we know and what can we guess.

As the front is stable here for a long time, the Germans are well entrenched with numerous obstacles and minefields layed in front of their first lines and between their strongpoints. Engineers´ work will be important here, I don´t want to loose more men than necessary by throwing them into minefields and there are plenty of engineer batallions available here. Historically, from what is written in the scenario info window, the Germans tried to form a defensive line along the railroad some 13-15 kms behind the first lines. I expect something similar from my opponent, as the forward positions will be smashed (hopefuly) within first 12 hours. What I don´t know is how big of a fight will he put up for the initial objectives – Morgi, Pligovki and Mosoroto villages. The bridges at Mosoroto are wired, but this is not such a big deal as there´s only a stream there, not a big river. So I suspect that if he decides to slow me down during the first day of the battle, it´ll most probably be the sector between Pligovki and Mosoroto. The terrain behind this area is the most suitable for deploying tank formations I have in the reserve.
Capturing these three objectives early in the battle is important to keep the most important momentum of the offensive.



Based on where the enemy chooses to stand and fight, I have a plan for my artillery divisions and brigades. If Germans will try to defend those first objectives, the artillery will start bombarding them once the infantry divisions reach them until they are taken by force. If I will see he´s withdrawing already to the possible (or to form) the second line, I won´t loose time and will pack my artillery units to travel south so the possible second line along the railroad can be bombarded without a big time delay. So basically, once I feel he´s falling back, I´m taking the core of the arty south so as to keep him in range. Soviet artillery power is massive here, I need to get as much out of it as possible.

Nothing special regarding the Luftwaffe is expected here, and I also don´t expect there will be some serious armour on his side to counter my tank brigades advance.

Local Terrain and the Weather

The terrain itself is far from the best – vast marches and swamps, numerous streams, dense forests, lakes. The only positive thing is that the country is quite flat and without heavily hilled areas. The most important and suitable area for the initial attack is the Pligovki-Mosoroto area, towards which the tank formations will be sent once they are released. The country gets more open behind that area and there will be more space for maneuver. Western most part where the covering attacks will take place is heavily forested, I do not plan to chase the enemy there, rather advance along the southern border of those forests west of the Morgi village. On the eastern side, the country opposite the 43rd Army is quite clear. This area is divided from the main direction by a big swampy area.

Weather conditions are not ideal too, we´re having Soft conditions and a weak visibility for the first day, the ground is wet and will slow down my units considerably. Infantry can move two hexes in the clear terrain, but only one hex in case there´s some other terrain feature in the hex. Carefull traffic management will be needed under these conditions to bring the mobile reserves as fast to the action as possible. I cannot afford any massive traffic jams, the soft ground and those numerous streams will take their toll on my speed, though the T-34s shouldn´t be that hardly impacted in the open terrain. That is why it will be one of the top priorities to bring them behing Mosoroto village area.

Forecast for the next day is not the most optimistic either:

 

Supply

The supply level on the Soviet side is not the best, on average it´s value is between 60 and 63. By advancing further south and through those streams, forests and swamps, it could go down considerably. Thus, I´m not a big optimist regarding the right wing covering attack, I expect many units will find themselves Low on Ammo after advancing further into enemy territory. The main axis of advance shouldn´t suffer that much, but the distance itself will decrease the supply situation for the forward units.

My artillery (except for the mortat brigades) starts Stockpilled, what represents the build up of ammunition for the preparation of the attack. The firing value is kept at 100% though, so there´s no real bonus except for the fact that instead of getting unavailable the unit will simply loose it´s Stockpilled status, so you have like one extra supply test passed.
[i][i]
                           
                    
[/i]

[/i]

[Fhil]

DAY 1

Plan of Action

First of all, there must be a goal set up for the opening day. Shown below is my guess of what is achievable if the enemy won´t give up the first lines immediately, given the current ground conditions and the difficult terrain and of course, the enemy resistance. Marked in white are the divisional plans for the opening phase, the rest of the action will depend on the discovered enemy positions beyound the current visible range.



I doubt I´ll be able to seriously trap some German units, the other things is I will avoid those deadly minefields, I need my rifle batallions to be able to assault enemy positions, and we know that the Soviet riflemen tend to disrupt quite fast. The daily goal line is only 8 kms far from the front, but as I´ve said, even pure walking unopposed through that terrain in soft conditions will take much time. I would like to take that small upper terrain hex between

Dobrino and Mosoroto by the end of the day though.



43rd Army has to get through some special area as well in it´s sector (the left-most division belongs to the 6 Guards Army). It´s goal is the higher ground some 6 kms from the front line, but there are some lakes and streams and german bunkers in the way. These divisions will attack in a relatively small sector, so this density should achieve something I hope. I don´t want to bleed white in here though, so I will use all the engineers I´ll be able to assault those bunkers between the lakes.

Artillery Mission

The numerous artillery units will have the following priorities when selecting their targets:

1.- suppresive fire on the enemy positions that are to be assaulted during particular turn
2.- any units spotted in the open area or in T-mode
3.- the rest of the enemy positions in order to forbid any fatigue recovery to the enemy
4.- spotted enemy artillery positions

Air Cover

As the Air Limitation with the 2 hexes visibility limit´s the Russian available missions to 25% of those available (25% overall availability), there won´t be that much in the means of the supporting aviation I suppose.
Mission priorities for the day 1:

1. - direct support of the ground forces by bombarding the enemy fortified positions
2. - any enemy units catched in T-mode
3. - enemy units in the open terrain
4. - spotted enemy artillery positions

Now, the offensive can begin, I´ll be posting turns one by one, having both my actions and the enemy actions covered in one post.

[Fhil]

TURN 1

06:00 hrs

The attack begins with a massive artillery bombardment - all of the supporting artillery brigades and divisons are stockpilled here. Although this usually has some fire value bonus, this time the value is 100%. Here it represents all of the ammunition prepared for the offensive and the initial artillery attack. So the bonus is that instead of my artillery unit getting unavailable when not passsing the supply test, it will instead just loose it´s Stockpilled status, thus it´s like one free suply test passed. Interesting idea from the designers.

This is what hit the enemy forward lines during the opening two hours - 144 rocket launchers of 300mm barrel, 48 Katyushas (132mm), 180 heavy mortars (120mm), 216 divisional guns (76 and 122 mm), 72 x 76mm light artillery guns, 212 pieces of 122mm guns, 90 pieces of 152mm howitzers, and finally, 24 pieces of 203 heavy howitzers. In total, exactly 986 artillery pieces of all kind. That means, with the front counted from the north of Savchenki to the Mosoroto (cca 20kms), that´s 50 guns per kilometer of the front. Incredible concentration was achieved by the Red Army here.

Following the artillery bombardment, famous Shturmoviks are coming to the scene to further worsen the morning for the Germans. But they are not as effective as the artillery. The air part of the Panzer Campaigns is generally deeply underestimated, so it is not such a big factor like it was in reality.



   The offensive by the ground forces began in the 6th Guards Army sector, the 43th Army joining the attack two house later. All of the spotted units you can see were hit by the artillery - around 60% of this fire was concentrated on the sectors marked by yellow circle, while the bunkers to the north of Mosoroto received only limited shelling. I do not plan assaulting it, could be too costly, it will be better to bypass it, thus there´s no need to waste important ammunition on it.
   Three air assault regiments were able to sget from the ground due to the weather conditions (visibility of 2kms - 25% availability of the air assets). Their targets are marked on the map too, though the 723rd AAR was intercepted before reaching it´s target. 43rd Guards Aviation Assault Regiment lost one Shturmovik due to enemy ground AA fire. These aerial bombardments were not that effective against enemy prepared positions - only 8 men lost on the enemy side. The arillery on the other side killed or wounded 255 enemy soldiers in the trenches..
   Marked is also the movement of the 47th Separate Tank Regiment that is going to support the 47th Rifle Division´s sector. One of the T-34s (76mm versions here only) was lost one the way due to a malfunction. It will be repaired in the field conditions and sent to the unit as soon as possible. (Russian breakdown value - 5).

   There´s nothing special to report for my first turn. Rifle regiments are closing in on the enemy to be able to assault his positions from the next turn. Engineers are clearing the obstacles and minefields, while those with the flamethrowers are moving in with the rifle battalions.

Enemy Response

   Enemy infantry units on the flanks are retreating to the secondary positions, including the bunkers were left, while those in the center are standing in their first lines and are chopping poor riflemen with their MG34s and 42s. The bulk of the German artillery response concentrated on the areas marked in orange (I will stick to this system of marking for the rest of the AAR). Especially hit by the artillery shelling and then even by Stukas that killed and wounded 16 men at once was the 1st battalion of the 268 Guards Rifle Regiment. This unit was already down to 70% as it took part in the recon in force of the previous day, now it lost another 10% in just two hours. This battalion is thus more or less out of serious action for the rest of the day. It´s high losses are also due to the March terrain which gives 10% bonus to the enemy fire. So we have hardly hit units opposite each other on that part of the front as you can see that the German company was reduced to less than 100 men after my artillery attack.



The enemy lost 326 men during the first two hours, while we lost 169 men, 5 units are disrupted (though the battle started with 4 of them being disrupted).

[Fhil]

A little delay in posting the AAR. Enemy agents stole and destroyed my documentation (my wife took my notes, didn´t understand them so she threw them away ) so I had to wait until the game is finished so I can use my opponent´s password in order to see my actions. The game is finished, we can move on.

TURN 2

08:00 hrs

   The heavy shelling from my artiller continues for another two hours, while there are also first assaults against the enemy first line conducted. The main concentration of artiller fire is again marked in yellow, though every unit received at least a minimum amount of fire. It can be clearly seen that the most promiment area for my artillery was the Mosoroto area. There were two main reasons for that - first of all, this is the most important sector for a breaktrough, were my tank forces will be sent as well. Secondly, there are few units in the open that are withdrawing from the first line, so it´ll hurt them more when they are not in the trenches. The Mosoroto village itself was turned to rubble after being bombarded by rocket battalions.
   Only one available air unit, the 949th AAR bombards enemy infantry on the marked hex (bomb icon). It´s airplanes received anti aircraft fire, the result of which was it´s disruption. After killing or wounding 12 enemy soldiers, it was sent back to base disrupted.



   Unluckily, due to the changed conditions under which I continue this AAR, it is not possible to show you the positions o my units as they were at the end of my turn. It´ll be seen on the German response part though. Here you can see marked the first direct assaults on enem trenches, marked by blue arrows. The assault at Savchenki area was not successful. The 1st Battalion of the 23rd Rifle Regiment lost 48 men in the assault, the unit is disrupted with medium fatigue. Germans lost 11 men. The second assault to the north of Morgi by the 1st Battalion of the 353rd Regiment was more successful - with the cost of only 3 men, the Germans were forced out of their positions while loosing 15 men in the process. They withdrawed over the stream to the trenches of their neighbouring unit (marked by the red arrow). My exact positions at the end of turn 2 will be seen on the next part with German response.

[Landser34]

Interesting read  thanks for the AAR

[Fhil]

Damn guys, do you see that strange picture under Enemy response part too?? What the hell??

[Fhil]

Enemy Response

  

   Germans are more or less holding to their first lines. In the Savchenki area, the first line company became disrupted so they´ve sent some reinfocements into the trenches (A) which must have been on the way since the first turn. They have abandoned the village to the north-west of Savchenki.
   7 kms down the front, in the Pligovki area, the defenders are not so determined and decided to fall back. The two companies at Morgi are both undisrupted, which means that the one that withdrawed disrupted from the previous assault was probably rallied up by their comrades. Maybe they´ve convinced the original occupants of this position that it might be a better idea to get to safety to secondary position. Another company that is situated 2kms to the east of them did come to the same conclusion. It was decreased to less than 100 men and is disrupted. They won´t have much time for any peace in Pligovki too.
   Enemy units at Mosoroto area reached their comrades´trenches too (B and C), they are mostly disrupted. Nothing unusual regarding enemy artillery, but enemy Stukas showed up and hit 1/199th Gds Rifle Rgt (marked by the bomb icon). 10 men are out of action, but the unit is still not disrupted and one Stuka was hit by unit´s machine guns and it crashed in the local marches. Due to the local minefields, it will take some time until somebody locates and reaches the wreck, possibly capturing the pilot for later interogation :)

[Fhil]

TURN 3

10:00 hrs

   Heavy fighting continues and now that the 43rd Army joins the attack and launches it´s first assaults against enemy trenches, the casualties rise even faster. 1st Baltic Front engineers are released this turn, they have a lot of work clearing all those minefields around. Their comrades that work from the very morning cleared nine minefields this turn and constructed a bridge across the stream (1).
  

    The artillery continues to bombard enemy units, Mosoroto now left without heavy shelling. It´s flanks were bombarded though in order to weaken the defenders before assaults that will aim to bypass the village and surround the units in there. Both air units -the 723rd and 825th AARs picked up the withdrawing German companies as their targets, but the 723rd was intercepted and had to redirect away. Based on the reports of the 825th, German fighters followed the 723rd´s 36 Sturmoviks away so the sky was left open. It´s Sturmoviks thus bombarded the poor enemy infantry and killed or wounded 18 of them. The ground was now ready for new assaults. Those will be shown on the next screenshot.

Enemy Response



   Two assaults were executed in the 6th Guards Army sector. The first assault (1) was launched against enemy trenches guarding the way to Pligovki from the east eitherby the 90th GRD alone or in cooperation with the 51st GRD, exact report was not received by the commanders as of yet. So or so, the assault was a costly failure, 45 men were left dead or wounded in front of the enemy positions. The enem lost only 8 men and remained firmly in his place. Meanwhile, Germans to the north and west of the village are retreating south. There is an enemy unit hastily improving fortifications in the Pligovki village (A). The second assault was more successfull - the 1/199th Gds Rifle Rgt forced the Germans out of their positions. Both sides lost 4 men. Defeated unit then withdrawed further south out of the marches. The way to cut-off the Mosoroto is now open. White arrows show next planned actions.

   The first of the 43rd Army´s assault (3), conducted by the whole 219 Guards Regiment is shown here too. Here, the ratio was better - 4 men lost in the attack while 18 Germans were left dead or surrendered in the trenches. The unit then withdrawed further too.



   Next two assaults in the 43rd Army´s sector by the 306th Rifle Division were repelled. Both assaults costed 8 men for the attacking units, while Germans lost 14, respectivelly 22 men. The terrain in the area is difficult, there are only few ways to assault through the river. All three enemy northernmost units are disrupted, but as the attacking units disrupted during the assault too, they were unable to gain the positions. Shown on the detail here is German AT-gun positions two kilometers away from the first line. 105th Separate Tank Regiment (34 T-34s) and the 1203rd SP Art Regiment (21 SU-85s) are getting ready to give hell to the enemy, they are alread behing the 71st Guards Rifle Division.