1st PzB Tournament 2nd Battle: #0706_03 Yakovlevo - Breaching the Second Line

[Gregor]

ComradeP and myself have compiled an AAR from our battle in the second round of the PzB tournament and will in the coming weeks present our experience with this scenario. I did write the comments during the fight so it will reflect what I was thinking at the current stage of the battle. I will in addition some time present some analysis with the hindsight of how it all turned out in the end, but will then state that explicit.

I was to fight the experienced player ComradeP and the scenario is much larger than first round. The setting for the scenario is the breaching of the second line by 1st SS.

“Yakovlevo, North of Belgorod: July 6th, 1943. (Scenario Size: Division. Head to Head or German Human vs Soviet AI) SS-Standartenführer Theodore Wisch, Commander 1st SS Leibstandarte Panzer Grenadier Division had decided to use both his SS-Panzer Grenadier Regiments to breach the Soviet second line. Albert Frey's 1st SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment was tasked with taking Hill 243.2, advancing into Yakovlevo and clearing the Belgorod Highway. With the front lines breached and Yakovlevo taken, Frey was expected to push forward and clear Pokrovka. Hugo Kraas's 2nd SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment was ordered to clear the left flank of the Vorskla River as well as assist 1st SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment in breaching the Soviet lines. Unbeknown to the SS, the first formations from 3rd Mechanised Corps were arriving to bolster 51st Guards Rifle Division's defences. The tanks of 49th and 1st Guards Tank Brigades would lead the battle's first heavy counterattack of Soviet armor."

The scenario used was a rebalanced version of the original scenario with the following changes:
Battalion releases by one unit spotted by enemy and most Russian artillery unfixed form start.

Having studied the scenario I decided that I couldn’t dream of holding the line for the full scenario against an experienced player with the assets available to him. My main plan for the defense is to reinforce the bunkers in the German main path of attack and hope to delay the breakthrough as long as possible, hopefully up until round 10 if lucky. That would also hopefully give some initial losses that will weaken his abilities in the later part of the scenario. The main way I am planning to do this is to move as much of the released bunker personnel as possible towards the main axis of attack. In addition I will try to do that in a way so I manage to have as much of my troops as possible to the west of his final brake through. The reason for the last point is that I know the Germans will make short process with all remaining surrounded troops at Hill 243.2.

The second major decision initially is to evacuate all artillery likely to be overrun. That is possible due to the change in the scenario. All mortars by hill 244.1 are to be moved to the area behind Hill 226.0 while the heavies in Yakovlevo and the artillery in the fields behind the Yakovlevo are all to be evacuated to the area around 1st Guard tank brigade. The heavies will still have the range to hit anything on the board while the mortars can reach the heights and support the bunkers in front of Yakovlevo and any move into the town.
On my right flank I have quite a few troops available. They will do a good job in my defenses if I am able to evacuate them through the line. So my third decision is to evacuate those through my own line by making 3 breaches of the mine fields. The engineers will be rushed to the line and make 3 holes (Marked as stars on the picture). One for the infantry, one for the motorized units and one for the heavy artilleries. I will use the few American toy tanks as a mobile rear guard and keep some infantry in their positions in the front to hopefully make some confusion about my intention. I will use the artillery for a couple of turns as I guess I will have some nice targets in the opening turns and then withdraw them in phases to avoid a disaster if they are observed. As they are heavies there will be a need for planning so they are not caught in an attack in that direction. The AT guns on eastern flank I see no way saving. They will just try getting some troops with them in death.


  yak0plan.JPG (Size: 186.11 KB / Downloads: 27)

So that is my initial plan, not much, but hopefully I will make up a worthy fight. It will be interesting to see how the changes to the scenario affects the battle. The old one seemed quite German friendly. The adjustments will surely move in the Russian direction, but will they balance it?

When it comes to phase two of the operation I am more uncertain what to do. As a start I put all of the fixed units not in trenches at work digging in. I expect the attack on the bunker line to come at the highway and to the west of it. What to expect afterwards is difficult to predict. If I were to attack myself I would probably rush the troops on the eastern heights and through the woods and try to hit Pokrovka from north-east and Yakovlevo from the east. Two other possible approaches are attack through the bunkers on top of the hill in front of Yakovlevo (historical approach?) or move through the gap to the west and directly towards the Hill 226.0. I am very unsure how to counter either of them, but hope my opponent not goes for the first one as I see very few counters against it as nearly all troops are fixed and it will delay the release of the Tank brigades. Speaking of Tank brigades, there are one issue. I am very unsure how to use them well. On paper they seems superior to the German ones, but the moral is an important factor. My prior experience indicates that they are better off moving up close to the enemy, but their ability in assaults are questionable. I have in close combat managed to take out some German tanks in the past, but at huge losses, but have little experience with such an infantry heavy enemy and city fighting. I must improvise, but my main approach is to keep the two brigades together if possible and avoid a long range shootout. I will also try to save some smoke to ensure the ability to get the tanks into battle behind a smoke screen if that is needed.

As for the strategic decision to place the armored car I go for the original placement as that’s the best placement for an early release by an approach from the east on Yakovlevo.