Gertsovka The Cornerstone

[Tide1]

Gertsovka, North West of Tomarovka: July 4th, 1943. (Scenario Size: Battalion. Head to Head) Major Werner Rode's I Battalion, Panzer Grenadier Regiment 394 was given the task of clearing Gertsovka. Gertsovka was the cornerstone of the Soviet defences in this sector. It controlled the crossing of the Ivinka River as well as providing flanking fire across the line of advance of Großdeutschland Panzer Grenadier Division to the east. The southernmost defences of the 2nd Battalion, 210th Guards Rifle Regiment were dug in both at Gertsovka station and along the raised railway embankment just south of the town. The Panzer Grenadiers would have to clear these positions first. This scenario covers Rode's assault on the embankment and into the town and the Guards desperate defence to hold it. Players note: To get the Panzer Grenadiers onto and across the railway embankment, 'Go on foot'.


My opponent is Dog Soldier he get's to sit around and wait for me. :)



Turn 1

I moved my PzGr Batallion north towards the railroad embankment. Trying to stay out of sight of the Russians.

[ComradeP]

The Soviets are very difficult to remove from bunkers, even weak assault value units like AT rifle platoons, so this is a challenging scenario, at least against the AI.

Moving the Germans forwards by foot is slow (I put smoke in front of the railroad embankment and move them the Germans forwards by truck, the Soviets can't spot them on turn 1 if done well), but I'll be watching the AAR to see how the battle develops.

[Tide1]

I tried awfully hard to keep them out of LOS

[ComradeP]

The initial stages of a scenario like this become a lot easier if you know where the first defensive line is. It must be pretty close to impossible to win if you're playing it for the first time. With a time limit of 10 turns, each move matters a lot more than in a longer campaign game.

[Strela]

The initial stages of a scenario like this become a lot easier if you know where the first defensive line is. It must be pretty close to impossible to win if you're playing it for the first time. With a time limit of 10 turns, each move matters a lot more than in a longer campaign game.

The guys did this AAR on an older version (look at the objective hexes).

That meant there were no ? Indicators for the frontline. I realized as you mention ComradeP that there was no idea where to drive to etc and we wanted players to get there in one turn and not three.

David

[Dog Soldier]

Panzer Battles
Kursk – The Southern Front

#0704_01 Gertsovka: The Cornerstone

Opening Russian Comments
This can be a tough assignment for the Russians. They begin the game in a spread out defense in depth position of platoons. They need to cover victory positions along the stream with platoons. The Russians cannot defend everything. Choices have to be made which victory locations to defend.

The ATG guns will serve to maintain the bunker positions as I maneuver my infantry to get the best shots on the Germans. There are two bunkers, one on either side of the railroad cut protecting the entrance to the village. While protected by mines, these will fall to the German assault. It is only a matter of time. How much time they buy will determine how the rest of the defense will be composed.

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Russian Initial Positions
The Russian have three main choices here.
1. Sit in the bunkers and make the German dig them out. Not a bad choice. However, he who sits in forts has lost before the battle starts. Some smart general who believed in maneuver said that.

2. Pull everyone forward and try to stuff the Germans at the railroad cut and embankment. This strategy tries to prevent the Germans from breaking into the town. It can work. The mines on the east side can prevent any rapid German flanking move. Excellent interior lines allow the defenders to shift to meet any unanticipated German threat. The west side is open ground and hard to defend a flanking move there. The Germans do not have much time to develop a strong move on that side of the map. Yet if they do come there in force the Russian garrison may find themselves cut off from supply the second half of the game. In which case the defense folds like a wet dish cloth.

Note: The design team changed the isolation rules so Russian strong points can still be bypassed and surrounded in this game, but they do not fold like a dish cloth any more. Strela can comment on this more. In another test game he and I ran after the change, Russian defenders of another village used a pair of pillboxes to tie up the advance of an entire German regiment, IIRC correctly. While the defense was surrounded, they still chewed up the Germans pretty badly who were pinning them in the pillboxes. Additional troops had to be brought back to clear out those Russian strong points weakening the German drive a key point in the game.

3. Defense in depth. This is a play for time strategy where Russian platoons will be chewed up at an alarming rate. The Germans will not take nearly as many casualties from the spread out Russians. Yet this defense is capable of running the game clock out. A German player might get anxious about the delays and make mistakes which the Russians can them punish them for. OBA, especially the rockets can really tear up a German company in two turns if they are caught in the open by this type of defense.

Dog Soldier

[Dog Soldier]

Russian Turn One
17:00 4 July 1943, Normal Conditions, Day, Visibility 3Km (12 Hexes)

German forces a seen only briefly moving into then out of LOS as they approach the village. Not much to do yet, except wonder what they have up their sleeve and check our ammo loads.

Dog Soldier

[Tide1]

Turn 2

Just moved my Germans north towards thier assembly area.

[ComradeP]

It may be worth noting that the 10 point objective has its own supply source in the release version, and that in terms of off board artillery, the Soviets have a 122mm howitzer section and a 120mm mortar section to help the strong on-map mortar unit of nine 82mm mortars, but no Katyusha's in this scenario.

[GerryM]

Wondering how you can tell if your units can be out of LOS here? Looks like the map is all one level. Does the embankment block LOS if his defenders are 2 hexes behind it? What is the visibility range?

Thanks for doing the AAR.

Gerry

I tried awfully hard to keep them out of LOS