Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev

[Plain Ian]

Turn 16 Russian



I kept the 378th motoring west. It was the correct decision as the enemy unit at Nizhnyaya-Buzinovka did not have anything behind it. The 2/884th 2/893rd was disrupted moving up adjacent but it did its part by isolating the enemy. 3 assaults should have brought him down to 30-40 effectives?

At Gettysgrad I had a Picketts charge moment. The 2/22nd had another go at his Pioneers and shifted them this time. I also assaulted his disrupted unit in the south back. I then charged everything up to the town. Yeeehaaa. The east will rise!

I will see what is left of my forces after his heavy artillery, 88's and LAA has decimated me.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 16 German



VP dialogue above after Mikes turn. I'm back to -ve points.



I've lost a net 292 men and 5 vehicles/guns. That's resulted in a 26 VP shift. Most of the losses occur in the pocket so lets look at that map first as usual.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 16 German



I've gone back to using Jisons Map Mod. It might take a while to get used to it. If it makes it harder to see the uploaded files a'll reinstate the bog standard map files.

The cut off pockets were eliminated and he assaulted most of the targets I expected him to. I thought he might try to cut off the 2/40th but he was content to hammer it with Nebelwerfer fire then assault it back onto the infantry behind. He then pushed this group back onto the 2/84th Gds.

The north east was hit by a lot of fire but there was no assault on the 1486th Sapper group.

No attacks in the south but he has brought up his armour to support the Pioneers and the disrupted infantry south of Svechinkovskiy.

Things still looking terminal but air support is available and some 62nd Army artillery can also be used. I have one Regiment (18 guns) which can target his StuGs/Marders.

I have also been lucky that 3 units undisrupted including the 2/40th Tank Bn. It only has 2 tanks left though. Supply also reasonable. For some weird reason all the Sapper units are undisrupted and have full supply. (303rd/40th Gds/1486th) 

Armour support will be weak. 644th and 1/40th are undisrupted but Low Ammo. 

I'll post the south and east tomorrow night. I've to watch the replay of these bits again. There is some action to see in the south. Mike hits back with a few assaults!

[Plain Ian]

Turn 16 German



In the east the 2/22nd suffers significant artillery losses and disrupts. Nebelwerfers are deadly and cause most of them.

Apart from that Mike does not fire but reorganises his defenses. I don't know if this is his standard pattern of play or whether its because he doesn't need to fire? possibly he is concentrating on defending and doesn't want to trigger defensive fire which might disrupt him? (that's a standard Russian tactic) 

It looks like he has abandoned his unit at Nizhnyaya and pulled his unit north to Verkne.

My moves? Well the supply god smiled on me as I have very few low units. I also a good round of disruption recovery.

There are opportunities at Nizhnyaya if I can eliminate his rearguard and advance the 378th north. Visibility is 2 hexes so he has nothing behind Nizhnyaya.

Osinovka is now set for an assault. Both his units are disrupted and both my units are full supply and not disrupted! I just have to worry about defensive fire causing disruption during the assault. 

At Verkne I have ran out of steam. Not much progress will be made here. Only 1/133rd and 1/22nd have any combat power.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 16 German



There is a lot on the map but hopefully it is all visible. 

Mike made two assaults and illustrates that a disrupted unit is easy to assault and push back even if its a unit of T-34's. 

At A Mike assaults the 358th with 3 units (not sure if StuGs were used?). I lose a T-34 and retreat on to 1/20th. The 1/20th is hit by artillery and also by his follow up forces and disrupts. 
The attack on Manoylin is now ended. The 358th, 1/20th and 166th are all disrupted and the 359th is in danger of being cut off. 

Further east a Pioneer also pushes the 364th back and the 2/20th is disrupted by fire. The 364th and 56th Sappers both recover but are Low Ammo.

The rest of his moves are him reforming his lines. His artillery is left in the front line.

Supply for the south also quite reasonable and I probably should be able to cause him a few headaches. Most of my artillery (not the 5th Gds Mortar Rgt rats) is available unless I use some of it for the pocket. 

I've also air hooorah!

Anyway I've set a new target for this game. I'm going to try to end the game NOT having -ve VP's!!!!

[Plain Ian]

Turn 17 Russian



My results above. A fairly decent turn nothing spectacular but I swing back into the positive.



Breakdown of the losses. His 3 vehicles were StuG's from the pocket and his guns were heavy artillery pieces from the southern sector. 

Map of the pocket next.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 17 Russian



Commissar Khrushchev is unhappy. Any sign of Zhuralev he barks? No Commisar, he was last seen wandering off into the woods! Let’s hope he has saved us a court martial and done the decent thing! 

The news from the south is mixed. Air attacks were intercepted by the Germans but some did get through and attacked the enemy tanks opposite the 40th Gds Sappers. (Axis Air Interception 30% Russian Air Interception 15%)
Two regiments of 62nd Army artillery were available and did outstanding support work.

Early news suggested that the 644th was slowly fighting its way south but the 40th Sappers were stalled by enemy defenses. The 1/40th has been pulled out to support them and the unlucky 2/40th had to be brought down to replace them. Both tanks!

The enemy will react says Krushchev. Tell the commander of the 2/262nd he MUST hold. The rabble in the north will not hold out long he growls but we must keep the supply line open to Svechinkovskiy.

It will be dark in 2 hours time. If only Zhuravlev had started the attack 2 hours earlier!

Artillery in the distant south announces the attack of the 1st Army. Help is coming?

[Plain Ian]

Turn 17 Russian 



The assault finally went in at Osinovka. Assaults are my worst game playing feature. I usually agonise over them. I debated about making two assaults then went with the one. It went well enough. 

Same thing at Buzinovka. I picked my best unit 3/893rd then used the 3/884th. I guess I should have used 173rd as it was Low Ammo and more than enough to kill 3 men. This would have got the 173rd over the stream and allowed me to use the 2/893rd to move nw to support the 2/893rd. I have brought over the 397th to help out.

After the assault cleared the town I debated what to do with the 378th. I went with the simple option of just keeping it east of the river and attacking the non disrupted unit. Return fire from the 88's thankfully was weak? Only 4 guns but still enough to cause disruption. Low Ammo?

At Verkne-Buzinovka I've pulled back the disrupted units and made minor attacks. I was expecting the 2/20th 1/20th to take an 88 off of him but nope. 

Hopefully I'll remove the Broken unit next turn.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 17 Russian



Action in the south. 

The 91st Rgt keeps up its fire against his advance. I manage one disruption. (I noticed this at turn end)

South of Manoylin I have no choice but to pull back. I use the 365th to allow the 359th to pull back south then use the 365th to replace the 364th (T-34 unit) in the west east. The 1/20th is pulled back and the 358th is sent over to the west east as well. I bring the 364th over and put it in front of his mega 'death star' stack. I don't think I have much choice here, I have to assume the worst and that is Mike is going to keep coming. Of course he may just stop having achieved his objective.

Further west I manage to make two assaults to cause him problems. Unfortunately he is prepared and his artillery group has a rearguard unit protecting his los. I can't see him bugging out though, that's not his style.

The 650th blasts an artillery unit out of existence then moves west to apply a bit of pressure. 

I get carried away with the 2/884th and things are looking good until the the third round of fire triggers artillery which disrupts it. I then had to bring over the 397th to have it available in case he makes an advance in this area. At turn end I was slightly relieved to see that I had disrupted him but of course he may recover.

And that was that for the south. A lot of thought but no real progress. I guess I'm good at micro managing things and seeing opportunities but crap at organising a campaign.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 17 German





No surprises in the south or east just the usual assaults on the pocket. 8 of the gun losses come from the 4th Gds Mortar Rgt, 1 from the 616th Artillery Rgt and 2 from the 415th AT Rgt which is eliminated. (Losses edited 14/1 to correct figures)

I'll watch the replay again a few times and do quick maps. Probably just one since everything just about fits on one now.



Supply situation for the pocket shows that he is still blocking supply into the pocket. It only requires one unit. 

Will post map tomorrow night and check the map just before the end of the replay to see what is visible before we go to 1 hex visibility.