Kharkov '43 AAR - Stemming the Flow - Vatutin's Desperation

[Strela]

Taking inspiration from Larsonney’s Kharkov ’43 campaign AAR, I thought I would post up the latest scenario the Kharkov design team played.

The team decided that the situation in #0226_01s Stemming the Flow – Vatutin’s Desperation was an interesting situation and we wanted to do a full play through. This is one of the ‘short ‘ campaign games running for 7 days (69 turns). This scenario represents the first solid line the Soviets could pull together to slow Manstein’s backhand blow. Of interest is the fact that a number of Soviet formations are far behind German lines and this is problematic for both sides.

The scenario was played with default optional rules and explicit supply to ensure that the stranded Soviet units cannot easily resupply themselves. This scenario commentary is from the Soviet side. All screenshots will have the jump map present so you can orient the current view.

6am February 26th, 1943 (Turn 1)

In the far south 25th tank Corp limps northwards low on fuel and ammo and with most motorized units on foot.


6th Panzer Division has just made contact with 41st Guards & 244th Rifle Divisions – they are very vulnerable with a river to their left and only a single road to the north.


The bulk of 1st Guards Tank Corp and 267th Rifle Division are trapped inside a pocket to the west of Lozovaya.


Minor probes along the line between Lozovaya and Barvenkovo.


The Soviets are planning to evacuate Kramatorsk and retreat behind the Sukhoy Torets river.

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8am February 26th, 1943 (Turn 2)

1st Guards Tank Corp almost breaks out of the Lozovaya pocket but is ultimately thwarted.

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8am February 27th, 1943 (Turn 12)

The 8am turn is our daily default reporting time as visibility is better. The Axis have spent the day trying to destroy the Soviet units behind the lines. In the main they have been successful, The Soviets have tried to play for time and hold out as long as possible while trying to build further defense lines.

Soviet losses are already heavy with 4x men lost and 3x vehicles. Most of this was the destruction of the units in the Lozovaya pocket.



25th Tank Corp tries to confuse the defenders by sending Brigade groups in different directions.


6th Panzer has trapped the two Soviet rifle Divisions and commenced mopping up.


17th Panzer and SS Wiking attack side by side with Blizhetsy falling and Wiking clearing the Soviets out of their forward positions. The Soviets are falling back to the river line in disarray.


The units trapped yesterday in the Lozovaya pocket are now hero’s of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

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8am February 28th, 1943 (Turn 22)

The loss ratios are pretty much unchanged from yesterday – the Soviet’s are paying the butcher’s bill.



Little of 25th Tank Corp is left. Fast elements of 15th Infantry and the recon unit from 3rd Panzer have done all the work mopping up the weakened Tank Corp units.


The visibility increases to 4 and activates Liebstandarte. A gentlemen’s agreement leaves the unit ‘fixed’ until it’s historic release day. The setup was adjusted so this could not occur in the Kharkov ’43 1.01 patch. Units from 3rd Tank Army are starting to arrive.


Totenkopf starts to move forward and Das Reich heavily assaults Lozovaya.17th Panzer is pushing alongside the lake with the aim of pocketing the Lozovaya defenders.


Further east, Wiking and 11th Panzer have battered the Soviet defenders and pushed them beyond the river line. 11th Panzer turns east with the aim of taking Barvenkovo.


The Soviet Guards Divisions have managed to retreat back to the river line unhindered by Axis pursuers. Digging in begins in earnest.

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8am March 1st, 1943 (Turn 32)

With most of the pockets destroyed the loss ratio drops back to 3 to 1. Vehicle and gun losses are particularly heavy for the Soviets with many batteries having been caught from the air redeploying.


Swansong for 25th Tank Corp. They have tied up German forces for three full days though.


Totenkopf begins to advance again and quickly pushes the Soviets out of their defensive lines. 6th Guards Cavalry Corp from 3rd Tank Army prepares the next fall back line.


Das Reich with assistance from 17th Panzer pockets the Lozovaya defenders and quickly reduces them, The Soviets fight on hoping to tie up the German Panzers for another turn or two.


The Soviets are using sheer desperation to hold Wiking in check. 11th Panzer turns north again sensing an opportunity to rush Mechebilovka and maybe even pocket the defenders before they get back to the Bereka river.


3rd Panzer tries to blast across the ford at Belbasovka and the village is quickly rubbled with very heavy casualties for both sides. The Soviets ultimately throw two whole regiments into this fight to stop the German’s crossing.

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8am March 2nd, 1943 (Turn 42)

The loss of Lozovaya blows losses back out to 3.5 to 1. The Axis are still well short of a minor victory and there is only 2.5 days to go.



Most of 3rd Tank Army has now arrived. 12th & 15th Tank Corps are going to rest as long as possible and get their tank strengths up. On entry each tank battalion only had 5 vehicles each. The 219th & 305th Rifle Divisions are sent south to build yet another defensive line behind the cavalry in the hope of delaying the SS.


Most of 1st Guards Cavalry Corp has managed to retreat to the 6th Guard Cavalry Corps defensive line. The arriving 3rd Tank Army forces will dig in between Micronovka and the river. Both SS Divisions are quiet and are believed to be resting after the non stop fighting of the last couple of days.


52nd Rifle Division arrives in the nick of time to stop 11th Panzer from breaking through to the River. 78th Rifle begins to fortify the river line. 17th Panzer is finding that is only up against week opposition and 11th Panzer again turns east towards Barvenkovo.


3rd Panzer manages to cross the river after extremely heavy fighting and it’s bridgehead is promptly isolated. The Guards casualties are that heavy that it is a hollow victory and units are beginning to break.

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8am March 3rd, 1943 (Turn 52)

The loss ratio is consistent, but the score is still decisively the Soviets way. The Axis players have to start capturing some of the 500 point victory hexes.


3rd Tank Army units are beginning to prepare the next defensive line, while the rested SS smash into the Cavalry. Totenkopf in the space of two turns smashes through what was a solid line. Das Reich is having a tougher time at Krasnopavlovka where engineers had the opportunity to build bunkers for the defenders. This may all be for naught as 6th & 17th Panzer begin to break through on the far right.


Mechebilovka falls and there is little reason for the Soviets to be on the wrong side of the river. Emergency bridges are built in the hope of providing alternate escape paths. 7th Panzer has appeared and aggressively attacked Greshevkha with its 500 points. A Soviet counterattack isolates the lead units and bloody their nose. That said, the Soviets are in mortal peril of not getting across the river.


3rd Panzer against the odds smashed through at Belbasovka and is fanning out into the breach. Surprisingly, they turn west rather than going straight for Slavyansk.

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20pm March 3rd, 1943 (Turn 58)

The defenders at Krasnopavlovka are unable to escape and are pocketed. The secondary (and final) defensive line is already being probed. Fortunately, Totenkopf has been slowed and it’s units are now starting to disrupt. Some of its spearheads are bloodied over night.

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10am March 4th, 1943 (Turn 63)

What a difference a day makes. The Soviets concede as the Axis player racks up the required 7,000 points for a major.



Liebstandarte does all the damage with a breakthrough in the north quickly capturing Taranovka and the Donets crossing points. Despite have 15 – 20 tanks each in 12 battalions the Tank Corps are brushed aside by the SS.


Das Reich also captures the 250 points on the railroad north of Krasnopavlovka while the tandem pair of 6th & 17th Panzer are almost through the line on the river and have actually isolated some Rifle battalions. There is little to stop these forces with Totenkopf tying down the remaining units.


Nearly all the Soviet units managed to escape across the river (it was a miracle!) but in the meantime Grushevakha fell and with it a further 500 points.


Barvenkovo also fell during the day (500 points) and with Grushevakho captured on the Bereka river, 7th Panzer turned south and finally went around 10th Tank Corps open flank. The cordon though effective is weak and the Rifle battalions should not have a problem breaking out.


3rd Panzer made a desperate lunge for Slavyansk, but it was too little too late. There was enough Guards available to actually fight the Panzer Grenadiers to a standstill and ultimately a battalion of MkIII’s and Panzer Grenadiers were destroyed.




Post Mortem


A very exciting game – the scenario essentially went down to the last day and if just one or two of the large VP hexes were held it would have been a different result. Looking at the victory points, we would probably up a major victory by 500 points to 7,500. Finally, this game was played based upon the originally released 1.0 version. Half way through the game the Germans players were concerned that the game was too tilted the Soviet way due to their heavy losses from artillery and some a-historical release of units (6th Guards Cavalry Corp). We subsequently changed the setup and locked some units down for longer. We are now not certain that was the right thing but it will still be an exciting campaign to play. It really should be played with explicit supply as both sides really struggled to keep the spearheads moving and the rail lines became critical for the Germans. Lozovaya was a huge problem as the main rail line ran through it and the stubborn defense there impacted the ability to get supply forward.


The players general consensus – a great scenario and a great game to play….

[larsonney]

I truly enjoyed reading this...As a German player in the grand campaign...I hope to get to this result some day!

As I side note, I like the idea of the jump map in each screen shot to provide some context...I will shamelessly steal that idea for my AAR!!:smoke:

Kudos again...Jon

[Mr Grumpy]

Great AAR! :bow:

[enigma6584]

Superb AAR!

[Dog Soldier]

Very well done.

Dog Soldier