Written by: S. Favilla
Category: Eastern Front
Hits: 443
Victory Results:
 0 %
Record a victory for BOTTOM ARMY  0 %

At 0330, 5 July, undeterred by a massive Soviet counter preparation fired hours before and by a knowledge of certain Soviet awareness of their plans, German artillery opened fire. About an hour later, the Germans commenced massive armoured assaults on Soviet positions north and south of Kursk. In the north the German assault struck Lieutenant General N. P. Pukhov's 13th Amy deployed in a forty-kilometre sector astride the rail line to Kursk. For seven days, German armoured forces and infantry pushed forward through Fukhov's first-echelon rifle corps, By the end of the second day, the Germans had smashed those corps' lead divisions and, by the end of the third day, had driven into the defensive belt occupied by Fukhov's corps' secondechelon divisions deployed between Kashara and Ponyri Station.
In a welter of combat, Fukhov committed first his infantry, tank and self-propelled gun support regiments and brigades, then his second-echelon rifle corps. The front released to his control the tank corps of 2d Tank Army, and by 7 July, the three corps of that army advanced into the teeth of the German assault. Vicious fighting raged as the Germans threw in fresh forces, first toward Ponyri and then Ol'khovatka, in desperate attempts to slice through the dense mass of infantry supported by a profusion of self-propelled artillery, antitank guns, tanks, and sapper units incessantly sowing new minefields.
On 12 July, at a depth of from two to twelve kilometres into the Central Front's defence, the German advance expired from sheer exhaustion just as Soviet guns echoed from the north announcing the commencement of the planned Soviet counteroffensive against German positions around Orel. In the course of seven days, at tremendous cost in lives and material on both  sides, the Soviets had denied the Germans their vital tactical penetration in the north.
Blitzkrieg had failed in the debris-strewn ground around Ponyri and on the gentle slopes rising south of Teploye. Within two days, the tide of battle rippled back toward the north.

From Glantz D.M. 1986 Soviet Defensive Tactics at Kursk, CSI pp.29
 

  Soviet German
Division 1

3rd Company 2nd Battalion 15th Rifle Division and 1 x AT Platoon
(Company 978 points + 580 points fieldworks = 1558Points)

1. Regular Infantry: 27
2. Elite Infantry: 8
3. Officers: 3
4. Mortar Teams: 2
5. MG Teams: 3
6. No. Bases: 12
7. 4 x ZIS-3 76mm AT Guns
8. Anti-tank x 3, Engineers x 2, Commissars x 1
9. 5 x Entrenchments, 6 x Trenches, 6 x Minefields, 4 x instant
mines, 6 x razor wire, 4 x tank-trap, 2 x concealed squads

Kampfgruppe Burmeister
XLVII Panzer Korps
XX Panzer Grenadiers 
Grenadieren (779 Pts)

1. Regular Infantry: 8
2. Elite Infantry: 6
3. Officers: 2
4. MG Teams: 2
5. No. Bases: 5
6. Flamethrower, Demolitions (satchel charges), Specialists, Engineers x 2
7. 5 x Halftracks: Sd.Kfz 251

Division 2

1454th Assault Gun Division, 3rd Platoon (940 pts)

1. 4 x SU122 Assault guns
2. 2 x SU152 Assault Guns

Total Units: 18
Total Points for Russians: 2,498
Top cover: Ilyushin Il2 Sturmovik

Suavant’s Tigers
505th Schwere Panzer Abteilung

Panzers (2,140 Pts)
1. Platoon A: 6 x Tiger I
2. Platoon B: 2 x Tiger I, 4 x Panzer IV

Total Units: 15
Total Points for Germans: 2,919
Top cover: Junkers Ju87G-2 Stuka

Strategy Decks - -
Starting Strategy Cards - -
Operations Cards - -
Deployment Zone - -
Starting Initiative   Initiative Token
Objective

Tally VP scores at game’s end. Resounding victory is 2 to 1, Victory is 5 to 3, Partial victory is less than 5:3 tally.

• Tiger tank heavily damaged or destroyed = 2pts,
• Panzer IV heavily damaged or destroyed = 1pt,
• SdKfz 251 halftrack destroyed = 1pt,
• Squad routed or destroyed = 1pt,

Tally VP scores at game’s end. Resounding victory is 2 to 1, Victory is 5 to 3, Partial victory is less than 5:3 tally.

• Soviet Zis 76mm AT Gun destroyed = 1pt,
• Soviet AFV destroyed = 1pt,
• Soviet squad destroyed = 1pt,
• Capture soviet command point marker = 3pts per marker,
• Exit AFV off victory marker southern edge = 2pt per AFV.

Rounds 8
Actions per turn 4 4
Reinforcements - -
Special Rules

Anti-tank cauldron
1. Infantry and AT guns must be deployed between the river and the line of forest on the southern board edge.
2. Soviet Deck: Tank Buster Deck (Normandy)
3. Hills on boards 4B and 1B represent built up anti-tank strong points. These hexes afford +2 cover and can be built up further with entrenchment (dug-in positions and sandbags) for an extra +2 points.
4. Mine fields: can be placed during setup on any hex on map boards 36B, 4A, 33B, 8A, 5A and 12A south of the river.
5. Instant mines: can be played on any hex on map boards 36B, 4A, 33B, 8A, 5A and 12A south of the river.
6. Trenches can be placed on map boards 8A, 5A and 12A.
7. Entrenchments, razor wire and tank-obstacles can be placed anywhere south of the river.
8. High grass: Zis 76mm AT guns (due to their low profile) can be concealed together with one squad (including AT specialisation) on any grass hex. Soviet player is allowed two concealed squad markers. Camouflage card is also in effect.
9. Firing Positions: Zis 76mm can be moved one hex into higher firing positions (up one level of elevation) at no extra cost.
10. Soviet Ordinance: AT guns may fire AP-B or HE ammunition (purchased by player).
11. Molotov Cocktails: Can be purchased for 1 initiative point.
12. Grassfires: Molotovs start fires in a grass hex on a D6 roll of “4, 5 or 6”.

Assault Guns (Su-122 & Su-152)
1. Initial deployment: Soviet division 2 (armour) must be deployed on the southern board edge on maps 8B, 9B and 7B.
2. AFV operation cards: No Tank Radio, applies to Soviet Su-122s only at Kursk, which were not equipped with radios.
3. Combined fire-groups: Two Su-122 assault guns in the same hex may combine fire with each other only.
4. Ordinance: All Soviet assault guns may fire HE ammunition.
5. Vasiliy Krysov-Semyonovich: One 1454th Battalion Su-122 is allocated Tank Ace (+3 CF) status.

Panzerkeil: Armoured wedge
1. Deployment: German units and AFVs can enter the game from any Northern edge board hex during rounds 1-3.
2. German Deck: Morale I.
3. Tank Operation Cards: Elite Tank Crew applies to all German Panzers.
4. Smoke Launchers: German panzers can be activated to lay smoke in the same or any adjacent hex. Roll D6 “4, 5, or 6” for success and place a smoke marker. If successful, LOS rules and cover are immediately in effect.
5. Ordinance: German panzers may purchase and fire AP-B ammunition.

Panzergrenadieren
1. Grenadier Operation Cards: Clear Tank Trap, Lay Smoke, Clear Mines apply to German Engineer squads.
2. Camouflage: “Go to ground card” can be played on infantry squads in any unfortified grass hex not adjacent to enemy.
3. Grassfires: A Flamethrower squad can be activated to start a fire in any grass hex (even those which are unoccupied). Place a weak fire token on a D6 roll of “4, 5 or 6”. The fire will provide smoke as with normal “smoke” rules.

Top Cover

Ilyushin Il2 Sturmovik and Junkers Ju87G-2 Stuka can be diced for as a single action. Roll a “6” on D6. If successful, target a hex and establish a target line. Roll for drift along target line.

Terrain Features The stream is deep: Germans must cross the bridge.

 

Log in to comment
Discuss this article in the forums (0 replies).