George MC
10-25-2005, 12:49 PM
New scenario available for test at The Proving Grounds
Rail Yard Blues
“Totenkopf” SS panzer kampfgruppe attacks a Soviet held rail yard and village during the Kessel battles near Kirovograd in early January 1944.
Map Size: 1km x 1.2km
Total Points Combined: 7000
Fictional
Author: George McEwan
Date: January 1944
Region: Russia
Battle Type: German Attack. Fictional
Game Length: 45 variable
Time: Dawn
Ground Condition: Light snow
Temperature: cold
Weather: Fog
Defender: Soviets (dug in)
Map Contours: Gentle 1.25m
Map Edges Friendly to: W - Neutral
N - Allied
E - Allied
S - Axis
Flag type: Static – there are 3 flags each worth 300 points.
Axis/Allied Bonus: none
Play recommendations
Best played as H2H or as the Germans Vs Soviet AI; for the first attempt playing against the AI use ‘stick to scenario default’, depending on your experience give AI a combat experience bonus e.g. crack players +3; veteran players +2; regular players +1; green players no bonus.
Background
Weakened by a steady stream of losses since the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, the Wehrmacht’s Eastern Front was in tatters by January 1944. Army Group South was seriously weakened, and the Soviets recognizing this weakness sought to exploit it. In December 1943 the Soviets broke through southwest of Kiev and pushed the German Fourth panzer Army back over 160km.
In early January the Soviets launched another massive offensive with the aim of smashing the German XLVII Panzer Corps who were deployed to defend Kirovograd. More than 600 Soviet tanks opened a huge breach in the German line and trapped several German divisions in the large industrial city. This gap was rebuilt after Manstein moved two fresh divisions to mount a counterattack. Leading this effort was the Waffen SS “Totenkopf” division which had been brought up from the lower Dnepr.
The weather at this time of year had been unusually mild with blizzards alternating between spells of rain. With the thaws the road network would very quickly turn into a nasty quagmire that mired all wheeled vehicles and even caused difficulty for tracked vehicles. This meant that rail links and their associated facilities were crucial to either side to enable them to rapidly move supplies and reinforcements to the front.
In this fictional scenario a Soviet mechanised unit has taken advantage of one such cold snap and pushed into a crucial goods yard on the outskirts of a small town. A panzer kampfgruppe from the “Totenkopf” division has been tasked to retake the rail yard thus allowing the Germans to continue to support their desperate counterattack. On the other side of the battlefield the Soviet commander has been tasked with ensuring that on no accounts do the Germans retake this vital facility...
Sitting in their SPW nervously clutching their weapons the panzergrenadiers peer expectantly into the gloom. In the panzers the commanders, with the soft hiss of static in their earphones, scan the gloomy silhouettes of the rail yard with their binoculars. Opposite, hunkered down in their foxholes the Soviet defenders can hear the rumbling and squeaking of tracks approaching through the foggy dawn…
Information Sources
This is a fictional scenario and is based on accounts of actual actions covered in:
“Armour Battles of the Waffen SS, 1943 – 45” by Will Fey
“Chronicle of the 7. Panzer Kompanie 1st SS Panzer Division “Leibstandarte” by Ralf Tiemann.
“From The Don to The Dnepr” by David M. Glantz
“Steel Storm: Waffen SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943 – 1945” by Tim Ripley.
I hope you enjoy/enjoyed this battle. I’d appreciate any feedback about this scenario, good, bad or indifferent. You can grab a copy here
http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/scenario_details_link.html?sku=953
Cheers fur noo
George Mc
Rail Yard Blues
“Totenkopf” SS panzer kampfgruppe attacks a Soviet held rail yard and village during the Kessel battles near Kirovograd in early January 1944.
Map Size: 1km x 1.2km
Total Points Combined: 7000
Fictional
Author: George McEwan
Date: January 1944
Region: Russia
Battle Type: German Attack. Fictional
Game Length: 45 variable
Time: Dawn
Ground Condition: Light snow
Temperature: cold
Weather: Fog
Defender: Soviets (dug in)
Map Contours: Gentle 1.25m
Map Edges Friendly to: W - Neutral
N - Allied
E - Allied
S - Axis
Flag type: Static – there are 3 flags each worth 300 points.
Axis/Allied Bonus: none
Play recommendations
Best played as H2H or as the Germans Vs Soviet AI; for the first attempt playing against the AI use ‘stick to scenario default’, depending on your experience give AI a combat experience bonus e.g. crack players +3; veteran players +2; regular players +1; green players no bonus.
Background
Weakened by a steady stream of losses since the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, the Wehrmacht’s Eastern Front was in tatters by January 1944. Army Group South was seriously weakened, and the Soviets recognizing this weakness sought to exploit it. In December 1943 the Soviets broke through southwest of Kiev and pushed the German Fourth panzer Army back over 160km.
In early January the Soviets launched another massive offensive with the aim of smashing the German XLVII Panzer Corps who were deployed to defend Kirovograd. More than 600 Soviet tanks opened a huge breach in the German line and trapped several German divisions in the large industrial city. This gap was rebuilt after Manstein moved two fresh divisions to mount a counterattack. Leading this effort was the Waffen SS “Totenkopf” division which had been brought up from the lower Dnepr.
The weather at this time of year had been unusually mild with blizzards alternating between spells of rain. With the thaws the road network would very quickly turn into a nasty quagmire that mired all wheeled vehicles and even caused difficulty for tracked vehicles. This meant that rail links and their associated facilities were crucial to either side to enable them to rapidly move supplies and reinforcements to the front.
In this fictional scenario a Soviet mechanised unit has taken advantage of one such cold snap and pushed into a crucial goods yard on the outskirts of a small town. A panzer kampfgruppe from the “Totenkopf” division has been tasked to retake the rail yard thus allowing the Germans to continue to support their desperate counterattack. On the other side of the battlefield the Soviet commander has been tasked with ensuring that on no accounts do the Germans retake this vital facility...
Sitting in their SPW nervously clutching their weapons the panzergrenadiers peer expectantly into the gloom. In the panzers the commanders, with the soft hiss of static in their earphones, scan the gloomy silhouettes of the rail yard with their binoculars. Opposite, hunkered down in their foxholes the Soviet defenders can hear the rumbling and squeaking of tracks approaching through the foggy dawn…
Information Sources
This is a fictional scenario and is based on accounts of actual actions covered in:
“Armour Battles of the Waffen SS, 1943 – 45” by Will Fey
“Chronicle of the 7. Panzer Kompanie 1st SS Panzer Division “Leibstandarte” by Ralf Tiemann.
“From The Don to The Dnepr” by David M. Glantz
“Steel Storm: Waffen SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943 – 1945” by Tim Ripley.
I hope you enjoy/enjoyed this battle. I’d appreciate any feedback about this scenario, good, bad or indifferent. You can grab a copy here
http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/scenario_details_link.html?sku=953
Cheers fur noo
George Mc