Battle Report Stalingrad turn Four

This past Sunday we played turn 4 of the Stalingrad campaign. There were only four people present, so I decided to play Martin and Nick played Duncan.

This was city battle, so there were options to play on a 6 X 4, 4 X 4, or 2 X 3 table. Martin and I decided for the 4 X 4 table.

Martin rolled for the mission and he got Contact.

Martin choose a Panzer III Tank Company and Grenadier Company.

My force was a Hero Rifle Battalion.

Martin started with 60 % of his force and immediate reserves.

I started with 60% of my force but had delayed reserves. So they would come in turn three.

Martin put all tanks in reserves. I put my planes, tanks, and scout platoon in reserve.

The initial set up is as follows.

I am using map symbols for the Mortar, Howitzer and Anti-tank. The red are the soviets and the blue are the Germans.

So the Soviets are in red. I have a Storm group on the left flank, a Hero Rifle Company on the right flank and a Maksim MG Company holding the large building in the Centre. These have 9 heavy MG stands. I also have a Mortar Company in the rear and a 76mm Anti-tank company in ambush.

The Germans have two Grenadier Platoon in small buildings a 88 anti-tank platoon on the top left, a Marder tank hunter platoon far left, a 10.5 cm howitzer troop at their back and a 8 cm mortar platoon far right.

The Germans had were attacking, but we both had two objectives in each of our zones. So really we both had the option of going for objectives.

The German first turn did not succeed in bringing reserves. Martin decided to advance with his Marder tank hunter platoon and did not manage to hit anything. The Arty was also ineffective as I made all my saves. During my first turn I return fire with my anti tank platoon and took out 2 Marders and one 88.

The second turn, Martin was still unable to bring reserves. He decided to assault the anti-tank position, but the defensive fire took care of the remaining Marder. His arty continued to be ineffective. During my turn, I would change rooms in the building to avoid having the arty do a repeat bombardment. One of my snipers took out the remaining 88.

The third turn Martin decided to attack with both infantry platoons and he got one reserve. He did not roll for it, but you get one on turn 3 regardless. His attack went very poorly as the Russian force did were not pined and had a lot of MGs. The defensive fire hit more than 5 in each attack, so the Germans were forced to pull back and were now in the open. On my turn I rolled for my delay reserve and was lucky and my KV 8s decided to join the fights. At this point the Germans had nothing that could take out the KVs as both the Marders and the 88s were out of the game. Not good. I started moving my forces forward using the buildings as cover.

Turn 4 saw the Germans bring in more reserves but now they were on the defensive. On my turn I rolled two dice for reserves and got them both. The tide has completely turned so I decided to to an all out attack. Both three infantry platoons were advancing. The left flank was already on the objective. My antitank company took out 2 panzer III and my KVs advance in flame thrower position. My plane finally arrived, but Martin made all the saves.

The fifth turn saw Martin move some forces to contest the left flank objective and retreat with his panzer 4s. My infantry was attacking on both flanks. Martins Arty had some luck killing some of my teams, but it was too late.

The objective fell on Turn 6 when both German formations were no longer in good standing.

It was a 8-1 victory as the Soviets did not loose any platoon.