Some of you might know that I am a member of the Wargaming Club Niederrhein. Once per month we have our gamimg day and the last time it was the Battle of Prochorowka (Kursk Salient).
The task for the German players was to stop the Russian onlaught and kepp them away from crossing the three open parts of the tank ditch. For the Russians it was to bring as much Tanks and personel to the other side of the Tank ditch in 10 rounds. We played the Behind Omaha ruleset but with some club modifications.
So here are the Germans:
On the Geramn side stood:1x Tiger I,1xWespe SPG,1x Stugg III,3x Panzer Mark IV, a lone 75mm PAK 40, some Halftracks (Sdkfz 251) and 30 Footsloggers armed with Handgrenades and Anti Tank Mines.
And here the stalward soldiers of Mother Russia
The Russian side had 23 T34/76, 7 T 70 and 50 Soldiers without any extras.
The Germans quickly advance to cover the crossings
Well the Russians, too
And quickly run into the Germans ambushing them while crossing the first small hills
The German try in vain to stop the Russian tanks but more to slow them down a bit they did not achieve
The lone Tiger I moves to cover the middle crossing. For the little kitty it was a highway to Hell but I manages to get shot down right on top of the crossig an so stops the Russians from crossing it.
A lone SDKFZ 251 with 37mm gun tries to ambush the Russian advance, but got shot to pieces before even fifirn a shot
A lone Stugg III rumbles forward
Russian tank riders disembark to attack the waiting Krauts
Way to much for the single tank
German Grenadiers attack the Russian tanks with AT mines and enflickt a few casulties befor being shredded by MG fire
Slowd down but not stopped the Russian tanks rumble forward
Panzer Mark IV tanks position themselves at one of the last crossings to sell their lives as high as possible
Thou none shall pass.......
The middle part. It ttok quite o lot of fire to kill the Tiger. As the range of his dreaded 88mm gum could easily reach the other two crossings.
The lone Wespe SPG ... well their crew looked way to deep into their bottle of Schnapps.
They could not even hit a barn door 5 meters away
Hit but still in action The three Tanks hold the crossing
The last seconds for the stalward Stugg.
Aftermath.
The German side nealy got shot to pieces but stopped the Russians after 10 rounds at the crossing points. Maybe 2-4 rounds more and the Russians had won, but also the could not risk taking more casulties.
it was a really close run thing with the Germans trying in vain to slow the Russian tanks and the really manage to do so. In Behind Omaha a tank loses half of his movement when hit once and to kkep things worse the Russian tank goups had to keep formation so it tankes just one tank to slow the whole formation.
