Russia 1943 - KGCII

Mark drove up from Olympia last Saturday to host a game of Kampfgruppe Commander II. He has an extensive collection of 15mm WWII Germans and Soviets so it was no surprise that the scenario pitted four battalions of Germans assaulting a russian fortified line. Well ok it was only one battalion of very good Germans and three battalions of not so good Hungarians attacking so so russian infantry regiments.

The axis force had to clear the center lane and capture the Village sitting astride the road. The Soviet main line of defense sat along an east west road, centered on a fortified hamlet at the crossroads, though they had refused their right flank.



The Axis plan was to have the German battalion sweep wide left and outflank the soviet line, they were to be supported by a battalion of Hungarian infantry. Two other Hungarian battalions would attack down the center to keep the Russians from reinforcing the flank. The Soviet plan was just to hold up in their field works and wait for the tanks to arrive.

Soviet strongpoint in the center. This proved to hard of a nut to crack for the Hungarians.

Two Hungarian battalions preparing to attack.

German Bn crossing its start line.

Supporting Hungarian infantry companies.

The Axis attack on the soviet right flank got off to a slow start. Terrain disrupted the movements and the Hungarians supporting attack stalled out quickly. However after massive artillery and mortar fire on the hilltop location, the Germans eventually got around the flank (covered by a woods) and forced the remnants of the defending Russian battalion to retire.

Hungarian infantry moving forward to attack.

The Germans were supported by a veteran StuG III company.

Hungarians finally move up and occupy the vacant hilltop fortifications.

By this time the Hungarian commander called off the attack on the hamlet. There were just too many russians to make an assault, and russians had moved down to flank them on the right. Soviet tanks also showed up at this time.

This small hamlet was bombarded extensively. The Soviet defends dug in and could not be dislodge.

Relief is coming!

T-34's finally show up.

 As it became clear there was no threat in the center, most of the Russian tank regiment moved to counter the Germans flanking the Russian line. While the Germans got the better of the Russians, and had completely turned the flank, they did not have enough troops to push the reformed flank back onto the village.

Most of the tank regiment moved to stem the Soviet right flank.

Though battered Soviet infantry holds on in the hamlet.

The Germans just about to turn right and attack the Soviet flank.

T-70's raced to cover the flank ... went into action and were knocked out quickly.

T-34's with infantry support cover the open area. They were later driven off from Stug and mortar fire.

We called the game after several hours of gaming. The axis side felt they did not have enough troops to effectively continue the attack, even though they had turned the flank and the German battalion was in relatively good shape.

We all thought it would be a cool idea to take this result, adjust the table somewhat and game out a follow up attack by the axis side. We'll see if that comes to fruition, as I suspect Ken will be hosting the next game and there was talk of British...

The Attack on Hill 192, 11 July 1944

Mark put on another Kampfgruppe Commander II game last Saturday.

As part of the major offensive of 11 July, First Army ordered V Corps to attack and seize the dominating terrain east of Saint-L6. General Gerow ordered the 2d Division to once again attack and seize Hill 192. General Robertson ordered the 38th Infantry to conduct the main attack. This time, the regimental commander decided to conduct a powerful frontal assault with two battalions abreast.
The battle took place in Normandy between a reduced German Fallschirmjäger regiment and a reinforced US infantry regiment.  

Mark, Ken and I commanded the four battalions of US infantry (supported by a tank battalion and several artillery battalions), while Chris and Steve commanded the dug in (and hidden) German paratroopers.

 

The Americans had to take Hill 192 in the center, and the two flanking villages to achieve total victory. In addition, we were under time constraints, which meant we could not really drag our feet. The Germans just had to hold on for 8 turns, but as they started hidden under blinds this which helped slow down any advance. 

 

The American advance made decent progress in the first couple of turns, though on the left, mark and I had some trouble navigating the Normandy Bocage. Ken moved the other two battalions up and started to scout the German positions. The Germans for the most part just called mortar and artillery fire on most of the US formations.

On the US left flank, Mark made contact with a reinforced company which pretty much bogged down his battalion's advance for the rest of the game. I was able to bypass a couple of minefields and overwhelm the company covering them with concentrated infantry attacks supported by Sherman’s. On the US right, Ken had mixed results, pushing ahead far to the right but the battalion to my immediate right ran into stiffer resistance.

While my sherman company reorganized, I pushed one company of infantry deep into enemy territory. Not contacting any Germans, they made a hard turn to the right and attack up the flank of hill 192, while the rest of the battalion covered them from below. After some bitter hand to hand combat my company was finally able to wipe out the Germans and take control of the left half of the hill.

Ken's first battalion also found a German paratrooper company defending the hill, but they would have to dislodge the Germans on their own, as my battalion was being counter attacked by some late arriving Stug III and grenadiers.

I was able to slow down the counter attack and hold onto the top of the hill, while Ken’s battalion pushed the German paratroopers off the front of the hill. His far battalion had advanced and captured a village as well. Steve had managed to stymy marks battalion and it only advanced about a third of the way to its objective by the time darkness arrived ending the game.