Even with the battle of Warsaw ended, the 1st Byelorussian Front still attempted to force a crossing of the Vistula north of the city. Standing in its way were the three panzer divisions of the SS Panzer-Korps 4. Both sides had been worn down from several months of constant fighting, but the relief of the Polish Home Army and the Warsaw Uprising had failed by mid-September. After clearing most of the Nieporet Forest, General Guisev's 70th Army threatened the main road from Zegrze to Legionowo in the hope of establishing a bridgehead closer to Warsaw. To do that, he would first have to eliminate the last German strongpoint in the forest.
Attacker: Russian (165th Rifle Division and 42nd Tank Regiment)
Defender: German (SS) (SS Panzer-Grenadier Regiment 10 "Westlund", SS Panzer-Division 5 "Wiking")
Mike started very methodically with forces pushing down both flanks pushing the Russians back with limited casualties on both sides.
Then in a 2 turn span the 81mm and the Stugs hit the Russians hard eliminating 3+ squads and the 9-1 leader as well as breaking 4 other squads. That forced a change of plan as it was an all out effort to push the infantry down the German right flank with 2 tanks pushing down the right keeping the Germans spread. Russians took out 1 Stug and the other positioned in bypass to deny the exit.
The last turn was mass destruction as the Russians didn't get any rolls and the Germans left resid fields and destructive fire on the path to the exit.
Germans took out enough that victory wasn't possible and i don't think Mike got a single rally roll in the last 2 turns.
2022-03-12
(A) Richard Jenulis
vs
Dennis Hess
Russian win
The Harassing Fire/Creeping Barrage element makes this an interesting engagement. The OBA both helps and hinders each side by limiting routs, and movement. The Germans are able to easily bottleneck the Russian advance, but are in trouble if they break. My Russians ELR nearly every time I had to take a MC, further limited their movement once they become Conscripts. The Russians ended the game with 5VP of buildings and 8 EVP including the sole surviving Sherman. This was a fun game that went the distance. I would play this again.
2021-03-01
(A) Stephen Stewart
vs
Steve Worrel
Russian win
2019-10-23
(D) John Garlic
vs
Matthew Romey
Russian win
[Imported from ROAR]
2019-10-19
(A) John Gorkowski
vs
Bill Stoppel
Russian win
This combined arms “trailing” engagement came down to the last turn.
Most of my Russians started in hex row CC, with my three tanks (lend lease Shermans) in CC3, CC7, and CC8. My 9-1 with a couple of squads carrying the dismantled heavy machine gun (HMG) jumped off from CC7 while the 8-0 with squads and dismantled mortar stood in CC3. Bill had a few concealed German stacks sprinkled throughout the bombardment belt (rows X to Z) while his main line of resistance appeared further back in the L, M, O belt centered on a 5/8 inch concealment counter – the halftrack – at mid board.
To ensure a safe start with minimal exposure to friendly fire, I targeted my harassing barrage at X3. It actually landed on W4 to break a concealed German (SS) half squad, but also barred my progress along the western road as I waited for it to roll south. And roll it did! That fire from the sky eventually KIA-ed another SS squad and rolled snake eyes to turn the German halftrack behind the hedge in M5 into a fireworks display. Well worth the wait.
Simultaneously, my Russian infantry ran forward on the east half of the battlefield (away from the barrage) at full speed to “out” concealed stacks. We revealed three piles of dummies at a cost of one squad broken by distant German fire. One tank provided rolling cover for the 9-1 and HMG squad as they went up the hill to Z7. The tank from CC8 did a C shaped move around the Z8 wood to stop in X8 and successfully placed smoke (with its smoke mortar) into W7 to conceal additional movement. To conclude, the 9-1 with HMG squad then advanced down the hill, behind the aforementioned smoke screen, to eventually set up the HMG in Y8 where it could cut a diagonal slash through the German zone just as the smoke cleared.
Bill’s Germans traded ground for time in an orderly withdrawal while whittling down my infantry with some pins and breaks. We exchanged fire around the gulley for a turn. One tank went around the eastern edge to avoid crossing the bridge (I feared a panzerschreck might be nearby) as my infantry used the gash for cover to move further south. But they emerged to a rude awakening when the hidden German mortar in N7 caught them bypassing the T7 wood! That mortar’s rate tear broke one leader, one squad, ELR-ed another squad, and scarred my tanks stiff; they dared not enter its line of sight.
But the dice smiled on me again during prep fire when a distant Sherman with a thread-the-needle line of sight placed a smoke round atop that pesky German tube. Thus blinded, it could do little to stop the onslaught of my infantry who raced forward to throttle it in close combat. This precipitated a huge shoot out around the L6 stone building. The Germans brewed up a Sherman with a Panzershreck; but the Russians captured the structure by turn five to earn three victory points.
Here the Germans made what in hindsight appears to have been the game defining move. Bill’s newly arrived SP guns crashed into wooden buildings in hex row J. As expected, they bogged; but neither of us worried about that since they were thereby in perfect position to defend the two remaining stone buildings – key objectives. In this regard, however, Bill had done too well. His defenses were so strong that I could not confront them. Instead, the Russians rolled left, around his right flank. His SP guns, bogged in buildings, burned precious movement points to break free and were thus unable to respond effectively. Russian infantry started exiting around F9. The German 8-1 with 6-5-8 and light machine gun in the church at mid village tried a lateral dash to interdict my exit, but fell victim to machine gun fire from a Sherman standing watch in I8. The Russians won with three VP for one building and nine+ for exiting squads and leaders.
