Command Ops Stalingrad: Operation Hubertus --- Available For Download

German troops take cover inside the Tractor Factory.

To begin, a very special thanks to Tim at Ranger X3X and Doug at Cry Havoc for their playtesting Hubertus, their edits/suggestions to the scenario and their help with the creation of a playable Soviet estab file.

Operation Hubertus is the 1st of three scenarios I have planned for the Stalingrad front. It covers three very intense days of desperate fighting near the end of German offensive operations in the City.  Historically, after Hubertus' completion, the Soviets launched a counterattack and encircled the German 6th Army along with a collection of Axis satellite units.

At the time of this operation, the German divisions within Stalingrad were almost spent, with many under 50% of their manpower.   A plan was suggested to and approved by Hitler to use Pioneer units to eliminate the remaining Soviet bridgeheads. The Soviet formations within Stalingrad were in even worse shape with many hovering around 30% of their manpower strength.

These Pioneer units were collected from across the Eastern front and attached to the front-line units within Stalingrad.  In addition, Assault Group Linden was formed and directed to lead the attack.

This scenario attempts to recreate this operation.  My scenario map for Stalingrad has been drawn using the map maker. The estab file is basic by Command Ops standards.  Again I have to thank Tim and Doug for their help with it. I've also tried to put the OOB together as close to reality as possible but most accounts of the battle were thin and the sourcing differed on a number of key points.

To learn more about the scenario I created I encourage you to read Doug and Tim's AARs below:

Operation Hubertus - German AAR.

Operation Hubertus - Soviet AAR Part 2

Operation Hubertus - Soviet AAR Part 1





Scenario Background:  
11 Nov 1944 03:30
Historical Scenario

The German 6th Army is preparing to finalize its capture of the remaining Soviet bridgeheads west of the Volga within Stalingrad.

Soviet intelligence has learned that elite German Pioneer units will lead the assault.

The German operational order has been code-named Hubertus after one of the key objectives, the Commissar's House.

Capture of these bridgeheads will give the German 6th Army full control over the City of Stalingrad.

German forces outnumber the Soviet forces, but the Soviet 62nd Army is well supported by artillery batteries across the river.

Air cover for both armies is equal.

The weather situation is expected to worsen.



Scenario Statistics:
Duration: 2 Days, 17 Hours, 31 minutes

Allies Total units:  137
Axis Total units: 121
Allied Combat Power:  221.99
Axis Combat Power: 310.55


Scenario Files:  

Estab file (place in estab folder)
Estab XML (place in estab folder)
Estab Images (place in estab folder)
Scenario file (place in scenario folder)
Map file (place in maps folder)
Map file cache (place in maps folder)
Signature - Weichs (place in graphics folder, default folder)
Signature - Yeremenko (place in graphics folder, default folder)
Signature read me file.

I hope you enjoy it and please leave me comments below!

Comments

Doug Miller said…
Way to go Chris! Happy to see it "in the wild."
Jozef Kundlak said…
Hi Chris,

thx a ton! Following your blog with interest and downloading the scnearios as they go for a later try once I get some time to delve into Command Ops :)

One suggestion - did you consider packing all files for a scenario into a ZIP and having the internal structure already in place in terms of folders etc., so that a user only extracts the zip into the game directory and everything goes automatically where it should? I do not have issues with the current system, as I pre-made a folder structure in my Custom Scenarios folder for each downloaded scenario, but some users might find it helpful!

Cheers, Joe.
Jozef Kundlak said…
Two things I noticed after downloading and sorting the files out:

1. I believe the Estab images should reside in "Estabs\EFSTEstab_Images" folder, right?

2. In the images download you also have the EFSTEstab.xml file (and an older version perhaps) and the stalingradlate.cop file (seems the same as the separate one. You might consider removing these to avoid confusion :)

Joe
Chris said…
Good ideas Joe thanks! I hope you enjoy this scenario!!
Chris said…
Doug it feels good to let it go! Race to the Volga is next and then I am going to take a break from scenario creation!
BletchleyGeek said…
Hi Chris,

BG here under his real name :)

I see that Matrix forumses are dead at the moment, so I can't reach you via PM. So regarding your map problems:

1) Remember that you'll only be able to display the underlay at zoom levels of 32 meters per pixel or less. That is, if you are at the 64 meters per pixel level, the Underlay option will be grayed out.

2) Is the map scan a cut out from one of the maps in the UTexas Perry-Castaneda library? If you haven't scaled the image that means that each 30 pixels in the image correspond to 1 km.

3) There's some white space at the bottom of the image, you will need to remove that. I've done so, and I get an image with dimensions 1248x583. That means - if you haven't scaled the image - that your map dimensions need to be 41,600x19,433 meters.

Hope the above helps, if it doesn't, just confirm to me what's the correspondence between pixels and kilometers (can be measured with the selection tool in most graphics packages, which display to you the area covered by the selection, in pixels).

And many thanks for your scenarios, Chris!
Anonymous said…
what a wonderful job!!!
thanks!
I'm eager to play Race to the volga
Chris said…
Anonymous I am glad you like it! Race to the Volga is shaping up and should be released soon. i've had great help with it from Tim at RangerX3X and Doug at Cry Havoc.

Miquel I actually got that map from the loadmap.net site you referred me to. The scale is 1:2.5 I think. I just cropped a much larger map. 14 Pz went through that piece of real estate en route to Rostov and tangled with a Russian Rifle division I think (or maybe pieces of a few). After Stalingrad I was thinking about a smaller: division v. division engagement.

And I am glad you like the scenarios!
Jason Rimmer said…
Island of Fire by Jason Marks is a must have if you have any sort of interest in this attack or Stalingrad or even military history. One of the bets books I've read.
Chris said…
Hi Jason. Thanks for the recommendation. I will check it out!
Anonymous said…
THANKYOU!!!!!! CANT WAIT!
Chris said…
Anon I hope you enjoy it
Unknown said…
Superb work , i come across your website via google and i found it intresting and with good PR.thnx
All Gta Games
Unknown said…
Hi Chris

I seemed to follow all the steps but am getting "Map database could not be opened".

Have latest version/patch of Command Ops.

I am not sure how to go about your last step in the Signature read me file when using the Scenario Editor.

New to Command Ops and just come across your great scenarios.
Chris said…
Hi Alan. Have you tried opening up the map using the map maker?

If not try opening the map in map maker.

Then click on map in the top bar menu, choose calculate terrain tables and let that run. Then generate a map draw cache (under map also).
Unknown said…
Hi Chris

I am still getting the same error message.

I am using the stalingradlate.cop file in the map maker, running terrain tables and map draw cache then saving this file in the main maps folder. Is this correct?

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