Eastern Front Command Ops: Encirclement of 1st SS Panzer At Perekop

Well I didn't actually encircle the division, but I did encircle two PG regiments and a battalion of Panzers in a trial run of my "Across the Tartar Ditch" scenario.  I also pulled off a marginal victory for the Soviets, but to be honest I could easily have been encircled as well up until the last hour or so.

The 1st SS seemed to choose encirclement, as they formed a steel hedgehog while they awaited the rest of the division I guess.  In my reading about Stalingrad, the German armor formations in the 6th Army as they advanced on Stalingrad outpaced the more cautious and slower infantry divisions. Fearing encirclement, and facing a lack of supply, they formed a "hedgehog" north of Spartanovka almost on the banks of the Volga before the rest of the army arrived. (Some ominous foreshadowing for 6th army).

1st SS pulled off something similar tonight. Screens below.

1st SS Panzer is encircled at the Chaban Rail station objective. Some of those black counter units along the Tartar Ditch fortification, are actually Soviet Naval Infantry (the Black Death as they were called).  I am still adjusting their unit coloring.

Final screen.  I held Armyansk but lost the Perekop objective in the last hour to a German hq unit I couldn't drive away or annihilate.

Final stats.  I took atrocious losses and I am finding these 1941 formations for the Soviet estab don't hold up as well against the Germans as their later counterparts.  A combination of a weak TO&E as well as the terrain where these 1941 battles are being fought.  German blitzkrieg tactics were in full effect here with German formations pouring through holes in my lines.

This scenario gets closer everyday.  More to follow.

Comments

Doug Miller said…
Man, this looks like a real slugging match!
Chris said…
Doug I think you will like it. Lots of room for your tank treads!

Sent you files over FB

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