high command, russia

www.accademiawargame.it

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Life's but a walking shadow ...

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signify nothing.

W. Shakespeare

HIGH COMMAND Grand tactical rules

for the second World War

Copyright 2006 Richard Affinati

Game Designer: Richard Affinati (ITALY)

Graphics Wizard and Chief Playtester:

Mike Patton (USA)

Acknowledgments:

Norman MacKenzie “Kiss Rommel” Luca Mazzamuto “Alto Comando” Lorenzo Sartori

“Dadi & Piombo” Andrew Carless “Translations”

Historical Background www.answers.com

QUESTIONS:

Please direct any questions or comments about the game to:

Riccardo Affinati: [email protected]

CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION:


Dedication: HIGH COMMAND is dedicated as a token of remembrance to the soldiers of the

Second World War.

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HIGH COMMAND Grand tactical rules

for the second World War GAME PHILOPHY For many years we played Napoleonic battles in such a tactical way that wargamers would never allow us to field more than a couple of Division per side. Then we discovered methods that al-lowed us to simulate entire battles without them getting too complicated. However today that old destructive mentality still ruins our Second World War games, preventing us from recreating entire battles. At the most, expert wargamers put a few more tanks and platoons on immense tables and worry about tactical problems and the thickness of armour, without examining the strategic or gaming aspects that are implicit in combats be-tween infantry division and armoured brigades. With HIGH COMMAND we can play the entire Normandy landings, or even the battles on the Russian Front or in Africa.

Richard Affinati

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The Eastern Front of World War II was the thea-tre of war covering the the conflict in eastern Europe. Many sources include the German-Polish War of 1939 in this World War II theatre but this article concentrates on the much larger conflict which was fought from June 1941 to May 1945 in which the two principal belligerent nations were Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It resulted in the rise of the Soviet Union as a military and in-dustrial superpower, the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, and the partition of Germany. At 04:45 on 22 June 1941, four million German, Italian, Romanian and other Axis troops burst over the borders and stormed into the Soviet Un-ion. For a month the three-pronged offensive was completely unstoppable as the Panzer forces sur-rounded hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops in huge pockets that were then reduced by slower-moving infantry divisions while the pan-zers charged on. Army Group North's objective was Leningrad via the Baltic States. Comprising the 16th and 18th Armies and 4th Panzer Group, this formation drove through Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the Russian cities of Pskov and Nov-gorod. Army Group Centre comprised two Panzer groups (2nd and 3rd), which rolled east from ei-ther side of Brest-Litovsk and converged ahead of Minsk, followed by 2nd, 4th and 9th Armies. The combined Panzer force reached the Beresina

River in just six days, 650 km from their start lines. The next objective was to cross the Dnieper river, which was accomplished by 11 July. Follow-ing that, their next target was Smolensk, which fell on 16 July, but the engagement in the Smolensk area blocked the German advance until mid-September, effectively disrupting the blitzkrieg. Army Group South, with 1st Panzer Group, 6th, 11th and 17th Armies, was tasked with advancing through Galicia and into Ukraine. Their progress, however, was rather slower, with only the corridor towards Kiev secure by mid-July. 11th Army, aided by two Romanian armies, fought its way through Bessarabia towards Odessa. 1st Panzer Group turned away from Kiev for the moment, advancing into the Dnieper bend. When it joined up with the southern elements of Army Group South at Uman, the group captured 100,000 Soviet prisoners in a huge pocket. As the Red Army withdrew behind the Dnieper and Dvina rivers, the Soviet hierarchy turned its atten-tion to moving as much of the region's heavy in-dustry as it could, dismantled and packed onto flatcars, away from the front line, re-establishing it in more remote areas behind the Urals and in Central Asia. Most civilians could not be evacu-ated along with the equipment and were left be-hind to die, which was a fate far more acceptable than surrender (and one which would be remem-bered when the time came). With the capture of Smolensk and the advance to the Luga river, Army Groups Centre and North had completed their first major objective: to get across and hold the "land bridge" between the Dvina and Dnieper. The route to Moscow, now only 400 km away, was wide open. The German generals argued for an immediate drive towards Moscow, but Hitler overruled them, citing the importance of Ukrainian grain and heavy industry if under German pos-session, not to mention the massing of Soviet reserves in the Gomel area between Army Group Centre's southern flanks and the bogged-down Army Group South to the south.

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The order was issued to 2nd Panzer Group to turn south and advance towards Kiev. This took the whole of August and into September, but when 2nd Panzer Group joined up with 1st Pan-zer Group at Lokhvitsa on 5 September, 665,000 Soviet prisoners were taken and Kiev fell on 19 September. Moscow and Rostov: Autumn 1941 Now Hitler decided to resume the advance to Moscow, renaming the Panzer Groups to Panzer Armies for the occasion. Operation Typhoon, which was set in motion on 30 September, saw 2nd Panzer Army rush along the paved road from Orel (captured 7 October) to the Oka river at Plavskoye, while the 4th Panzer Army (transferred from Army Group North to Centre) and 3rd Panzer Armies surrounded the Soviet forces in two huge pockets at Vyazma and Bryansk. Army Group North positioned itself in front of Leningrad and attempted to cut the rail link at Tikhvin to the east. Thus began the 900-day Siege of Leningrad. North of the Arctic Circle, a German-Finnish force set out for Murmansk but could get no further than the Litsa river, where they settled down. Army Group South pushed down from the Dnieper to the Sea of Azov coast, also advancing through Kharkov, Kursk and Sta-lino. The 11th Army moved into the Crimea and had taken control of all of the peninsula by au-tumn (except Sevastopol, which held out until 3 July 1942). On 21 November the Germans took Rostov, the gateway to the Caucasus. However, the German lines were over-extended and the Soviet defenders counterattacked the 1st Panzer Army's spearhead from the north, forcing them to pull out of the city and behind the Mius River; the first significant German withdrawal of the war. Just as Operation Typhoon got going, the Rus-sian weather struck. For the second half of Octo-ber it rained solidly, turning what few roads there were into endless mud that trapped German vehi-cles, horses and men alike. With 160 km still to go to Moscow, there was worse to come when the temperature plunged and snow started falling.

The vehicles could move again, but the men could not, freezing with no winter clothing. The German leadership, expecting the campaign to be over in a few months, had not equipped their armies for winter fighting. One last lunge on 15 November saw the Germans attempting to throw a ring around Moscow. On 27 November 4th Pan-zer Army got within 30 km of the Kremlin when it reached the last tramstop of the Moscow line at Khimki, while 2nd Panzer Army, try as it might, could not take Tula, the last Russian city that stood in its way of the capital. Furious rows marked the difference in opinion between Hitler, who insisted that the drive towards Moscow could not be halted, and his generals, whose troops were completely exhausted in the murderous cold. As Hitler started sacking those commanders who opposed him, it was at this point that the So-viets struck back for the first time. Soviet counter-offensive: Winter 1941 During the autumn, Zhukov had been transferring fresh and well-equipped Soviet forces from Sibe-ria and the far east to Moscow (these troops had been stationed there in expectation of a Japa-nese attack, but intelligence indicated that the Japanese had decided to attack southeast Asia and the Pacific instead). On 5 December 1941, these reinforcements attacked the German lines around Moscow, supported by new T-34 tanks and Katyusha rocket launchers. The new Soviet troops were prepared for winter warfare, and they included several ski battalions. The exhausted and freezing Germans were routed and driven back between 100 and 250 km by 7 January 1942. A further Soviet attack was mounted in late January, focusing on the junction between Army Groups North and Centre between Lake Seliger and Rzhev, and drove a gap between the two German army groups. In concert with the ad-vance from Kaluga to the south-west of Moscow, it was intended that the two offensives converge on Smolensk, but the Germans rallied and man-aged to hold them apart, retaining a salient at Rzhev. A Soviet parachute drop on German-held Dorogobuzh was spectacularly unsuccessful, and those paratroopers who survived had to escape to the partisan-held areas beginning to swell be-hind German lines. To the north, the Soviets sur-rounded a German garrison in Demyansk, which held out with air supply for four months, and es-tablished themselves in front of Kholm, Velizh and Velikie Luki. In the south the Red Army crashed over the Donets River at Izyum and drove a 100-km deep salient. The intent was to pin Army Group South against the Sea of Azov, but as the winter eased the Germans were able to counter-attack and cut off the over-extended Soviet troops in the Second Battle of Kharkov.

Soviet troops in winter camouflage

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Don, Volga, and Caucasus: Summer 1942 Although plans were made to attack Moscow again, on 28 June 1942, the offensive re-opened in a different direction. Army Group South took the initiative, anchoring the front with the Battle of Voronezh and then following the Don river south-eastwards. The grand plan was to secure the Don and Volga first and then drive into the Caucasus towards the oilfields, but operational considera-tions and Hitler's vanity made him order both ob-jectives to be attempted simultaneously. Rostov was recaptured on 24 July when 1st Panzer Army joined in, and then that group drove south to-wards Maikop. As part of this, Operation Shamil was executed, a plan whereby a group of Bran-denburger commandos dressed up as Soviet NKVD troops to destabilise Maikop's defenses and allow the 1st Panzer Army to enter the oil town with little opposition. Meanwhile, 6th Army was driving towards Stalingrad, for a long period unsupported by 4th Panzer Army who had been diverted to help 1st Panzer Army cross the Don. By the time 4th Panzer Army had rejoined the Stalingrad offensive, Soviet resistance (comprising the 62nd Army under Chuikov) had stiffened. A leap across the Don brought German troops to the Volga on 23 August but for the next three months the Wehrmacht would be fighting the Battle of Stalingrad street-by-street. Towards the south 1st Panzer Army had reached the Cau-casian foothills and the Malka river. At the end of August Romanian mountain troops joined the Caucasian spearhead, while the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies were redeployed from their suc-cessful task of clearing the Azov littoral. They took up position either side of Stalingrad to free German troops for the proper fighting. Mindful of the continuing antagonism between Axis allies Romania and Hungary over Transylvania, the Romanian army in the Don bend was separated from the Hungarian 2nd army by the Italian 8th Army. Thus all of Hitler's allies were in it — in-cluding a Slovakian contingent with 1st Panzer Army and a Croatian regiment attached to 6th Army. The advance into the Caucasus bogged down, with the Germans unable to fight their way past Malgobek and to the main prize of Grozny. Instead they switched the direction of their ad-vance to come at it from the south, crossing the

Malka at the end of October and entering North Ossetia. In the first week of November, on the outskirts of Ordzhonikidze, the 13th Panzer Divi-sion's spearhead was snipped off and the Panzer troops had to fall back. The offensive into Russia was over. Stalingrad: Winter 1942 While the German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army had been fighting their way into Stalingrad, Soviet armies had congregated on either side of the city, specifically into the Don bridgeheads that the Ro-manians had been unable to reduce, and it was from these that they struck on 19 November 1942. In Operation Uranus, two Soviet fronts punched through the Romanians and converged at Kalach on 23 November, trapping 300,000 Axis troops behind them. A simultaneous offensive on the Rzhev sector known as Operation Mars was supposed to advance to Smolensk, but was a failure, with German tactical flair winning the day. The Germans rushed to transfer troops to Russia for a desperate attempt to relieve Stalingrad, but the offensive could not get going till 12 Decem-ber, by which time the 6th Army in Stalingrad was starving and too weak to break out towards it. Operation Winter Storm, with three transferred Panzer divisions, got going briskly from Kotelnik-ovo towards the Aksai river but bogged down 65 km (40 miles) short of its goal. To divert the rescue attempt the Soviets decided to smash the Italians and come down behind the relief attempt if they could, that operation starting on 16 De-cember. What it did accomplish was to destroy many of the aircraft that had been transporting relief supplies to Stalingrad. The fairly limited scope of the Soviet offensive, although still even-tually targeted on Rostov, also allowed Hitler time to see sense and pull Army Group A out of the Caucasus and back over the Don. On 31 January 1943, the 90,000 survivors of the 300,000-man 6th Army surrendered. By that time the Hungarian contingent had also been wiped out. The Soviets advanced from the Don 500 km (300 miles) to the west of Stalingrad, marching through Kursk (taken 8 February 1943) and Kharkov (taken 16 February 1943). In order to save the position in the south, the decision was taken in February to abandon the Rzhev salient, freeing enough Ger-man troops to make a successful riposte in east-ern Ukraine. Manstein's counteroffensive, stiff-ened by a specially trained SS Panzer Corps equipped with Tiger tanks, opened on 20 Febru-ary 1943, and fought its way from Poltava back into Kharkov in the third week of March, upon which the spring thaw intervened. This had left a glaring bulge in the front centred on Kursk.

A Soviet T-34 tank towing a damaged armoured vehicle at the Battle of Kursk.

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Kursk: Summer 1943 After the failure of the attempt to capture Stalin-grad, Hitler had deferred planning authority for the upcoming campaign season to the German Army High Command and reinstated Guderian to a prominent role, this time as Inspector of Panzer Troops. Debate among the general staff was po-larised, with even Hitler nervous about any at-tempt to pinch off the Kursk salient. He knew that in the intervening six months the Russian position at Kursk had been reinforced heavily with anti tank guns, tank traps, mines, barbed wire, trenches, pillboxes, artillery and mortars. But if one last great blitzkrieg offensive could be mounted, just maybe the Soviets would ease off and attention could then be turned to the Allied threat to the Western Front. The advance would be executed from the Orel salient to the north of Kursk and from Belgorod to the south. Both wings would converge on Tim, and by that means re-store the lines of Army Group South to the exact points that it held over the winter of 1941–1942. Although the Germans knew that the Red Army's massive reserves of manpower had been bled dry in the summer of 1941 and 1942, the Soviets were still re-equipping, simply by drafting the men from the regions recaptured. Under pressure from his generals, Hitler bit the bullet and agreed to the attack on Kursk, little realising that the Abwehr's intelligence on the Soviet position there had been undermined by a concerted Stavka misinforma-tion and counter-intelligence campaign mounted by the Lucy spy ring in Switzerland. When the Germans began the operation, it was after months of delays waiting for new tanks and equipment, by which time the Soviets had rein-forced the Kursk salient with more anti-tank fire-power than had ever been assembled in one place before or since. In the north, the entire 9th Army had been redeployed from the Rzhev sali-ent into the Orel salient and was to advance from Maloarkhangelsk to Kursk. But its forces could not even get past the first objective at Olkhovatka, just 8 km (5 miles) into the advance. The 9th Army blunted its spearhead against the Soviet minefields, frustratingly so considering that the high ground there was the only natural barrier between them and flat tank country all the way to Kursk. The direction of advance was then switched to Ponyri, to the west of Olkhovatka, but the 9th Army could not break through here either and went over to the defensive. The Soviets sim-ply soaked up the German punishment and then struck back. On 12 July the Red Army ploughed through the demarcation line between the 211th and 293rd Divisions on the Zhizdra river and steamed towards Karachev, right behind them and behind Orel. The southern offensive, spear-headed by 4th Panzer Army, made more head-

way. Advancing on ei-ther side of the upper Donets on a narrow cor-ridor, the SS Panzer Corps and the Gross-deutschland Panzer-grenadier Divisions bat-tled its way through minefields and over comparatively high ground towards Oboyan. Stiff resistance caused a change of direction from east to west of the front, but the Tigers and Pan-thers got 25 km (15 miles) before encountering the reserves of the Soviet 5th Tank Army outside Prokhorovka. Battle was joined on 12 July, with thousands of tanks doing battle. At the end of the day both sides had fought each other to a standstill. The Soviets could absorb the fearful losses of men and equip-ment that they did, but the Germans could not, and that was what won the day. Also worried by the Allies landing in Sicily on 10 July, Hitler took fright and withdrew the SS Panzer Corps from the southern face of the Kursk salient, and that was the end of the Germans' final attack in Russia. The Battle of Kursk represented a scaled-up ver-sion of the battles of World War I — infantry ad-vancing under machine gun fire, and tanks ad-vancing on batteries of anti-tank guns. Much of the German equipment was new and untested, with undertrained crews. The new tank hunter units, though sporting a highly effective 88mm cannon, had no hull mounted machine gun to protect against infantry, and were quickly targeted by the Soviet anti tank guns, which were posi-tioned in hemispherical concave bulges, forming semicircles of high velocity crossfire. Moreover, these positions were protected by small two-man foxholes armed with limpet tank mines, machine gun nests, and mortar fire, ensuring than the Wehrmacht infantry could not effectively defend the tanks. The Kursk offensive was the last on the scale of 1940 and 1941 the Wehrmacht was able to launch, and subsequent offensives would rep-resent only a shadow of previous German offen-sive might. Following the defeat, Hitler would not trust his generals to the same extent again, and as his own mental condition deteriorated the qual-ity of German strategic decision fell correspond-ingly. Ukraine: Autumn and Winter 1943 The Soviet juggernaut got rolling in earnest with the advance into the Germans' Orel salient. The diversion of Hitler's favourite Grossdeutschland Division from Belgorod to Karachev could not halt

Heinz Guderian

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the tide, and a strategic decision was made to abandon Orel (taken by the Red Army on 5 Au-gust 1943) and fall back to the Hagen line in front of Bryansk. To the south, the Soviets blasted through Army Group South's Belgorod positions and headed for Kharkov once again. Though in-tense battles of movement throughout late July and into August 1943 saw the Tigers blunting Soviet tanks on one axis, they were soon out-flanked on another line to the west as the Soviets advanced down the Psel, and Kharkov had to be evacuated for the final time on 22 August. The German forces on the Mius, now constituting the 1st Panzer Army and a reconstituted 6th Army, were by August too weak to sustain a Soviet on-slaught on their own front, and when the Soviets hit them they had to fall back all the way through the Donbass industrial region to the Dnieper, los-ing the industrial resources and half the farmland that Germany had invaded the Soviet Union to exploit. At this time Hitler agreed to a general withdrawal to the Dnieper line, along which was meant to be the Ostwall, a line of defence similar to the Westwall of fortifications along the West German frontier. Trouble was, it hadn't been built yet, and by the time Army Group South had evacuated eastern Ukraine and begun withdraw-ing across the Dnieper during September, the Soviets were hard behind them. Tenaciously, small units paddled their way across the 3-km (2-mile) wide river and established bridgeheads. A second attempt by the Soviets to gain land using parachutists, mounted at Kanev on 24 Septem-ber, proved as luckless as at Dorogobuzh eight-een months previously, and the paratroopers were soon repelled — but not before still more Red Army troops had used the cover they pro-vided to get themselves over the Dnieper and securely dug in. As September proceeded into October, the Germans found the Dnieper line im-possible to hold as the Soviet bridgeheads grew and grew, and important Dnieper towns started to fall, with Zaporozhye the first to go, followed by Dnepropetrovsk. In January 1944 ten German divisions trapped near Cherkassy managed to break out but with terrible losses. Then, in March, 20 German divisions of Generaloberst Hube's 1st Panzer Army were encircled in what was to be known as Hube's Pocket near Kamenets-Podolskiy. After two weeks hard fighting, the 1st Panzer managed to escape the pocket, suffering only light to moderate casualties. Further to the north, Army Group Centre was pushed back from the Hagen line slowly, losing comparatively little territory, but losing Bryansk and more importantly, Smolensk, on 25 September. The town was the keystone of the entire German defensive system, but the 4th and 9th Armies and 3rd Panzer Ar-mies still held their own east of the upper Dnieper. On Army Group North's front, there was

barely any fighting at all until January 1944 when Novgorod was recaptured; by February the Red Army had reached Estonia. In the south, they reached the Romanian border in March, captured Odessa in April, and Sevasto-pol in May. Belarus: Summer 1944 On the central front, a massive Soviet attack, Op-eration Bagration, starting on June 22 1944, led eventually to the destruction of the German Army Group Centre. The Germans had transferred units to France to meet the invasion of Normandy two weeks before. Four Soviet army groups total-ling over 120 divisions smashed into the thinly-held German line. The Soviets achieved a ratio of ten to one in tanks and seven to one in aircraft over their enemy. At the points of attack, the nu-merical and quality advantages of the Soviets were overwhelming. The Germans crumbled. The capital of Belarus, Minsk, was taken on July 3, trapping 50,000 Germans. Ten days later the Red Army reached the pre-war Polish border. The rapid progress cut off and isolated the German units of Army Group North fighting in Courland. The neighbouring Lvov-Sandomierz operation was launched on 17 July 1944, rapidly routing the German forces in the western Ukraine. The So-viet advance in the south continued into Romania and following a coup against Axis-allied govern-ment of Romania on August 23, the Red army occupied Bucharest on August 31. In Moscow on September 12, Romania and the Soviet Union signed an armistice on terms Moscow virtually dictated. The Romanian surrender tore a hole in the southern German Eastern Front causing the loss of the whole of the Balkans. In Poland, as the Red Army approached Warsaw in July, the Polish Home Army launched the Warsaw Upris-ing. However, the Soviet Army halted at the Vis-tula River, unable or unwilling to come to the aid of the Polish resistance. An attempt by the newly-formed communist Polish People's Army to re-lieve the city was thrown back in September with heavy losses.

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Eastern Europe: January–March 1945 The Soviet Union finally captured Warsaw in January 1945. Over three days, on a broad front incorporating four army Fronts, the Red Army began an offensive across the Narew River and from Warsaw. The Soviets outnumbered the Ger-mans on average by nine to one in troops, ten to one in artillery, and ten to one in tanks and self-propelled artillery. After four days the Red Army broke out and started moving thirty to forty kilo-metres a day, taking the Baltic states, Danzig, East Prussia, Poznan, and drawing up on a line sixty kilometres east of Berlin along the Oder River. On 25 January 1945, Hitler renamed three army groups. Army Group North became Army Group Courland; Army Group Centre became Army Group North and Army Group A became Army Group Centre. Army Group North (old Army Group Centre) was driven into an ever smaller pocket around Königsberg in East Prussia. A counterattack by the newly created Army Group Vistula, under the command of Himmler, had failed by February 24, and the Soviets drove on to Pomerania and cleared the right bank of the Oder River. In the south, three German attempts to relieve the encircled Budapest failed and the city fell on February 13 to the Soviets. Again the Germans counterattacked, Hitler insisting on the impossible task of regaining the Danube River. By March 16 the attack had failed and the Red Army counterattacked the same day. On March 30 they entered Austria and captured Vienna on April 13. On April 9, 1945, Königsberg finally fell to the Red Army, although the shattered rem-nants of Army Group North continued to resist on the Heiligenbeil and Danzig beachheads until the end of the war in Europe. This freed up General Rokossovsky's 2nd Belarusian Front (2BF) to move west to the east bank of the Oder river. During the first two weeks of April the Soviets performed their fastest front redeployment of the war. General Zhukov concentrated his 1st Belaru-sian Front which had been deployed along the Oder river from Frankfurt in the south to the Bal-tic, into an area in front of the Seelow Heights. The 2BF moved into the positions being vacated by the 1BF north of the Seelow Heights. While this redeployment was in progress gaps were left in the lines and the remnants of the German 2nd Army which had been bottled up in a pocket near Danzig managed to escape across the Oder. To the south General Konev shifted the main weight of the 1st Ukrainian Front out of Upper Silesia north-west to the Neisse River. The three Soviet fronts had altogether 2.5 million men; 6,250 tanks; 7,500 aircraft; 41,600 artillery pieces and mortars; 3,255 truck-mounted Katyushas rockets, (nicknamed "Stalin Organs"); and 95,383 motor vehicles, many manufactured in the USA.

Berlin: April 1945 All that was left for the Soviets to do was to launch an offensive to capture what was to be-come East Germany. The Soviet offensive had two objectives. Because of Stalin's suspicions about the intentions of the Western Allies to hand over territory occupied by them in the post war Soviet zone of occupation, the offensive was to be on a broad front and was to move as rapidly as possible to the west, to meet the Western Al-lies as far west as possible. But the overriding objective was to capture Berlin. The two were complementary because possession of the zone could not be won quickly unless Berlin was taken. Another consideration was that Berlin itself held strategic assets, including Adolf Hitler and the German atomic bomb programme. The offensive to capture East Germany and Berlin started on April 16 with an assault on the German front lines on the Oder and Neisse rivers. After several days of heavy fighting the Soviet 1BF and 1UF had punched holes through the German front line and were fanning out across East Germany. By the April 24 elements of the 1BF and 1UF had com-pleted the encirclement of Berlin and the Battle of Berlin entered its final stages. On April 25 the 2BF broke through the German 3rd Panzer Army's line south of Stettin. They were now free to move west towards the British 21st Army Group and north towards the Baltic port of Stral-sund. The Soviet 58th Guards Division of the 5th Guards Army made contact with the US 69th In-fantry Division of the First Army near Torgau, Germany on the Elbe river. On April 30, as the Soviet forces fought their way into the centre of Berlin, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun and then committed suicide by taking cyanide and shooting himself. Weidling, defence commandant of Berlin, surrendered the city to the Soviets on May 2. On May 7, 1945, at the SHAEF headquarters, Ger-man Chief-of-Staff General Jodl signed the un-conditional surrender documents for all German forces to the Allies. It included the phrase All forces under German control to cease active op-erations at 2301 hours Central European time on 8th May 1945.

www.answers.com

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BASING We play with units (HQ, Artillery, Recon, Infantry, Tank, Motorised Infantry) on base (measuring 3cm x 3cm for 6mm miniatures; 6cm/12cm for 20mm or plas-tic 1/72), upon which we then place the right sort of soldier or vehicles. A base represent a battalion, more or less. If you have troops that are already based for another system you won’t have to change the basing as they are all the same. If you have to start from scratch then try to create some small dioramas, using your creativity and modelling abil-ity. A truck and 3 or 4 soldiers will be enough to represent a Motorised Infantry unit, a Recon unit could be represented by an armoured car and a couple of motorbike; and for a tank unit, one tank will do.

IRREGULAR MINIATURE

3 Apollo Street, York YO10 5AP, UK Tel/Fax: (in UK) 01904 671101

Tel/Fax: (overseas)+44 1904 671101 Email : [email protected] www.irregularminiatures.co.uk

6mm World War II - Armoured Divisions

40 Tanks and Vehicles and 20 Infantry strips (80 figures) Armoured Division Packs, for any Nation, Year and Theatre. Made up to our own realistic and balanced composition.

CONTENTS

FIGURES

German British Russian French Italian Ameri-can Japanese Other Nations

TANKS, VEHICLES & GUNS

German Italian Japanese Polish French British & Commonwealth American Russian

AIRCRAFT

German British Polish French Italian Rus-sian American Japanese

PACKS

Armoured Divisions Battlepacks

SOVIET GUARDS RIFLE DIVISION

GERMAN PANZER DIVISION

HQ MOTORISED

INFANTRY MOTORISED INFANTRY

MOTORISED INFANTRY

MOTORISED INFANTRY MOTORISED

INFANTRY

MOTORISED INFANTRY

MOTORISED INFANTRY

MOTORISED INFANTRY

ARTILLERY ARTILLERY

HQ TANK

TANK

MOTORISED INFANTRY

MOTORISED INFANTRY

HEAVY TANK

MOTORISED INFANTRY

MOTORISED INFANTRY

RECON

ARTILLERY 88 MM

RECON

MOTORISED INFANTRY

MOTORISED INFANTRY

MOTORISED INFANTRY

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BATTLE SET-UP

1. The table is divided into Zones a foot square. 2. Select forces using the Force Cards 3. Deploy Soviet minefields followed by Axis ones 4. Deploy Soviet forces and lastly the Germans Defences indicate minefields and dug-in positions with minefields being placed right up to the centre line if wished. Troops must be at least 6" - 15cm from the centre line. You need not put a Division's troops near their HQ but this could be risky! A Supply base (use a tent or supply truck model) is placed in the centre of each "Supply" Zone. For a bigger table you might add other Supply bases.

Axis Supply 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Axis Defences 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Soviet Defences 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Soviet Supply 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”


12” x 12”


12” x 12”


12” x 12”


12” x 12”


12” x 12”


12” x 12”


12” x 12”


12” x 12”

Axis 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Axis 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Soviet 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Soviet 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Axis 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Axis 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Soviet 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

Soviet 30cm x 30cm

12” x 12”

11


TURN SEQUENCE 1. The Axis player may replace a “Dispersed” unit (one for the entire army). 2. The Axis player may move his units (including the replacements) and place aircraft units. 3. The Axis units may fire. 4. The Soviet player may replace a “Dispersed” unit (one for the entire army). 5. The Soviet player may move his units (including the replacements) and place aircraft units. 6. The Soviet units may fire.

There are 9 to 12 turns in a day. Throw before each turn from 10 to 12 with a 5+ indicating the game has ended. HEADQUARTERS (HQ) Once per turn for the whole army the Headquarters (HQ) can bring back to the battlefield any unit from its own Division that was previously “Dispersed” (i.e. placed in the “Replacements” box). This means that the player must decide which Headquarters (HQ) will use the available replacement that turn. If a unit that comes back into play is “Dispersed” again it can be replaced afterwards. The HQ is one of the most important units as it can bring “Dispersed” units removed from the game back into play. You can move units to anywhere on the battlefield but the may be “Destroyed” and not “Dispersed” if they are too far from the HQ. It is also assumed that the HQ is where the batteries of light artillery and anti-craft units are located. The HQ cannot be “Destroyed”, unless there are no other units in its Division left on the table. In this case it is considered “Destroyed”. The “Dispersed” HQ is not removed from the battlefield, but in the next turn it re-places itself, without being able to re-place other units in its Division. The unit that is replaced is placed next to its Headquarters (HQ).

The “Dispersed” HQ immediately moves 15cm/6” directly to its rear (distant by enemy), and it cannot move or fire and no unit in its Division can be replaced un-til the HQ is back in action. In any case a “Dispersed” HQ has a command radium of 30cm or 12" for its Division, impeding the Destruction of units in the Division within 30cm or 12" if they are hit during combat, but not their Dispersion. If the HQ is shot again must go back 15cm/6”.

Zukhov MOVEMENT Units have a 360° frontage and their movement is always straight in any direc-tion. They may not move closet than 5cm or 2" from an enemy unit. Units can only leave the battlefield from their set-up side. They are considered “Dispersed”. You can measure anything during the game. Units on road +5cm or 2”. FIRING You can only fire on a unit that is within firing range and sighting range. If a unit in the Division manages to see an enemy unit, it is assumed that the whole Division can see it. A Division may not spot on behalf of other Divisions. You may fire at one unit at a time and you need to roll a 5+. Units will fire at the closet enemy unit except for artillery that can fire at any tar-get (Artillery move or fire). Units do not block line of sight.

12


SAVING THROW Every time a unit is hit it must make a saving throw or be removed as Dis-persed (removed from the battlefield and put in a box labelled “Replacements”), and then may be return later during the battle (see HQ). Those units that are not within 30 cm or 12” of their Division HQ are classified as Destroyed and removed from the battle (without the possibility of being replaced). Tanks and Recon automatically fail the Saving Throw if hit by a 88mm (Tiger or Artillery). TERRAIN Only Artillery can fire over hills, woods or villages. If a unit is on top of a hill or within woods or villages the spotting range for enemies that want to sight them is reduced by 8cm or 3", and units in woods, hills or villages get a +1 modi-fier on their Saving Throw (except for tanks). Villages, woods and hills have a standard size of 12cm/5" x 12 cm.

GERMAN STUKAS & SOVIET AIR FORCE Each side is allowed up to two air-strikes per turn that can be used against any en-emy unit. Roll a dice: 5 – 6 = the target must make a saving Throw or become Dispersed (Destroyed if not within 30cm or 12" from the HQ). 2 – 4 = no effect. 1 = if the attack is within 30cm or 12" of an enemy HQ, the attacking aircraft is Destroyed. From that moment onwards you have one less air attack per turn for the rest of the battle.

VICTORY CONDITIONS Each player gets 3 Victory Point (VPs) for every Heavy Tank unit destroyed; 2 Victory Points for each Tank or Artillery (88mm) destroyed; each Supply base destroyed counts as five VP's; and one Victory Point for every other type of en-emy unit destroyed. If there are less than 5 VP difference between the totals then the game is a DRAW; between 5 and 9 is a VICTORY and a difference greater than 10 is a DECISIVE VICTORY. All the Dispersed units that were waiting to come back as Replacements are consid-ered automatically Destroyed, i.e. all units that have not been replaced at the end of the established number of turns and are still Dispersed are considered Destroyed. If you destroy all three enemy Supply Bases you may opt to end the game and claim an immediate Major Victory!

German Recon

13


MINEFIELDS Each side can have up to 60cm or 24" of minefields (a base depth deep). To cross an enemy minefield dice per unit that tries: 5-6 = Get through OK, stopping on other side; 2-4 = unit stopped in front of minefield; 1 = the unit is Scattered (or Destroyed if not near the HQ)! To clear a one base wide Gap (allowing up to six units to pass through each turn), get an infantry unit adjacent to the mine-field and throw with a 5 or 6 to create a Gap. Note that only one infantry unit per Division may try this per turn (representing the Divisional engineers / pioneers; count the Free French "Brigade" as a Division for this rule).

DUG IN Up to 16 units may begin as Dug-in (in substantial trenches, protected by barbed wire, suitable model bases being re-quired). Infantry, artillery, 88mm's, and HQ's im-prove their saving throw to 4+ and allows them to Spot 7,5cm or 3" further, as well as allowing them shooting in the Dug-in phase. Note: troops Dug-in on a Hilltop only increase Spotting by 7,5cm or 3" maximum. Tanks and Recon can be "in" the trenches but get no benefit from them. Troops in captured positions do not get the Spotting bonus as the trenches probably face the wrong way! Alternatively you may simply remove captured positions. AXIS ALLIES and SOVIET PROBLEMS Count the Axis Allies and Soviet HQ dis-tance as 22,5cm or 9" rather than 30cm or 12". Axis Allies Foot Infantry is short of AT weapons, so require a 6 to hit Tanks.

Waffen-SS Panzergrenadiers of the 3rd SS-Panzer-Division "Totenkopf" at the start of the Battle of Kursk.

14


ORGANIZATION

FORCE HQ Recon Heavy Tank Tank Motorised Infantry Artillery 88mm

AXIS

Panzer Division 1 2 1 2 6 3 1

Infanterie Division 1 2 - - 7 2 -

Panzer Grenadier Division 1 2 - 1 6 3 1

Gross Deutschland Panzer 1 2 1 2 8 3 1

Luftwaffe Field Division 1 1 - - 6 2 1

Gebirgjager Division 1 1 - - 6 3 - Italian (Alpini Julia), Spanish (Azul) or Romanian Infanterie Division 1 - - - 6 2 -

Artillery Kommand 1 - - - - 4 1

FORCE HQ Recon Heavy Tank Tank Motorised Infantry Artillery 88mm

SOVIET

Tank Corps 1 1 - 3 4 3 -

Tank Guards Tank Corps 1 1 1 2 4 3 -

Tank Guards Corps 1943-45 1 1 3 3 6 3 -

Motorised Division 1 1 - 2 6 3 -

Rifle Division 1 - - - 6 2 -

Guards Rifle Division 1 - - - 9 2 -

Tank Brigade 1 - - 2 - - -

Artillery Division 1 1 - - - 6 -

Joseph Stalin bore the greatest responsibility for the disasters of the first two years of the war.

The Great Purge of the Red Army in the 1930s on Stalin's orders had kil-led or imprisoned the majority of the senior command, including Mikhail

Tukhachevsky, the brilliant proponent of armoured blitzkrieg. Stalin promo-ted obscurantists like Grigory Kulik, who opposed the mechanization of the army and the production of tanks. Distrust of the military led to a system of "dual command", in which every high-ranking officer was paired with a po-litical commissar, a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

who ensured that the officer was loyal and implemented Party orders.

Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 MP38- MP40 Gewehr 98

GERMAN ARMIES

Luger

15


UNITS

Nationality Battalion type Spotting Range Saving throw Speed

All nations Head Quarters (HQ) 15cm or 6” 15cm or 6" 6 15cm or 6"

Reconnaissance (Recon) 22,5cm or 9" 15cm or 6" 5+ 22,5cm or 9"

Foot Infantry 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 7,5cm or 3"

Motorised Infantry 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 15cm or 6"

Artillery (Fire or move). 15cm or 6" 45cm or 18” 6 15cm or 6"

Supply Base - - 6 -

Light Anti-tank gun 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 15cm or 6"

German Tanks 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 4+ 15cm or 6"

Artillery 88mm (Fire or move). 15cm or 6" 30cm or 12" 6 15cm or 6"

Heavy Tank (Tigre) 15cm or 6" 22,5cm or 9" 3+ 10cm or 4"

Soviet Tanks 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 5+ 15cm or 6"

Heavy Tank (KV1) 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 4+ 15cm or 6"

Self Propelled Gun (Fire and move). 15cm or 6" 30cm or 12” 5+ 15cm or 6"

Regimental Mortar (Fire or move). 15cm or 6" 22,5cm or 9" 6 7,5cm or 3"

Cavalry 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 22,5cm or 9"

KV-1 T-34/43 T-34/85

Tiger VI Jagdpanzer IV Panzerkampfwagen IV

Panther V Tiger VI-II Panzerkampfwagen III

SOVIET TANK

GERMAN TANK

16


EASTERN FRONT CAMPAIGN. At the time of the Nazi assault on the USSR in June 1941, the Red Army numbered around 1.5 million men, but political cleansing of its ranks had weakened it. The German invasion took the Red Army cadres by surprise. The first weeks of the War saw the annihilation of virtually the entire Soviet Air Force on the ground, and major Soviet defeats as German forces trapped hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers in vast pockets. However, a generation of brilliant commanders, most notably Zhukov learned from the defeats and Soviet victories in the Battle of Moscow, at Stalingrad, Kursk and later in Operation Bagration proved decisive in what was known as the Great Patriotic War. FORCE CARDS. Each side may chooses one card and then randomly deal three more. This is their strength for the oncoming battle. For a quicker battle have four rather than five cards. Allow inexperi-enced players to choose two of their deal. Once you have got used to the system, you can add other forces as you wish, and feel free to have your favourite Divisions rather than those noted. We are not doing an exact recreation of the campaign, but will aim at its feel from the post of a high-ranking leader. THE CAMPAIGN

The aim is, in a series of battles, to push the enemy back until Soviet Union is cleared. Note that we start at Koluch. A Victory pushes the enemy back one area; a Major Victory pushes two spaces. Losing their "last stand" area means total defeat! You should rename the Soviet commander after any Major Defeat as they were constantly replaced!

Divisions that suffered half their bases Destroyed (ignore Dispersed), are left out of the Force Card pack for the next game. All formations return to strength for their next use. Soviet player is allowed up to two air-strikes (German one air-strike) per turn that can be used against any enemy unit.

AXIS CARDS

6° Romanian Infanterie Division

250° Spanish Infanterie Division

3° Italian Infanterie Division

254° Infanterie Division

5° Panzer Grenadier

Div. Wiking



Gebirgjager Division

SOVIET CARDS

170° Rifle Division



295° Rifle Division 3° Tank Corp 181° Rifle

Division 61° Rifle Division


13° Guards Rifle

Division

32° Tank Corp

16° Motorised Division



76° Rifle Division

8° Tank Corp

18° Tank Corp

Panzegrenadier Division

3° Panzer Division

Totenkopf

2°SS Panzer Divivision DasReich

GrossDeu-tschland Panzer

Gren. Div



Blank! Troops diverted to

Western front

Blank! Troops diverted to

Western front

Scenarios 1

Berlino Prague Warsaw Odessa Kiev Smolensk Kharkov Stalingrad Moscow Urals

17


EASTERN FRONT: STALINGRAD 1943. The battle was fought in the winter of 1942-1943 and ended with the surrender of an entire German army. The battle was marked by the brutality and disregard for civilian casualties on both sides. The battle is taken to include the German siege of the southern Russian city of Stalingrad (today Volgograd), the battle inside the city, and the Soviet counter-offensive which eventually trapped and destroyed the German and other Axis forces in and around the city. Total casualties are estimated at between 1 and 3 million. The Axis powers lost about a quarter of their total manpower on the Eastern Front, and never recovered from the defeat. For the Soviets, who lost well over one million soldiers and civilians during the battle, the victory at Stalingrad marked the start of the liberation of the Soviet Union, leading to eventual victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. FORCE CARDS. Each side may chooses one card and then randomly deal three more. This is their strength for the oncoming battle. For a quicker battle have four rather than five cards. Allow inexpe-rienced players to choose two of their deal. Once you have got used to the system, you can add o-ther forces as you wish, and feel free to have your favourite Divisions rather than those noted. We are not doing an exact recreation of the campaign, but will aim at its feel from the post of a high-ranking leader.

THE CAMPAIGN The aim is, in a series of battles, to push the enemy back until Soviet Union is cleared. Note that we start at Koluch. A Victory pushes the enemy back one area; a Major Victory pushes two spaces. Lo-sing their "last stand" area means total defeat! You should rename the Soviet commander after any Major Defeat as they were constantly replaced!

Divisions that suffered half their bases Destroyed (ignore Dispersed), are left out of the Force Card pack for the next game. All formations return to strength for their next use. Soviet player is allowed up to two air-strikes (German one air-strike) per turn that can be used against any enemy unit.

AXIS CARDS

Gebirgjager Division

XIV° Panzer Division






XXII° Panzer

Division SOVIET CARDS





3° Tank Corp


61° Rifle Division


13° Guards Rifle

Division

32° Tank Corp

16° Motorised Division



76° Rifle Division

8° Tank Corp


Koluch Stalingrad Volga Soviet last stand

Morozvsk Axis last stand

Scenarios 2

18


EASTERN FRONT: OPERATION TITAN.

GERMAN PLAYER

GERMAN BRIEFING In the aftermath of the Battle of Stalingrad you have been forced to withdraw westward into new de-fensive positions. The Soviet forces facing you are part of the Front that surrounded and destroyed 6th Army at Stalingrad, and it is believed that they were seriously weakened during the battle. It is expected that they will mount an all-out attack on your front-line positions in the very near future. Orders: Using the forces at your disposal you are to: 1. Hold your front-line positions. 2. Destroy any Soviet attacks. 3. Ensure that no enemy troops threaten the occupied city of Norwosygorsk. Forces You have the following forces at your disposal:

384. Infanterie-Division 389. Infanterie-Division 15. Luftwaffe Field-Division Panzer Grenadier Division (Reinforcement second day). Panzer Division (Reinforcement third day).

German player is allowed up to one air-strikes per turn that can be used against any enemy unit. Enemy intentions and forces: It is understood that the Soviet forces facing you are mostly new recruits brought in to replace the massive losses suffered during the battles around Stalingrad. They will be inexperienced but also very aggressive, and you can expect that they will fight to the last man.

15. Luftwaffe Field-Division 384. Infanterie

Division

389. Infanterie Division

66° Army

Front Line

Min

efie

lds

Min

efie

lds

Scenarios 3a

Norwosygorsk

19


EASTERN FRONT: OPERATION TITAN.

SOVIET PLAYER Soviet Briefing In the aftermath of the Battle of Stalingrad the German forces facing you have been forced to wi-thdraw westward into new defensive positions. They are demoralised and have little fight left in them. STAVKA has decided to mount a series of co-ordinated attacks along a wide front to push them fur-ther back and to break through the defensive barrier so that the enemy’s front-line units can be sur-rounded and destroyed. Your own troops are battle -hardened and have been re-equipped since ta-king part in the battles around Stalingrad. Orders: Using the forces at your disposal you are to: 1. Break through the German front-line by the end of Day 1. 2. Exploit the breach and surround and destroy the German front-line units by the end of Day 2. 3. Recapture the city of Norwosygorsk by the end of Day 3. Forces You have the following forces at your disposal: 66° Army: 91st Tank Brigade, 121st Tank Brigade, 64th Rifle Division, 99th Rifle Division, 116th Rifle Division, 22-6th Rifle Division (rinforzo al 2° giorno), 299th Rifle Division (Reinforcement second day), 343rd Rifle Division (Reinforcement third day), 7° Artillery Division (Reinforcement third day). Soviet player is allowed up to two air-strikes per turn that can be used against any enemy unit. Enemy intentions and forces: It is understood that the German forces facing you are mostly new recruits and untried in battle, but you can expect that they will fight to the bitter end. They have constructed a series of defensive posi-tions that are protected by minefields.

15. Luftwaffe Field-Division 384. Infanterie

Division

389. Infanterie Division

66° Army

Front Line

Min

efie

lds

Min

efie

lds

Scenarios 3b

Norwosygorsk

20


BATTLE OF PROKOROVKA, 1943. Background The German invasion of Russia ground to a halt after the harsh winter of 1941. By 1943 the Ger-man Army was on the brink of disaster. The Rus-sians had stopped the German at Stalingrad and the Russian Army was ready for an offensive. Hitler decided to initiate a massive armoured as-sault before the Allies could open a new front to the West. The Russians double-guessed the Ger-man attack at Kursk and prepared the battlefield, organising a huge reserve force. When the ger-man attack against the Russians petered out, the Russians were immediately ready to counter-attack and begin an advance that was to end with the taking of Berlin. The Battle of Prokhorovka, towards the end of the Kursk campaign (5th-13th July 1943), was the largest tank battle in history.

German order of battle II SS Panzer Corps 1st SS Panzer Division (Leibstandarte Adolph Hitler): 1 HQ, 2 Recon, 2 Tank, 1 Heavy Tank (Tigre), 4 Motorised Infanterie, 1 Artillery, 1 Artil-lery (88mm) 1 Self Propelled Gun (Artillery). 2nd SS Panzer Divison (Das Reich): 1 HQ, 2 Recon, 2 Tank, 1 Heavy Tank (Tigre), 4 Motorised Infanterie, 1 Artillery, 1 Artillery (88mm), 1 Self Propelled Gun (Artillery).

Soviet order of battle 5° Guard Tank Army Guards Tank Corps: 1 HQ, 1 Recon, 2 Tank, 1 Heavy Tank, 4 Motorised Infanterie, 2 Artillery, 1 Self Propel-led Gun (Artillery). 18th Tank Corps: 1 HQ, 1 Recon, 3 Tank, 4 Foot Infan-terie, 3 Artillery. 29th Tank Corps: 1 HQ, 1 Recon, 3 Tank, 4 Foot Infan-terie, 3 Artillery. Scenario basis and terrain The game length is 15 turns starting with German turn 1 and ending with Soviet turn 15. Terrain features are as per scenario map (60” X 36” – 150cm X 90cm). Woods and village provide soft cover to infantry. Victory Conditions Each player gets 3 Victory Point (VPs) for every Heavy Tank unit destroyed; 2 Victory Points for each Tank or Artillery (88mm) destroyed; and one Victory Point for every other type of enemy unit destroyed. If there are less than ten VP difference between the totals then the game is a DRAW; between 5 and 9 is a VICTORY and a difference greater than 10 is a DECISIVE VICTORY. All the Dispersed units that were waiting to come back as Replacements are considered automatically Destroyed, i.e. all units that have not been repla-ced at the end of the established number of turns and are still Dispersed are considered Destroyed.

Deployment and

Scenario Map

Scenarios 4

Woods

Village—Supply base

Hill

21


JSBUSCHENSKI, 24th August 1942.

Background The Savoia Cavalleria was one of two Italian cav-alry regiments committed to the defence of the Don River line as the Axis advance into Russia reached its limits in the late summer of 1942. When the town of Jsbuschenski was threatened by Soviet troops in regimental strength the Savoia was ordered to attack, and as a consequence, launched the last great cavalry charge in the his-tory of warfare.

Scenario basis and terrain

The game is played over fifteen turns. The Rus-sian and Italian objectives are to gain control of the Jsbuschenski road by physically holding more of it than their adversaries at the end of the fifteen turn. The initial start lines of the two sides are represented by trenches (marked on the map). A maximum of the two squadrons of Italian cavalry, one Russian battalion and all guns may begin the game dug in on these lines. No air force.

Terrain features are as per scenario map (60” X 36” – 150cm X 90cm). Woods and village provide soft cover to infantry. Units on road +5cm or 2”. Italian order of battle Savoia Cavalleria 2 HQ, 8 Cavalry, 1 Recon, 1 Self Propelled Gun (Artillery), 2 Motorised Foot. All Italian units (elite) have the saving throw: 5+.

Soviet order of battle 812° Infantry Regiment 1 HQ, 16 Foot Infanterie, 1 Artillery (76,2mm)), 1 Regimental Mortar (81mm mortars). All Soviet units (poor) have the saving throw: 6. Victory Conditions Each player gets 2 Victory Points for each Cav-alry, Mortar or Artillery destroyed; each Supply base destroyed counts as ten VP's; and one Vic-tory Point for every other type of enemy unit de-stroyed. If there are less than 5 VP difference between the totals then the game is a DRAW; between 5 and 9 is a VICTORY and a difference greater than 10 is a DECISIVE VICTORY. All the Dispersed units that were waiting to come back as Replacements are considered automatically Destroyed, i.e. all units that have not been re-placed at the end of the established number of turns and are still Dispersed are considered De-stroyed.

Scenarios 5

Italian Dug in

Road

Wood

Hill

Supply base

Jsbuschenski

Hill Soviet Dug in

Supply base

Deployment and Scenario Map

22


KURSK, 1943. Background A Russian salient west of Kursk, wich the defend-ers held against converging German attacks be-tween July 5 and 13, 1943, in the largest tank battle in history.

German order of battle

IX° Army: 10° Panzergrenadier division, 12° Panzerdivision. XLI° Panzer Corps: 18° Panzerdivision, 86° Infanterie Division,. XLVI° Corps: 31° Infanterie Division, 102° Infanterie Division. XLVII° Panzerkorps: 6° Infanterie Division, 2° Panzerdivision.

Soviet order of battle 2°Army Corp: 16° Tank Corps, 3° Tank Corps, 7° Guards Rifle Division. 13° Army 5° Artillery Division, 8° Rifle Division, 70° Guards Rifle Division. 70° Army: 102° Rifle Division, 106° Rifle Division, 175° Rifle Division.

Scenario basis and terrain The game length is 15 turns starting with German turn 1 and ending with Soviet turn 15. Terrain features are as per scenario map (60” X 36” – 150cm X 90cm). Woods and village provide soft cover to infantry. Victory Conditions Each player gets 2 Victory Points for each Cav-alry, Mortar or Artillery destroyed; each Supply base destroyed counts as five VP's; and one Vic-tory Point for every other type of enemy unit de-stroyed. If there are less than 5 VP difference between the totals then the game is a DRAW; between 5 and 9 is a VICTORY and a difference greater than 10 is a DECISIVE VICTORY. All the Dispersed units that were waiting to come back as Replacements are considered automatically Destroyed, i.e. all units that have not been re-placed at the end of the established number of turns and are still Dispersed are considered De-stroyed.

Deployment and

Scenario Map

Supply base

Road

Rail

Scenarios 6

Soviets deploy here

Germans deploy here

23


UKRAINE, 1944. Background A Russian salient west of Kursk, wich the defend-ers held against converging German attacks be-tween July 5 and 13, 1943, in the largest tank battle in history.

German order of battle

6° Romanian Infantry and German Panzerdivi-sion.

Soviet order of battle 571st Shock Army: 5° Guards Tank Corps, 27° Guards Rifle Corps, 48° Rifle Corps. Scenario basis and terrain The game length is 15 turns starting with German turn 1 and ending with Soviet turn 15. Terrain features are as per scenario map (60” X 36” – 150cm X 90cm). Woods and village provide soft cover to infantry.

Victory Conditions Each player gets 2 Victory Points for each Cav-alry, Mortar or Artillery destroyed; each Supply base destroyed counts as five VP's; and one Vic-tory Point for every other type of enemy unit de-stroyed. If there are less than 5 VP difference between the totals then the game is a DRAW; between 5 and 9 is a VICTORY and a difference greater than 10 is a DECISIVE VICTORY. All the Dispersed units that were waiting to come back as Replacements are considered automatically Destroyed, i.e. all units that have not been re-placed at the end of the established number of turns and are still Dispersed are considered De-stroyed.

Deployment and

Scenario Map

Supply base

Road

Rail

Scenarios 7

Soviets deploy here

Germans deploy here

Woods

Supply base

Woods

German Panzer

Division

24


GERMAN ARMY, EASTERN FRONT. Troops Spotting Range Saving throw Speed Points

Head Quarters (HQ) Command Range: 30cm or 12" 15cm or 6” 15cm or 6" 5+ 15cm or 6" 100

Reconnaissance (Motocycle) 22,5cm or 9" 15cm or 6" 6 22,5cm or 9" 45

Reconnaissance (Sdkfz 231/232) 22,5cm or 9" 15cm or 6" 5+ 15cm or 6" 55

Foot Infantry 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 5+ 7,5cm or 3" 20

Motorised Infantry 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 5+ 15cm or 6" 30

Support Unit (MG) 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 5+ 7,5cm or 3" 25

Support Unit (Mortar) 15cm or 6" 22,5cm or 9" 5+ 7,5cm or 3" 40

Light Panzer (Pz II) 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 5+ 15cm or 6" 50

Medium Panzer (Pz IV) 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 4+ 15cm or 6" 100

Heavy Panzer (Tiger) 15cm or 6" 22,5cm or 9" 3+ 10cm or 4" 180

Artillery (Fire or move). 15cm or 6" 45cm or 18” 6 15cm or 6" 135

Artillery 88mm (Fire or move). 15cm or 6" 30cm or 12" 6 15cm or 6" 150

Self Propelled Gun (Fire and move). 15cm or 6" 30cm or 12” 5+ 15cm or 6" 140

Anti-tank gun (Fire or move). 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 5+ 15cm or 6" 80

Dive Bomber, Stuka (max 3) Aircraft 150

RUSSIAN ARMY, EASTERN FRONT. Troops Spotting Range Saving throw Speed Points

Head Quarters (HQ) Command Range: 22,5cm or 9" 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 15cm or 6" 50

Reconnaissance 22,5cm or 9" 15cm or 6" 6 22,5cm or 9" 45

Foot Infantry 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 7,5cm or 3" 15

Motorised Infantry 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 15cm or 6" 40

Support Unit (MG) 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 7,5cm or 3" 20

Support Unit (Mortar) 15cm or 6" 22,5cm or 9" 6 7,5cm or 3" 30

Light Panzer (T-26) 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 15cm or 6" 30

Medium Panzer (T-35) 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 5+ 15cm or 6" 80

Heavy Panzer (Kv-1) 15cm or 6" 22,5cm or 9" 4+ 10cm or 4" 150

Artillery (Fire or move). 15cm or 6" 45cm or 18” 6 15cm or 6" 135

Anti-tank gun (Fire or move). 15cm or 6" 15cm or 6" 6 15cm or 6" 70

Dive Bomber (max 3) 150 Aircraft

25


INDEX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 2

GAME PHILOPHY 3

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 3

MOSCOW AND ROSTOV: AUTUMN 1941 4

SOVIET COUNTER-OFFENSIVE: WINTER 1941 - 1941 4

BASING 9

MINIATURE 8

BATTLE SET-UP 10

TURN SEQUENCE 11

HEADQUARTERS (HQ) 11

MOVEMENT 11

FIRING 11

SAVING THROW 12

GERMAN STUKAS & BRITISH AIR FORCE 12

VICTORY CONDITIONS 12

MINEFIELDS 13

DUG IN 13

ITALIAN PROBLEMS 14

ORGANIZATION 14

UNITS 15

SCENARIO: EASTERN FRONT CAMPAIGN. 16

SCENARIO: STALINGRAD 1943. 17

SCENARIO: OPERATION TITAN. GERMAN PLAYER. 18

SCENARIO: OPERATION TITAN. SOVIET PLAYER. 19

SCENARIO: BATTLE OF PROKOROVKA, 1943. 20

SCENARIO: JSBUSCHENSKI, 24th August 1942. 21

SCENARIO: KURSK, 1943. 22

GERMAN ARMY AND SOVIET ARMY, EASTERN FRONT. 23

26


DESERT WAR, 1940 - 1943.

EASTERN FRONT, 1941 - 1945.

ITALIAN FRONT, 1943 - 1945.

WESTERN FRONT, 1944 - 1945.

PACIFIC, 1941 - 1945.


high command, russia

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