The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front's offensive was designed to drive a wedge through a junction between 1. and 4. Panzerarmee while encircling the German defensive front near Kamenets-Podolsk. The Soviet Spring Offensive targeting the key German railway junction town of Proskurov (now Khmelnitsky) on the shoulder of 1. Panzer-Armee's defensive front. The German defenders on the outer line of defense were unaware of the Soviet juggernaut descending down upon them as the Soviet strategic envelopment unfolded around them. The Soviet assault opened early in the morning while elements of defending Infanterie-Division 68 quickly called for reinforcements to repel the Soviet attackers entering the outer edge of town. The battle would foreshadow the ruin of 1. Panzerarmee.
Attacker: Russian (2nd Guards Airborne Division and 15th Engineer Assault Battalion, 1st Guards Tank Army)
Defender: German (Infanterie-Division 68 and Panzer-Division 1)
Well this looked interesting on paper anyway. Theoretically, the Russians can blitz across the bridge with their light armor to harass the reinforcements, while their heavy armor position themselves to make trouble for the tanks. Strike 1: all the Germans have to do is properly place their roadblock in conjunction with either the PSK or gun and this plan is bunk. Maybe if the remaining Russian tanks started onboard (or even entered on Turn 1) they could work around this. Strike 2: The Russians are the attackers, and yet they will have to also play guard to a widely spread array of buildings. Combine this with the fact that the Germans can deploy, and you could easily see a defender outnumbering the attacker by 50%. Give them fortified stone buildings and this job is even worse. Strike 3: Even if somehow the Russians can overcome these tall odds, they will still have to withstand the Germans getting last move. Very likely they will be able to at least skulk and advance one unit back into one of their buildings and preserve a victory. Anyway, on to the game. Steve strongly defended the J7 building, and I knew this was going to be his alamo. Driving vehicles up the strongly defended "I" road seemed unwise, and I knew (rightly) that he would place his roadblock on the "Q" road. So I didn't even attempt the blitz. My paltry two tanks both made for the only reachable Level 2 hill hexes. This would prove more bluff and bluster than anything else, as his unstoppable Panther and hull-down Marder scared me into motion. I didn't want to throw away my two 0.50 HMGs and half of my tanks. but in retrospect I should've continued with my planned blitz and tried my luck with the tanks, as stopping or slowing those reinforcements is the only chance the Russians have of prevailing in this one. So Turn 1 saw him pretty well able to move where he wanted, his only mistake was testing the mettle of my 10-2 and company by driving a laden CE StuG. They KIA'd the rider (a 548/LMG) and stunned the crew. Turn 2 saw me move up and evict him from all but the alamo building, which I started to besiege with my tanks. His reinforcements most heavily approached on the northern part of Board 22, and he stripped his sMG HT of its 0.50 HMG and made for the upper reaches of 22W8 (a great move that made my life difficult throughout the game). Turn 3 saw me drop some smoke to cover my assault on the alamo (the front two hexes of which were fortified). But by the end of his turn his reinforcements had reached it. Turn 4 saw my SU-57 flamed on the northern hill by a StuG, while his stunned StuG was lost to a sneaky LOS from my 9-2 led T34/85 (which had already lost both MGs permanently). More importantly, I had to back off my assault of the alamo due to a shift in wind direction temporarily removing all the drift. This delay is ultimately what cost me any chance of winning, and we easily could've ended the game there. Turn 5 was costly, with me seeing an SU-85 drop into the cellar after breaching the fortified walls of K7, and having a T34/85 flamed trying to sneak past a StuG. He lost three vehicles on his half of the turn, two of them to the unexplained ability of the Russians to be granted such copious use of PFs (without penalty even). First a StuG, then an overrunning HT, and lastly a marauding HT that was attempting to flank the Russian force. By this time the prolific smoke was getting absolutely ridiculous, and it was hard to even see what was going on beneath it all. There is no chance I would've wanted to play this FtF with the dense counter clutter going on in the center of the boards. Turn 6 saw me lose yet another SU-85 to the cellars breaching the other fortified hex (after my T34-85 broke down outside trying to ESB). With their help I made good inroads into the building, busting the 9-2 and company up and sending them to the upper reaches of the building. But there were still units in the upper levels (some of them concealed). It would've been difficult, but possible, to root them out (encircled as they were), but when the Germans were able to sneak a HS and 9-1 past one of my tanks to the far south I finally had enough of this nonsense and decided to call it.
2025-10-29
(D) nathan wegener
vs
Wes Vaughn
Russian win
Just about everything that could go wrong did. Plus our playing was spread out over several weeks.
2025-08-02
(A) nathan wegener
vs
Gary Bartlett
In progress
I played poorly and wasted troops. The OOB is very good and there are multiple valid options for both sides in units and tactics. Enjoyed this won even though I lost. WBC2025
