Sunday School 10/04/11

Mark's HG Panzer v. Jim's Tankovy

1750 pts No Retreat on 6x4 - Germans defending.

The Germans had Panzergrenadiers dug in on the forward objective with their half tracks in the wood behind, Neblewerfers on the rear objective, 2 Tigers in ambush, 3 small MkIII/IV platoons in reserve & sporadic Stukas.  They had a reasonable defensive table with creek & swamp impeding the Russian advance and a convenient ridge & a convenient wood to hide reserves & ambushes.

The Russians had a big M/strelk, 10 T34/76, 5/T34/85, 3 IS2 & 3 AAHTs in HQ.  They all doubled forward, infantry on the left, T34/76 on the right, heavy tanks in the centre. The Tigers deployed in the woods & started whittling the T34s away, helped by MkIIIs & IVs coming up around the wood. The Werfers & Luftwaffe started whittling away at the Strelk.  The IS2s halted at the swamp and tried to pick off the Tigers in the wood, while everyone else pressed forward.

The T34s took out all but 1 of the German infantry before the panzers finished them off.  They took the objective & held it with the AA, but a MkIV platoon contested it.  The Infantry commander passed all tests and retired behind the wood with the HTs to remain in the game.

The IS2s blasted away at the Tigers with no sucess while the Luftwaffe continually failed to hurt the IS2's.  The T34/85s took on the reserve Panzers on the hill as the Strelk rushed up in support as the Ivans changed the axis of their attack to the rear objective.  The Tigers had to come out of the wood to help as did the Half Tracks.   The T34/85s took out the Panzers, but the Luftwaffe suddenly got lucky & wiped out the IS2s in one turn (2 killed & the other failed morale) and the HTs & Tigers all but destroyed the Strelk.   The battle was now on a knife edge with both sides on the verge of Army Morale tests & with no HQ. 

The Germans had a chance to win with their last 2 HTs shooting at the last 2 Strelk.  They got hits, but all were saved.  Then the Tigers might have finished off the T34/85s, but 1 bail was not enough.  The T34's then finished off the Werfers and the recalcitrant Panzergrenadiers finally failed morale.  The Russians then held the rear objective plus the Germans had to fail Army morale.

At the start the Germans looked doomed with a wall of Ivans rushing at them, but the Krauts are tough buggers, they put on a desperate fight & were unlucky to lose in the end.

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