8.2 Stalingrad Campaign DAR

[KNomad]

ORIGINAL: Hunpecked

Klotzen, nicht kleckern!

eh?

[KNomad]

Well, I've just lost the last three turns detailed report due to some wierd posting error.

Just what I get for not making frequent saves as I write.

On overwatch on the western flank, with its long, open LOS, I have a pair each of 75mm AT, 88mm AA, and Marders. The eastern flank, with its convuluted LOS lanes, is overwatched by a platoon of PzIIIL, a platoon of rifle squads, and a Marder section. Two platoons of cruiser PzIVs are in the plains between the overwatching hill and the villa, awaiting to reinforce a threatened sector. Most everything else is converging on the objective hexes in the villa.

TURNS 4-6: Ivan's lend lease tanks were destroyed by picking them off individually through holes in the smokescreen they were crossing. Russian T34s proved to be very tough, only felling to side shots from our cruiser tanks. Only three routing T34s remain on the board. Close artillery support has enabled the infantry to secure both wooded victory areas. Ivan surpised us with a flanking raid of T70s and a heavy KV tank. They were quickly overwhelmed by supieror numbers of panzers in the area.

A third of the way through the scenario and I'm approaching the remaing victory hexes in the villa. While my mortars redeploy to get within range of the villa, we'll regroup and begin probing Ivan's defenses.

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Ivan continues to pour reinforcements into the area.
Main battle tanks are attacking us on both fronts now, and I've lost two cruiser tanks.

TURN 7: On the western flank, I pour all I got in range at Ivan, scrapping four out of five enemy tanks. On the eastern flank, I've exchanged a pair of Marders for a pair of T34s. I have finally wiped out Ivan's reinforcement convoy, dropping the last tank in an assault from a motorcycle squad. Infantry closing on the villa from the south have destroyed two ATG positions, while special forces have received stiff fire from russian squads defending the west entrance into the villa. The mission of 105mm artillery I have available is ordered to start shelling the northern approach to the villa, where I have troops massing for the attack. The Luftwaffe has been redirected to attack Ivan's battle tanks breaking out on my eastern flank.

Ivan sends in even more tanks as reinforcement on both my flanks!
He does little damage to my units despite shooting many rounds.

TURN 8: Ivan is reduced to two tanks remaining on my west flank, and five on the eastern flank.
Leading with two StuIG 150mm SPG, I've routed the villa's northern defenders.
Two mortars are suppressing enemy positions south of the villa.
Two Henschel 129 tank buster planes continue to harass Ivan's eastern flank attack.

Ivan presses his attacks, advancing his remaining tanks into my killzones.
He is left with less than a platoon of tanks, most of them routed.

TURN 9: Ivan's flanking attacks have been stopped cold. I have taken to shooting crews in those areas for lack of better targets. Three of five objectives have been captured in the villa. The mortar battery is shelling the eastern side of the villa now.

Other than retreating units, there is no sign of Ivan.

Halfway through the scenario and I think I've entered the mop-up phase.
Losses have been about six each of tank and halftrack/armored car units.
I still need to avoid whatever ambushers remain in the villa.

TURN 10: Ivan's dug in pretty good in the villa. His squads have destroyed a core recon team and rifle squad. Unless he gets reinforcements soon, I'm afraid that'll be his last gasp.

TURNS 11-18: The fat lady takes the stage - it's all over for Ivan at this point.

BATTLE REPORT:

Casualties Incurred: 231 men, 5 AFVs, 9 APCs
Casualties Inflicted: 858 men, 13 artillery, 5 soft, 80 AFV, 1 airplane

German Victory Points 20284, Russian Victory Points 2391

DECISIVE VICTORY

[Hunpecked]

"Klotzen, nicht klechern" is from Guderian's book "Panzer Leader". It's translated there as "Boot 'em, don't spatter 'em". I've also seen it translated as "Mass, not driblets", which appears to be closer to the original German. It's just another way of invoking the principle of concentration of effort.

[Hunpecked]

ORIGINAL: KNomad

DECISIVE VICTORY[/b]

Well played!

When I saw those northern victory hexes begging me to take them, I just KNEW they were going to trigger a Soviet counterattack (I hadn't forgotten the Partisans scenario). So I held my kampfgruppe back, waiting to see where the new units would show. Consequently I engaged the two companies of light tanks and the lend-lease units at the limits of visibility.

The designers were nice enough to telegraph the eastern counterattack with T-70 tanks, which gave me time to set up for their big brothers in the rear. Unfortunately the limited fields of fire in the northern uplands prevented the arriving 88s from engaging effectively; had they arrived a turn earlier I could have used them against the KVs.

While patting myself on the back for anticipating the eastern counterattack, I was completely surprised by the one from the west. [8|] Fortunately the 75mm ATGs in that area bailed me out. [:)]

I sent most of my air strikes against the T-34s coming up from the south. The western force set up a reverse-slope ambush across the trail and wiped out the survivors. In the north the AUX AA units shot down two aircraft and hit the other two on their runs. My core AA hit nothing. [:(] On the bright side, the core mortars got several kills among the light tank crews. [:D] Overall it was a very busy, very LOOOONG game.

I look forward to the next installment of the DAR.

[KNomad]

Thanks for the commentaries, Hunpecked!
As you mentioned previously, it's nice to see how others fared in this campaign.

I attribute my current successes to the fact that I have learned to slow down my advances
and apply dedicated overwatch. Tactical level wargames, such as SPWAW, seem to demand it.
It's an old lessen, relearned from my boardgame days.

Its almost in stark contrast to strategic level wargames (Third Reich, Allied/Panzer General),
where your level of victory is usually determined by how fast you complete your objectives.

The battle for Stalingrad continues later tonight! Stay tuned!

[KNomad]

Congratulations Col. K!
You have stopped Ivan's attack cold. Now we can procede with our part of Operation Blau.
Command out!

Battle Four – Breaking The 62nd Army’s Line: Big Assault battle – again avoid heavy loses. Please play this one realistically by not purchasing an overabundance of one type of unit like Artillery. Use Unit Rarity On when you buy the Support units. Should be moderately easy to win. New.

Only 225 points to upgrade with this time. I juggle some numbers in my head, accounting for the fact
that I need to repair a rifle squad and two recon teams. I repair the squad, upgrade the whole recon platoon
to special forces, and convert my sniper to an ammunitions carrier.

July 1942, 0900 hours. 20 turns, 20 visibility, assault mission.
The mission orders are very clear, outlining my mission and my auxilliary forces. Bravo.
The map is probably 80x80, with lots of open terrain. I'm advancing all along the west edge, between two low hills.
Three patches of trees and a few valleys stand between our objective, the railroad junction at Kletskohaya.
Adorned with trenches, hill top peaks becken ominously at us.

I have 2500 support points for this battle. That's as much as my entire starting core cost. I feel giddy.
Starting with a rifle company riding assault guns and support panzers, I have 815 points left.
I add a section of rockets and assorted trucks to round out my artillery park, and a pair of flammepanzers while I'm at it.
I think a platoon of SPGs will compliment my STuIGs nicely, leaving me at 323 points.
Two sections of Marder IIs leaves me with 39 points. Exacly enough for a recon team platoon.
However, with rarity set ON, neither recon teams nor snipers are available, and I settle for MG-armed Kubelwagons.

I've just finished deploying, and noticed something not mentioned in my mission orders.
Several Stuka divebombers are available to add their support to the upcoming battle!

More tomorrow, stay tuned!

[KNomad]

The battle to break through the Russian lines continues ...

After reviewing the previous day's deployment, I notice I am woefully short of good tank killers. Three long-barrel PzIVf2, three STuG G, and four Marder IIs are all that could posiibly damage Ivan's medium tanks. Guess we'll just wait and see what happens.

The two northernmost objectives grab my attention. Not only are they close, but they're pts per turn victory hexes. I target a rocket barrage for each. One of them is on a hilltop, surrounded by trenches, so I know that's gonna be tough. The rockets are only gonna scare Ivan, so I unload my mortar battery there too. The plan is to hit Ivan hard up north, and I have placed my self-propelled guns there for extra muscle. Artillery is ordered to lay smoke to screen a northern attack.

Once again, my motorcycles have drawn the lot to attack the southern, less importat, more distant objectives. They'll be supported by a platoon of aux infantry riding their metal steeds.

TURN 1: Drawing fire from ATGs & ATRs, the Sector A (Northern) attack group uses support tanks to finish screening their advance with more smoke rounds. As all forces advance, indirect fire rains down around the northern objectives.

TURN 2: Sector A forces have advanced with 150m of their objectives. Although pinned for their efforts, Sector C recon has sniffed out an ATG. During Ivan's turn, he destroys two of my recon tanks. ATR fire is coming from the edges of several woods I am bypassing.

Well - I've just introduced my brother to PBEM. My campaign turns may slow down a bit over the next fews days. Stay tuned!

[KNomad]

Even though I've started another PBEM game with my brother (he's such a junkie now), I've got to make some progress on my campaign game. So here goes another turn for tonight. As my brother will be out of town this weekend, I hope to finish this scenario by Sunday.

TURN 3: The force assaulting the northern trenches consists of a rifle squad riding assault guns and support tanks. My SP 150mm guns are right behind them. The infantry dismounts and clears the trenches of enemy squads. Our objective hex is a mere 100 yards away, still in russian control. An assualt gun is destroyed by a previously unseen heavy tank as it moves into position to remount its passengers. How a heavy tank can hide in plain sight of my rifle squad is rather unnerving. Rounding the bottom of that hill, a recon tank is destroyed by an ATG. Smoke from support tanks deny the russkie ATG any further LOS. Another ruskkie heavy tank is spotted, and tanks destryers in the area succeed in destroying it.

Just south of the hill with the trenches, the forest flanking another victory hex has been under indirect fire for at least the last turn. Doesn't stop Ivan from firing on my special forces sweeping the woods and forcing my squad to retreat into an enemy held hex. I hate when that happens. MG Kubelwagons, being the brave recon they are, make a play for the per turn victory hex. Another enemy gun position is discovered and a Kubel is immobilized, but the victory hex is taken. The special forces' Panzer transport proceeds carefully through the now scouted woods.

Two recon tanks sections, a flame tank section and a section of support tanks are making thier way south of the woods with the victory hex, in a pass between another section of wooded boulders. I'm glad there's no victory hexes in there, wooded boulders would probably be tough to clear out. The position likely hiding the ATR that destroyed one of the recon tanks is Z-fired on by the support tanks, and then a flame tank pulls up and smokes the hex. Hopefully I got him, as one casualty was reported. Two platoons of riflemen in halftracks drive to the treeline and disembark, finding and destroying another ATR team, but not before the ATR immobilizes a haltrack. The recon tanks drive to the edge of the smokescreen and look around tenatively. A third platoon of riflemen, with nothing better to do, drive thier halftracks into the reverse treeline, discovering and destroying two more ATGs.

Woods #3 is flanking a victory hex, and housing an ATG position. My assault guns and special forces passengers eliminate that threat as the remainder of my halftrack riding infantry pull up to the treeline to begin a sweep next turn.

Woods #4 at the southern map edge is probed by my MC recon, and are badly mangled by the entrenched squads therein. A rifle platoon riding assault guns and support tanks is sent into the treeline to rout Ivan out, routing them from thier entrenched positions.

A turn of reloading for my rocket launchers, while my mortars pound sighted enemy positions. All six Stukas are flown in to help clear defenders from the southern #4 woods, while the OB artillery fires on the remaining forward trench position Ivan has. Ivan's turn passes without much fanfare.

The conclusion to follow next, stay tuned!

[KNomad]

Turn 4 starts off as usual, with me working noth to south down the map.

The first objective is secured, although a russian heavy tank in the area is stubbornly withstanding everything I've got to throw at it. Dunno how I killed the other one, musta been a lucky shot.

Moving south to Woods #1, I lose a Special Forces squad to friendly fire while routing out (hopefully) the last of Ivan's defenders. My poor squad wouldn't rally out or retreat from a hex containing two enemy squads.

Woods #2 seems to be devoid of the enemy, having been swept though with three rifle platoons. A new Victory hex has appeared to the east, and I wonder if that will signify the area of a russian advance. As its in the middle of the board, I doubt it, but we'll just wait and see.

Woods #3 is being swept by a rifle platoon and a special forces platoon. I gamble with taking the objective with a panzer, as there has been no resistance in this area, my artillery apparantly routed all of Ivan's squads.

Woods #4 at the southern map edge is secured, and the victory hex taken. Guess those Stukas did a good job, as only one squad was left to defend the area. I didn't notice that last turn one of my assault guns was immobilized. Bummer.

Four Stukas are listed as damaged from the last attack run.
One OB artillery is in contact, and ordered to continue firing at thier southern trenches.
My rockets and mortars begin another round of reloads.

Ivan's onboard units do little damage to me, and his heavy tank is destoyed by opt fire.
Russian rockets deliver a pounding to my forces at the far northern trenches. Ouch. [:@]

[KNomad]

Despite all the interruptions I've had this past week, I am going to finish this scenario soon!

TURN 5: Is uninteresting, as I chase down and destroy a few stray crews and squads. I reform my battle line, load up some of my infantry, and advance a few 100 yards toward the enemy's second line of defense. I also take the new victory hexes that have appreared, hoping they won't trigger a counteratack soon.

For the most part, Ivan's indirect fire falls in recently vacated areas. Another round of Russian rockets rains down on the boys pinned in the previous barrage. Two planes strafe my tanks, and I know a halftrack's AA gun damaged at least one of them. Long range Anti-tank gunfire has destroyed another of my assault guns with a side shot.

TURN 6: I've engaged his second lines of defense, a large valley running NW-SE along the middle of the board, with mostly infantry riding in on halftracks. Along the way, I've managed to get a few AFVs immobilized, but I am rolling up the northern flank of the valley nicely.

TURN 7: I press the attack on his secondary line, almost clearing it of infantry. I lose a support tank and an assault gun this turn. His heavy tanks on the reverse slopes had a nice ambush set for me.

Ivan's tanks musta got tired of waiting for me and have taken to the field, destroying a Marder II and forcing three AFV crews to bail. At least I killed one of his heavy tanks with opt fire. His 80mm mortars have corrected thier fire and destroyed a halftrack and pinned down a platoon of core riflemen.

TURN 8: My northern forces are squaring off against a company of heavy tanks. I use smoke from the support tanks to isolate the enemy LOS, leaving one target for me, which is subsequently destroyed. I try to get sneaky with my remaining flame panzer and it gets a few shots in, but a previously unspotted KV nails it in the side armor. Using my new-found smoke trick, I destroy a few more russkie tanks using supression from HMGs, infantry assaults and AP fire when necessary. My mortars have been moving forward and have nearly reached thier new setup point.

Ivan advances with his northern tanks past my smokescreen, killing a recon and a tank destroyer of mine. I, in turn, destroy one of his heavies. I lose an AA halftrack to one of his unseen AA guns in the distance, and recieve MG fire on a few units. I'm thinking, well, this isn't too bad ... and then his indirect fire hits a platoon square in the nose. Rockets, heavy artillery and heavy mortar rounds pounds me badly. I lose two squads, a HMG and a knee mortar. All core units. [X(]

I've got two PBEM games going on now, but this supposedly "easy" scenario is starting to annoy me. All in all, I don't think my losses have been too bad, although losing a platoon of core riflemen to indirect OB fire is going to be costly. Stay tuned!

[Hunpecked]

ORIGINAL: KNomad

TURN 8: My northern forces are squaring off against a company of heavy tanks. I use smoke from the support tanks to isolate the enemy LOS, leaving one target for me, which is subsequently destroyed.

Smoke was especially useful in the previous scenario against the eastern Soviet counterattack. After engaging and killing a couple of the T-70s, I laid a line of smoke a few hexes west of their entry hexes, set where most of my tanks had a good line of sight. I also deployed a platoon of infantry adjacent to the smoke hexes, adding possible close assaults to my opportunity fire.

Rockets, heavy artillery and heavy mortar rounds pounds me badly. I lose two squads, a HMG and a knee mortar. All core units. [X(]

I mostly play SPWAW on the Eastern Front, and as the Germans I have learned to HATE Katyushas with a passion! The BM-13 is instant death to infantry in the open. CB has proven ineffective in the past, so when I suspect Katyushas are lurking, I hide behind smoke screens, move a lot, keep mechanized infantry mounted, and dangle cheap units (Kuebels) in plain sight as rocket bait (Katyushas generally have only 1 or 2 reloads).

[Mormegill]

Hi.

I started playing the revised campaign a while ago and ran into problems after battle twelve. It seems that the campaign thread are broken on three places.
After battles (node number) 17, 22 and 25 you are moved to nodes 28, 27 and 26. There are no such battle files (txt, cmt or dat files). These will use the same map without enemy troops as the previous with an automatic DV for the player and move on with the campaign afterwards, but you'll miss out on these battles.

[Mormegill]

Oops!
Duplicate removed.

[Hunpecked]

The full Melvin/Richards Stalingrad campaign (SPWAW 7.1) can be downloaded here:

http://www.wargamer.com/hosted/steelpan ... paigns.asp

Perhaps the three scenarios in question can be substituted from this version without causing too much disruption.

[Mormegill]

Thanks Hunpecked.
I found the three scenarios in the zip, but I they are from 2002 (while the 8.2 files are from 2003) and I belive that the Stalingrad Campaign was revised for 8.2.

I'll play through the scenarios though and see if they match BryanMelvins description.

[Hunpecked]

ORIGINAL: Mormegill
I found the three scenarios in the zip, but I they are from 2002 (while the 8.2 files are from 2003)

Most likely the changes were limited to OOB, since more extensive revisions would have required playtesting. So far KNomad's descriptions of his 8.2 campaign (4 battles to date) have been consistent with my own experience in 7.1. I suspect the main problem with the 7.1 files will be OOB (e.g. infantry icon for a tank unit, perhaps), although with the other scenarios to use as a guide the changes may be fairly simple.

[ElSchlocko]

i just finished up the the fourth scenario and i have to say its getting really hard to keep my apcs and recon tanks from getting charlie-foxed. especially since the 76.2mm inf guns and the 37mmAA crews wait for my mkIII's and IV's to trundle past and then open fire on the ht's.

also, should it be considered cheap that i've been doing some small airborne ops along the way? for instance, two platoons of well-timed fj dropped on the trench system north of the village not only distracted ivan's infantry from ambushing my tanks but also saved my damaged command tank from the 76mm at guns.

[Hunpecked]

ORIGINAL: ElSchlocko

i just finished up the the fourth scenario and i have to say its getting really hard to keep my apcs and recon tanks from getting charlie-foxed. especially since the 76.2mm inf guns and the 37mmAA crews wait for my mkIII's and IV's to trundle past and then open fire on the ht's.

I had less of a problem with the IGs, since the Germans advanced on a broad front and successfully suppressed/smoked most of them. The AA guns revealed themselves when Stukas bombed the Soviet mortars. What struck me in this scenario was the strange Soviet target selection. In a target-rich environment, Ivan's KVs ignored German armor and fired mainly at transports. As I recall, I lost 3-4 SdKfz 7 & 11 in that fight (all AUX, fortunately) and only 1-2 tanks (all light).

also, should it be considered cheap that i've been doing some small airborne ops along the way?

No. Against the AI, the only one the player can cheat is himself, by making victory too easy to be fun. Ergo, if the game is fun, no harm done. [:D]

[pappasmurf]

I too am currently palying the Stalingrad camapign. Got up to the toen suqare battle before I accidently over wrote it with USA vs USSR. It kept getitgn harder so I was looking forward to it. I have built my force into an assult engineering unit. Opel Command x1 10 x Stug III-G, 2 Pnzr Pioneer platoons ( I like having my own transport) 4 x lorriane SPA, 4 x SDKFZ 2/6 SPAA, 2 x towed 88 AAG with SDKFZ-7 lories, 1x recon platoon (250/1 + 6 2man recee teams), 3 x hvy motorcycle sqauds, and an ammo carrier. The Stugs ahve proven critical as they have the armor to go tow to tow withthe T-34's and KV's. I use my engineers to creep forward under the guns of the stugs. The reccee teams at this point are nothing but flank guards. The Lorraines have been pressed into service as tank busters as well. I kinda get tired of Russians jsut popping out of secured areas grrrr.

The battle for the big hill was a nightmare. Those Russian guards just pop outta nowhere, make sure you have your inantry in mutally supporting postions. The 75's of the stugs proved critcal in taking down the bunkers without recourse to direct assult. overalal I am running about half decisive vistories and half marginal.

[Hunpecked]

pappasmurf,

Good to hear from another Stalingrad campaigner. I assume you're playing version 8.x? I'm sticking with 7.1 until I finish the campaign (or give up on it). [:D]

I deliberately chose NOT to optimize my core for city fighting, since 15 of the campaign's (potentially) 25 battles are set in open country (assuming the player escapes the pocket). I did convert four of my Kuebels to flammpanzers and StuIG 33 for street fighting, but hope to convert them to Panzers/StuGs once the campaign moves back to the steppes.

For the first hill battle (ninth of the campaign) I bought a whole company of engineers to supplement the two AUX infantry companies and two engineer platoons already on the map. I prefer AUX engineers over core, since they risk heavy casualties leading my attacks. The battle itself was indeed strenuous. Russian infantry in this campaign seem to have an uncanny ability to move adjacent to German units without being spotted, giving them the first shot. In earlier scenarios I learned to counter this by backing off immediately from a captured victory hex. Infiltrating Soviets have to move an extra hex or two to close with the Germans, negating their stealth and exposing them to opportunity fire.

Currently I'm still setting up for the tenth battle, the one for the railroad station and Red Square. I can see the department store where Paulus eventually put his HQ, and I'm wondering how the heck the Germans ever got that far. [:D]