12th Pz Div in action

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 33, Evening Jan 29th 1944

The last bridge on the Luga-Pleskau highway was repaired by other construction forces so Pz.Pio.Btl.32 almost reaches Luga during the night. II./Pz.Rgt.29 halts for the night still some 30km south of Luga. The plan is that these units should reach the area around Peredolskaya the following day, as the enemy is beginning to break through the front east of this.
II./Pz.Gr.5 also hurries east to help stem the growing tide. It meets no resistance on its way and covers 25km before halting for the night. The threat from the east means that Füs.Btl.30 withdraws back to Utorgorsh as all units are needed to avoid disaster east of the town.
With the majority of forces moving away from the area around Ludoni, the enemy takes advantage of this and moves back to the Pleskau-Luga Highway.



The southern group covers over 20km before the end of the night, the forward unit, II./Pz.Gr.Rgt.25, ending halfway between Dno and Soltsy.

[LLv34_Snefens]

The following shows the area in which 12th Panzer Division will fight in and around during the coming days. The units holding the 59th and 1st Shock Army have through weeks of battle been severly depleted and are unable to hold a coherent line and are in a mixed state of isolated strongpoints and partly in full rout.
An approximate strength of units defending sectors of the line is noted on the map. As can be seen there are forming some gaping holes in the front.

Full withdrawal is not an option as enough time need to be bought to let a substantial amount of our forces be brought out of a threatening encircelment.
About 9 divisions are pulling out of the quickly narrowing pocket, through what is to be known as the "Oredezh-gap".

The supply situation is still very poor. The rail line from the south is still a few days from being repaired, so for now, supply is coming from the fully inadequate stocks in Luga (1/4 of max).

The previous weeks of partisan fighting haven't been very costly in terms of loss of equipment for 12th Panzer Division as will be shown by an inventory list in one of the coming days. However the units are all at a very low state of supply, and as long as the rail line is still damaged, that won't improve.

[BigDuke66]

Interesting thread, thanks for the fullscreen screenshot please keep it that way as it looks much better.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66
Interesting thread, thanks for the fullscreen screenshot please keep it that way as it looks much better.

I agree.

[ogar]

I'll drop in to thank Snefens for the AAR.

And suggest that he may want to post the larger screenshot every 6 or 8 turns (3 - 4 days in game).  Things do not change that fast in our game. (Wait till you guys see how long it takes me to get through Bateskaya or Utorgorsh.)  Even where Snefens is not defending like a wily, experienced, cornered pole-cat, progress is slow.  I'm happy when I can find 2 contiguous hexes with only 'snow, light woods' let alone when there is actually a dirt road !

And keep in mind that this sector shown above is only 1 of 6 similar sectors where he is juggling the same mix of retreating, exhausted units, and at that same time, defending, delaying, exhausting the pursuing forces.

[Josh]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66
Interesting thread, thanks for the fullscreen screenshot please keep it that way as it looks much better.

I agree.

Agree too. The screenies here are much better, the thumbnails gave me a site with lots of popups and commercials.
And thx for the AAR.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Thx for the feedback.
Once the main elements of the division are re-assembled in the same area in a few turns so I'll be able to get them all into a single screenshot, I'll begin to post the single image directly into the thread. I know that the movement to the front and partisan struggle wasn't the most exciting part of the division's history, so people could just skim that part and open the images if they wanted the full story.

I also will be posting more detailed "movies" of the overall map later.

But I won't get around to do the next update until tomorrow. That

[LLv34_Snefens]

Slight change of plan. I'll just upload a somewhat resized map for these next turns. Later, when the units are closer together, I can get it all done in a single unzoomed map.

Turn 34, Morning Jan 30th 1944

The division elements of 12th Pz.Div shown in the box are still having skirmishes with partisans at Ludoni and Strugi Krasnye off the map to the west.
All other elements of the division are going at full pace east.

If looking closely on the map a line of moderate fortified hexes can be seen along the Luga and Mshaga rivers. This is part of the Luga Defense line. Being able to stop the enemy at this line is out of the question, but it makes a good position for a little delaying action. The problem is that forwards Soviet units have pretty much reached the line at some places. Also withdrawing to the line in it's length would mean giving up on the rail line going into Luga through Peredolskaya and Bateskaya, so preferably the enemy can be held for a while in front of these towns.

Main concern though before any of this is the threatening encirclement of several battalions. At Gruppe von Wickede Pz.Jg.Abt.8 with a company of StuGs as well as other smaller elements are being flanked. A counter attack on the western pincer by Pz.Jg.Abt.30 somewhat improves the situation, but the danger isn't over.
Also Gr.Rgt.503 together with Pio.Btl.656 are getting cut off North-East of Medved and Füs.Btl.30 is rushing east from Utorgorsh to assist with the withdrawal.

At Gruppe Herzog a local counterattack yesterday disrupted an enemy attampt to encirlce the armoured elements of the group. An enemy tank battalion has been caught behind German lines as it starts falling back west.
The counterattack for the moment seems to paused the enemy advance towards Peredolskaya along the road, as the riders of Kav.Rgt.Nord have not made contact with enemies coming this way.
Mixed elements on the two roads leading to Batetskaya are slowly forced back towards the town. A temporary position at the cross-road east of the town might be next serious defensive position.

At Gruppe Loch (mainly composed of 21.ID) the enemy advances on several locations of the group, in an attempt to reach the all-important road to Oredezh being used by several divisions being extracted from the pocket north-east of the shown map.
Many of the divisions here moving through Oredezh will be bolstering the line at Batetskaya and Perdolskaya in the coming days.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 35, Evening Jan 30th 1944

At Gruppe Herzog, the isolated enemy tank battalion was destroyed. I./Kav.Rgt.Nord also encountered an enemy tank battalion east of peredolskaya and was forced off the road to the north. During the night it tried to get back to hinder enemy movement on the road. Pz.Pio.Btl.32 reached within 10km of Peredolskaya during the night.

II./Pz.Gr.Rgt.5 reached the outskirts of Utorgorsh and routed an partisan regiment near the town. The battalion will continue towards Medved to help extract the remains of Gr.Rgt.503. Füs.Btl.30 moved over the bridge and widend the route to the regiment a bit. Pio.Btl.656 also at Medved blew the bridge over the frozen Mshaga River to slow enemy movement.

North of Shimsk Pz.Jg.Abt.28 is still in grave danger. Contact with own lines was lost during the day, but re-established during the night, but only held very thin.
East of Shimsk additional enemy formations were identified. It appears the enemy are in the process of comitting the entire 67th Army between the 59th Army to north and 1st Shock Army to the south, with Shimsk and the road to Soltsy being its focal point.
Heading right into this is II./Pz.Gr.Rgt.25 that reached Mshaga during the night.

In good news was that the rail line between Luga and Soltsy is now operational again. The line to Dno is still damaged and won't be fully repaired in a couple of days.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 36, Morning Jan 31st 1944

Several elements of 12.Pz-Div reaches the positions between Peredolskaya and Mshaga, from where they will make a stand against the enemy in the coming days, but still no direct contact with any parts of regular Red Army units are made.
II./Pz.Rgt.29 takes up the position on the road 5km east of Peredolskaya, providing flanking support for I./Reiter.Rgt.Nord and Pio.Btl.28.
Pz.Pio.Btl.32 reaches the crossing over the frozen Mshaga River at the small town of ugorody and prepares to blow up the bridge.

At Medved the situation is less tense this day. Although a little ground had to given up east of the town during the night, where also a weakend company of 8.Jäg.Div surrendered, a counter-attack in the early hours defeated the enemy positions NW of the town.
II./Pz.Gr.Rgt.25 spreads out along the Mshaga river between the town itself and Medved, trying to keep the flank secure of the units still trying to make it back to their own lines north of Shimsk. Pz.Aufkl.Abt.12 also reaches Mshaga this day. NE of the town the enemy was unable to gain ground against the pioneers and pz.jg unit of 30.ID during the night.

South of Shimsk 67th Army units are forming a new pincer, not only threatening the Shimsk grouping from the south, but also 5 battalions mostly 30.ID units, getting caught in the border between 67th and 1st Shock Army. These units are still not completely cutoff, but no good roads exits on the way out of danger.

Besides the units of 12.Pz-Div also the leading elements of the Latvian 15.SS-Gr.Div are enroute from the south. With the rail line still broken this division are moving by road and passes through Porkhov during the day.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 37, Evening Jan 31st 1944

East of Bateskaya a battalion of 290.ID is getting cut off by the enemy's attack towards the town. The already very weak three companies have little hope of avoiding getting completly cut off.

More bad news comes from east of Peredolskaya as I./Kav.Rgt.Nord is destroyed by armored units of 29th and 122nd Tank Brigade. II./Pz.Rgt.29 and Pio.Btl.28 also in the area don't report any attacks during the day.
Nothing to report from Pz.Pio.Btl.32 at Ugorody. Although rigged to be blown up, the bridge is kept intact for the moment.

Attacks by the enemy 2nd and 372nd Rifle Divisions at Medved succeed in taking the town and Pio.Btl.656 retreats north. The rest of the units in the region aren't in danger of being cut off anymore.

The extraction of units NE of Mshaga continues in relative good order, much helped by the success of stopping the enemy attacks against the flanks.
Shimsk itself fend off the first attacks, but south of the town, a regiment from 46th Rifle Division make progress west. Pz.Aufkl.Abt.12 are put directly in the way of this attack to hold the south flank until most of the units in the threatened pocket can get away.
With the enemy eyes fixed at Shimsk, the smaller bulge further south, composed mainly of 30.ID units still have hopes of making it back to own lines.

1st Shock Army's attack reaches the small village of Volot on the rail line between Dno and Staraya Russa. Without reinforcements arrving soon, this sector is also threatening to turn in to a full scale rout. I./Pz.Gr.Rgt.5 are getting close to the area, but will have to make the last distance along small tracks, so it will be a few days before it can intevene.
15.SS-Gr.Div reaches Dno. The division will try to prepare a temporary fall back line that can hopefully stabilize the sector in the coming week.

[LLv34_Snefens]

With January at an end and just before the first real encounter with regular Red Army units, it seems like a good time to look at the strength of the division once again. Without counting the I./Pz.Gr.Rgt.25 still not present, the divison have the following heavy equipment and vehicles:

Code: Select all

                                 Max   Jan20    Feb1
 SdKfz 222 (2cm)	                12      7       10 (+3)
 SdKfz 223	                3	3       3
 SdKfz 251/1	                33	0       0
 SdKfz 251/2 (8.1cm Gr.W)	6	0       0
 SdKfz 251/3	                8	0       0
 SdKfz 251/7	                5	5       5
 SdKfz 251/8	                1	1       1
 SdKfz 251/9 (7,5cm kz)	        12	0       0
 SdKfz 251/10 (3.7cm)	        27	2       2
 SdKfz 261	                3	1       1
 SdKfz 7/1 (2cm Flak-Vierling)	8	4       4
 SdKfz 10/4 (2cm FlaK)	        8	1       4  (+3)
 PzJg.38(M) (7.5cm lg)	        12	11      9  (-2)
 PzJg.38 (7.62cm)	        10	8       10 (+2)
 PzBeobWg III	                6	3       3
 PzBefWg III (5cm kz)	        4	4       4
 Pz IIIL (5cm lg)                8       8       7  (-1)
 Pz IIIN (7.5cm kz)	        1	1       1
 Pz IVF  (7.5cm kz)	        2	2       2
 Pz IVH (7.5cm lg)	        88	49      51 (+2)
 10,5cm (sf) "Wespe"	        12	11      11
 15cm (sf) "Hummel"	        6	5       5
 Pz KW-1 (Captured)              3       0       1  (+1)

Code: Select all

 2cm FlaK 38	                26	19      21 (+2)
 3.7cm PaK 36	                3	1       1
 4.5cm PaK 184(r)         	3	1       1
 5cm PaK38	                12	3       4  (+1)
 5cm Gr.W.36	                8	8       7  (-1)
 7.5cm le I.G.18	                17	17      12 (-5)
 7.5cm PaK40	                15	9       9
 7.62cm PaK36(r)	                6	2       3  (+1)
 8.1cm Gr.W.34	                36	32      29 (-3)
 8.8cm FlaK 36	                8	4       5  (+1)
 10.5cm le FH.18                	12	10      8  (-2)
 12cm s Gr.W.42	                6	0       0
 15cm s I.G.33	                6	5       5
 15cm s.FH.18	                12	12      12

As can be seen from the table, the 10 days of partisan fighting have caused very little losses. Only the close support weapons show a slight reduction in numbers. Even the armoured battalion is stronger, with a few repaired Pz-IVH returning to the unit as well as having received a captured KV-1 tank. A single PzIIIL is the only real loss.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 38, Morning Feb 1st 1944

II./Pz.Rgt.29 and Pz.Pio.Btl.32 reports no enemy activity this turn. Enemy seems more occupied by trying to destroy a II./Gr.Rgt.502 NE of Peredolskaya. Suprisingly enough, the battalion avoided encirclement this turn.

At Medved Pio.Btl.656 succesfully disengage NW trying to reach Ugorody. Füs.Btl.30 abandons its position north of Medved under pressure and instead heads SE along the Mshaga river to swap positions with II./Pz.Gr.Rgt.25. Enemy so far has not made any serious attempt to cross the river, as he seems comitted in his attempt to cut off the grouping at Shimsk.
Shimsk itself fends off a single enemy attack by 67th Army during the night and as the exposed bulge north of the town succesfully have been extracted over the last turns, the town itself is now the most exposed part of this sector.
The enemy didn't go into direct combat with Pz.Aufkl.12, but a withdrawal by this and Kampfgruppe von Wickede was performed nevertheless as the pincer south of it could threaten to cut off the KG.

KG von Kirchensittenbach are still in grave danger of being cut off by the combined attacks of 67th and 1st Shock Army. Bodenhausen, the commander of 12th Pz Division moves nearer the kampfgruppe, in an attempt to keep the contact to the KG open, but could risk getting into direct contact with enemy combat units. I./Pz.Gr.Rgt.5 as previously mentioned is also trying to reach this area, but only covers 5km along small tracks during the day.

At Utorgorsh II./Pz.Gr.Rgt.5 delivers a decisive blow to the partisans that have threatend the town and rail line over the last days. With this done, the battalion will be able to head east towards the main elements at the Mshaga river in the evening.

Off the shown map to the west, Flak.abt.303, Pz.Jg.Abt.2 and III./Art.Rgt.2 have also passed the responsibility of dealing with partisans at the Pleskau-Luga highway and rail-line over to local security elements, and have now begun their move towards the front.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 39, Evening Feb 1st 1944

At Batetskaya, the armoured units of Gruppe Herzog only slowly gives way to the enemy and reinforcing this sector are some of the divisions making their way out of the Oredezh Gap. At the end of the day, the leading elements of 225.Inf-Div begin to set up positions at Batetskaya. The plan is for 24.Inf-Div to hold the line between Batetskaya and Peredolskaya, with 11.Inf-Div going to Peredolskaya itself. These divisions are well equipped, but very worn down from the many days of march along poor roads.

Enemy penetrations against Gr.Rgt.502 SE of Nesuz destroys a company of the regiment. To remove the imminent threat to the rail-line II./Pz.Rgt.29 moves north towards the village of Volok and sweeps away the ski-reconnaisance unit. To further secure the rail line a company of Pz.Pio.Btl.32 moves north to the area as well.
Recon suggest the enemy have sent a new rifle brigade along the road towards Peredolskaya.

Gr.Rgt.503 repels enemy armored attempts to cross the Mshaga River at Medved.

At Gruppe von Wickede, the enemy tries to encircle Shimsk, but this attack is halted. The town itself has to be abandoned though. The main elements of the group fall back to the crossing at Mshaga. Overall the loss of any larger units has been prevented during the latest days withdrawal in this sector.

KG von Kirchensittebach has still not reached friendly lines for good, although the enemy is not advancing fast on the north edge of the bulge. At the south edge by Gruppe Hasse our own lines are broken and loss of control of several units make the creation of a firm line not possible

[Wuffer]

very interesting, and very well illustrated!

[LLv34_Snefens]

Thanks, It's good fun to do as well.

[LLv34_Snefens]

Turn 40, Morning Feb 2nd 1944

At Kampfgruppe Herzog the Pz.Jg.Abt.21 with a company of StuG assault guns fall back under heavy pressure east of Batetskaya. Enemy advances both north and south of the unit threatening an encirclement.
24.ID begin to occupy the rail position south of Batetskaya, while 225.ID still haven't arrived with many units at the town.

South of the Luga River, 11.ID moves towards Peredolskaya and is badly needed, as the newly identified 24th Rifle Brigade broke through the lines of Pio.Btl.28 and also threatend to encircled the Pz.Btl of 12th Pz-Div. The solution for the battalion was however, just to continue the attack that started last night and re-establish contact with Gr.Rgt.502.
With this taken care of, the 1./Pz.Pio.Btl.32 moves back east of Peredolskaya, directly in the path of 24th Rifle Brigades advance. The 2. company of the battalion also observes an enemy battalion of the brigade north of Ugorody.

At Medved the enemy remained passive during the night and Pio.Btl.656 can fall back to the bridge at Vysonovo. II./Pz.Gr.Rgt.5 reaches the river as well, and take a line south of Medved.

The Withdrawal of KG von Wickede continues at Mshaga, this day completely giving up all ground NE of the Mshaga River. The 67th Army's advance south of the Shelon River in the flank of the KG requires Pz.Aufkl.Abt.12 to shift 5km SW down the southern river bank.
This enemy advance still threatens KG von Kirchensittenbach, which nonetheless makes contact with Gen.Lt. Bodenhausen this day. It is not without a setbach though, as I./Art.Rgt.66 of 30.ID are getting cut off. It's most likely that the 7 15cm Howitzers and 3 21cm French captured Mörsers of the battalion will be lost as they lack motorized transportation.

As was already reported last night, it has been impossible to form a solid defensive line by KG Hasse, and also KG Licht are forced to fall back. Enemy aerosans are observed in the southern-most flank of the KG, but with help of the arriving pioneers from 15.SS-Gr.Div, the enemy recon unit is forced back from where it came.

[BigDuke66]

Will this go on?

[LLv34_Snefens]

Yes.
I've been living out of boxes the last weeks as I've moved apartments, but getting settled in now, so expect a new chapter tonight.

[BigDuke66]

Great!
Well take the time you need, moving is always a hassle.