Operation Zitadelle, battles in the northern salient.

[Mobius]

I made a few scenarios for the time of Battle of Kursk. These are tied together in a mini campaign. The battles center near the village of Ponyri. For this I had to build a Ferdinand model and a T-34 Model 1943, two vehicles which were not at the Kharkov battle in 1942.

A good online article on the battle can be found here:
http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/crossfire ... ponyri.htm

[Mobius]

This is the first battle of the series. Breaking through the First Defensive Line north of Alexsandrovka.

Slowly, cautiously the German forces move forward. Infantry units cross the river at the fords while the Panzerjagers overwatch with their long range guns at the ready. Gun fire from Soviet emplacements and hidden locations pours onto to the attackers.

From this sky view locations of some Soviet guns can be seen. This is in universal sighting view mode. Most of enemy locations are being sighted from scouting infantry units. Relative sighting from individual tanks show a much more restricted view. As fire from everything from 14.5mm AT rifles to 152mm artillery force the German panzers to button up severely limiting their sighting.

[Mobius]

German panzers bunch up before crossing a bridge. Panzer Mark III were assigned to support the Ferdinands as the later lacked any machineguns for anti-infantry defense. Turn 2: In an exchange with Soviet ZiS-3 AT guns one Mark III has already been lost.

[Mobius]

Mines! This shot of Ferdinand just as it runs over a hidden mine. It was a total loss. At this point, turn 10, the infantry support has been stripped from the panzerjagers as they cross a plowed field. They are on their own.

In all two Ferdinands were destroyed by mines. One was destroyed by a hit in the side by a 122mm HEAT shell from a SU-122 and another one trundled into a woods filled with Soviet infantry which destroyed it with hand held explosives. Two more were immobilized by track damage. Two Mark III tanks were also destroyed.

On the score card at least 9 T34s were destroyed and 3 SU-122s along with scores of AT guns. On the whole the results were rather disappointing with only a Marginal Victory.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Mobius
Mines! This shot of Ferdinand just as it runs over a hidden mine. It was a total loss. At this point, turn 10, the infantry support has been stripped from the panzerjagers as they cross a plowed field. They are on their own.

Great report Steve! I'm glad that everyone will now get to see some of the great modeling and scenario work you've added to Kharkov.

In all two Ferdinands were destroyed by mines. One was destroyed by a hit in the side by a 122mm HEAT shell from a SU-122 and another one trundled into a woods filled with Soviet infantry which destroyed it with hand held explosives. Two more were immobilized by track damage. Two Mark III tanks were also destroyed.

Seems like they had to deal with a lot of the same historical elements (including mines) that historically hindered the Ferdinands in the northern part of the attack.

Regards,

- Erik