Red October Tank Factory - the Conclusive Battle

 After being thrown out of the strategically critical building in the previous action, Von Paulus was determined to retake the position and instructed a combined Panzer and infantry attack should be mounted as soon as practicable. Unfortunately for the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe bombing, combined with their own heavy artillery, had turned the approach route into a near impassable obstruction for the supporting armour, so the effect was not as overwhelming as Von Paulus had intended,

During the lull in operations, the Red Army had moved quickly to bring up a pair of 45mm anti-tank guns to assist in the defence. 

Two Panzer III's and four units of German infantry advanced warily across the rubble strewn ground.

In addition to the AT guns, there were two units of veteran infantrymen, an HMG, heavy mortar, ATR and a sniper team hidden in the ruined building.

The Germans had a slight advantage in tactical ability (12 activation cards to 10) and both sides had the possibility of reinforcements - a Panzer plus infantry unit on either black ace for the Germans, and an extra infantry unit on each red ace for the Soviets

As two squads advanced behind the panzers, the other two German units provided supporting fire from the adjacent ruins.

The Soviets, however, had by far the best of the initial exchanges of fire ......

.... with the sniper team proving to be deadly accurate.

The German advance ground to a halt under the intense barrage of fire emanating from the tank factory

One of the two units was already on 4 hits and in danger of being forced to retire!

The Wehrmacht junior leaders struggled to motivate their men to advance

Then, one of the 45mm guns fired a killer shot, and one of the PzKfw III's burst into flames!

Realising the exchange of fire was working against them, the German infantry moved forward in bounds, dodging through the uneven piles of rubble and eviscerated trees.

By moving rather than firing, the Germans avoided Soviet return fire, as they managed to hold the initiative for the maximum allowable three turns in a row.

Unfortunately, though, the Landers morale was still not good, and they continually failed to rally off any of the hits they were carrying

And when the initiative moved back to the defenders, the 45mm guns scored another devastating blow to the attacking forces.

The mortar crew, with a +3 on their dice roll, scored hits on the enemy infantry on virtually every shot.

The HMG proved somewhat less effective, given the excellent cover provided by the mounds of brick and concrete the Germans were advancing through.

The Russians were the first to turn over an ace, with another infantry squad arriving to bolster the defence.

The German attack was in a really bad way already - both tanks knocked out and the infantry squads teetering on the brink of breaking.

And the Soviet CO chose the perfect moment to order his veterans onto the offensive!

The German squad was defeated and pushed back!

Meanwhile, the second Soviet reinforcements arrived - things were going from bad to worse for the German attackers!

The mortar and sniper team continued to add hits - any unit carrying 4 must test to rally and if they fail, fall back 2 D6. Additionally, a unit on 4 hits that is contacted by an enemy unit is eliminated entirely!

The Soviets surged forward all along the line

A good result for the Germans - they pushed back the Russian infantry, but in the process went to four hits - now three of the four German units on the table had the maximum number!

The Germans rallied off a hit point and went in again!

In bitter hand to hand fighting, they succeeded in throwing the Russians back into the relative safety of the tank factory!

But elsewhere, the remainder of the assault force was falling back in disarray

Finally, some German reinforcements arrived

Another PzKfw III and supporting infantry moved forward to try and rally their comrades to one last effort.

The sniper team lined up a shot .....

 .... and the Wehrmacht returned fire.

The only return fire score that has any effect on a sniper team is ...... a double 6 - the sniper was eliminated!

Meanwhile, a fresh Soviet unit erupted from the Russian lines to assault the leading German unit - URRAH!

Once again, sharp words of encouragement from their NCO's succeeded in motivating the German troops to another desperate charge.

But the fresh, veteran Soviet squad was more than a match for their exhausted enemies

The victorious Red Army troops.

"Once more unto the breach" or words to that effect in German!

But the Russians dealt with the attack in the same old way!

Three of the four original infantry squads had now been pushed back to their start lines, and only half of the expected reinforcements had managed to force a path through the mountains of debris that surrounded the tank factory.

As the Russian infantry pushed forward aggressively all along the line, the German attack faltered and then faded away as the remaining survivors beat a hasty retreat to the relative safety of their own lines.

Well, that was a good game and didn't go the way I had expected at all! The German tanks proved to be very ineffective and were of little benefit to the attackers, scoring virtually no hits on the Soviet defenders and being knocked out relatively quickly. The mortar and sniper team were highly effective for the Russians, more than once putting a double hit on a German infantry squad, and the reinforcement cards fell badly for the attackers, with both Russian infantry squads turning up well before the first German reinforcement (the second never arriving at all). I called the game at turn 18 (of a possible 22) The next card was red when I checked it, so the German unit on 4 hits would quite likely have been eliminated too, and the two AT guns and ATR might well have knocked out the panzer as well!

I think that's about it for the Stalingrad tank factory scenario for the moment - next game might be something completely different - and it it's still WW2 on the Eastern Front, it will be something other than this!

Off to what Andrew calls "a dungeon crawl" ie fantasy game a la Frostgrave at Julians place on Friday, so a report and some pretty pictures of that game should turn up over the weekend.

Thanks for visiting and reading my AAR - I hope it was entertaining and please leave a comment, so I know you have been here!