Operation Barbarossa : The Uman Kessel

[matiec]

I have been hankering after more WWII for ages and finally found someone with the enthusiasm to remove my inertia. As a step back in we had brought my Eastern Front Collection back onto the Battlefield. After a couple of warm up battles we decided to take the plunge into Barbarossa. I have taken my main source for this small five battle campaign from the excellent Osprey Operation Barbarossa Army Group South book. Although the text is limited they have one of their great 3D maps of the Uman Kessel. We have selected five battles to represent the conflict between the German 17th Army and 1st Panzer group and the 6th and 12th Russian Armies. We are using 6mm and Blitzkrieg Commander as the rule set so I have used their standard scenarios from the rule book and then adapted the forces to fit my collection.

The first battle last weekend saw forward elements of the 1st Mountain Division in hot pursuit of parts of the Russian 12th Army between Vinnista and Bratslav.

I have seen one or two others using B&W photos and it just looked so cool I thought I would copy them, here are a couple of the shots from the battle. It was a close run thing with Russian attempting to hold ground whilst getting as much of their valuable armour as possible of the battlefield. The Germans had to chase down and destroy as much as they could. Giving them the difficult challenge of speed over vulnerability for their mounted troops. To balance things we had stretched history a little to allow the 16th Panzers to come in on the Russian NE flank from turn 3. Surprisingly they had little impact on the eventual outcome with an even draw. If you are interested there is more on my blog and some more details of the other 4 battles we are planning. http://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com/

Initial positions with Germans coming on from the North (right) Anti tank guns coming under early fire and 3 battalions of the 98th Infantry Division pushing forward

A couple of later shots, burning vehicles on both sides but the Russians are managing to pull most of their remaining armour out.

I think I might keep all my photos B&W (but they are colour on my blog for now)

Really happy to answer any questions etc.....

[Hang Tuah]

Fantastic set-up. I would really like to see some colour pictures though.

[matiec]

Thanks for the feedback, I just thought the B&W photos were really cool, more colour on my blog but here is another one
Russian T28's pulling back under fire whilst Anti-tank Brigade and Infantry defend the farm. Mechanised Corps pulling out on the road has been hit by scheduled artillery attack.