The Uman Kessel : Beakout at Monastyrysche

[matiec]

The second battle in our short Uman Kessel campaign saw the Russian 6th Army attempt to breakout form the impending encirclement by the XLVIII Panzer Corps. For a bit of background to the campaign a map etc see my blog http://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com. The historical battle took place over several days 21st to 27th July 1941 so as always we have had to bring it down to something manageable in an evening.

Using Blitzkrieg Commander we used a combination of the assault and breakout scenarios. Russian forces under MajGen Christyakov consisted of parts of the 24th Mechanised Corps, 216th motorised Division and remnants of the 45th and 49th Tank Divisions. They were up against the 16th Panzers under GenMaj H Hube dug in and around the town of Monastyrysche (note on spelling I have found several different ways to spell the name but will stick with this one). The objective in the battle is for the Russians who heavily outnumber the Germans to breakout with victory points for either getting off the German baseline, or getting 25% into the final third of the table.

The Germans dug in around the town, with two battalions of panzers then spread out across the battlefield on the expected line of advance. Russian deployed with the Motorised infantry pushing towards the town , their two Tank divisions fairly central and an independent heavy tank brigade KV1's and early T34's coming in from the flank. For those that haven't played Blitzkrieg it is a command based game which reflects the poorer tactical leadership of the Russians so although they outnumbered the Germans they frequently find it hard to execute orders quickly and to time.

I am not going to run through the whole battle as you can read on my blog. Suffice to say the Russian infantry were hesitant to commit to assaulting the town directly and seemed unsure whether to assault in trucks or not. This cost them valuable time. We agreed after the battle that the Russian General should have been far less concerned about casualties, they weren't in real life. The centre of the battlefield saw a tank on tank battle which was fairly balanced but when the heavy brigade came on things rapidly swung towards the Russians. In a last ditch attempt to hold the centre ground the Germans transferred to StugIII's into the centre and they were able to catch a number of light T26 Russian tanks in the flank.

The result was a fighting draw, the Russian achieving a minor victory with over 25% in the final third of the table but it cost them badly with heavy casualties and their breakpoint reached. Here are some photos

Initial deployment German Infantry and Antitank guns dug in around the town

Russians coming on in force

I just love the B&W photos

Battle in full swing. Russians pushing through in the far distance but motorised infantry being held back outside the town. In the centre several Companies of Tanks fight it out



Russian Heavy Tanks getting the better of the combat on the German Right flank. KV1's particularly tough at this time, luckily they didn't have many operational.

Ok a bit of indulgence for me this is about the end of the battle but the silly colour effect gives it a great feel.


In the end it was a great battle to play, close and entertaining. We are looking forward to the next one when the Germans will be assaulting the Russian outside Uman itself. http://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com.