Axis of Attack Ukraine: Game 2

Having been driven off with heavy losses the Germans regrouped and found some armorued cars to add some much needed support (especially at removing GtG) and an extra panzer III at the expense of the grilles.

• HQ
• 2x armoured PGs
• 3x pak 40s + half tracks
• 2x 232 ACs
• 4x panzer IIIs (1x L, 2x N, 1x Late J)
• 3x panzerwerfers

The Soviets took one of the lists I had suggested the other night and fielded:

• HQ + sappers
• 2x 2 platoon rifle companies
• full God of War
• 8 (or my) Stuarts!

This was going to hurt but high command demanded that we succeed and blunt the Soviet juggernaut.

2nd Battle of Lisowka


Kent decided to forgo an ambush and deployed his God of War near his baseline- with the Zis 3s dug in on the hill crest and an infantry company defending the forward objective.

I decided to split my forces- sending the panzer IIIs and one platoon in half tracks after the rear objective- the other platoon and pak 40s, supported by 2x 232 ACs, towards the near one.

Turn 2 we prepare to assualt the dug in Russians.


We kill 5 but lose 3 teams and a half track to the counter assault and fall back.

The battle in this wood was to rage for many turns!

A more cautious advance on the other flank.


Half tracks and anti-tank guns cover the centre.


Several failed Soviet counter assaults are stopped dead by defensive fire- just. Both sides are whittled down. In the end my platoon is reduced to one team and breaks, while all the Soviet teams except two are destroyed before they finally break!


On the other flank an armoured assualt goes in and more Soviets die.


The Soviets counter attack but fail to kill any teams. I kill another 3-4 and the Soviets break off.


The victorious Germans spread out- there is a God of War in the vicinity after all!


A panzer III (late J) is knocked out by direct fire for a Zis 3. Kent had woeful luck with the GoW this game- it failed to unpin three times and more often than not failed to range in when it was unpinned. Even so it took several turns to knock the guns to less than half strength and even at the end of the game the last 2 122s were still hanging on.


Yet another assault goes in the panzer grenadiers are earning their pay today! The panzerwerfers have smoked the enemy gun line but the smoke was not the direction I hoped for and masked all potenail targes from my tanks- I was hoping to isolate one or two.


Kent launches another assualt on the front objective but once more is pinned- there are a lot less of them now but they won't fail their morale tests!


Still the Zis 3s hang on.


Here come the Stuarts! Can they turn the tide?


The panzer IIIs and paks whittle the Stuarts down- but they are still contesting and threatening to overwhelm my infantry.


All available reserves are rushed over to try and reinforce the objective- and stop the second strelkovy from breaking through to contest it!


Victory! We manage to get the Stuarts down to less than half strength and they fail a morale test. My infantry assualt and drive the infantry back and they fail to unpin. 5-2 to the Germans!


Aftermath
A really tough game- I hate to think how it would have gone if Kent had ambushed with the God of War or Stuarts. As it was the most decisive things was probably the God of War performing so badly, especially its failure to unpin three of four times! I am amazed at how resilient the Zis 3s are, they really took a hammering but continued to function and like most Soviets they were impossible to break.

So it looks like the Germans have broken though at Lisowka and the pincers are closing on their next objective- Brusilov.

Craig