AAR: A Desert Rat On The Russian Front

[2054172]

This is the story of one poor souls transfer and command on the Southern Sector of the Russian Front.

The story starts at German Southern Sector Headquarters May 1944.

General Zimmerman (GZ): Welcome to the russian front Captain Graf.

Captain Graf (CG): Heil hitler and thank you general, but....( Cut off )

GZ:Ah captain save your complaints and confussion for another time. You have been transferred here from Italy for a special mission......some Snapps maybe?

CG: No thanks heir general....why would you give me this mission, isn't there a major or someone of higher rank, who would want this job? What is this special mission?

GZ: Well you are right to the point captain....OK.
We are all out of officers on this front, those that were not killed,wounded or taken prisoner, have either ran away or shot themselves. As for the special mission it seems that whatever the Fuehrer does on this front is special.

Dead silence.....
CG:...I think I will have some Snapps now, if you don't mind general?

GZ: Not at all captain.

CG: Ok, what are the objectives?

GZ: Here are some photos and a map. You are to secure the area on the opposite side of the village and elimanate all resistance.

CG: What are the troop dispositions......

From the side door 2 other officers enter the room.

GZ: Come on in gentlemen. this is your new commander Captian Graf. Captain Graf this is 1st leut. Hammerstein who commander the Panzer IV Platoon and 1st. Leut. Albert who commands the Jagpanzer Platoon.

GZ: You troops are ready the infantry consist of vetern Panzer grenadiers and Vetern Pioneer Squads. Along with this armour you have an Elefant , Puma, (2) 81mm Hts and an assortment of Hts. You also have 2 150mm Infantry guns and a 88mm AT Gun which we have no transport for, the Gun tractor was needed in another sector and the gun was dropped in the best location possible. Welcome again to the russian front.

CG: But general......

GZ: Captain I must leave now, I am sure you will work this out for the Fatherland. Good Day sir.

CG: Ok leut's I guess this is our show now. Here is what I propose, and please give input as much as possible gentlemen.


Pics and more to come.

[Okimaw]

Axis set up turn 1, courtesy of Okimaw Picture Embedding Serivces Inc.


left flank
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/9282/turn1leftey6.jpg


right flank
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/2504/turn1rightap6.jpg

[Okimaw]

History Channel Interview with General Alexei Alaverdov (ret) Red Army

Interviewer - Tell us about the lead up to the actions of May 1944

Alaverdov - At that time I was in command of a rifle battalion of the 6th Guards Rifle Corps of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. My orders were to hold a part of our line as the preparations were made for the final assault on Sevastopol. Our forces consisted of two rifle battalions, the other being commanded by Major Latypov who was killed in the action that day, reinforced by a company of T-34's, pioneers, and a battery of anti tank guns. We also had intermittent close air support of the Red Air force. We were informed by STAVKA that a large mechanised force of fascists were massing for an attack on our sector and that we had to make preparations to defend the area. Myself and my subordinate Maj Latypov quickly organised our forces to utilize the terrain and village to optimise the forces at hand. We surmised that the fascist would try to avoid fighting in the village proper so we thouroughly mined it, barbed wire etc, and positioned a platoon of pioneers and a number of anti tank rifle squads just south of it. Major Latypov would command the forces on the east flank, my self directing from the command bunker in the center south of the village, while Kpt's Gorokov and Zadernyuk were delegated the west flank. We immediately sent Lt Grachev and his platoon forward as scouts to identify targets for close air suport, their heroic actions that day saved the lives of many, sadly only one squad of them survived the battle, Lt Grachev died along side his men as well. The forested terrain allowed us to use concealment and the limited time for fortifications to our advantage and we used our heavy machine gun companies to maximum advantage due to this. Lt Gustov of the machine gunners from Latypov's command earned the title hero posthumously that day.
We set 2 lines of defence , holding as long as we could in one and preparing to fall back to the next. Only the very strong armoured attack broke through on the east flank, eventualy breaking through to Latypovs command bunker.
Initial lines of defense are in red, secondary on green,


East flank, Latypov's bunker is in grey.

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/7643/soveflank8cz.jpg


Center, mined areas in white


http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/8700/sovcflank2qa.jpg


West flank

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/6921/sovwflank7uq.jpg

[2054172]

Captain Graff (CG): Well leut's it's all or nothing here, if we faill the front colapses,if we succeed we extend the war for another year. Leut. Albert good luck on the right flank ..remember you are to pin down the Russians there so they will not be able to pull troops from the right to reenforce the left. WE will advance down the left flank keeping the ridge with the road to our right .....by doing this we limit the the fire of our enemy only to our front.
Any word on pillboxes yet.

1st. Leut.Hammerstein (LH): None yet sir the scouts have gone out probing. They will report as soon as they contact anything.

CG: This is it gentlemen, may God be with us.

All leave and take up their positions.

[2054172]

Runner approaches Captain Graf..... Sir the Russians have immobilized two Half tracks. It ws a ll-2m Sturmovick.

CG: Well how bad are they and which Ht's .

Runner: Both unrepairable sir ...one was Von Blucher's 75mm .

CG: Let's hope that is the endof their air attacks.
Dismissed.

[Okimaw]

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/831/t6attack4uf.jpg