16 Sept - Day German Assault
Due to the rapid reorganization and redeploying of GE units, to bypass Phase 1 (the anticipation of a Russian early morning counter-attack) and move directly into an all-out assault, the somewhat disorganized units were not fully emplaced prior to the offensive being started. This led to many leaders and units PANICing, and those that could fire missed their mark. By the end of the GE Turn 1, only two RU half-squads lay dead for all the firepower directed at them. Also disappointingly, no Stuka's were available this turn as they were doubtless required elsewhere in the sprawling battlefield.
KG1
Ineffective PFPh, sees the RU sniper get a KIA on the 7-0 FOO, as he was peeking to get a better look at his artillery spotting round, and break a squad manning the captured RU HMG.
The RU DFPh is somewhat more effective, and the Sdkfz 10/5 (which had also PANICed) is blown up by a turret hit from the 1st floor 45L AT gun in Pavlov's House.
During the RU Turn 1, GE DFPh is marginally more effective, with a Lt Mtr (in a mtr stack (K5)) getting a CH on Pavlov's House. RS sees the AT crew get broken (after it had broken its gun with a flurry of 9 shots against a GE stack in P2) and subsequently eliminated by further fire. Also, the 9-1 in the Milchhaus scrambles for the field phone, and after establishing contact, brings down an FFE on Zobolotnov's House, into its pre-registered hex. This OBA does clear off more S? counters and produces another pillbox, manned by two RU squads. Finally, the RU get an RE which produced 2x458's with an HMG, an MMG, and an 8-0 leader in the U4 Warehouse.
KG2
Pregame S? Activation reveals a 45L AT gun and an elite 628 in N20, adjacent to a StuG G and a stack of GE MMC. Both are ineffective during the GE Turn, but the RU PFPh sees the 628 break the three adjacent 548's before itself breaking from GE DFPh. In the subsequent GE CCPh, a 45LL AT gun crew is killed in M23, before it can bring an effective fire against the GE. Another roadblock appears in O20, manned by a 9-0 commissar, 447 with an HMG and a 527 SMG squad. Also, the busy RU sniper eliminates an 8-1 leading an MG kill stack in P27.
KG3
Sniper fire has eliminated an 8-1, that was leading an MG kill stack, also breaking an accompanying 467, and so the northern part of the Kampfgruppe has become stalled as they try to sort themselves out. Again GE PFPh has proved ineefective against the adjacent units (including the three RU pockets in K36/L36/M37), but the DFPh/CCPh is able to break most of the pockets which are subsequently eliminated because they have no where to run (except for M37, though the 9-2 is eliminated). The 628 RU assault engineer in the L36 pocket, bravely drops a DC down the stairwell breaking the two 838's on the first floor during DFPh, but is itself broken from the blast and subsequently eliminated by an 838 that had APh into the ground floor preventing it from routing away in the RU Turn.
KG4
The attack in the south has completely stalled, between ineffective PFPh, PANIC and stubborn RU defense. The stack of 3x467 in M49, cannot break the adjacent RU units (including the 45L AT gun crew), and are themselves slowly whittle down and broken , first by RU DFPh and then RU PFPh, and forced to rout away. This could be a slog in the 1st of May Square.
North of the square, early S? activation had revealed a dug-in KV1 monster in N43 (indeed the both the 1st and 2nd floors have become fortified), but it's fire proved ineffective, and after the accompanying RU squads broke and routed away, it lay defenseless (relatively), against the lone GE 467 that gained ambush and subsequently killed it. Below, the GE PFPh...
...and the end of the RU Turn 1.
Tallies
CVP:
GE 32
RU 15
VP:
GE 8
RU 0
S? Activations:
Total 34
Dummy 17
Successful 17