Braunschweig – An After Action Report Part V
A note: the game is at turn 22 and I must say, win or lose, this has been my favorite TOAW scenario played to date.
TURN 23
As promised – lots of pictures.
Two Soviet counterattacks at the gates to Stalingrad recaptured two hexes, including Mamaev, pushing back the 26th PG Reg and the 124th Pz Reg. Counterattacks near Peskovatka retreated several German units out of the town of Vertiachy, leaving the German 24th Pioneers stranded along the river. Most, if not all, of my reconstitutes appearing upon the rail line to Saratov are being diverted to this northern flank of the Stalingrad thrust. My men and tanks lack supply, having been thrown into the lines or in secondary lines to stop the Germans from pushing further northward. A serious breach here would mean big trouble for incoming reinforcements, but I don’t really mind Foggy’s attempt. If anywhere on the map the Germans are swimming upstream, it’s here.
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Figure 23-1
This shows the borders at Stalingrad. The highlighted hex is one I took back this turn.
Figure 23-2
Figure 23-2 shows a section of the upper Don offensive‧the Rumanians in particular. They’ve suffered heavy casualties and are being used to hold a large swath of the front. They were the first to arrive on the scene after I crossed the river, saving the asses of the 16th Pz Division, which was pushing toward Novogrigorevskaya. You can see some of them in the picture, but in total, I have 6 tank brigades positioned along this front, with several more on their way, including 3 fresh divisions and more artillery. In assessing my supply situation, the 6th Army farther west is hurting, having no bridges across the Don. And it won’ t be until they advance about 2 hexes and gain further control over the road net running south along the Don, that their supplies will improve. For the present time, I’m going to try and crash through the Rumanians and cut the rail line you see running through Surovinko. If cut here, the Germans will lose their direct supply line running through Pitomik airport, weakening the direct assault on Stalingrad and the push northward.
The southern offensive has officially stalled. Out of supply and facing a German line reinforced by a panzer regiment and a grenadier regiment, I have little choice but to slow the pace and take my time. I’d rather not leave a unit or two open to German counter attack and have them evaporate. However, the Germans are very weak along the lower lakes and it may be possible to slowly pick them apart. My supply situation is pathetic – getting only about 7% – even along the road.
The Battle for Astrakhan is going well. I’ve pushed all the German paratroopers back to the city, freeing up the entire Volga. Supply is pretty abysmal down here in the swamps, but not really worse than that facing the southern offensive. I’m on the lookout for an engineer unit I might ship down here to fix the bridge over the Volga and increase supply to these units, as well as allow some over the river that I’ve been holding back against a potential last desperate German river crossing. Just in case, two Stalingrad Reserve regiments, which had been awaiting transport to Baku began the trek toward the city to apply overwhelming force. Random units from the German backfield trickle into the picture. I assume these were some with which he had been converting hexes or repairing bridges or fighting partisans.
Figure 23-3
The fighting withdrawal continues along the Caspian Sea coast. Figure 23-3 shows all that’s left between the Germans and Fortress Baku. I’ll let the picture speak for itself.
[continued on nextpage]
