Counter Attack at Belino

3rd February 1945

This scenario is taken from the pages of Knight Gunner the memoirs of Alfred Regeniter a member of 276 StuG Abteilung. The battle depicted shows a limited counter-attack in the dying days of the war, probably one of hundreds made by the German army that ultimately made no difference to the outcome of the war

The order of battle for the game can be found here and the map here. The map is an amalgam of the sketch map in Alfred's memoirs and a contemporary map of the area so is pretty accurate. The OB has been extrapolated from Alfred's account, so in places must be considered little more than educated guesswork. CD-TOB roster

Deployment

Forces are deployed as shown on the map. The 2 Batterie 276 StuG Abt with its Fallschirmjager tank riders starts off board but may enter on turn one anywhere along the south board edge not in the wood. The rest of the Fallschirmjager are deployed in the wood. The II Abt 448 GR is deployed dug in on the board edge up to 6" either side of the railway line. No other units are dug in

The Russian T-34/85 is a reinforcement. Starting turn 2 roll 1d6, on a 6 it arrives. On the next turn it arrives on a roll of 5-6. the chance increases by one each turn. The T-34 will enter the board on one of the roads by Sauermuhl.

For WPD the Germans move first

Terrain

The red lines are tarmac roads.

The blue lines are streams - these appeared to offer no impediment to the attacking forces so do not incur any movement penalty. The banks offer -2 cover for CD, 5+ save for WPD against direct fire for infantry only

The grey built up areas offer medium cover -3 for CD, 4+ save for WPD

The wood is an open wood.

The black dotted lines are railway, this is on a slight embankment which gives infantry -2 cover for CD, 5+ save for WPD against direct fire

The green dots indicate the roads are tree-lined.

The brown lines are crests. Any AFV touching is allowed to take up hull down positions. The crests of the hills are fairly high and any unit on one of the crests can see over all intervening terrain with the exception of another crest

Special Rules

The game starts at 01:00 and is run in half hour turns. The game ends at 07:00 thus last 12 turns. The weather is fairly cold and clear

Victory Conditions

To win the Germans must hold Belino and Katsau. If they hold Belino and Katsau is contested (there are both German and Soviet non demoralised in it) the result is a draw. Any other outcome results in a Soviet victory

Historical Outcome

Historically victory went to the Germans who captured Katsau without loosing a single vehicle!