Breakthrough at Roganka

13/5/42

On the 12th of May Soviet forces launched a pincer attack to take the German held city of Kharkov. Progress was not as great as the Soviets had planned for but in the northern pincer the greatest penetration was achieved by the 266th Rifle division. This was pitted against elements of the newly arrived 71 Infanterie Division who has only been on the ground for a day or two. The breakthrough produced a a desperate scrabble on the German side to fill the breach and to counter attack the the encroaching Russians. First to arrive were the Kradschützen of the 23 Panzer division that formed a weak screen to cover the deployment of the rest of the division. In the mean time arriving units of the 71 Infanterie Division were fed into battle. The Soviets pushed the 36th Tank Brigade in to the breach to exploit westwards which then collided with III Abt 201 Panzer Regiment which was deploying from its barracks in Kharkov

Note every source consulted differs in its spelling of the the villages name, I've picked Roganka as fairly representative

Map and Order of Battle

German Deployment

The elements of 23 Kradschützen Abt are deployed in the area indicated on the map by the pink dashed lines. The "patrol" elements may not be deployed within 12" of each other

The 9 & 12 Batterie 171 Artillerie Regiment are deployed in the area indicated on the map by the pink dashed lines. The limbers start "trucks to the rear"

3 Kompanie 171 Panzerjäger Abt is a reinforcement it arrives down road F on turn 3

III Abt 201 Panzer Regiment arrives as a reinforcement: 10 Kompanie on turn 6, Stab & 12 Kompanie on turn 7 and the Stabs Kompanie on turn 8. All elements arrive between points E & C

Soviet Deployment

1st Battalion 36th Tank Brigade enters the table turn 1 within 12" of road B. 2nd Battalion and the Brigade HQ enters the table turn 3 within 12" of road B. The motorised rifle battalion  enters the table turn 4 within 12" of road B

1st Battalion 985th Rifle Regiment enters the table within 12" of road A. Most of it enters turn 5, however the "stragglers" enter turn 7. The stragglers get a "free" order the turn they enter the battle, thereafter they must be commanded by the BHQ

HQ 3rd Artillery Battalion 875th Artillery Regiment enters turn 8 within 12" of road A

Terrain

The table is 8ft x 5ft if playing 1" = 50m

The open terrain is mostly large open fields, with grassland close to the villages

Green areas are dense forests, impenetrable to towed guns and vehicles. Foot stands within move at 1/2 speed

Grey squares are wooden BUA giving -2 cover to foot stands within. Vehicles and towed guns only get -1 cover (they are assumed to be in the wide spaces between buildings)

Red lines are roads. Where a tree line flanks the road all stands on the road are assumed to be adjacent to the tree line

The blue lines are boggy streams, Foot stands take a BMA to cross. Tracked and half tracked vehicles take 2xBMA to cross. Towed guns and wheeled vehicles can not cross the streams. Where the steams are tree lined the stream and line count as one obstacle, any stand touching the stream is assumed to be touching the tree line.

The green dotted lines are tree lines. They break LOS except to stands that are adjacent to the line. They five light cover

The brown dotted lines are ridgelines. They break LOS to any stand not adjacent to the line. AFVs touching the line get hull down vs. fire that crosses the line

Aircraft

The Soviet air force dominated the sky during the initial part of the offensive. Each turn roll d10, on a 9-10 the Soviet side will receive air support. Roll on d6. 1-2 P-39 fighter, 3-4 Il-2 Sturmovik, 5 Pe-2 Bomber, 6 P-39 and Il-2

Special Rules

The game is 10 turns long with a 50% chance of an 11th turn rolled at the end of turn 10

Victory Conditions

For a victory the Soviets must either

Get two tanks, in good morale, off the table between points G & E, whilst still having at least 5 stands remaining in good morale on the table at the end of the game

Or get one tank and two other stands (not trucks), in good morale, off the table between points G & E, whilst still having at least 5 stands remaining in good morale on the table at the end of the game

Or neutralise all the PzKfw-III & IV. Neutralise means that by the end of the game they must all be knocked out or not in good morale.

Any other result is a German victory

Good morale is not shaken and not demoralised

References

36th Tank Brigade: http://tankfront.ru/ussr/tbr/tbr036.html

23rd Panzer Division in WW2, De Ernst Rebentisch

266th Rifle Division: http://www.polk.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=2355

Kharkov 1942, David Glantz

Last Triumph of the Wehrmacht, the Kharkov "Pot", Konstantin Bykov: http://www.e-reading-lib.org/chapter.php/1003049/0/Bykov_Konstantin_-_Posledniy_triumf_Vermahta._Harkovskiy_kotel.html

Map M-37-062, 100K

Panzertruppen Volume 1, Tomas Jentz

WW2 Organisational Series Vol 4/I, Leo Neihorster