Breakout from the Nemen - Olita

22nd June 1941

At the start of Barbarossa 7 Panzer Division smashed through the Soviet border defences without difficulty. The way was open to the bridges over the Nemen River at Olita and the German panzers rushed towards their target. The bridges should have been blown. At first their were technical difficulties, but the bridges remained intact because the commander of the 3rd Mechanised Corps would not allow them blown with his troops on the far bank

Facing the 7 Panzer Division at Olita was the Soviet 5th Tank Division of the 3rd Mechanised Corps. It was stationed just north of Olita when the Germans attacked and, unlike many of the other Mechanised Corps, it did not have to travel 100's of kilometres to meet the Germans. This meant that it suffered less from mechanical breakdowns than most, a formidable array of tanks awaited the Germans

There were three bridges at Olita, one road bridge to the north, one to the east and a rail bridge in between. The commander of the 7PD intended all the division to make for the northern bridge, but due to an error directing  traffic the II Abt 25 Panzer Regiment was sent east instead. The speed of the advance would mean they arrived piecemeal in front of the Soviet defenders

The scenario depicts the II Abt 25 Panzer's attempt to  make a bridgehead beyond the banks of the Nemen. It is a cut down (and slightly tweaked) version of the larger Olita scenario

 Order of Battle & Map.

Pics of the modern battlefield - corresponding to the red arrows on the map

German Deployment

All German units enter along road D on turn TWO. Two companies can enter per turn. A stab and stabs company counts as a single company. Stands enter in column, so each stand after the first has it move reduced by 3" per stand before it.

Starting turn 5 German units may enter along the railway at point E. Only one company per turn may enter at point E. A stab and stabs company counts as a single company. Stands enter in column, so each stand after the first has it move reduced by 3" per stand before it.

At the start of the game the Germans have an "initial pool" of forces waiting off table. Units to enter are selected from the pool. Reinforcements enter the pool on the turn they are indicated to arrive and may enter the table the same turn

Straggler sets are treated as a companies for morale purposes. They have no command so they must be taken command of in order to receive orders. Upon their arrival as reinforcements they may be automatically be taken command of by any battalion stab or higher in good morale that is in the "initial pool". Note as they don't have any command of their own the stab they are placed under will have to enter the table with the straggler set in order to command them

Soviet Deployment

Staff 9th Tank Regt, 1st Bttn 9th Tank Regt enter the table along road D turn 1. They must make a full road move and may not leave the road turn 1. Roll on the following table to see how many tanks escape the west bank of the Nemen:  1-2 None, 3-7 1 Command T-28, 8+ 1 Command T-28 & 1 T-28. If the roll is EVEN then the Staff also escapes

2nd Bttn 9th Tank Regt, Divisional AA Battalion  and the BA-10 from the 2nd Company Divisional Recce Battalion are deployed anywhere in the indicated deployment zone. The T-34 companies must be deployed over 12" from each other, but the BHQ, AA and BA-10 may be deployed as the Soviet player sees fit. The tanks are dug in (-2 cover)

HQ Company and 1st Coy, 2nd Bttn 5th MRR can be deployed anywhere in the indicated deployment zone. All stands are dug-in (-3 cover)

HQ 9th Tank Regiment is a reinforcement and arrives turn 2 between points A and B

4th Bttn 9th Tank Regt, 2nd Bttn 5th MRR and Staff 3rd Mech Corps are reinforcements and arrive turn 6 between points A and B

3rd Bttn 9th Tank Regt is a reinforcement on turn 8 within 12" of point C

Reinforcement Summary

Terrain

The map is 5ft x 8ft if playing at 1" = 50m.

The open terrain is undulating farmland. Max visibility is 24" due to the undulations. This is extended to 36" for stands touching ridgelines

The green areas are dense woods, so are impassable to vehicles and manhandled guns, half speed for troops on foot. The green lines through the woods are sandy paths which count as open for the purposes of movement. Max visibility down the paths is 6". The paths are only one stand wide, though destroyed stands may be bypassed (ie they do not block the path). Stands on the path still get a -1 cover bonus

The red lines are roads. Where the road is flanked by forest max visibility is 6". The road is only one stand wide, though destroyed stands may be bypassed (ie they do not block the road). Stands on the road in the forest still get a -1 cover bonus

The dashed black line is a railway. Where the railway is flanked by forest max visibility is 6". The railway is only one stand wide, though destroyed stands may be bypassed (ie they do not block the railway). Stands on the railway in the forest still get a -1 cover bonus

The large grey area is a 4"x4" BUA's. They represent scattered wooden buildings (-2 cover). Only personel (not towed guns) get the cover. Vehicles can enter the BUA's but get no cover benefit

The blue lines are streams. The streams cost a BMA to cross for tracks and infantry. Wheels and manhandled guns cost 2xBMA to cross. 

Green dotted lines are tree-lines which break LOS and give +1 cover. Where a stream is flanked by green dotted lines the stream and trees are considered one obstacle, so if adjacent to to trees or stream on the table a stand can see through the tree line and be seen. Where the road and railway are adjacent to tree lines all stands on the road and railway are considered to be adjacent to BOTH tree lines.

The tan lines are crest lines. Crest lines break LOS and give hull down positions to AFV's touching them (-2 cover). They extend LOS to 36"

Special Rules

The game starts at 16:00 and lasts until 22:00 i.e. 12 turns. The 22:00 turn is twilight and visibility drops to 12"

No Soviet stand, except the T-28's and staff 9th tank regt, may move until turn 3

Air Support

The Germans roll d6 every turn on a 5-6 they may roll on the following table: 1-5 Bf-109F fighter, 6-10 Bf-109F fighter and Ju-87 Stuka

The Soviets roll d6 every turn. On a 6 they get air support and may roll on the following table: 1-3: I-16 or LaGG-3 fighter, 3-6: I-16 or LaGG-3 light attack & 7-10 one I-16 or LaGG-3 fighter AND one I-16 or LaGG-3 light attack

Victory Conditions

The Germans score 1VP for every AFV to the east of the railway EY. The Soviets get 1VP for any AFV's east of the EY. They get 2 VPs for any AFV's to the west of EY. The Germans get a bonus VP for each AFV they place on T junction X: maximum of two AFV's. The Germans get 2 bonus VP's if they get personel stands in Venkuinai (max 4 points), and the Soviets have no stands in the BUA. VPs are assessed at the end of the last turn.

For the purposes of VP's any armed vehicle with an armour rating counts as an AFV

To count for VP's stands  must be in good morale. Good morale is not shaken and not demoralised

Historical Outcome

The battle is not well documented. The Germans crossed the road bridge, seemingly without too much difficulty, but were stalled by the Soviet defences on the far bank. The Soviet counter-attacks caused the Germans great hardship but the Luftwaffe helped to break up the assaults and the Germans clung on to their bridgehead.

Total write-off's for the entire 7 Panzer Division amounted to 11 tanks (2 CD models), though we don't know how many were damaged and needed to be repaired. The 5th Tank Division was in effect destroyed. The next day 7PD plunged onwards to Vilnius.

References

Much of the account of the German side of the battle was from The Initial Period of the War on the Eastern Front by David Glantz. This was supplemented by the material on the Lexicon der Whermacht and the Feldgrau Forum

The basis for the Soviet side of the battle was from the Mech Corps site and the RKKA site. Details of the engineers from http://militera.lib.ru/h/fugate/03.html

As always modern map from http://maps.poehali.org/en/. This was supplemented by a couple of 1930's street maps of Olita: http://www.alytausgidas.lt/media/_catalog/alytaus-zemelapis-19392.jpg & http://www.alytausgidas.lt/media/_catalog/alytaus-planas-19392.jpg though most of Olita is off the game map.

Some nice pics of the battle and its aftermath: http://www.vilnaghetto.com/gallery/album79?page=1 & http://www.vilnaghetto.com/gallery/album75?page=1. Gives some idea of the sub types of vehicles the 5th Tank Division was armed with.

Pictures of the Game