Radekov

This game was played in my conservatory on 24th Jan 2010. Chris and Ian played the Soviets and Dave and I the Germans. Most of the kit on display is mine but Dave provided most of the German trucks and some tanks. Chris helped me with T-26's and BT's and provided all the Soviet infantry. The buildings are from Dave's and Chris's collections

Deployments at the start of the battle. I Abt 15 panzer Regiment face Group Lysenko deployed around Radekhov

Lysenko next to his Gaz Car (US Casts). 3rd battalion 64th Tank Regiment is deployed along the railway (T-26's are mostly SHQ models, the support tank/commander is a Mirage kit. The T-26's and Infantry from Chris's collection.

3rd Battalion 63rd Tank regiment on the outskirts of Radekhov. For the most part these are all Cromwell Models, however number 22 is from Shell Hole.

1st Company, 3rd battalion 32nd Motor Rifle Regiment commanded by the battalion Zampolit at the railway crossing

I Abeilung 15 Panzer Regiment behind the ridge. Panzer III's are mostly a mix of Shell Hole and MMS. Pz-IV from Vac-U-Cast. The lead Pz-II from Cromwell

1 Kompanie in the lead

Opening moves

German troop quality and the superiority of the PzKfw-III over the venerable T-26 starts to tell

Soon things get even worse for the Soviets as the II Abt 15 panzer Regiment arrives on the battlefield

The Germans break through the Soviet's initial front line

I Abt enters Radekhov

HS-126 (Airfix) finally arrives over the battlefield to spot for the Soviet guns, however by this time the Soviets have little left on the table

The lead companies of II Abt move forward

3rd Tank Battalion, 20th Tank Regiment hits the German flank. Unfortunately the advance was somewhat ragged allowing the Germans to pick off the BT's piecemeal. This, and some lamentable dice rolling, ensured the attack was easily defeated. BT's are a mix of Milicast and Ostmodels from both Chris and my collections

The 1 Kp 61 Panzerjäger Abt deploys as a back-stop

I Abt in Radekhov turns to face the Soviet Infantry infiltrating through the town. Despite a few close assault attempts, again Ian's dicing was poor, the infantry were wiped out almost to a man and the Germans took no casualties.

II Abt outflanks Radekhov and moves south past Lysenko's burning staff car.

The Luftwaffe puts in an appearance and bombs the infantry on the flank of  II Abt. Not that the infantry was a serious threat to the panzers but targets were in short supply by this point in the battle. HS-123 by Airfix

After defeating the Soviet infantry I Abt moves out of Radekhov. PzKfw-II by Matchbox/Revell (closest, painted by Dave) and MMS (furthest)

The KV's arrive. 1st Battalion 20th Tank Regiment arrives on the battlefield. The Soviet players put a great deal of stock in these tanks. KV's are a mix of Fujimi and SHQ.

II Abt moves a kompanie to flank the Soviet monsters. However their flank armour is pretty much as impenetrable as their front.

I Abt moves to over run the last of the Soviet Infantry

The Germans deploy their artillery on a ridgeline near Radekhov as insurance in case the KV's wipe out the panzers

2nd Battalion joins the first battalion and things look a little grim for the Germans. The flanking kompanie of panzers has taken casualties and retreated. However look a little more closely and it doesn't seem so bad. Chris's dice rolling for morale checks was very poor, each of the KV companies has gone pinned. German artillery fire and the fire of the PzKfw-IV from Point 250 has suppressed a large number of KV's. This added to the fact that they crews are green and can't shoot straight and the fact that the Pz-III's are hull down means that Soviet shooting is pretty much ineffectual.

The end. A panorama of the battlefield at the end of the game. Notice a complete absence of KV's. They all failed their morale checks and ran off leaving the Germans in possession of the battlefield.

The Germans were the clear winners having a 7(ish) to 1 kill ratio. It felt historical though. Although there are a great many Soviet tanks as they are fed into the battle piecemeal the Germans can defeat them in detail. The much vaunted KV's were emasculated by Chris's poor dice rolls. I enjoyed playing the German Blitzkrieg monster, I hope the Soviet players didn't mind too much being over-run

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