Skirmanovo

We played the game at Chris's 22/3/09. Chris, Ian, Dave C and myself were in attendance. Chris took the Germans around Marino and Dave the Germans around Skirmanovo. I had the 1st Guards Tank Brigade attacking Skirmanovo and Ian took the forces attacking Marino. Most of the German kit was mine apart from the infantry around Marino which was painted by Chris and a pair of Dave's PzKfw-III. Most of the Russian vehicles were painted by Chris apart from Katukov's T-34's. The Russian infantry was a mix of mine and Chris's

Ian's 365th Infantry Regiment in its starting positions to the east of Marino

1st Guard Tank Brigade in the woods north of Skirmanovo. The round stand with four officers is Katukov's HQ. Fujimi T-34 M1941's and a KV. Scratch built BA-10's

I/86 Infanterie Regiment defending Skirmanovo. The very nice buildings were painted by Chris

On I/86's left flank a company defends the Graveyard

II/86 IR in defensive positions around Marino

FlaK (S&S SdKfz-10/4) & IG (SHQ) support the II/86 south of Marino

II Abt 7 Panzer Regiment south of Skirmanovo. Most of the PzKfw-III are from SHS, but there is the odd MMS mixed in. PzKfw-IV are Vac-U-Cast. PzKfw-II are mostly Matchbox as are the SdKfz-251. The sIG is SHQ

86 Infaterie Regiment Stab (HQ) between Skirmanovo and Marino. The Kfz-15 Umbauwagen was scratch built and cast by David Reasoner

SdKfz-7 (Cromwell) and 88mm (Hasegawa) in Skirmanovo

At the start of the battle Soviet planes attacked the German defenders. The Il-2 (Toko) ineffectually bombs the 88mm

The MiG-3 (Revel) strafes the PaK-38 (SHQ), without making any discernable impression. Soviet air power was then absent from the rest of the battle, however the Germans faired no better with their air support rolls

27th Tank Brigade arrives to the east of Marino and moves to flank it from the south.

The 28th Tank Brigade starts north of Marino and pushes south. Fujimi T-34's. Fujimi KV-1 with a Vac-U-Cast "E" conversion kit. The two T-40's on the right are Ostmodels, that on the left is from Planet. US Casts Gaz-M1 car and Alby Gaz-AAA truck

27th and 28th Tank brigades link up south of Marino. The tank riders dismount in to the ditch to avoid small arms fire from the Germans. However for the most part the Axis troops are hiding in the hedges and holding their fire. SHQ T-60's

The PaK-36 in Marino is ineffective against the KV and T-34, but it will have more luck with the flimsy T-40's

1st Guards Tank Brigade pushes south towards Skirmanovo. In the distance II Abt 7 Panzer regiment moves a kompanie to face the Soviet forces flowing past Marino

Elements of the 27th and 28th Tank Brigade probe the Flank of II Abt 7 Panzer Regiment. The 5cm guns of the Panzers have very little chance of penetrating the armour of the T-34's and KV's but the Soviet's poor training soon tells and the Soviets tanks will make no headway against the better trained German panzers

II Abt 7 Panzer Regiment attempts a counter attack on the 1st Guards Tank Brigade. the guards are much more experienced than their comrades in the 27th and 28th. The Germans are still better but not much and the are very much out numbered. the attack was to be supported by the PzKfw-IV of the 8 Kompanie but they were distracted by the emergence of the 3rd Battalion 1308th Rifle Regiment on their flank (they are just out of shot in the top right of this picture)

Having dealt with the counter attack 1st Guards push forward to the village where the German defenders are very much in danger of being overwhelmed.

Battle for the graveyard. The PzKfw-IV of the 8 Kp arrive too late to save their comrades but do divert the Soviets' attention long enough that the 3 Kp 49 Pioneer Abt can sneak behind to recapture the graveyard after the original defenders had fled

German reinforcements. I Abt 7 Pz Regt pushed past II Abt to surround the spearhead of the 27th and 28th. Despite being nearly invulnerable to German Fire this was too much for the Soviets and they were forced to retire

Having forced back the heavy Soviet armour the Germans surge forward to reinforce the defenders of Marino. Bad morale checks meant the 365th infantry took a long time to generate an assault against the isolated defenders but finally mounted an attack about half way through the battle. In hindsight moving an entire tank battalion forward was overkill and some panzers would probably have better been employed in the east around Skirmanovo

The remains of II Abt 7 Panzer Regiment counter attack at Skirmanovo. The village is nearly in Soviet hands and the heavy armour has moved around the western flank

A counter attack by a single kompanie wasn't enough and was shattered by fire from the T-34's and KV. Skirmanovo and the graveyard have fallen to the Soviets. In the east Marino is now securely in German hands but that is the only victory location they own, as to the south elements of the 50th Cavalry Division have seized the road south to Koslove; a move unchallenged by the Germans

Where was the Luftwaffe? A Bf-109F (Italeri) patrols over the battlefield after the battle is over

After the battle, BT-7 redeploys. Nice close up of Chris's newest toy

It was a hugely enjoyable fight, which half way through when the German reinforcements arrived, looked to be going very badly for the Soviets. In the end it was a decisive Soviet victory. I suspect if some of those reinforcements had gone west rather than east the game would have been very different. A timely Stuka strike could have put a very different complexion on the game too, but the dice were not with the Germans

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