Battle of Zossen

This game was played Saturday the 25th October on my table. John and I commanded the Soviets and Dave the Germans. Unfortunately Chris couldn't make it as he was ill, but I'm happy to say he's better now. Most of the kit was mine but the majority of the Soviet infantry (that with the labels on) was painted by John

 

2nd Battalion 53rd Tank Brigade in its start position. Matchbox T-34's with turret swaps

 

1st & 3rd battalions 53rd Tank Brigade venture forward being very careful to keep a hedge line between them and the Elefant.

 

1893rd SU Regiment ventures forward to trade shots with the Panther from KG Moltke. These were under my command and at 4:1 odds I fancied my chances against the single Panther, even if it is better than the SU-85. The SU-100's are substitutions as I didn't have enough models and Chris was unable to bring his along. They were treated as SU-85's. Fujimi SU-85 and Cromwell SU-100

 

KG Moltke by the Railway bridge. the Panther (Matchbox) can see the SU's, but as yet the Sherman can not. The Hetzer (Fujimi) is still demoralised and being rallied by the divisional commander of UvH. The Sherman is a Corgi hull with a modified Matchbox turret.

 

Soviet air power arrives early and bombs the German FlaK

 

KG Ritter, with the Maus attached, faces the 53rd GTB. Early n the game the Panthers traded some long range shots with the T-34's, John initially hid from the lethal Elefant and the Maus

 

 

IG-37 (SHQ) fires in support. Initially used to suppress the Soviet armour later in the game it would do great execution of the infantry advancing in the open.

 

Lucky German aircraft roll, double 10's both the Bu-181 and the Ar-234 arrive in the same turn. The Bu-181 (Huma) is a converted trainer and pretty ineffectual, however Dave's dice were good and it hit a T-34 with a Panzerfaust and killed it. The second burning T-34 was slotted at long range by a Panther of KG Ritter

 

The Ar-234 (Revell) made its bombing run against the SU's and failed to anything more than suppress the Soviet armour. Cheap improvised attack trainer 1, highly sophisticated jet bomber 0.

 

The Panther was killed by the SU's, and the Sherman was too far away to fire effectively. Once rallied the Hetzer moved up to avenge its comrade, unfortunately for the Germans its didn't last long

 

51st Guards Tank Brigade attack the German left flank. This move made the position of KG Ritter's Panthers untenable

 

1st  Battalion 51st GTB's advance was delayed by the stream.

 


The Panzergrenadier of KG Ritter defend the outskirts of Zossen. They looked wholly inadequate to the task of stopping 51dt GTB on their own

 

53rd GTB emerges from hiding to take on the KG Ritter, those proved to be costly. By the end of the turn KG Ritter had lost a Panther, 53rd GTB had lost all but a pair of T-34's. This unfortunately removed the threat from KG Ritter's front...

 

The Corps HQ tries to rally the shaken remnants of 53rd GTB. Cararma Jeep, Alby Gaz-AAA, SHQ Quad Maxim

 

51GTB outflanks Zossen to the North, not having enough infantry to prise the Panzergrenadiers out of the buildings. The Panther in the distance was demoralised and was no threat

 

Freed from watching the 53rd GTB, the Elefant of 614 Panzerjäger Kompanie relocates to face 51st GTB. Fujimi kit

 

The Maus remains pointing south to watch the remains of 53rd GTB. Unlike the previous game the Maus's shooting was pretty good, accounting for two T-34's.

 

Russian air support rolls were good. An La-5FN strafes the German defenders

 

The last T-34 of 53rd GTB escorts some of the infantry from 22nd Motor Rifle Brigade.

 

The artillery of 22nd MRB deploys in support. Closest and furthest are Italeri. The middle is the Skif/UM kit.

 

1893rd SU Regiment breaks through to attack the south end of the railway bridge. We had to use templates for log bunkers in the absence of those from Chris's collection

 

Unfortunately bad morale rolls by the 1st Battalion 51st GTB meant there were only four T-34's available to take on the Elefant. It was not enough. The SdKfz-251/16 burned one, a Panzerschreck team creamed another and the Elefant got the third. One survived to bounce shells off the Elefant's thick hide. It didn't get a second chance

 

German SdKfz-251/1 (Cromwell) shot up by the 51st GTB's BA-64

 

 

1893rd SU regiment with help from the lead elements of 22nd MRB take the bunkers at the south end of the railway bridge. However it is turn 13, leaving them but a single turn to capture the other. Most of 22nd MRB entered the table too late and was too far away to intervene in the crucial battle for the last bridge

 

The handful of Soviets in range lunge for the road bridge, but fail to take it. The Elefant is shaken, as is the Maus by this turn. However the remaining Panther has recovered it morale to pinned at this time. It looking as if the Germans will win a victory. Only a very bad set of morale rolls at the end of turn 14 could deny them

 

The AAHMG's of the 51st GTB move up close to the remaining Panther to force it to make a morale check. However its not enough. (Matchbox Jeep and Airfix GMC)

In the end it was a German victory, though it was a close run thing. With a couple of different dice rolls it could have been a Soviet victory. Certainly the Soviets did better in this game than the previous game.

Back to Scenario