Breakthrough at Diedersdorf

18/4/45

Pictures of the Game

On the 16th of April 1945 the Soviet army unleashed its last offensive against the German Reich. The bridgeheads over the Oder River split asunder and spewed forth red infantry and armour which forged forward to take Berlin. Although by this late stage in the war the German army was on its knees, it had a strong defensive position on the Seelow heights and gave a good account of itself, selling each meter of the Reich dearly.

Pressure began to mount and the German line broke. Soviet forces flowed either side of Seelow and pushed along Reichstrasse 1 into the country beyond. By dawn on the 18/4/45 the Soviets had advanced down the road as far as the village of Diedersdorf. However the Germans were far from broken and had strong forces on both sides of the breakthrough.

The scenario depicts the Soviet push up Reichstrasse 1, on the morning of the 18th of April, by the forward elements of  the 11th Guards Tank Corps and the 8th Guards Mechanised Corps. The road from Seelow heights was hugely congested and General Zhukov had ordered all the truck mounted infantry out of their trucks, off the road and on to foot, leaving a tank heavy force pushing west

The Germans had the battered remains of the 20 Panzergrenadier Division blocking their way; with the heavy tanks of the 502SS Panzer Battalion and the Müncheberg Panzer Division on the each flank. The Luftwaffe used the last drops of its fuel reserve to attack the Russian columns.

Historically the the Germans slowed the advance enough the Zhukov had to commit his reserves to the battle in order to ensure a break through, can the German players do the same on the tabletop or will the Russian players break through to Berlin?

Map and Order of Battle

Players

The scenario is designed for 6 players: three a side:

Player 1: 11th GTC
Player 2: 8th GMC
Player 3: 27th GRD
Player 4: Kurmark
Player 5: 90 PzG Regt & 8 Pz Abt
Player 6: Müncheberg, 76 PzG Regt & Panzerjägd Verbande

Deployment

In general units are placed in the locations shown on the map within the dashed pink deployment lines

Forward Detachment 11GTC (44th Guards Tank Brigade) is deployed along Reichstrasse 1, nose to tail, with an inch gap between. The head of the column is 4"-8" from the forward most stand of the 76 Panzer Grenadier Regt. All SMG stands start the game mounted on T-34's

The rest of the units of 11GTC and 8GMC are deployed in a long winding column behind the 44th Guards. They are nose to tail, with an inch gap between, and all the SMG stands are tank riding. This will mean that the majority of stands start the game off table. All off table stands enter the table at point D along the road in road column. They will only enter once the previous stands have moved away from the entrance point. (this behaviour may be modified if the Germans have a stand within LOS and 12" of point D - see below). On any given turn the lead stand entering the table can move its full advance or cautious advance move allowance. the stand behind will move three inches less, the next stand another three inches less and so on until no more stands can enter the table.

The order of the column is as follows:

Forward Detachment 11GTC (44th Guards Tank Brigade)
Forward Detachment (1st Guards Tank Brigade)
8th Guards Mechanised Corps Troops - HQ & 48th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment
40th Guards Tank Brigade and HQ 11GTC

Within each unit the owning player can determine the exact order

350th Guards Light Artillery Regiment (turn 3); 405th Guards Mortar Battalion (turn 4) and  53rd Guards Mortar Battalion (turn 6) are all reinforcements. The FO/Command stands enter at point D and must be slotted into the the units of the 11GTC or 8GMC entering that turn causing a 3" reduction in the move of stands behind them.

1st Regiment 19th Light SU Brigade is a reinforcement turn 6 entering anywhere between points C and E. it has no effect on the road column.

Kurmark Aufklärungs Abt, 502 SS Schwere Panzer Abt, 20 Panzergrenadier Division & Müncheberg Panzer Abt all start on table deployed as shown on the map within their deployment zone (delineated by the pink dotted lines). The personnel, but not the towed guns, of the Kurmark Aufklärungs Abt, 76 & 90 Panzergrenadiers are deployed dug in in foxholes (-2  cover)

2 Batterie Kurmark Artillerie Abt is a reinforcement entering along road F on turn 7. At the same time an FO will deploy with either the Stab 502SS or Stab Kurmark Aufklärungs Abt which allows the command stand to cal the battery on a 1-7.

1 Gruppe 10 Panzerjägd Verbande is a reinforcement. It may enter the table anywhere between points I and G the turn after any Soviet AFV gets within 6" of point H

No reinforcement can arrive within12" and LOS of an un-demoralised enemy stand. If entry is impossible, the reinforcements can enter a turn later up to 12" from  their indicated entry location. If entry is still impossible move 12" further away every turn until entry is possible.

Terrain

The map depicts a 10ft x 6ft table if playing 1" = 50m. North is towards the top of the page

In general the map represents a river valley, though the slopes are very gentle.

The red lines are roads. If a road has a hedgerow on one or both sides all stands on the road are considered to be touching both hedgerows.

The thin blue lines are streams. None of the streams north of Reichstrasse 1 are a particular impediment to movement. Infantry and tracked vehicles are unimpeded. Wheeled vehicles and manhandled guns take the equivalent of a cautious advance to cross. South of Riechstrasse 1 the banks of the stream become marshy and are impassable to all vehicles and manhandled guns. Infantry are unimpeded. Personnel in the streams get light cover (-1 cover not vs HE)

The blue areas are lakes, impassable to all stands.

The light green areas is are open woods. No impediment to personnel, half speed for vehicles and man-handled guns. Light cover (-1 vs non HE). The roads in the woods are considered part of it: ie all stands on the road are considered in cover and LOS is still only 2". The only effect of the roads in the wood is top speed movement.

The grey areas are BUA. The larger squares represent a 4"x4" area. All BUA are stone (-3 cover). Simplified town fighting rules will be used.

The green dotted lines are tree lines, these provide light cover  (-1 vs non HE) and break LOS

The broken black line is a  railway.

The broken brown lines are ridgelines. These break LOS. Any AFV stand touching the ridgeline is considered hull down.

The broken pink lines are not terrain but indicate deployment areas

Air Support

Both sides put considerable effort in to supporting the troops on the ground. However the fuel shortage limited the activity of the Luftwaffe

Turn 1 the Germans automatically get a FW-190F8 armed with Panzerblitz rockets. Turn 2 they have a 50% chance of another. All subsequent turns roll on the following table (d10):

1-7: no planes; 8: Fw-190D fighter; 9: Fw-190F8 fighter-bomber & 10: Fw-190D fighter and Fw-190F8 Fighter-bomber

The Fw-190F8 has a 50% chance of being armed with bombs and 50% with Panzerblitz rockets

The Soviets roll every turn for air support (d10):

1-5: no planes; 6: Il-2m attack; 7: La-5FN fighter; 8: Il-2m and La-5FN fighter; 9: Pe-2 Bomber & 10: Pe-2 bomber & La-5FN fighter

In any turn where both the Germans and Soviets have air support the Soviets place their planes on table first if using aircraft house rules

Special Rules

The game starts at 8:00am and ends at 2pm (12 turns). It is a clear sunny spring day.

Victory Conditions

Each player/force has a victory condition. At the end of the game total up the players who made their victory conditions on each side, the side with the higher total wins. It is possible for a player to have a "personal victory" by making his victory conditions but for his side to lose and visa versa

Player 1: 11th GTC - Clear Reichstrasse 1 and get at least two AFV's off table at point D
Player 2: 8th GMC - Capture Marxdorf
Player 3: 27th GRD - Capture Worrin
Player 4: Kurmark - Destroy at least 10 enemy tanks and maintain a 3:1 kill ratio between Tiger II's and the enemy
Player 5: 90 PzG Regt & 8 Pz Abt - Hold Worrin
Player 6: Müncheberg, 76 PzG Regt & Panzerjägd Verbande - Cut Reichstrasse 1

A side gains the victory condition no mater whose troops achieve the condition. However the player gets a "personal victory" only if his troops make his own conditions. For example imagine that troops of the 11GTC occupy Marxdorf and there are no troops of the 8GMC within. The Soviet side counts one victory condition but the player in charge of the 8 GMC doesn't get a "personal victory" and neither does the 11GTC (unless he has also cleared Reichstrasse 1)

To clear Reichstrasse 1 there must be no German personnel stands in good morale touching the road. Conversely to cut Reichstrasse 1 the Germans must endeavour to get German stands in good morale touching the road. To be clear the road is the grey tarmac bit.

To capture or hold a town either side must have at least one personnel stand within one of the town blocks in good morale at the end of the game and the enemy must have no stands in good morale within. If both sides/players have no personnel in good morale within at the end of the game or both sides/players have personnel in good morale within the objective the objective is drawn and both sides/players get a HALF victory point assuming the town was an objective for the side controlling it

T-34's, SU's of any type, IS-2's and the Valentine are considered enemy tanks for the purposes of Kurmark's victory conditions. The 3:1 kill ration applies only to the losses of King Tigers, other vehicles are considered expendable.

Good morale for purposes of victory conditions is NOT shaken and NOT demoralised.