Debacle at Ponyri
The game was played on 22/3/08 at Chris's house. Ian & I played the Germans and Chris defended with the Soviets. The majority of the Russian kit was Chris's and the Germans are from my collection
3rd battalion 1019th Rifle Regiment surrounding point 253
Ferdinands of 656 Panzerjäger Regiment ready to advance. Fujimi kits (actually of the Elefant not the Ferdinand)
27th Heavy Tank Regiment to the East of Ponyri. Fujimi kits
1442nd SU Regiment at the rear of the 3rd Battalion's position (Cromwell Models). ZiS-5 truck from PST
Turn one the Stuka's arrive and bomb the third battalion .
The Germans move to outflank the minefield around point 253. Milicast StuG & Brummbär, MMS BIV and S&S SdKfz-10/4
The German infantry tries its best to keep up with the armour
Soviet Air support. An La-5 (Zvezda) strafes the German regiment Stab. The SdKfz-10/4. suppressed by the Russian artillery fire ineffectually in to the sky
The SU-122's move to reinforce the flank threatened by the Germans
German Bf-109G flies top cover over the advancing column (Italeri kit)
The Soviets also had copious air support, here an Il-2 makes a very low (and ineffectual) pass at a Ferdinand
Stuka (Airfix) pulls out after a bombing run on the 1019th's RHQ. No hits were scored
Another bombing run on the 1019th, the bunkers proved highly resistant to bomb damage. Matchbox Stuka
The Russians made a small error in the deployment of their minefield, one small part was out of line-of-sight of the defenders and was not covered by fire. Here the German's second BIV moves up to lay its charge to expand the breach blown by the first.
The StuG-IIIF in the background, remotely controls the BIV. In the foreground the StuG-IIIG (Cromwell) and StuH-42 (Airfix conversion) of 244 StuG Abt hurry to catch up with the rest of the German armour
The German armour lines up in order to crest the ridge hiding the Russian defences en-masse
In the centre the Fredinands move up to isolate the 3rd battalion from the 1st. This move caused the 27th tank Regiment to scuttle for cover intimidated by the Ferdinands' big guns
The StuG's run off shaken. Ian must have done something to piss off the dice gods as his rolling was appalling. The German armour should have easily overwhelmed the SU-122's. What actually happened was nearly all of Ian's shots missed and then he rolled multiple 10's to run away. both the StuG's and Brummbär falling back shaken.
In order to regain some momentum to the attack, the Ferdinand's move in to the Russian position on the hill. The Ferdinand's acted like an artillery magnet so were almost constantly suppressed and the 88mm isn't the best anti-infantry gun: the Ferdinands were pretty much rendered impotent. I now see why leaving off the MG was such a mistake!
II/184 Infanterie move to reinforce their comrades in I/184
Ferdinands advance cautiously into the Soviet positions. Out of the picture the Soviet reinforcements have arrived
Elements of 12 Panzer Division arrive and head towards the Soviet position on the hill. Edai PzKfw-IVG (with a few tweaks) and a converted Matchbox PzKfw-IIIN
I/507 IR advanced south supported by a Open Blitz (SHQ) carrying a FlaK-38 (MMS)
II/507 arrives in to outskirts of Ponyri, however they're are too weak to push further in to the town
Russian reinforcements smash in to the rear of I/184 catching them unawares
The game ended at this point. The Russian infantry reinforcements were entering the table en-masse and the Germans had yet to take ant part of the Russian defences around point 253. The fact that all the German armour with the exception of the Ferdinands went pinned or worse means the German attack juts ground to a halt. Decisive Russian victory