AAR 1943: Eastern Front: Grants at Kursk by Mark Luther

Rolling Terrain

This game was put together pretty quickly once I found out what the Florida players wanted to see. Rick had ten M3 Grants and he likes Russian Front, so I thought I'd do a nice little Kursk game. That patch of yellow and green is a sunflower field per a request from Pam.

Overrun Soviet Positions

The premise of this scenario was that the Russians would be counterattacking some recently captured territory. These are those abandoned entrenched positions. I just don't get to use them too often so I came up with an good excuse.

Artillery coming down on the village

Rick and I as the Soviets had two pregame stonks. So he elected to put them around the village area. Martin rolls for casualties. I think he had quite a bit of shock on his units and a Sdkfz 250 was immobilized. Most of his units were out of the beaten area.

Wooded streambed

If we (Russians) were being clever we would try to infiltrate into the village through this route. But no time for that. Instead we would come charging in over the rolling hills to the right.

Barrage area

Martins's units were part of a Panzer recce battalion, reinforced with a battery of three StuG IIIs. He had a platoon of grenadiers in seven Sdkfz 250s; with one 250/10 with a Pak 36 and three 250/9s with the 20mm autocannon in a turret. The 250/9s were deployed forward overlooking the rolling terrain and the Stugs were this side of the barrage. The grenadiers were in the orchard area inside the barrage area.

1st company of Grants

Rick's company of seven M3 Grants with a company of tank riders and came in from the top edge of the table.

Sdkfz 250/9s

Martin opens fire to try to clean off some red riders. The halftracks are hull down on a slight ridge.

Time to hop off

The 20mm fire does kill a couple of the Russian infantrymen, and Rick quickly dismounts and goes to ground behind the tanks.

Return fire on the halftracks

Martin won't stick around too long in this unequal contest. Even though they were a small hull down target, Rick scored a couple of minor hits

Some shocked troops

Unfortunately one of the casualties was a platoon CO. Bad start for the Russians.

Moving through a small depression

Rick sends a platoon of tanks and infantry along a slight depression out of line of sight of the 250/9s

Overhead view

Russian getting organized to carry on their advance

Infantry rushes into the village

But took some fire from the displaced 250/9s

And now the StuGs open up

Martin's battery of Stugs had moved to the right to overlook the lower parts of the village. And when the lead unit of Grants appeared, they hammered them.

View to a Kill

Nice angle to cover the Soviet advance. The 250 half-track is staying out of sight.

And the rest of the battery

Grants in trouble

As the infantry huddles in the farm buildings, the Grants come under fire from across the stream. One M3 is KO'ed quickly and two others take hits.

More 20mm fire

The 250/9s had moved down into the village and were able to shot up the infantry as they moved into the farm buildings

Covering fire from the remaining Grants

They took up some hull down posts on a ridge to use their 37mm turret guns only. One of the 250/9s is abandoned in an orchard below. The Grants would now switch their fire to the Stugs.

Sdkfz 250/9s

After limping off the ridge they took up positions to sweep the back entrance into town. One of the halftracks had to be abandoned after taking another 37mm hit though.

Company CO leads the rest of the infantry into the fight

The platoon that was shot up by the halftracks earlier and lost a platoon CO is shepherded into the village by the Company CO.

Making sure that the 250/9s are out of action

The abandoned halftrack was hit again to make sure that it was truly KO'd.

The 250/10 gets into the act

It had moved out to the flank hoping to get a shot in on the side armor of the M3s

Second company of Russians finally arrives

And I finally get on the table with my company. I rolled ahead of time to see how many turns of the "Blank" card it would be before I came on the table. Only two turns were required, but alas that took awhile. There is a dummy German blind to the left and a slight ridge between my company and the 250/9s.

German viewpoint

The blinds to the left are the recce grenadiers

250/9s run away

Too many Russian tanks to stick around

StuGs holding off Rick's M3s

Planning the next move

Two of the StuGs have pulled back along with the 250/9s.

Three M3s going nowhere

Even the puny 205/10 managed to score a hit on the Grants

Pulling back

Rick finally got a solid hit on one of the Stugs. It turned out to be the battery CO. With my tanks coming into view, Martin decided to move back to a better, less exposed position.

One more destroyed Grant

Another line of Soviets

I pulled my M3s up to a hull down position (not exactly Soviet doctrine) and dropped off my infantry to sweep to my right.

My Soviet tanks

I was hesitant to charge ahead, no knowing what else was waiting to strike.

What could those blinds be?

We saw some movement down there and had to assume that they were dangerous.

Soviet M3s

These are GHQ models

StuG IIIs pulling back

And these are some CinC models

Rick's Soviets getting organized

Long line of Red tanks

Infantry seems reluctant to move off

Their cards just wouldn't come up.

Still exchanging shots

The battery CO vehicle is now burning. He was a Junior Tank Ace too.

Closer up view of StuGs

Backing up towards more cover

My Grants looking pretty shot up

The exchange with the StuGs did not go all that well. The Company CO's tank exploded along with another one. And two others abandoned their vehicles.

Rick starting to move out again in the lower village

Company CO tank on fire

A pair of Soviet hands

And the red tape measurer.

It looks like the Germans are pulling back...

or at least their blinds are moving that way

Meanwhile Rick goes left

Grenadiers packing up

Martin decides that he is too weak to hold us up much longer.

Rick still moving on the left

Still moving left

The space between us

I wanted to get my infantry moving ASAP, but they just ain't having any of it.

No movement in the ranks

Rick's men moving up slowly

Russian positions near the end

Securing the lower village

Smoke

Rick called in some smoke to mask his advance. It took so long to arrive that it pretty well worked to mask Martin's Germans withdrawing.

Last victim of the M3s

The Sdkfz 250/10 tried its luck one too many times.

Rick still slowly moving up

Another Grant also blowing up

StuG scores again.

And my infantry finally moving up

Taking their time. Probably not too sure of the halftrack and entrenchments.

Germans starting to withdraw

Keeping the heads down

The 250/9s were able to slow the infantry down.

Another Halftrack

This is one that was crippled in the pre-game stonks.

Rick rolling through the village

Yeah, sorry: couldn't resist.

Grants move up to help cover the advance

Germans pulling back

Martin decided to vacate the premises. Only a weak grenadier platoon, two 250/9s and two StuGs left. Quite a bit of small arms firepower but not a lot of anti-tank, especially since one of the Stugs had a (-1) to hit now.

Game end positions

So the final score.

Soviets loses:  Rick had four M3s KO'ed, including both platoon COs; eleven infantry casualties and one platoon CO KIA. I lost two M3s to explosions and two more had to be abandoned. The Company CO was KO'ed along with a platoon CO tank. And five grunts and a platoon CO were casualties.

Martin's Germans lost their StuG battery CO and three grenadiers in the pre-game stonk; one 250/9 20mm halftrack; one 250/10 half-track with the 37mm PaK. Two other halftracks were damaged in the artillery barrage.

The Russians did take the village and their former positions, so I would say a victory for the Reds. Another really fun game of IABSM.