AAR 1945 Germany: On the Road to Oderbruck by Mark Luther

Buchenau to Oderbruck

I took some liberties with terrain to make the game more interesting. The roads are lined with trees to the extend that they can break line of sight. I used high ratty looking hedges. Ground is covered with snow and the creek is frozen, but probably not safe for vehicles to cross.

Stream in front of Oderbruck

Rob's Pzjgr IVs are waiting here for the rest of KG Baier. These models are without their muzzle brakes, so I limited their 'aimed shots' to one per turn. Once the rest of the KG is across they must defend the bridge for as long as possible.

Roads from Buchenau

Tim's panzerfaust armed infantry and the three Sdkfz 250s start around the intersection and move to the left.

Soviet cavalry

Edwards's cavalry comes in from the NE and are soon spotted and fired on by the Sdkfz 250s on the road behind the trees (Adler figs with very delicate sabres).

Covering the retreat

Rob's 250s are the tailend charlies of the column. Tim got some great rolls and really put some ground between his foot troops and the advancing Russkies. Soviets also missed a couple of turns of movement to begin the game.

Valentines on the RR

After the cavalry was shot at and moved towards cover along the road, the MkVIIIs finally came on the table. They quickly spotted the half-tracks and forced them to retreat after blasting one.

Head to the trees

Edward's horsemen head towards the road and get out of the halftracks' line of sight. MkVIIIs open fire on the Germans.

Past the smoking halftrack

The cavalry has dismounted and moved into the treeline and the MKVIIIs move up pass their victim to try to catch the rest of the Germans.

Fleeing halftracks

Rob makes a despeate run for it. This time the Russians got the advantage with movement.

The gamers

Tim and his son Edward on the left and half of Rob on the right. Unwashed masses in the background. I had this uncomfortable feeling that we were being watched for the whole game.

Chase continues

The cavalry mounts back up and the MKVIIIs open fire on the retreating Germans.

Panzerjaegers deployed

The remaining halftrack makes it to its comrades near the bridge. Too bad about the fuzzy picture. The cards in the pictures are all blinds. When spotted or activate they are placed in the discard stack. Another nice thing about gaming in 6mm. The cards are the perfect size for blinds.

MkVIII hit

Rob's shooting wasn't the best. as he could only get off one 'aimed shot' per turn due to the missing muzzle brakes, and my tanks managed to shrug off a couple of hits before the lead MKVIII was immobilzed.

PanzerJaeger IVs

Another fuzzy pic. In the exchange, the Panzerjaegers knocked out all MkVIIIs but lost one and had another lose its gun.

Burning recce tanks

One Panzerjaeger has pulled back. Meanwhile the cavalry has gone around to the German left. The followup Russian units are starting to appear. Tim's ersatz panzerjaegers are taking position overlooking the stream and bridge.

More Germans spotted

Two Sdkfz 234/1s from Teil 8 Pz Aufk Abt cover the road to the north and open fire on the cavalry as it attempts to edge around the panzerjaegers. The armored cars could move no further onboard as their task was to cover the Oder River only. They would later force the scouts in the universal carriers to retire also.

Germans in the outskirts of Oderbruck

A random event card came up and Rob's panzerjaeger with the non-working gun broke down as it was crossing the bridge. Tim's troops have deployed in buildings and along the stream ready to defend the crossing.

T34/85s and tank riders

The first of the 152nd Tank Brigade arrives with its submachine gun tank riders (GHQ tanks and Adler tank riders).

Heading towards Oderbruck

One platoon swings south of the road. The others move down the road and one platoon is north of the road.

More T34s

More of the 152nd moves up with their smg troops following. The remaining Panzerjaeger IV engages but the crew wants to pull its broken down comrade back, so retirement is in its near future.

The onslaught continues

Not good odds for Germans at this stage. The M17 is under the blind to the rear. Scouts in universal carriers have moves off to the Soviet right behind the cavalry.

Last shots from Panzerjaeger

The remaining panzerjaeger managed to get past its comrade on the bridge and fires a few shots at the advancing T34s before backing up to tow the broken down vehicle.

T34s move up

After dropping off their tank riders, the T34s move up to the stream to test the defenders.

That town is packed with panzerfausts!

A volley of half a dozen panzerfaust KO one T34 and force another one to retire. The German unit has a panzerfaust per man. When a squad fired we rolled a 4-sided dice to see how many could be launched. If firing under a Big Man they added one to the dice. Potent against tanks at close range, but they have no automatic weapons and are poor troops overall.

Time for the tanks to pull back

No crossing the stream here.

Back to the depot

The Panzerjaeger IV slowly retire, leaving the defence of the bridge to the infantry panzerjaegers.

Another panzerfaust victim

Another T34 is hit from across the stream. Time to send in the infantry. The two platoons of SMG troops form up to cross the bridge under cover of the rest of the T34s. Too bad the M17 is far in the rear.

First assault goes in

The house on the left is not taken, despite the pre-attack pounding from the T34s. The larger building on the right is taken though. At this point my camera batteries died (forgot the spares). Next turn the other SMG platoon attacked and drove out the Germans on the left. Game was pretty much over then. Overall the Germans managed to delay the Russians and cause some serious casualties.

The cavalry lost eight men and three MkVIIIs. The 152nd lost four T34/85s and five SMG troopers. Germans lost a Sdkfz 250/9 and the 250/3, one Panzerjaeger IV, and one third of their infantry.