Back to the Frontline
Questions?

DATE: 19 November 1942 - 18 Turns

LOCATION: Blinov, 140 km NW of Stalingrad - Soviet Union

TYPE: Romanian forces are trying to defend the left flank of Army Group South B from the Red Army during the opening phase of the Operation Uranus. The situation is nearly hopeless. This is a scenario in which no offense is possible for the Axis.

HISTORIC NOTE This was the start of the OPERATION URANUS which was the Red Army's attempt at encircling German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army in Stalingrad. Eventually, Red Army was able to break through the left flank which was defended by Romanians and the right flank which was defended by Romanians and German Panzer Divisions thus trapping about 300,000 troops in Stalingrad. FORCES:

Enemy forces consisted of many infantry and tank forces. There were many artillery fires. Our forces were also mostly infantry and mortars with a very few AT guns.

CONDITION: Major Defeat: 500
Minor Defeat: 350
Minor Victory: 250
Major Victory: 100

TERRAIN: Most of the open field is covered with snow. There is a good sized town named Blinov which is to be defended. Surrounding the town is dense forest with many improved defensive positions. Tsutskan River is on the edge of the city.

OPPONENT: Bob Millard

Most of the units were in good defensive terrain, but many units were spread out. My first task was to determine the opponent's intention and move units accordingly. The reinforcements were to be coming from south at turns 2 and 5.

As I was preparing for the defense, I decided to venture out toward the enemy's right flank with a platoon of armor vehicle. These units were quickly destroyed by T-34s. Because of snow, the moving was extremely slow for both sides. The best transport unit was horse units.

I started to engage the enemy around turn 4, but the main battle did not start until turn 6. Initially, I was able to stop most of his offenses. He used three thrust attack: one from the right of the front, one on the center, and one from the left of the front. He initially ignored the flanks. Since his left attack was not very successful, he altered his approach toward the left flank. He made a strong thrust against my center using several companies of T-34s and Infantry platoons. His right thrust eventually combined with his center group.

I started bombarding his positions with mortar fires, but they were not very effective. Many of the counter attacks on Red Army were ineffective. I kept reinforcing the prepared positions, and he kept on bombarding away at my fortified positions. This was trench warfare reminiscent of the Battle of Verdun. However, he was able to make slow gains. By the turn 14, most of the units on both sides were disrupted. Two 50 victory point HEXs on the right changed hands three times. Both sides paid heavy prices for this battle.

At the end, my units simply ran out of steam. The enemy captured 3 100 victory HEXs on the last turn by assaults even though many of the units were in prepared positions. My counter attack at this point was ineffective since 90 % of my units were disrupted or severely depleted. I simply could get the necessary points to make this a draw.

Result: Allied Major Victory. I was 23 points short of Minor.

LESSONS: 1. Although the Romanian units were good at defense, they did not fair well on close assaults.
2. A direct fire using mortar groups were the most effective weapon in snow. Indirect fire was not as effective.
3. AT guns did not perform well against T-34s. They did not fire even if OP fire was saved.
4. T-34s could only be destroyed using Engineer Platoon.

I was able to feel the hopelessness of Romanian army faced during the Operation Uranus. The result was historically accurate. They resisted very well, but the Red Army was able to overwhelm with their numerical superiority. This was an outstanding scenario to play with the outcome not decided until the last turn, but I do not know if I could have won this. I was strictly on defensive. This scenario seems to favor the allied forces.

Yong Park
XVIII Airborne Corps
"Not all pain is gain."