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MISSION: Attack toward Slobodka to cut off German 36th Motorized Division and prevent other German forces from reaching Slobodka.

DATE: June 25, 1944 - 12 turns

LOCATION: Slobodka - 25 km South of Bobruisk

FORCES: 16th Guard Tank Brigades: 9 plt T-34 M43, 9 plt T-34/85, 3 plt ISU-122, 3 plt SU-85, 3 plt M17 AA Halftracks, 13 plt SMGs and a small mortar units. 6 smokes and 4 air strikes were allocated for this battle.
REINF: None

ENEMY: II/87 Infantry Battalion: A rather spread out infantry units with numerous Rifle platoons and 75 mm AT guns. KG Ulrich: Pzgr platoons and mixtures of Pz IVH, Pz V, StuG IIIG, and JgdPz I. This was rather deadly combination.

CONDITION: Major Win 350
Minor Win 240
Minor Loss 175
Major Loss 50

TERRAIN: Slobodka is near center of the map in a small valley. There is a small hill west and north west of town. A railroad Belorusskaya passes on top of this hill. Hill 153 is in the east. There is a small town called Brozha about 1 km from Slobodka. There is another tiny town called Mytno about 2 km northwest of Slobodka. There are two small streams called Sfromilishche and Brozh but are passable. One of these streams dissects Slobodka and Brozha. There are many unpaved roads approaching Slobodka especially from east but only one from north and one from east. The map is littered with dense forest and swamp area making it hard to go anywhere but through the predictable path. However, dense forests and swampy terrain mean that the approach toward the town cannot be seen very easily. The visibility is rather good despite light rain is falling in the area. All the victory HEXs are located in and around Slobodka and Brozha except for ones in Mytno.

OPPONENT: Roger Van Hoozer

Russians Move First:

The Russians had two groups of forces: one from northwest edge of the map and the other due west of Slobodka. My initial strategy is to approach Slobodka from both north and west. I decided to ignore Brozha completely for the time being.

To approach from west, I had to encounter a small force in Mytno. There was a 75mm AT gun located just outside of Mytno. This AT gun proved to be a pain in the neck by knocking out 2 T-34 M43 during Turn 1. The approaching road to this area was wide open so that 75mm AT gun had clear shots at my T-34 M-43 for 3 turns! Since all my mortar units were mounted, I could not use mortar fire to suppress or destroy this gun. Also, I decided to save the airstrikes for Panthers. By turn 3, I was able to knock out this AT gun and capture 3 platoons of German infantry. However, two of the units got away and caused some havoc in the rear later on.

In the mean time, the unit in the north came under fire around turn 4. However, Germans did not abandon the town of Brozha. I left a token force up north to keep these German forces around Brozha and concentrated all my forces toward Slobodka. Roger did not respond to this until it was too late. All my tanks were directed to Brozha and converged there.

One that had the most difficult time was the force from Mytno. There were repeatedly pounded by Pz IVHs doing shoot and scoot methods. The losses were pretty heavy on both sides. I was also able to destroy a platoon of Pz IVHs using ISU-122 and T-34/85. T-34 M43 tanks are not doing much. Two disrupted T-34 M43 units were sent over to center.

A few units who escaped from Mytno started to approach the center where my mortar units were located in the opening NW of Slobodka. I was anticipating this and directed 2 companies of T-34 M43 and M17 AA units along with a SMG company to deal with these renegade units. They were captured using T-34 M43 by the turn 9.

I used Infantry as shields to enter Slobodka. COL Roger blocked the ways using his infantry units in Slobodka, but M17 AA unit was extremely effective disrupting these blocking infantry units. Another effective weapons were SU-85 and ISU-122s. Once these units were disrupted, T-34/85 and T-34 M43 units were used to assault German infantry units out of the city Hexes. I made mistakes of leaving some tanks in the open and promptly got destroyed by Panthers and Pz IVHs. However, some of Panthers and Pz IVHs were left out in the open also. My T-34/85 and T-34 M43 pounded them and destroyed them. This scenario basically turned into a battle of attrition which was what I was hoping for. The German infantry units from Brozha finally started to move toward Brozha around turn 8, but they were easy targets for my mortar fires and SMG units.

By turn 9, almost all of the infantry units blocking Slobodka from West and North were either captured or eliminated. This is when Major Victory was achieved. I still pushed into woods east of Slobodka and beyond just in case. At the end, Col VanHoozer did not have any Victory HEX outside of Brozha. My strategy of pushing into Slobodka and ignoring Brozha completely worked to favorable conclusion.

RESULTS Allies Major Victory

LESSONS: 1. M17 AA guns are extremely effective against German Infantry units.
2. SU-85 and ISU-122 were great against Panzer GR units.
3. Use ISU-122 against Panthers since T-34 M43 are almost useless against them.

CONCLUSION: I have played this a few time from both sides, winning and losing from both sides. This is one of the most entertaining and balanced scenarios from both sides. Although this game ended in a route, I recommend this scenario highly.

Roger Van Hoozer did not notice that I was ignoring Brozha until it was too late. That may have been the reason why taking Slobodka was relatively easy. If he withdrew into the city earlier from Mytno, I would have had harder time breaking through. I was able to cut these forces off from his main defensive line in Slobodka. Roger is a fierce competitor and always up to a challenge. He is a worthy opponent.

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