How imposing they look ! As they confidently drove towards the bridge...

McEwan's Heavy Company appears over the hill...

God of War...

From the Command Bunker of Ozgurnikov...

 

Guards Artillery Division fires more concetrated volleys into suspected German positions.

 

....German artillery counters with a sharp reply ,possibly 120mm or 150mm, on the former positions of the Mechanized Group.

 

This battle is turning to be one of artillery. Both sides duet with mighty exchanges of the artillery volleys...

 

Meanwhile the Mech. Group redeploys to another previously designated vantate position and waits for the Germans to approach the lower town. In the distance the men of the mixed infantry battalion hear the rumble of the powerfull Maybach engines. Tigers are coming ! They slowly fall back in their trenches to receive the German attack and the inevitable artillery volley that will preceede it.

 

In the center part of the map, a lone HT makes contact with a counter-recce party of the Soviets. Ozgurnikov suspects that it is not a lone raider but merely the spearhead of a much larger force.

 

News from the operation Little Mercury

The guards mortar units attached to Ozgurnikov poured in another few hundred rounds of  rockets to saturate the suspected German positons. The lack of accuracy limits the effectivess of the rockets but they are certain to inflict damage on the advancing Germans.

 

The heavy tank regiment is being pulled back to take part in the second phase of this battle. They will be moved to a different part of the map to wait their next role.

Update from Kampfgruppe Von McEwan

At 0 +6 the enemy armoured units in front of the German right flank have started to pullback under cover of a smokescreen. Despite coming under heavy fire from the Panther Battalion no damage appears to have been inflicted on the Soviets.

Tank fire has been observed coming from the village of Pivyatin, on the Soviet side of the river. This fire appears to have been directed at grenadier units on the German left flank.

The German left flank, around the large woods, has come under heavy rocket fire which has inflicted some casualties. Despite this fire, the grenadier units are re-grouping and pressing on with the attack. Contact has been made with unidentified Soviet units in the woods.

The attack has resumed and the right hand flank is making good time towards the right hand flank.

From the bunker of Ozgurnikov...

This map shows the dispositions and the movements of my forces in the first battle. As one can see Soviet forces were on the defensive on the south side while the northern shoulder did a converging turn on the bridge positions on the eastern end.

1st and 2nd recon. groups were about a company each supplemented by AT rifle and MG units. They did not encounter any German troops. However the much smaller 3rd unit ran into the German spearhead at the start of the battle. It was quickly put out of action. Sometime in the middle of the battle, Germans emptied their mortars on the forest but luckily it hit almost noone and nothing except some trees.

German spearhead ran into the prepared position along the forest border and was received with the automatics of the defenders ( men of the motor battalion ) and the artillery poured their remaining rounds into the predicted German positions.

Interestingly, Ozgurnikov's own unit was in the vicinity of the valley where the Germans approached when the battle started. Map also shows his path as he returned to his command post in the village.

It also deserves mention that the Shermans of the attached armored regiment performed suberply in the field. Despite their narrower tracks the Shermans were able to cross the treacherous countryside in the northern part and accompany the infantry on their advance.

We must make good use of our superiority in the field of artillery and make the Germans pay dearly for every meter they advance.