During March 1945, a small German Kampfgruppe under a young Leutnant, were tasked with taking the Rausch Fabrik complex before it could be occupied by advancing Russian troops. Sadly the Germans arrived just as the Russians did, and a brutal battle erupted…
We played a 600 point game of Fall of the Reich after the photoshoot, with Warwick and Will taking the Germans, with myself joined by my comrade Ruardhi taking on the Red Steamroller. We took a nice balanced force of two platoons with some tank support, and my now obligatory, 203mm howitzer. We started started the game with two recce units behind German lines who cheekily stole both objective points placed in the German half of the table from the start of the game… Forcing the Germans to take morale chits right from the start. These two teams then got into a fight with the German sniper and his spotter which proved unhealthy from the out set, as the sniper shot dead a soldier from one team, and then the other team of elite Russian scouts promptly refused to assault them!
As the main forces arrived the Russians brough on infantry first and raced for the remaining two objectives in the factory complex hoping to gain an 'all objectives secured' victory while the scouts clung on. Sadly they couldnt make it in one turn, and by the time they did reach, both units of scouts had been eliminated by the arriving German forces.
More troops arrived, for the Russians the T34/85s came on with the 203mm Howitzer and these took up position covering the road leading to the German lines. As the howitzer deployed, Russian mortar fire from a battery of 120mm mortars rained in on a Pre-Registered Target point near the German deployment zone. This caused little effect other than to pin down some infantry. The Germans however responded by rushing their 88mm flak gun out into the open gorund and set it up ready to engage the oncoming T34/85s. The Russian response was to first try and shell it, without success, and they the T-34/85s decided to drive at it, using their MGs to cut down the crew. By pure luck they shot down enough crew, followed by a '1' for a morale test, saw the 88 abandoned without a shot. This was then followed by the German Marder taking an AP round from one of the Russian tanks and that too expired in a ball of flame.
Things looked a little dicey for the Germans, and while their chits were all numbers, the Russians pulled a handful of event chips. Soon the Germans found the StuG III had broken down, the assigned artillery support was running low on ammunition and the sMG42 team were also running low on bullets! To add insult to injury, a passing Russian aircraft almost joined in! Luckily the Germans had come prepared and as a Bergehetzer raced on to try and help the StuG crew get back into action, a supply truck arrived to dump a few boxes of bullets with the MG crew!
The German Hetzers now got into the action and managed to knock out the Russian command tank with long range fire. German troops also crossed the railway line and began to exchange small arms fire with Russians occupying an objective building. The German sniper, still about, climbed to the factory roof and fired open a Russian unit, which turned out to be a Russian DShK HMG team and its return of fire was enough to see the sniper and his spotter leg it off the roof pretty fast! The Russians now brought the 203mm howitzer into play against the stationary Hetzers engaging the T34/85s. It yet more flukey Russian dice rolling, a pair of sixes thrown saw two of the Hetzers come off worse from a very big shell… Both were put out of action.
As the Russians rejoiced, the German StuG and some supporting infantry flanked the factory complex. The StuGIII scored a direct hit with an HE round at long range of the Russian battlegroup commander and quite literally spread the jeep, and its occupants, over a wide area. The death of the Senior Office forced two morale chits to be drawn, quickly followed by another as one of the Russian platoon officers was cut down by the sMG42 team as they raced for cover. The Russians now had only a single officer unit on the table and began to feel the pressure mounting. To add insult to injury all this was followed by a timed barrage from two 170mm guns on one of the Russian occupied objectives. With luck, when the dust cleared, the defenders of the building were some how still alive! To finally kick the Russian morale, one of the knocked out Hetzers was brought back into action by the roll of a '6' from the Bergehetzer crew.
But German success was shortlived. In retailiation the Russians finally got the best of the small arms battle raging around the factory complex, as with support from the DShK team they took out several german units and forced another to retire. As the T34/85s, running low on ammo, withdrew it was up to the 203mm howitzer to take on the remaining Hetzer, having narrowly survived a requested barrage from the German artillery support. Once more the required '6' landed and the Hetzer was knocked out for good this time with a direct hit from the huge shell. This hit took the Germans over their Battle Rating and victory was given to the Russians in a hard fought encounter…
A few more pics, including shots of the armies used, are on our Facebook page;
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