Background
The Soviets, sensing a critical juncture, ordered a hasty airborne corps assault to increase the size of the bridgehead before the Germans could counterattack. On the 21st, the Voronezh Front’s 1st, 3rd and 5th Guards Airborne Brigades got the urgent call to secure, on the 23rd, a bridgehead perimeter 15 to 20 km wide and 30 km deep on the Dnieper loop between Kaniv and Rzhishchev, while Front elements forced the river.
The arrival of personnel at the airfields was slow, necessitating, on the 23rd, a one-day delay and omission of 1st Brigade from the plan; consequent mission changes caused near chaos in command channels. Mission change orders finally got down to company commanders, on the 24th, just 15 minutes before their units, not yet provisioned with spades, anti-tank mines, or ponchos for the autumn night frosts, assembled on airfields. Owing to the weather, not all assigned aircraft had arrived at airfields on time (if at all). Further, most flight safety officers disallowed maximum loading of their aircraft. Given fewer aircraft (and lower than expected capacities), the master loading plan, ruined, was abandoned. Many radios and supplies got left behind. In the best case, it would take three lifts to deliver the two brigades. Units (still arriving by the over-taxed rail system), were loaded piecemeal onto returned aircraft, which were slow to refuel owing to the less-than-expected capacities of fuel trucks. Meanwhile, already-arrived troops changed planes, seeking earlier flights. Urgency and the fuel shortage prevented aerial assembly aloft. Most aircraft, as soon as they were loaded and fueled, flew in single file, instead of line abreast, to the dropping points. Assault waves became as intermingled as the units they carried.
As corps elements made their flights, troops (half of whom had never jumped, except from training towers) were briefed on drop zones, assembly areas and objectives only poorly understood by platoon commanders still studying new orders. Meanwhile, Soviet aerial photography, suspended for several days by bad weather, had missed the strong reinforcement of the area, early that afternoon. Non-combat cargo pilots ferrying 3rd Brigade through drizzle expected no resistance beyond river pickets but, instead, were met by anti-aircraft fire and starshells from the 19th Panzer Division (only coincidentally transiting the drop zone, and just one of six divisions and other formations ordered, on the 21st, to fill the gap in front of the 3rd Tank Army). Lead aircraft, disgorging paratroopers over Dubari at 1930, came under fire from elements of the 73rd Panzer Grenadier Regiment and division staff of 19th Panzer Division. Some paratroops began returning fire and throwing grenades even before landing; trailing aircraft accelerated, climbed and evaded, dropping wide. Through the night, some pilots avoided starshell-lit drop points entirely, and 13 aircraft returned to airfields without having dropped at all. Intending a 10 by 14 km drop over largely undefended terrain, the Soviets instead achieved a 30 by 90 km drop over the fastest mobile elements of two German corps.
On the ground, the Germans used white parachutes as beacons to hunt down and kill disorganized groups and to gather and destroy airdropped supplies. Supply bonfires, glowing embers, and multi-color starshells illuminated the battlefield. Captured documents gave the Germans enough knowledge of Soviet objectives to arrive at most of them before the disorganized paratroops.
Back at the Soviet airfields, the fuel shortage allowed only 298 of 500 planned sorties, leaving corps anti-tank guns and 2,017 paratroops undelivered. Of 4,575 men dropped (seventy percent of the planned number, and just 1,525 from 5th Brigade), some 2,300 eventually assembled into 43 ad-hoc groups, with missions abandoned as hopeless, and spent most of their time seeking supplies not yet destroyed by the Germans. Others joined with the nine partisan groups operating in the area. About 230 made it over (or out of) the Dnieper to Front units (or were originally dropped there). Most of the rest were almost casually captured that first night or killed the next day (although, on that first night, the 3rd Co, 73rd Panzer Grenadier Regiment, suffered heavy losses while annihilating about 150 paratroopers near Grushevo, some 3 km west of Dubari).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Dnieper
The Game
The Scenario represented elements of the 5th Para Brigade dropping on elements of the 19th Panzer Division Aufklarungs Abteilung on the Road to the Dneipr River. Can the Soviets cut the vital artery or will the Germans brush them aside?
Soviet forcess:
- 5th GDs Para:
- SMG HQ, SMG 2iC, Commisar, 2 x sniper
- 6 x Para Platoons with 9 SMG, HMG, ATR and 2 Pios/FT each. Confident Trained.
- 1 x Para Mortar Battery with 4 x 82mm Mortar.
- 2 x Partizans with 1 SMG, 6 Rifle and 1 ATR. Confident Conscript.
German forcess:
- 19th Pz Div consisting of:
- HQ 231 and SMG/MC 2iC
- Pz AufKarrungs Gepanzert Platoon (SMG, 6 x MG, 7 x sdkfz 250)
- Pz Aufklarungs Moreriziert Platoon (SMG, 6 x MG, 7 x truck/MC)
- 4 x sdkfz 231
- 4 x Recon (sdkfz 223, 2 x sdkfz 222)
- Schere Platoon (SMG, 2 x MMG, 2 x Pioneer, 2 x sdkfz 250/8, 2 x sdkfz 250/7, 7 x sdkfz 250/251)
- 4 x sdkfz 10/1 20mm AA
- All Confident Veteran
Special Rules:
- Night until turn six, then roll per normal night rules for daylight.
- Soviets use normal airborne drop rules, no unit may drop within 12” of another unit.
- The Soviet battalion is always in good spirits
- Soviets secretly plan drop zones first, then Germans deploy along road up to 2/3 of the table.
- Soviet airdrops are performed on turn one.
- Soviet Partizans may set up in any woods on the table out of site of the Germans.
- Soviet players can recycle up to three destroyed Para platoons. On the turn after the unit is destroyed, the Soviets roll 1D6. On a roll of 4+ the unit can be recycled and drops on the following turn. Para platoons may only be recycled from units destroyed between turns 3-9.
- Soviet players can recycle up to one Partizan platoon. On the turn after the unit is destroyed, the Soviets roll 1D6. On a roll of 4+ the unit can be recycled and is placed in any woods not occupied by a German unit the following turn. Para platoons may only be recycled from units destroyed between turns 3-9.
- Soviets have first turn
Victory Conditions:
Soviets win if they can block the main road at the end of the game (one stand with 4 inches). Germans win if they destroy all Soviet units (independent teams do not count). Any other result is a draw.
Initial Assault: The Germans set up their column down the road as specified in the scenario. Armored cars were on both ends of the column with the infantry and heavy platoon at the center. The Soviets tried a drop en-mass in the center of the table, hoping to overwhelm the Germans and take positions in the woods. The partizans deployed in the woods, facing the rear of the German column.
Early Game: The initial turns turned into somewhat of a slaughter. The Germans concentrated their forces in an attempt to crush each Soviet force in detail, sending a small force to engage the Partizans. It did not take long for this juggernaut to destroy three of the Soviet dropped platoons and half the partizans (for the loss of a handful of motorcycles!). The remained Soviets attempted to use the cover of night to consolidate into one of the woods, while a smaller force attempted to get to the town close to the Dneipr for cover.
Late Game: The reinforcing Soviet paras landed to the east of the Germans and made their way into the town to cover the road bridge. At the same time, the surviving Parizans cut the road to the rear. The Germans were now forced to split forces, however, valuable time was lost trying to eliminate the stubborn paras holding on i the woods to the center. The Germans continued to cause disproportionate losses on the Soviets. The chased down the last of the Partizans and cleared the center woods. The also began attempting to clear the road bridge, but time ran out. With only five stands remaining, the Soviets still held part of the town and effectively blocked the road (are those T-34’s we see coming across the bridge?). The Game ended in an unhistorical Soviet victory, as the road was cut and the Soviets could cross the Dneipr.
– Mantueffel