Background
Operation Bagration (/bʌɡrʌtiˈɒn/; Russian: Oперация Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the Soviet 1944 Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation, (Russian: Белорусская наступательная операция «Багратион», Belorusskaya nastupatelnaya Operatsiya Bagration) a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern Front of World War II. The Soviet Union achieved a major victory by destroying the German Army Group Centre and completely rupturing the German front line.
On 23 June 1944, the Red Army attacked Army Group Centre in Byelorussia, with the objective of encircling and destroying its main component armies. By 28 June, the German Fourth Army had been destroyed, along with most of the Third Panzer and Ninth Armies. The Red Army exploited the collapse of the German front line to encircle German formations in the vicinity of Minsk and destroy them, with Minsk liberated on 4 July. With the end of effective German resistance in Byelorussia, the Soviet offensive continued further to Lithuania, Poland and Romania over the course of July and August.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bagration
The Game
We had tried this scenario using v3 rules a few years ago. With the release of the new v4 Forces Book, we thought we would see how it held up with the new rules and stats. We ended up with a full house of players (six) and decided to go with two games using the same scenario, instead of blowing everything up like we normally do! The tables, forces and rules were all from the Assault on Orsha from the old Stalin’s Onslaught book. The tables were shortened six inches on each end to make it easier to set up and play on the gaming tables.
Forces:
Russians forces each had two Stelkovy Companies with two HMGs attached. they also had two pioneer companies. One was one platoon and the other two platoons. Armor support came in the shape two 45mm ATGs, of five T-34 mine roller tanks, three JS-IIs and Three ISU-152. For the latter, we used the older cards. The attackers had one battery of four katyushas as artillery support.
Germans forces each had two PzGr platoons (each stand with PZFausts) with two MMGs and a PzSchrek attached. Supporting them were two Pak-40 sections (one of two guns and the other with three), a heavy platoon with two MMGs and two 80mm Mortars and a separate section of two MMGs. The force also had three Stug-IIIs in delayed reserve and a battery of Nebelwerfers off board. Their defense included a minefield across the table with a barbed wire line behind that. Behind that was a trench across the front also, with two defensive boxes. All forces were dug in on the German side.
The board included woods on both ends and had ample marsh section in the center in front of the German defenses. The marshes provided no cover and could not be crossed by guns or vehicles. Further, being water, no infantry could dig in while in the marsh terrain.
We also had a pre-bombardment rule. The Soviet players would roll one D6 for each German stand (including the off board artillery). On a result of a six the stand would be destroyed. On table managed to remove ten German stands! The other, only 1…..
Victory conditions:
- No Soviet teams are in German set-up area on Turn 6 or later, or Soviet force breaks: German major victory
- No objectives are controlled by the Soviets when we call the game: German tactical victory
- One objective is in Soviet control when we call the game: Soviet tactical victory
Game Recap: Both games kind of followed the same pattern. The Soviets approached the German positions and took heavy casualties to German fire with nominal return damage. The forces worked their way up to the defenses and started to clear a path as they took losses. Each was able to break into the German positions and bring an objective under threat. However, in the end, the fire was too heavy and the German defenders were able to hang on taking heavy casualties in the process.
- Manteuffel