CMRT Campaign: Rattenkrieg

[dragonwynn]

Rattenkrieg is a CMRT campaign depicting actions of the German 194th Infantrie Regiment, part of the 71st Infantrie Division, during mid-November 1942 in Stalingrad. This campaign is designed to show off the excellent Stalingrad Mod created by that team. Parts of the CMRT Winter Modification Teams work is also included featuring winter conditions in the final battles. Below is a copy of the Designer Notes featured in the campaign with all the details. This campaign is untested except by me so any problems or suggestions that you may have please make me aware through this thread or PM. I hope it proves to be enjoyable.

Rattenkrieg

(The Devil Whispered " You can't withstand the storm".
The Warrior Replied " I am the storm".)

Stalingrad, November 1942.

The Battle of Stalingrad has been raging since August. The 6th Army under Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus has fought into the city but has became bogged down in endless bloody street fighting where every ruined house, factory or building has been turned into a miniature fortress by the desperate Russian defenders of the 62nd Army under General V.I. Chuikov.

With both sides suffering horrendous losses the Germans have given the campaign the title "Rattenkrieg" which means "battle of the rats". 

More and more German reserves are thrown into the inferno as the Russians desperately continue to push their reserves across the Volga River in a last ditch attempt to keep the city from falling. One such reserve is 3 kompanies from the 194th Infantrie Regiment, part of the 71st Infantrie Division which has been embroiled in the battle since August. Under the command of OberstLeutenant Roth and supported by the Radfahr-Abt 171, Pionier Battalion 171 and Aufklarung-Abt 171, the regiment is committed to the fighting in mid November.

Comprising some of the most experienced troops of the division, the regiment is sent by rail to a depot station where the 24th Panzer Division is moving its tanks into Stalingrad. The regiment, along with a platoon of tanks from the 24th, is transported by lorries towards the central section of the city where they are thrown immediately into the conflagration.

About the Campaign:

Rattenkrieg is a fictional campaign based around the Battle of Stalingrad in mid-November. It follows 3 veteran kompanies of the 194th Infantrie Regiment under the command of OberstLeutenant Roth as they are thrust into the battle. Along with their supporting units, the regiment begins a 10 day battle to try and survive in the urban hell of a city blasted to ruins. 

They must complete their missions while attempting to survive the Russian attempts to hold the city at all costs. With first snows of winter beginning to fall, time is becoming as much an enemy as the Russians.

What's Needed to Play This Campaign:

The Campaign is designed using the latest patched version of CMRT. It is based on the outstanding work of the Stalingrad Mod Team as well as the CMRT Winter Modification Team and all credit goes to them.

To play you will need the following:

Download the Stalingrad Mod as well as Umlauts Factory Mod. You MUST HAVE both mods for this campaign to work properly. Follow the install instructions that come with the mods. ( I highly recommend that you do a second install of CMRT with no mods and add these into a empty dataz folder. The Stalingrad Mod can cause some conflicts with other terrain and building mods. The Stalingrad Mod as well as Umlauts Factory Mod will give you everything you need for this campaign.)

Download this campaign as well as the mod folder titled Stalinmods. This mod folder will include all the Winter Modification files you will need as well as a few additional terrain files and modifications I have made. Place the Stalinmod folder in the CMRT dataz folder and the .cam file into your campaign directory. All the included mods are tagged to this campaign so they should not conflict with any others.

The Following Mods are used in this campaign. All Credit goes to their creators:

The Stalingrad Mod
Umlauts Factory Mod
CMRT Winter Modification
Selected files from CMFB Winter Terrain 
Selected files from Worgherns Winter Terrain Mod from CMFB.
Worgherns Sky and Smoke Mods
Aris T-34-76, T-70, BA-64 and Gaz-67 Mod
JuJu's Drop zone Mod from CMBN

All the maps were from the Stalingrad Mod Master Map as well as the Night at the Opera and Red Square maps. All credit goes to their creators. I have modified these maps slightly either adding in a few enhanced terrain files or adding and removing a few things to fit the scenarios. I also did a little tidying up such as fixing floating windows or out of align telephone poles etc. etc.

The Core Units:

Infantrie Regiment 194 (OberstLeutenant Roth)
1 Kompanie
2 Kompanie
3 Kompanie

Radfahr-Abt -171 (Bicycle Battalion)
1  Kompanie

Pionier Battalion 171
2 x Zugs

Aufklarung -Abt- 171
3 Kompanie

(OberstLeutenant Roth must be kept alive. His death will reward the enemy 1000 Points and end the campaign.)

Special Note: To try and be as historically accurate as possible the core units are actually rebuilt formations. To eliminate the Panzerfausts and Panzerschreks which were not in service at the time of the battle I built the formations using Aufklarung or recon units. Only the headquarter units carry panzerfausts and I kept re-working them until I was able to get HQ units without.

However there appears to be a glitch that lets the panzerfausts randomly appear in the HQ units so these may show up in the scenarios. The primary units will have none though.

Also the core units have high status, either veteran or crack status, to replicate their experience level.

The Campaign Tree:

Scenario 1 - A Helping Hand (Draw will advance)
Scenario 2 - Counterattack (Draw will advance)
Scenario 3- Hauptman Peipers Tank (Draw will advance)
Scenario 4 - Push to the Volga (Draw will advance to Scenario 5a)(Loss will advance to Scenario 5b)
Scenario 5a - Holding the Line (Draw will advance)
Scenario 5b- Red Tanks (Draw will advance)
Scenario 6 - The Airdrop (Draw will advance to Scenario 7a) (Loss will advance to Scenario 7b)
Scenario 7a - The Gray Line (Draw will win the campaign)
Scenario 7b - The Railway Station (Draw will win the campaign)

 

Link to the campaign file and mod folder (remember you will need to download the Stalingrad Mod and Umlauts Factory Mod seperately and install)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mxcvelh5tvow6g4/AABUOyCebR6u5MTl6A58tRPua?dl=0

 

 

 

[Blazing 88's]

Thank you very much.  Downloaded and will try it out at some point.

[kohlenklau]

Sounds cool. Technically von Paulus didn't get promoted til when? Wasn't it at the very end so Hitler thought he wouldn't surrender/surrender alive?

[dragonwynn]

Yea you are right on that. He didn't get promoted until the hammer was about to fall. I got my rankings confused and will correct. 

[Aragorn2002]

Sounds great, Dragonwynn. Thank you!

[NPye]

Mate just played, wow this is fantastic, love the build up to the bigger scenarios and waiting for the first snows, great use of the master map and really good choice of historical core units. Thanks for the praise to the team. You've done us proud. Cheers more please. lol

[dragonwynn]

Your quite welcome. Thanks to you guys for creating such a realistic environment for us to play in.

[Erwin]

Lovely work.  Question:  Does your Stalin Mod download include ALL the relevant mods?  I hope so.  Am sure I have most of them, but it would be nice to have them all in one folder that one can install when needed (it slows the loading of the game otherwise).

PS:  I like the music mod.  (Hans Zimmer?)

Edited August 31, 2016 by Erwin

[dragonwynn]

Thanks Erwin. The Stalin mod folder has all the mods needed except The Stalingrad Mod and Umlauts Factory Mod. You will need to download and install those separate. The music is from a group called Audiomachine. 

Michael

[grunt_GI]

WOW, another masterpiece.  Loved the book Rattenkrieg,  by the way a very good novel about the battle and the famous sniper's duel.  

I was fortunate enough to test out some of these mods and early scenarios, so you have definitely done all this fine work justice.

Damn, at this rate I may retire before I play all your campaigns....!  

Thanks very much, urban combat is one of my favorite mission types...hopefully will get some time with this after I capture those darn Chechen terrorist leaders....

[Erwin]

I notice that in your Stalin mod set there is "Umlauts Factory Mods Horizon Patch".  Is that patch to be added to Umlauts Factory Mods set, or was his mod updated so this patch is no longer needed?

All you folks involved in this set of mods did an amazing job.

Ok, I peeked.  It looks like one needs the extra patch mod.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Erwin

[dragonwynn]

The patch Erwin allows the background to be seen with any environmental setting. 

[Heinrich505]

Dragonwynn,

  This looks amazing.  I've just downloaded it but can't play it right now.  I opened up the first battle just to look though.  Thanks for putting this together and thanks to all who worked so hard making the mods to go with this. 

  I was thinking I would have to buy CMBB again (my original copy no longer works with 7) just to play battles in Stalingrad.  Don't have to now!

  Thanks so much.

Heinrich505

[dragonwynn]

Your welcome. Those guys did an amazing job and I wanted to do something to let everyone enjoy their efforts. 

[SelfLoadingRifle]

SPOILER ALERT

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The first scenario was all over bar the shouting after about 26 minutes.  I positioned my reinforcements in buildings (including the theatre) off to the flanks.  When the attack came in, the MG34 on SF plus the MG 42s proved devastating - on their own through the smoke screen, and once that had gone, with the mortars firing direct. They even took out the armoured car without too much messing around.  3 of my MGs were knocked out but I got all of them back into action via buddy aid.  The majority of my  casualties were caused by enemy arty. 

I lost 27 men KIA vs 58 for the enemy.   Wounded were 22  vs 51.  I took out the armoured car but lost the 2 kubels to arty.  According to the victory screen I held the ground but failed on targets and parameters but it was not made clear what these were!  I scored a minor victory. 

I hope this helps.

SLR

Edited September 5, 2016 by SelfLoadingRifle
more info

[SelfLoadingRifle]

Looking at the briefing for Scenario 2, I think it contains an unrealistic amount of detail about the enemy forces.  Surely something a bit more vague is called for here.  Phrases such as "Intelligence indicates" "weakened/reduced company strength"  "A recce patrol has reported" or even stuff like "Movement was observed" are what the commander on the ground would expect to hear.  Please also take note that intelligence is seldom  complete and often wrong which gives scope for including all sorts of nasty surprises.

Jeez, why am I saying all this?!!

SLR

 

 

Edited September 5, 2016 by SelfLoadingRifle

[dragonwynn]

Thanks SLR for the info. I'll check out the briefing when I get time don't remember what all I had in there. 

The first mission was designed to be pretty easy as things will get tough later and force preservation will be a high priority. I'll look at the VP parameters and see if something is unbalanced. 

Michael

[SelfLoadingRifle]

Scenario 2: Counterattack

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This was a classic FIBUA (fighting in built up areas) scenario.  Size was small.  Forces consisted of a couple of rifle platoons, a couple of SF MG34s, plus mortars, 75mm artillery and two Pz IIL Lynxes which were to prove invaluable.  I am very happy with this scale of scenario, particularly as there is a tendency among some designers to go for battalion plus size engagements which can be unwieldy.  Drawing up a workable plan was relatively straightforward.  I used my 75mm arty as a preliminary barrage on  the Storefront.  I then took both the East Block and the centrally positioned building with the twin domes which I used as bases of fire and jumping off points for my main assault.    

Tactically I kept one foot on the ground at all times. Winning the firefight is very much the name of the game in this particular scenario.  Enemy positions must be supressed or destroyed before the advance can continue.  Recce by fire and suppressive fire into all likely positions is highly recommended.  Once I had won the firefight with the units in the Storefront, I used smoke (via mortar) to blank off the line of sight from the Municipal Sector and as a result the assault went well with very few casualties being sustained.  As per real life, it was the clearing of individual blocks that caused me time, trouble and blood.  There is no short cut to this.  Every room at every level has to be cleared.  Units should be paired up.  Working a buddy-buddy system using fire and manoeuvre, is the only way to crack this particular nut.

Air and arty proved to be random and spectacular in effect with all sorts of scope for disaster.  The two kubels (the same as in the previous scenario) didn't last long.  Whatever you do, don't forget your poor CO Oberstleutenant Roth.  He is very inconveniently sitting in one of the kubels and his life will be very short and exciting unless you move him into cover!  Keep your forces well dispersed.  That way, if there is a disaster it shouldn't be too cataclysmic.  An air or arty strike on bunched units would be the stuff of nightmares and it could easily happen in this scenario if you take your eye off the ball.

And finally...  Two Stukas were included, but unfortunately the FAC was left out.  (Perhaps Michael could look at this.)  Actually, this did not prove to be much of an inconvenience.  Historically, Chuikov kept his front line as close as possible to the Germans - 50 yds or so - which made using CAS very difficult and risky as you were just as likely to hit your own side as you were  the enemy!

The length of this scenario was about right.  The final tally was 34 KIA vs 65 for the enemy.  WIA was 25 vs 36.  I took the ground but failed on targets and parameters.  My score was a 3522 vs 1420 point tactical victory.

SLR

 

P.S.  Note the spelling of the word 'municipal.'

 

Edited September 11, 2016 by SelfLoadingRifle

[dragonwynn]

Thanks SLR. Glad it was successful and a sound plan. I will look at the FAC issue. 

[grunt_GI]

Hi Michael, 

Sorry I took so long to get back to you.  Just finished first scenario...I agree completely with SLR...this was all over in the first 30 minutes...brought the mortar and infantry gun love and just hammered those poor bastards.  

The map and use of the Stalingrad mod is just first rate.  Outstanding....I wish there was some way to port this mod and such over to CMBS...damn, that would be awesome modern weapons in that rubble...hmmmm, like chocolate and peanut butter, BTRs and Bradley wondering around that terrain...but I digress......

I think this could be really shortened to a 45 minute scenario as kind of scene setter...nicely done overall, just a tad too long....got a Major German Victory, mostly by holding the key terrain....

Well done, off to scenario 2..first chance to play with German air support...I tried to zip past SLRs review since it had spoilers...give you my unbiased opinion... 

[dragonwynn]

Thanks Grunt_GI. I will look at shortening that time frame. Also there is a missing FAC in the second mission but I believe you can still call air support with a HQ. I will add that in with a update.

 

Michael

[kohlenklau]

In CMRT, isn't the air support all just on automatic? 

[SelfLoadingRifle]

Scenario 3: Hauptman Peiper's Tank

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This was another of those small, manageable battles with the forces at the player's disposal totting up to about company strength, with a couple of Pz 4s tagged on.  I suppose I really should say three Pz 4s, but the third, belonging to Hauptman Peiper, was disabled, stuck in the middle of Red Square, and tactically there was very little you could do with it.  A forward observer team had been included in my ORBAT, but as no air or arty had been included it didn't have anything to do.  I therefore kept it well out of harm's way.  As commented on before, I felt that the briefing contained far too much information with regard to 'Situation Enemy Forces.'   There is no way that a commander would have access to a complete and accurate breakdown of the forces he was up against.   Exact knowledge of that nature can heavily influence the decision making process.  For example, if you know you are up against precisely three T34s, then once you have taken them out you can take further decisions with complete confidence.  If all you have been told is that enemy tank strength has been estimated at one or maybe two troops, then you will have to continue looking over your shoulder as an unexpected T34 turning up could wreck your entire day.   One further detail:  on the map, the names of important locations are clearly marked.  Unfortunately though, the letters for 'Hauptman Pieper's Tank'  and 'Secure Zone' (effectively the same area) have become jumbled together into a single undecipherable mass.

It seemed obvious to me that I would be faced with SMG units and that these would be particularly lethal at room clearing range.  (The 98K rifle does have its limitations under those circumstances.)  I therefore decided to try to keep the battle at range, which would also enable me to use my MG42s (of which I had many) to maximum effect.  It seemed probable to me that there would be a heavy attack from my side of the square on Northwest Corner and in the first turn I sent a platoon over to cover the likely enemy approaches.  It seemed certain that there was going to be an attack in strength from the other side of Red Square, and that this would involve armour.  I therefore decided to turn Red Square into a killing ground.  I moved the units that had been held in reserve in the wooden buildings to the North Store Front and the blocks to the west of it so that they covered the square.  In the very first turn I had my two panzers take up hull down positions behind the low walls in the southeast corner of the square.

So what happened?  All the infantry attacks were beaten off with ease.  Peiper's tank went down fighting gallantly but that was more or less inevitable when the T34s turned up, stuck in an exposed position as it was.  One of the enemy T34s got lucky, taking out one of my two remaining panzers while it was distracted by some infantry but it only survived a further ten seconds before the surviving panzer scored a direct hit.  The battle was effectively over after only half an hour.  The scores were 13 Germans KIA (and 8 of these were tank crew) vs 123 Russian.  WIA 18 vs 73, 2 tanks lost vs 4, ground secured, targets acceptable, parameters failed and points 4902 vs 1109 for a total victory.  I found this a very easy scenario soured only by the loss of the second Pz 4 tank.

This was a rather spooky experience for me because I was actually in Volgograd in January and the depiction of Red Square is recognisable. 

SLR 

Edited September 16, 2016 by SelfLoadingRifle

[dragonwynn]

Thanks SLR. You are quite right about the enemy briefing info. Not sure why I even did it that way maybe because I did most if this campaign at around 3 in the morning lol.  I work a night shift. 

Ill look at giving a more vague enemy brief in the update and I'll look at taking out the FO, not sure why he's there either lol. 

Thanks for the AAR. 

Michael

[dragonwynn]

Ok here is an updated .cam file for this campaign. I addressed the concern over to much intel on enemy units. Now the briefing only lists which Russian units are involved but not their force disposition. I shortened the time limit on the first mission to 45 minutes. I also removed the FO from the mission Hauptman Piepers Tank. He had no role to play in that particular mission.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tl1342g4vh16jv1/Rattenkrieg.cam?dl=0

Hopefully this will make the campaign more enjoyable. Just put this .cam file into your campaign directory to replace the old one. You still will need to download the original file with the necessary mods. Follow the instructions at the beginning of the thread.

Michael