Ragnarok

[manchildstein (ii)]

General Briefing:

Play as Axis against Allied AI, Default AI Setup

Ragnarok: I SS Panzer Corps in Spring Awakening

Map: 2k x 2k

Axis: 5 Infantry Companies, Support Weapons, 36 Tank/JGDPZ, 73 Halftrack

Allied: "Battalion-level" with Artillery, Air, and Self-Propelled Gun support

March, 1945

Day, "Dry," Clear, Cool, No Wind

60+ Turns

German Mech, Soviet Infantry, Urban, both sides max Fanaticism

Version 1.0

Semi-Historical

On March 6 of 1945 Hitler launched the "last" German offensive of the war. Code named "SPRING AWAKENING" and also known as the "Lake Balaton Offensive," the action is described in part of a book by Michael Reynolds entitled, "Men of Steel - I SS Panzer Corps."

The ISBN is: 1-885119-66-6

According to the book, "Hitler's aims for Operation SPRING AWAKENING were as wildly amibitious as those he had laid down for AUTUMN MIST in the Ardennes three months previously. They were: to destroy the Soviet forces in the region bounded by Lake Balaton and the Danube and Drava rivers, secure the Hungarian oil deposits, and establish bridgeheads over the Danube with a view to further offensive operations."

This scenario is based upon certain descriptions of the action given in the book, and the mapboard is based upon no more than a centimeter square section of the "Map 27" in the map section of the hardback edition from Sarpedon dated 1999.

In this scenario you command elements of the "LAH" or "Liebstandarte" 1st SS Panzer Division in an attack on the 12th of March into the town of Simontornya on the Sio Canal.

Your force consists of:

From 1st Panzergrenadier Regiment:

1 Panzergrenadier Battalion (2+ Companies)

From 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment:

1 Panzergrenadier Battalion (2+ Companies)

8 Jgdpz IV from 1st Panzerjager Battalion

73 SPWs (includes 33 251/1)

9th Pioneer Company

1st Battalion, 1st SS Panzer Regiment:

10 PZ IV

10 Panther

501st Heavy Panzer Battalion:

8 Tiger II

The attack of the 12th was ostensibly made by the 1st Panzer Battalion, with support of Panzergrenadiers from the 1st and 2nd Regiments; the Battalion from the 2nd Regiment was an SPW Battalion. The King Tigers and JGDPZ IVs may or may not have been present in the 'actual' battle. From the book it is known that the 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment had JGDPZ IVs attached, and that the 8 Tiger IIs from the 501st were also available that day and in that area.

In any event your job is to attack into the town and cause as many Soviet casualties as possible while clearing out the areas near the Sio Canal in the south of the town.

You can expect heavy Soviet resistance; at least a Rifle Battalion supported by numerous "field guns," forward artillery observers, self-propelled artillery, and air support.

Aftermath: On the one hand the book says that the tanks of the 1st Battalion stormed the town with the loss of only 5 tanks total but on the other hand it states that "house-to-house fighting went on through the day and into the night, until most all of the town was cleared." With that in mind this scenario is sort of an amalgam, an attempt to recreate the kinds of conditions under which the battle was fought, without having access to actual topographical maps, and with access to an historical source which - while however engrossing in its telling of the tale of the battle - is admittedly at least mildly contradictory in some aspects of that same telling.

All in all I recommend the book, for even if the author had a lack of information available for chronicling SPRING AWAKENING, if nothing else he went into great depth regarding the I SS Panzer Corps' role in AUTUMN MIST (Battle of the Bulge) some 3 months prior. The section of the book after SPRING AWAKENING is about the demise of the I SS Panzer Corps.