Operation Bone Throw- Send in the Reserves!!!!

[Madmatt]

And to round out Operation Bone Throw we have another AAR, this time from Germanboy himself..Enjoy!

Report on Operations of the

2nd Battalion

485th Rifle Regiment

154th Rifle Division

6th Rifle Corps

21st Army

Western Front

Attack on positions of German XXIVth (Panzer?) Corps near Zhlobin, Central sector of operations

Report by Starshiyi Leytenant Jefremovich, 2 i/c 2nd Battalion

Task

The battalion was ordered to undertake an assault on a ridgeline near the village of Gulakovo, SE of Zhlobin. Reconnaissance had confirmed the presence of German infantry in the area. The battalion’s task was to break through the enemy defenses to enable the second wave of the divisional attack to exploit in the direction of Zhlobin.

Forces

2nd Battalion 485th Rifle Regiment

Major Fedorov commanding

Battalion at ~80% strength, men weakened due to long marches with insufficient supply, forcing them to live on reduced rations for a week.

3x Rifle Coy

1x MG Coy

1x 82mm mortar section

Attached

485th Rifle Regiment

1x Recon Platoon

1x Pioneer Platoon

34th Independent Tank Battalion

1x light tank coy (-) (2 platoons T-26, 1 Platoon BT-5)

1x Recon Platoon (BA-6)

Artillery

From 485th Rifle Regiment

1x 120mm mortar battery

1x 76mm gun battery

From 154th Rifle Division

1x 76mm gun battery

1x 122mm howitzer battery

Boundaries

The battalion was unsupported on the right, as no contact could be established to units of 232nd Rifle Division supposed to be in the area of Kholkhoz Comintern.

The battalion was supported on the left by a holding attack by 3rd Company of 1st Battalion 485th Rifle Regiment.

Enemy intelligence

The German defense was anchored on a strongpoint on Hill 299, commanding the open surroundings. A wooded area extending south of the hill was chosen as the only covered approach.

Enemy was estimated to be a scratch force thrown in our way, made up of understrength rear area and supply units, insufficiently supplied with guns and weapons.

Planning

Battalion staff decided to mass the attack on the right flank in a northerly axis, where cover was best for the approach, and tanks would be able to shoot the infantry onto their objectives from a decent distance to the enemy occupied treeline, protecting them from AT assets. Once the enemy line was breached on our right, the axis of the attack would turn 90° to roll up the enemy line from the east. Tanks would continue to support the infantry from the rear by providing direct fire support. Artillery would only be used in an initial barrage over the whole of the enemy line, due to the absence of radios with the forward observer detachment under Leytenant Karikov.

Execution

Preparation, Recon & move forward

While the initial barrage was descending, the armoured recon platoon moved out to occupy the gap in the treeline opposite the German lines, and suppress any forward defenses. It came under fire from enemy AT rifles that scored several hits on the vehicles, finally knocking out the platoon commander’s car, killing Leytenant Malakov, the platoon commander. The Germans then opened fire with anti-tank artillery, brewing another one of the cars.

The battalion recon platoon advanced to contact through the woods on our right flank, ensuring that the way was clear of mines and snipers.

Once this was accomplished, the order was given for the battalion to move forward to jump-off positions. Kapitan Juraev of the tank battalion ordered his tanks forward into the gap to support the assault. This turned out to be an expensive mistake, as the enemy had covered the area well with AT assets.

The recon platoon was ordered to advance further into the first part of the woods held by the enemy, to flush out an AT rifle team in them. Our tanks were positioned to support them. When the recon platoon started receiving heavy machine gun fire from a trench to their right, the tanks opened up and silenced it. In the woods further enemy infantry was encountered, and the recon platoon had to fall back to avoid being annihilated. The platoon commander fell<insert comma> together with about half the platoon.

The enemy AT rifle team now took out one T-26 at >420m, and harassed the other tanks. Unfortunately the tanks had positioned themselves in the field of fire of at least one light enemy AT gun (estimated 3,7cm calibre). This gun destroyed a T-26, a BT-5 and damaged the gun on another T-26 without being spotted. The tank commanders began to lose their nerve and fell back into turret down positions.

Assault

B Company was ordered to assault the first tree line. Kapitan Iakumovich made a mistake in ordering his men to assault over too wide a space, resulting in them becoming exhausted. Marching fire by his men neutralised two enemy squads in the woods in front of our men. A & B platoons made it to the tree line, and attempted to consolidate on the objective, but needed time to recover and reorganise. C platoon on the right was caught in the open and drew the heaviest fire, forcing it to fall back with some losses due to fire from an enemy machine gun. A & B platoons flushed out what amounted to a platoon of enemy armoured reconnaissance infantry, a very bad surprise, since we expected to deal with enemy infantry units only. No tanks were spotted though. When they attempted to clear the woods, they found it full of mines, necessitating abandoning the idea until pioneers could be brought up to clear the mines.

The riflemen identified the position of the AT rifle team which was then destroyed by the tanks. Following this, Kapitan Juraev decided to order most of his remaining tanks up to the tree line, where they would be out of the enemy’s guns field of fire, and could support the two platoons against counter-attacks. In their current position, enemy AT rifles had zeroed in on them and achieved numerous hits without causing damage or casualties. A light AT gun however managed to knock out two more T-26. Two BT-5, one T-26 and one BA-6 made it across the open field and began supporting the infantry from close up.

Major Fedorov at this point succeeded in organising the battalion in two further assault echelons, and sent in a further two platoons to broaden the hold on the tree line. This was achieved.

Exploitation

The remainder of the battalion stood by to exploit, but it was at this point that Kapitan Juraev suggested that a further attack should wait until nightfall, to enable him to recover and reorganise his tanks. Major Fedorov agreed, and decided to pull back the forward platoons in the treeline, as it was felt that they could not be adequately supported in case of a counter-attack. The jump-off position was secured and our men dug in.

This decision by Major Fedorov led to his relief from command by the Political Officer of the Battalion. Major Fedorov was accused of sabotage and treason, and shot on the spot after a court-martial. Kapitan Ieremenko of A Company was given command of the battalion with a clear order to attack and break through the enemy’s position during the night. Kapitan Juraev was demoted to Leytenant, but kept his command.

Assessment

The battalion lost 33 men, 8 of them killed. The tank company lost 3 men, all of them killed, and a BA-6 Armoured Car was a write-off. Enemy losses are unknown, but estimated light, confirmed 5 KIA. Our initial barrage appears to have done little to no damage to the entrenched enemy. The enemy defense line has not been breached. We are preparing for a night battle to achieve this. Armour recovery has been able to retrieve all the damaged tanks and one BA-6 at dusk. Enemy intelligence information indicates Germans are from 3. Kradschützenbatallion, 3rd Panzer Division.

Signed

I.V. Jefremovich, Starshiyi Leytenant, 2 i/c 2nd Battalion 485th Rifle Regiment

Y. Jeremenko, Kapitan, OC 2nd Battalion 485th Rifle Regiment

July 16th 1941

Near Gulakovo

[Gpig]

Awesome!

Bring it on, baby!!!

Gpig

[hobo]

This really isn't fair. Please take my money, now!

- Chris

[Wolfe]

Originally posted by Madmatt:

the armoured recon platoon moved out ... It came under fire from enemy AT rifles that scored several hits on the vehicles, finally knocking out the platoon commander’s car, killing Leytenant Malakov, the platoon commander.

:cool: The Germans aren't the only ones who have to fear AT Rifles!

The Germans then opened fire with anti-tank artillery

Is this just another way of saying PaK guns or do the Germans have some sort of AT mortars? Didn't the Soviets have something like this?

Unfortunately the tanks had positioned themselves in the field of fire of at least one light enemy AT gun (estimated 3,7cm calibre). This gun destroyed a T-26, a BT-5 and damaged the gun on another T-26 without being spotted.

The tank commanders began to lose their nerve and fell back into turret down positions.

Drooooool!!!

Our initial barrage appears to have done little to no damage to the entrenched enemy.

The game is gonna be released like, next week, right? Right? Pleeeease say Yes. Please?

- Chris

[ April 26, 2002, 07:48 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

[Mikael]

Boundaries

The battalion was unsupported on the right, as no contact could be established to units of 232nd Rifle Division supposed to be in the area of Kholkhoz Comintern.

The battalion was supported on the left by a holding attack by 3rd Company of 1st Battalion 485th Rifle Regiment.

Does this have any direct effect in the game or was it just written for fun?

Cool bone by the way, thanks!! :cool:

[KNac]

need to play the game NOW! `plz release the game or i will die

[Hakko Ichiu]

Originally posted by Madmatt:

Forces

2nd Battalion 485th Rifle Regiment

Major Fedorov commanding

Battalion at ~80% strength, men weakened due to long marches with insufficient supply, forcing them to live on reduced rations for a week.

This is blatant fascist enemy propaganda. No units of the Glorious Red Army have insufficient supply. All have full rations. Gospodin Jefremovich will be hearing from his Political Officer shortly.

[BeauCoupDinkyDau]

Originally posted by KNac:

need to play the game NOW! `plz release the game or i will die

Yeah! What he said!!

[Splinty]

So,can political officers really shoot hapless COs in the game? Great AAR! Thanks guys.

[CrapGame]

Did anyone else catch the "turret down" position of the tanks? Is this a new version of "hull-down" or is this just hull down called something else????

[ham]

Turret down means that the whole tank is behind a cover. Compare to hull down which means that just the hull is behind cover.

BTW; does turret down mean that the tank commander can still see the enemy if unbuttoned ?

Example: Tank is driven to cover, in this case behind of a crest of the hill so that the turret and the hull cannot be seen by the enemy but up enough for the tank commander to see over the hill ? Is this possible in CMBB ?

[kipanderson]

Andreas, hi,

Great AAR, very authentic feel to it. There was a hint of the odd new feature, such as “Extreme FOW”, all sounds too good to be true.

My only reservation on Extreme FOW is when it comes to AT guns and tank gun fire. In your AAR a 37 AT gun firing on a group of tanks is not spotted. There could be many reasons for this to do with the crew being buttoned up and all manor of things. All perfectly realistic. However, the WW2 guns I have seen film of firing, Shermans, 88 Flank guns, all sorts of stuff, all produced the most enormous blast and flash. In the famous “empty battlefield” they would be very difficult to miss. Blast and flash from heavy ordinance is, no doubt, much less today than was the case in WW2, relative to the calibre. It’s certainly designed to be less.

You will have got the point I am making, when it comes to heavy ordinance firing be careful not to get too carried away with “Extreme FOW”. From what I have seen they would be hard to miss. Assuming someone was looking in roughly the correct direction. I agree fully that buttoned up, two man turrets would affect this sort of thing.

Everything sounds even better than I expected, and I expected a lot.

All the best,

Kip.

PS. The more AAR reports you have time and energy to feed us the better.

PPS. Am I surprised you went for summer 1941? I am not the only one with a favourite Eastern Front time period!

[zukkov]

Originally posted by hobo:

This really isn't fair. Please take my money, now!

- Chris

man, they'd love you in vegas for saying that! lol..

seriously, this game is going to be a winner! and you can quote me on that. lol...

[JasonC]

Actually, hidden PAK knocking out tanks without ever being seen in return was very common in WW II. The AARs are full of reports of it. Especially when the fire was from any significant range, from covered areas (villages, woods), in anything but perfect light conditions, or from any direction but the direct front. Sometimes half a company of tanks was blown away by a PAK battery without even figuring out the direction the shells were coming from, let alone the location, let alone seeing the particular guns.

PAK rounds are supersonic, and the round arrives well before the report. There is a puff at range, then seconds later the round arrives, and seconds later again the sound of firing. With each indicator seperated from the others, it is quite difficult to see each and to connect them. The muzzle flash or puff of smoke or dust is obviously the key item. But it comes before anything else, from a location you already have to be looking directly at. By the time the round hits, the flash is long gone and usually the puff too.

In the AAR, what stands out most is the absence of overwatch from the infantry heavy weapons. With all the artillery used for prep fire, their role becomes critical. Suppression of the enemy AT guns falls to the 82mm mortars and the HMGs. It seems regular infantry stayed in cover instead of any of them scouting through the open, and that may have contributed to the AT guns remaining hidden. Doctrinally, infantry scouts need to get close enough to spot them, with mortars and MGs in overwatch to suppress. Only then should light armor be exposed to likely AT positions.

Instead it sounds like the attacker planned on a mostly infantry attack through the woods, which was nixed by the mines. Then the tanks out in the open fell easily to hidden PAK, and without them the attack faltered. That is realistic enough, since such coordination mistakes are easy to make. But I thought the tactical analysis might be interesting to some, including the AAR writer.

P.S. I assume it goes without saying that it all sounds great. ATRs sniping but only gradually killing, PAK remaining stubbornly hidden, tankers getting scared, infantry getting tired on a long assault, a platoon straying into the open driven to ground by one MG, scattered prep artillery fire leaving hidden and dug in troops unphased - it all sounds very realistic.

[ April 27, 2002, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: JasonC ]

[Yaphank]

SHWINGG!!

[Runyan99]

I did not know that the Germans had any AT rifles. Are they captured Soviet rifles?

[Zitadelle]

Originally posted by Runyan99:

I did not know that the Germans had any AT rifles. Are they captured Soviet rifles?

Yes, the Germans had AT rifles; although, the article does state that the Germans found the Russian AT rifles to be more effective. On-line source is here:

German Anti-tank Rifles

[ April 29, 2002, 03:19 PM: Message edited by: Zitadelle ]

[Andreas]

Cory, according to my ingame stats, it is the PzB39, 7.92mm ATR. Have a look at Hofbauer's Panzerfaust site for more info, I am sure there is more.

Wolfe - 'AT artillery' is a term I use for AT guns. The Red Army referred to them generally as 'artillery' in many documents I have seen, and in the British Army, dedicated TD units were part of the Royal Artillery. So no, it is not some kind of AT mortar.

Kip - the pictures you saw were probably later war guns with bigger 'booms'. I am quite convinced that the very light guns (in this example a 3,7cm Pak35) could remain undetected, especially if you take the following into account:

- only the tanks had LOS to the gun (they had to withdraw from a more exposed position due to persistent ATR fire)

- Red Army tanks in this battle had a two-man turret and were buttoned

Someone also raised the use of 76mm guns in indirect fire. Thanks for that pointer. I was never quite sure on how these guns were employed. I know a lot was in DF mode only, but are you quite sure that this was the only possible mode?

BTW - the report is detailing the first battle of an operation I designed.

Unfortunately I am not allowed to tell you how much fun I have testing this game. If Madmatt knew how much, he would probably charge me for the privilege.

[Herr Oberst]

Hey Fedorov, sux to be you!!

[kipanderson]

Runyan99, hi,

Yes, the Germans did have their own ATRs during the early period of the war in the east. However, they were rather poor examples by the standards of the Soviets. At most ranges you are talking about penetrations only half that of the Soviet 14.5mm weapons.

Once the most obsolete tanks, that where still around in June 41, had been destroyed, German ATRs where even more useless than Soviet ones which did have some limited use.

All the best,

Kip.

[Shadow 1st Hussars]

Originally posted by hobo:

This really isn't fair. Please take my money, now!

- Chris

Ok. I'll take your money.

[kipanderson]

Andreas,

Yup, the pictures that spring to mind most readily are Shermans in NWE rocking on their suspension as they blast at a distant target. You know the sort of thing. And, yes, Extreme FOW sounds great. I think of it as “more realistic FOW”. Buttoned up, two man turrets would indeed have problems spotting all manner of stuff.

All the best,

Kip.

PS. 76mm artillery was used in indirect fire mode. When one reads some of the Soviet General Staff studies there is no mistaking it. They are often lumped in with the other indirect fire assets. I "think" the latest one from Frank Cass, The Battle For L'vov 1944, makes it clear.If I remember correctly.

[von Lucke]

Originally posted by Andreas:

Kip - the pictures you saw were probably later war guns with bigger 'booms'. I am quite convinced that the very light guns (in this example a 3,7cm Pak35) could remain undetected, especially if you take the following into account:

- only the tanks had LOS to the gun (they had to withdraw from a more exposed position due to persistent ATR fire)

- Red Army tanks in this battle had a two-man turret and were buttoned

I've also read where veteran AT crews would wet the ground in front of their gun (or even better, throw a wet blanket down), to keep the "puff" to a minimum.

'Course, the Yanks also had a problem with the grade of gunpowder used in their arty shells not being as smoke-less as other combatants, but that's another subject altogether.

Oh, and great AAR by the way! How about the view from the German side of the battle, ja?

[Andreas]

von Lucke, thanks. This was a battle against the AI, so there won't be a review of the German side. Depending on my availability and motivation over the next few weeks, I will write some more AARs on battles I test, and hand them to Matt for doing stuff with them.

[James Crowley]

Andreas

Very nice AAR; concise and interesting.

Are you playing a human opponent or against the AI?