Kampfgruppe Heller: Battle 05, Poland

Okay, the next battle is the sixth in this series following Just Jack's awesome original 'Kampfgruppe von Klink' campaign, and is taken from this original game. The premise is that the successful Polish armoured counter-attack has petered out due to logistic and co-ordination constraints, and this engagement takes place whilst 4 Panzer Division is regrouping for its counter-counter-attack, with infantry elements from both sides bumping into each other during that regrouping process...

As with the other games in this series, I am using a set of rules in the playtest stage called Gummipanzergrenadier, written by John D Salt.

The Forces:

The Germans:

Company Command: command Squad (SMG + Belt-fed LMG), armoured car

2 x Infantry Platoons: 3 squads (Rifle + Belt-fed LMG), 1 attached MMG

The Poles:

Company command section (Rifles)

3 x Dismounted cavalry platoons, each of 3 sections (Rifle + BAR)

1 x Mounted cavalry platoon, 3 sections (Rifle + BAR)

I played this before receiving some of the feedback about including more of the platoon and company weapons available to both sides - I will include more in some of the upcoming games.

 

The Germans are advancing from the West, the Poles from the East (right).

The German company commander is at the corner of the abandoned village, whilst his two platoons to each flank catch-up (bottom-left and top-left)

The Polish company, with three infantry platoons (actually dismounted cavalry) and a mounted cavalry platoon (top)

The last Polish infantry platoon is somewhat off to the South, on the Polish Left (right)

The Battle:

The German platoon reaches the abandoned village

The other German platoon advances towards the wooded hill, as are their Polish opponents

The Germans get into the woods just before the Poles - German fire at quite close quarters halts the Polish advance; the Polish cavalry platoon has cleared through the top-end of the woods (top-left)

the last Polish platoon is brought to a halt by intense fire in the woods by the village

The German platoon in the woods has, after a few rounds of fighting, has eliminated the Polish platoon that was caught on the hill on front of it, and has switched its fire to the other Polish platoon, caught in the field (centre-right); but the Polish Cavalry platoon is patrolling back through the woods behind the Germans in the woods (top, hard to spot!)

A final burst of very accurate rifle and machine gun fire finishes off most of the second Polish platoon which had been caught in the field; the armoured car has helped (a little!)

After suffering devastating casualties, the third dismounted Polish platoon pulls back

The Polish cavalry attack entirely miscarried! Their fire serving mainly just to alert the Germans to their presence, only suppressing a couple of the Germans, the German platoon simply turned around and decimated the Poles(!)

The Polish company commander is trapped; attempting to escape means almost certain death...unless the Germans pull back, he and his staff must be made PoW...

Position at the end of the battle

Game Notes:

Well, that was a considerable turnaround in fortunes! Apologies for the quite quick wrapping up of this game, quite a few of the phots didn't turn out well at all, so some of the back-and-forth firefights have been summarized as if they were quick, when in fact they took several turns.  The Polish company was absolutely devastated, loosing 29 KIA and 73 WIA, most of whom who were made prisoners, as were 5 unwounded Poles.  The Germans suffered only 2 KIA and 5 WIA: a truly lop-sided result.  Every marginal thing seemed to go the Germans way - in particular, the miscarriage of the Polish attack from the rear was pretty miserable - the Polish commander might well think himself hard done by, as that should have worked. Oberst Heller on the other hand is smiling once again, this victory putting him back in OKH's good books...

The other ace the Germans had - their possession of heavy weapons, even in very small quantities - wasn't quite as important as their outrageous luck, but it was important, particularly in the destruction of the middle of the dismounted Polish platoon, which found itself stuck, unable to advance or retire, and waiting for the inevitable lucky throw to deliver the coup de grace. Even on the matter of winning the first action on key turns, luck was with the Germans - everytime it mattered they won the roll.

As previously, models a mixture of Baccus, H&R, Scotia, Leven, Battlescale and Timecast.