Barbarossa: Army Group South By Henry C. Robinette When Warren told me we had been asked to do a replay article on BARBAROSSA: Army Group South for C3i, I was glad to have a chance to stomp Warren in a game favoring the Germans. Warren wanted to learn the East Front Series system so we could playtest Army Group Center. My operational plan as the German was to encircle Lvov with my panzers by turn 2 to prevent the Soviet player from deploying his large three-step units there. At least one panzer division and a motorized infantry division would tear down the road to Stanislov and onto Map F to assist the Rumanians with the early capture of Kishinev. The rest of the panzers would drive a wedge deep into the center of Map G, where they would go for either Kiev or Odessa, whichever was less well defended. Turns 1 and 2. The German objective was to isolate Lvov and capture it before turn 4. 1 broke through between Peremyshl and Lvov, and east of Belzec. Two HQs and numerous other enemy units were pocketed west of Lvov. While attacking across the Svinya River, the 13th Panzer Division was bloodied. Warren's mandated attacks on turn 1 killed the 520th Engineer Battalion that had ventured too far forward east of Lvov. The SS W Regiment survived a retreat roll at Lopatin but suffered a loss. Despite full movement in the Mechanized Movement Phase on turns 1 and 2, I was not able to completely isolate Lvov. The Soviets took advantage by loading it up to the maximum stacking limits with low- strength units and three armored trains. However, the Soviet first-turn attacks left the big units exposed; I surrounded all of them on turn 2. Some of them attempted to fight their way free of my encirclement and succeeded in mauling another panzer motorized infantry regiment, but I finished them off later. Turn 3. By the beginning of turn 3, it was obvious that I could not take Lvov by turn 4. Although I had cut off the Soviet units defending west of Sambor, they retreated into the hills west of the road running from Sambor to Stanislay. My infantry on this front along with a panzer division were tied up by these rifraff. I killed units in two hexes but, due to the terrain, could not completely isolate the remainder from supply. I continued to clear out Soviet defenders that blocked the roads leading to Lvov. At the beginning of turn 4 the 16th Panzer and 25th Motorized Infantry Divisionss were poised to dash to Stanislay. In the succeeding turns they would slug down the road to Chernovitsy where they would be poised by turn 6 to invade Map F and provide the offensive punch necessary to take Kishinev before turn 15. East of Lvov my armor was ready to jump off to Ternapol to surround it while it was still weakly defended. Then the armor would strike east and threaten Map F defenders with encirclement from the rear or threaten the northern front defenders with encirclement if they continue to stand on the Ukrainian frontier. Turn 4. I rolled the first of five consecutive mud turns! Most of the Luftwaffe failed to refit. I consolidated my position around Lvov and launched the first of many attacks on the city at 4-1 odds. The planes that could fly this turn went to Lvov where they were driven off by flak. Motorized and armored units crawled towards the front with the infantry and artillery slogging in the mud behind them. My only rail line in the north runs from Hrubieszow to Kovel, and by turn 4 had been converted as far as Vladimir Volynaski where it intersects with my main supply road on this front. The railroad then runs northeast for six hexes before it can turn southeast, the direction I need it to go. The rail conversion in the mud on this line meant that my road supply terminus would remain stuck near Lopatin and Milinov. At least Warren had not tried to block the road to Milinov yet, but I had pitifully few units in place to secure it. The int ractable Pripet Marshes nort hwest of Kiev divide Army Group South from Army Group Cent er.
Barbarossa Battle Report: ARMY GROUP SOUTH In the south, I repaired the rail as far as 2517 which serves as the depot for supplying my attacks on Lvov. However, the main supply line runs from Peremyshl towards Stryy and Stanislay. The Soviet Road Warriors still threaten to break loose and block my supply line. I brought up three infantry divisions and a security division to deal with them. The 16th Panzer Division could not reach Stanislav this turn so I diverted it to deal with the Soviets defending near Borislay. Turn 5. I rolled mud again, but did better on refitting my air force. The 14th Panzer countermarched to Lvov to provide a much needed DRM. In the east I attacked the suicide units that Warren had graciously left for me. The rest of the army slogged to the front keeping within five hexes of the road terminus near Lopatin. There they watch helplessly as defenders pour into Ternapol. The attack on Lvov killed another defender. The battle against the Road Warriors took an unexpected turn when I forgot that I needed to attack some units and ended up attacking them at 2-1 unsupplied. I suffered another hit on the infantry and retreated off the road which meant that my panzers would be out of supply if I rolled mud again. Turn 6. Thoroughly disgusted with my third mud roll in as many turns, I kept my army in supply range and moved up the infantry and artillery on Map E. The Soviets in Bessarabia had a good laugh at my expense, as some of the Rumanian infantry lacked the movement to come adjacent to the defenders. In this weather, it is all I can do to kill five of the defenders and surround another. The Hungarians and Slovaks have yet to get into the fight. The Hungarians march east of Stanislov to cut it off from reinforcement, and the Slovaks will join the fight against the Road Warriors. I obtained another hit on Lvov and killed another step of Road Warriors, but I still am unable to encircle them so that they will have to roll on the surrender table. Turn 7. My fourth mud roll leaves me stunned; the odds of that are 123 to 1 against it! Nevertheless, I resume the advance against Ternapol and points north and east. In the south, my motorized units still lack the movement to reach Stanislov in the movement phase, but I surround it with the help of the Hungarian cavalry in the mech movement phase. I got another step loss on Lvov and should be able to hit it at 5-1 next time, especially with the addition of the newly-arriving motorized infantry division. I finally surrounded the Road Warriors this turn, but they failed to surrender on their first roll even though they are out of supply. In Bessarabia, the advance is painfully slow and I am not killing as many defenders as I would like. Turn 8. Not only do I roll mud again, but storms ground the Luftwaffe. I am ready to pound the die into tiny bits of plastic. I expend an MSU to keep the panzers in supply. Yet, they can only partially surround Ternopol because they lack zones of control in non-road hexes. By now, of course, Ternopol is too strong for me to attack without infantry and artillery support, which, naturally, are far, far away. I attack Lvov at 5-1 but inflict only one step loss on the Soviets. I take Stanislav from its lone NKVD defender. In the north, I hit a hex near Ostrog that was weakened by a Soviet withdrawal. Warren actually made a rare admission that he had made a mistake by not realizing that the withdrawals would occur during the inter-turn supply phase. Warren directed his mandated attack at Chernovitsy against a lone Rumanian infantry division. He lost two steps making the attack and the Rumanian got away with an extra retreat. I joked that it would take two turns for the unit to regain its position if I rolled mud again. Turn 9. Clear weather at last! The Luftwaffe refits all but one bomber. I maneuver in the center to force Warren to withdraw or risk having his Stalin Line defense position encircled next turn. My reconn battalions in 4428 lunge forward to trap two tank divisions southwest of Proskurov. I interdict Proskurov and the Soviet HQ on the northern front near Ostrag. For the first time now, I can attack Lvov at 6-1 odds, hoping for the Big E result. My motorized infantry shows what it could have done sooner by pocketing a group of Soviet divisions near Kamenets Podolsky. Meanwhile, another infantry division was sucked into the fight against the Road Warriors. In Bessarabia, a Soviet 4-4 infantry division (surrounded in 2214 since turn 6) continues to tie down two Rumanian divisions. I moved an infantry regiment and an anti-tank battalion into 2810 to block the road. From there south to 3117 is a big gap in the front that invites a cavalry raid against the undefended Iasi. A strong stack of Soviet units in Fortress Beltsy further complicates this front by denying me this important road junction. My attacks this turn generally fizzled. In Bessarabia, I attempted to support an attack by two German divisions against 4032 at 4-1 with Rumanian airplanes; and in the confusion of correcting this error, failed to support this attack with the Luftwaffe. The Soviet airforce turned this attack into a route for the attackers I felt lucky to have escaped without suffering any step losses. I had hoped to kill a Soviet cavalry unit in 3823 so I could advance to the hills northwest of Kishinev, but the cavalry retreated without loss despite heavy Luftwaffe support. In Lvov, I traded a step loss with the defenders, but I can look forward to a 7-1 attack next turn. On the road, I took two hits to my infantry in exchange for the artillery brigade. The Rumanians killed a green slug NKVD unit near Chernovitsy. Near Ostrog I killed a weak unit to clear the way for an advance into 1518 by the 9th Panzer Division. Warren made up for my inability to inflict harm, by attacking like crazy in his combat phase. Fortunately, my motorized units reacted and he fought a series of 1-3 attacks which he lost with grievous casualties. He jumped my men at 2810 at 4-1 surrounded, but in the first of many high number rolls this phase, the attackers retreated. He did,
however, kill the valiant 9th MG Bn and the 652nd Anti-Tank Bn. As I expected, Warren withdrew in the center. Yet, despite the risk of encirclement, he continues to hold in strength west of Rovno. Nobody surrendered this turn. Turn 10. I survived the weather roll with a roll of 3. Warren rolled a high number and was delighted at the large number of strong points he receives this turn. (As the Soviet player I much prefer to get large numbers of replacements.) Two Luftwaffe fighters, three He.111's, a Ju.88 and a Rumanian He.111 did not refit. I attacked two stacks at hexes 2023 and 2025 with everybody who could reach. One panzer division was so spread out on the map that I had to throw it into the unsupplied battle at hex 1315, where I had a 4-4 infantry division surrounded. The Soviet airforce jumped my two bombers in hex 2023 with its two best fighters. Miraculously, the attack missed and they continued their mission. Then the Soviet flak missed, too. My flak battalion drove off the Soviet bomber. The attack against 2023 was only a 21, but I rolled a 1 and I had enough modifiers to inflict two step losses and a retreat, which due to the No Retreat orders cost another two steps. At hex 2025 I attacked 3-1 with a 1 modifier, and was equally successful. At hex G1315 the Soviet division survived a retreat roll. On the Bessarabian front I attacked hex 3929 at 2-1 and killed 3 steps, but the Soviets still held the hex. Northeast of Kishinev I battled my way into Orgeyev. My attack at Chernovitsy succeeded much better than I had anticipated. On map E I had disengaged as much infantry as I could to end the battles against the Road Warriors. I hated to tie up two infantry divisions and a shotup security division in siege warfare, but I can't afford to take casualties fighting guys who are no longer relevant. At Lvov, 7-1 odds proved no more effective than before. Next turn it will be 8-1. Except for Lvov all my attacks worked phenomenally well, as whole fresh Soviet infantry divisions were lifted off the map. Warren loaded up hex F3929 again, and even sent an engineer so he could build a strong point. He ran away in the center and at Rovno. The Soviets had a bad surrender phase. Fortress Beltsy with its eleven defense strength yielded without ever having been attacked. Best of all, the last stack of Road Warriors surrendered. The lone division in hex F2214 continued to hold out; I urged Warren to declare its commander a Hero of the Soviet Union. After ten turns I have overrun all of Bessarabia except for the area south and east of Kishinev. If the weather is good next turn, I have a great opportunity on this front. Hex 4426 is held by defenders with a strength of only three, and I can hit it at 5-1. This will allow the Rumanian cavalry to advance to F4226 or F4326 and threaten the road to Tiraspol. Meanwhile, Dubossary is defended by a onestrength unit and I can throw a German infantry division across the Dnestr and take it next turn. The Dnestr from Dubossary to F4319 is completely undefended. The river from F3510 to F4316 is held by three airborne regiments. Aside from hex F4426, there are no Soviet defenders between Kishinev and Tiraspol. Hence, I will attempt to pull off a major encirclement with German infantry. Unfortunately, 16th Panzer is still far away in hex F1905 and 25th Motorized Infantry is in F4842 after helping to smash Chernovitsy. It will be at least three turns before the motorized infantry can enter the battle and four turns before the panzers can arrive. Odessa, which is defended with only coastal artillery, is tantalizingly close. In the center a good half of my force is already Emergency Supply and will go out of supply next turn regardless of the weather roll. I will push hard along the road to Korets with the hope of jumping some of the former Rovno defenders in the open. It is still a long way to Kiev, but I will mount a credible feint towards Kiev to divert Warren's attentionn from Odessa. In the three weeks pause between playing turns 10 and 11, I studied the maps and the setup charts. I discovered I could bring on the 2nd Panzer Division in Rumaniaa at a cost of 9 VPs. That's a pretty steep price to pay, but if it can help me take Kishinev by turn 14, the bonus victory points will help to offset it. Another potential offset is that if I can cut off the Danube Group reinforcements from arriving, I'll get victory points for them as though they had arrived and I had killed them. If I can bag the Soviets in Bessarabia, Odessa may be really vulnerable as a result. Warren will take advantage of my gift by buying some additional reinforcements of his own. The 9'h MG Bn was refitted on turn 10 and I will start it in Iasi from where it will be able to reach the Dnestr in one turn. Turn 11. The turn got off to a good start as I rolled a 5 on the weather. I refitted two infantry divisions on the northernn front and brought on the 2nd Panzer division in Bessarabia. This caught Warren by surprise; he thought I should have brought it on sooner so it would have more turns to attack on the front. Unfortunately, the only place it could reach for an attack on its turn of entry was F3929, which Warren had once again loaded up with defenders. I crossed the Dnestr with a German infantry division at F4521 and attacked Dubossary at 10-1. For the most part, the attacks went well this turn. The attack on F4426 was the key attack, clearing the way for an advance by the Rumanian armor and cavalry into hex F4226 to surround the defenders in hex F4125. The battle for hex F3929 saw the Luftwaffe kill a 1-0 Soviet fighter and another four steps! Even so, the hex was too strong to overrun. The battle for hex F4032 saw the Luftwaffe miss comon the +3 table, and then my 3-1 pletely attack ended with an exchange of step losses. Lvov finally fell, but not without inflicting one more step loss on my valiant engineers. I attacked Ternapol at 3-1, resulting in a one step loss for the defenders. In the
Barbarossa Battle Report: AR center my out of supply armor attacked the surrounded Soviet antitank unit and then fell back to be within supply range of the MSU I had moved up to the front. Warren placed a bridge in hex F4133 and wiped out the 525th AT Bn. He activated an infantry division and moved it into hex F4326. The attack against hex F4226 resulted in a step loss to the Rumanian cavalry and the annihilation of all the attackers in hex F4125 who had attacked with additional retreat orders. The Soviets left a lone infantry division in Rovno to delay the advance of my infantry on this front. As I had already flanked the fortified positions near Berezdov, he fell back to the fortified line running from Novograd- Volynskiy to Lynbar. In Bessarabia, the Soviets continued to hold their positions. The Soviets scrambled to contain my bridgehead across the Dnestr, but are too thin on the ground to do much more than delay the Herrenvolk's advance. Nobody surrendered. Turn 12. This turn started badly with a roll of 7 on the weather table grounding the Luftwaffe. Warren rolled a mandated attack and complained that he has rolled only one "R" result in twelve turns. He really wants to bring on the Danube Group before it is lost. On the Bessarabian front, the 2 nd Panzer Division attacked hex F4133. Its detached Recon Bn infiltrated into hex F3928 thereby surrounding the Soviets in hexes F3927 and F3929. In the north I cleaned out Rovno, but was repulsed in my attack at G2620, which will teach me to attack a fortified position without supplies. At Ternapol, the Soviets continued to die hard as I traded an engineer step for a step on the defenders. East of the Dnepr, I continued to advance killing a couple of suicide defenders and an artillery unit that had forgotten to withdraw from F4319. By the end of my turn the railhead had finally reached map G at hex G1011. On the Bessarabian front the 2nd MG Bn advanced to F5022, 16th Panzer had crossed the Dnestr after a long road march to hexes F4623 and RMY GROUP SOUTH F4624, the two motorized infantry regiments of the 25th Motorized Infantry reached hex F4525, and an AA Bn and the 25th Motorized Recon Bn had advanced to F4526. The victorious 2nd Panzer Division overran an NKVD armored train and the Panzer Regiment and one motorized infantry regiment occupied hexes F4233 and hexes F4332 while the other motorized infantry regiment occupied F4232 thereby trapping the Soviets in Gura Galbena. The Soviets counterattacked on the northern front. Warren killed the 54th Rocket and took a step off the 10th Motorized Regiment of the 9th Panzer Division. In the center, an infantry regiment screening the front was jumped at 10-1. The Soviets near Mogilev Podolskiy destroyed the Rumanian armored division in hex F3108. West of Kishinev the 2 nd Panzer Recon was wiped out, but this attack virtually assures that the Soviet armor will be trapped in Bessarabia, unless I roll mud on the next weather roll. The 15th Tank finally surrendered southwest of Proskurov. After twelve turns the Germans are not as far along as they should be the five consecutive turns of mud is still showing its effect. If the weather cooperates these next two turns, I should be able to trap all the Soviets defending Bessarabia. Odessa is still weakly defended; Warren reinforced it with just an HQ. My infantry arriving from southeastern Poland will slam into the Soviet front at Mogilev Podolskiy. The Soviet front from Mogilev Podolskiy to Letichev is thinly held with single units/hex and should collapse once Mogilev Podolskiy falls. Infantry from Lvov should relieve the panzer and motorized division at Ternapol allowing them to advance on this front. Turn 13. Again, it started badly with a roll of 10 on the weather table mud and storms. Oh, how I am coming to dread the weather rolls! Warren's streak continued as he did not get the "R" result he craves. The mud crippled my advance in Bessarabia. I could barely surround Kishinev. I had hoped to hit it with an attack and kill two steps of defenders so I could have a chance of capturing it next turn, but I could barely muster enough troops for a suicidal 1-1 attack which I wisely chose to forego. East of Kishinev I surrounded and killed a two- step tank division and a cavalry unit. I continued to be snake-bit at Ternapol, as I obtained only one hit which reduced the defense strength from nine to eight. However, I got lucky at hex G2923, a strongpoint garrisoned by a stack of three motorized units. The 99LE Division, in Emergency Supply mode, split off a regiment and moved to surround this hex. Elements of the SS moved up to reinforce the infantry regiment. Warren in his turn launched a counterattack to kill the 99LE Division in Salnitsa. However, he flunked the "retreat through enemy zones" roll and lost the whole stack! This not only removed his offensive threat on the front but also opened up a serious weaknesss in the front where a onestrength NKVD unit holds the line. Meanwhile, my infantry and artillery closed in upon Novograd-Volyniskiy in the north. Nobody surrendered. Turn 14. The weather roll was better, if you consider a 7 better than mud. I told Warren I was going to forget how to use the Luftwaffe at this rate. Warren still failed to roll an "R" result on his replacement table. I attacked Kishinev at 4-1 and exchanged two steps. I overran a cavalry unit north of Tiraspol to continue the advance to the southeast, but Warren managed to keep me off the main road by reacting with a shot-up tank unit that was half a movement point far enough away to avoid an overrun in the motorized movement phase. At Ternapol I attacked at 10-1, leaving two steps worth three to hold out for another turn. In the motorized movement phase, I moved the 9th Panzer Division into hex G2712 where it completed the encirclement of the big stack of defenders in Novograd-Volyniskiy. The 11th Panzer Division also advanced across the Sluch River on this front. My spearhead on this front, the
SSLAH recon, reached G3824 where it interdicted the important rail junction at Kazatin. A reduced-strength motorized infantry regiment and an antitank battalion occupied hex G3623 where they interdicted rail movement into Berdichev and blocked the road to Vinnitsa. In Bessarabia, I had misplayed the surrounding of hex F4927 by using the 25th Motorized Recon to occupy hex F4828 instead of an infantry division, and now I had to withdraw it to F4829 where the 279 Flak could reinforce it in case it were attacked. As expected, Warren attacked F4829. What I had not expected was supply on this front which enabled him to use artillery and hit this hex at 6-1! Fortunately, this yielded a No Effect result with neither side losing anything. He also attacked G3623 at 3-1, again obtaining No Effect. The Soviets fell back towards Berdichev leaving behind suicide detachments in the fortified line to retard my advance. Instead of falling back at Novograd- Volyniskiy, the Soviets remained adjacent to my units, but they were single units in echelon so that I could not break through the front. In Bessarabia, the Ninth Army HQ stopped in hex F5530 instead of running as far as it could to hex F6032, and the ex- defenders of Bessarabia were strung out along the road to Odessa from F4830 to F5530. Elsewhere the Soviets began withdrawing in the center and it looked like I could not prevent a good number of them from eventually getting to Kiev. Replacements showed up in Korosten, Fastov and Belaya-Tserkov. The Hero Cities Defense is getting set up, and I won't be able to capture anything on the run. The heroic defenders of hex F2214 finally surrendered after holding out for eight turns. Turn 15. The turn starts well with a weather roll of 5. All but two fighters and two bombers refitted. On map G, I infiltrated near Novograd- Volyniskiy and set up a 101 attack on an NKVD unit in G2710 which I planned to follow up with an overrun of the tank unit in G2709 in the motorized movement phase. Elsewhere on this front I set up as many 10-1 attacks as I could. The 13th Panzer, which had been put back into supply by the expenditure of an MSU, advanced to attack the defenders of Chudnov, two artillery units. The victors of hex G3623 and the SSLAH Recon moved to hex G3421 where they would attack a 2- strength armored unit that had no zone of control, hoping to advance to block the road, thus enabling me to overrun the engineer and artillery unit in G3319. In Bessarabia I moved to block all the entry hexes on the south edge. On the first turn that Warren had been able to roll an "R," I am able to block the Danube Group from appearing! The 25th Motorized Infantry regiments and the 16th Panzer Division assaulted hex F5129 which was defended by two reduced-strength cavalry units backed up by a 2-point artillery unit. The 25th Motorized recon was still hung up around F4927, so the Panzers had to provide all the modifiers with whatever help they could get from the Luftwaffe. At Kishinev I prepared a 5-1 attack. The air battle went well. I obtained a level two interdiction on the HQ in Odessa but only a level one interdiction on the Ninth Army HQ. I interdicted every other HQ on the map. I killed a fighter unit, but suffered a damaged Rumanian bomber. I had put no fighters into the battle for F5129 and was lucky that no fighter combat was allowed as the Soviets had jumped me with their remaining 3- strength fighter and another 2-strength fighter. The failure to fully interdict the Ninth Army HQ, reduced the attack from 5-1 to 3-1. At least the Luftwaffe offset the unsupplied attack penalty, and I rolled a 2 to open the way to finally trap the Ninth Army HQ and the rest of the former occupiers of Bessarabia. (In the absence of mud, I should have been able to complete this encirclement two turns earlier. Then last turn I had retreated an overrun unit too close to the HQ and then attacked it allowing an armored unit to move in the reaction phase to block me from cutting the road.) This was too much for Warren. He surrendered the game. He figured that I would have enough VPs to win even if he never lost any more units. His only hope was that I would screw up and not exit the motorized units on time, but he was not willing to be smashed for another seven turns, let alone another thirteen,, when he had no hope of winning. He had exceeded the limits of masochism. So I do not know if I would have been able to encircle Kiev and take it. I felt certain that Odessa would prove too strong for me, although I would attack it. The Soviet ability to form a coherent front was on the verge of ending; one more good turn and I should have been able to let the panzers run amok. FINAL THOUGHTS I really like this game system. It is the best simulation of this period of the war that I have played, and I look forward to future releases in this series. If we had been playing the scenario for Map E, the Soviets would have won. Unfortunately, it seems the campaign game just falls short of providing the Soviet player with a realistic chance of winning. I always thought that giving 2 VPs per eliminated HQ was too much, and in this game it proved the decisive factor in Warren's decision to quit when he did. My trapping of the Ninth Army HQ ensured that Warren could no longer win. It would be better if the victory conditions were tied to the German's historical level of victory in that if the Germans did better than their historical counterparts, then they would win. Then the Soviet player would have more incentive to slug it out.