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Old December 6th, 2012, 04:00 PM

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Default Re: The final push towards Berlin 1944-45!



In the beginning of the battle, as the forces A, B, C and D advanced towards their targets, Puma armoured scout vehicles started to appear and after about five minutes, they had all been destroyed. After that force D ended up in tank to tank combat against a mixed unit of Panther G and PzIVH tanks, resulting in 8 destroyed tanks for the loss of a single IS-II. Minutes later a few more PzIVH tanks appeared in the north sector and tracked a T-5g before finally being knocked out. Now however, the north sector was under Soviet control and all the flags were captured, with the infantry fanning out to defend them and all the IS-II tanks except four staying behind to help them defend them and the T-6a heading south to help out at the south flag group, where a strong German’ force not only had captured all the flags but also managed to knock out both IS-II tanks and track the T-44, that now relied on the mass of infantry being able to hold it’s positions and protect it. The four T-34/85 tanks, knowing that they stood no chance against the Panther G tanks, had headed north towards the centre flag, to take part in the defence there instead.



The four other IS-II tanks continued towards the rear area of the German’ lines and arrived just in time to stop an armoured assault by a large number of PzIVH tanks heading towards the centre flag group, which had just been captured for the loss of a T-5g, with the crew surviving. They managed to destroy all the enemy tanks for the loss of a IS-II and then continued further south, to deal with the German’ mortars, which had been spotted.



The T-6a arrived in the south flag area but was also knocked out by the German’ tanks, the experienced crew with 10 confirmed kills being killed. Thus, with both the north and centre flag groups in Soviet’ hands, all of the mobile support units - the ISU-122 and SU-85M tank destroyers - headed southwest to help out in defending the captured territory and try to capture the south flag group.



It was only after very hard fighting that the south flag group slowly but surely began to come under Soviet’ control. First the five Panther G tanks were destroyed and then the remaining German’ tanks fell under artillery fire. Some of them tried to re-capture the centre flag group, knocking out a SU-85M, the crew surviving, but it failed. A second attempt made by a strong force of Panther G tanks also failed, after a trap had been set by the Soviet’ tanks and tank destroyers. A final attempt to re-capture the flags also failed, although it resulted in the destruction of a IS-II tank. Finally, after further fighting, the superior mass of Soviet’ infantry moved in to capture the south flag group, thus ending the battle. The few infantry groups remaining couldn’t do much about it and the fire support was reduced in half, thanks to a second mortar unit being abandoned. It was good planning and a large portion of luck that decided this battle, had force D been to the north, chances were that the German’ forces would have been able to perform a pincer move and made it more difficult to re-capture them.



Losses:

The Soviet taskforce lost a total of 8 tanks, 2 aircraft and 184 men, the great majority infantry, and the German taskforce a total of 78 tanks, 4 halftracks, 2 artillery and about 400 men in total. Of the 78 German’ tanks lost, 1 was abandoned by its crew and could be captured by Soviet’ forces. The 2 artillery units - mortars - were also found abandoned after the battle.



The Soviet’ losses included 3 IS-II with crews, 1 T-6a with crew and 1 T-5g without crew from the tank battalion, 1 SU-85M from the tank destroyer battery and finally 2 IS-II with crews from the heavy tank company.



Claims:

The tank battalion as a whole claimed 36 tanks and 2 halftracks destroyed. The tank destroyer battery claimed 9 tanks destroyed. The tank destroyer platoon claimed 1 tank destroyed. The heavy tank company claimed 19 tanks destroyed. And finally the infantry claimed 12 tanks and 2 halftracks destroyed during intensive close combat actions.



Of the total claims made by the tank battalion, 9 were made by the IS-II tanks, 7 by the T-34/85 tanks, 2 by the T-44 and an incredible 20 by the T-5g tanks.

Battle result:

Since the Soviet’ taskforce managed to capture all the flags and control all of the flag areas, the battle ended up as a decisive victory. The German’ forces simply didn’t have enough manpower re-capture the south flag group nor to capture the north and centre flag groups.

Replacing losses:

Since the battle was such a great success, it was possible to transform the entire mixed tank battalion into a pure heavy tank battalion, equipped with 27 IS-II and 5 T-5g tanks. Thus the old and battle scarred T-34/85 tanks could be given to another medium tank battalion.

The T-44 was given back to the factory for evaluations based on the reports regarding its combat performance and the combat damage received, the old T-44 crew being issued a brand new IS-II instead.

It was also possible to almost completely re-build the tank destroyer battery, from just 5 to 10 SU-85M, thus just a single SU-85M from reaching full strength again.

The tank destroyer platoon however will have to put up with just 2 ISU-122 for a while longer.

The infantry also got their losses completely replaced.

The T-5g put out of fighting condition during the last battle in Rumania, with its main gun destroyed by another Panther G, had in the meantime been worked on and transformed into an improvised APC by removing the turret and closing the turret ring with thick wooden boards and adding a heavy AAMG for extra firepower. This APC was now given to the Soviet’ headquarters, enabling it to take more active part in the future combat actions as well as providing more armour protection for the HQ.

New basic force:

Basic force:

-Soviet HQ + T-5g APC (8 men)
-Heavy Tank Battalion (27 IS-II & 5 T-5g - 133 men)
-Tank Destroyer Battery (10 SU-85M - 40 men)
-Tank Destroyer Platoon (2 ISU-122 - 8 men)
-Artillery Regiment (8 122 mm - 288 men)
-Anti-Aircraft Platoon (4 GAZ-AA 37 - 24 men)
-Anti-Tank Battery (6 57 mm L73 - 30 men)
-Infantry (8 infantry & 1 MG Companies and 16 Bazooka - 1.160 men)

Battle Five:

Latvia, October 1944 - Defend

Support forces:

-Fortification works: Minefields, barbed wire, dragon’s teeth & trenches
-Artillery Support (2 122 mm batteries - 72 men)
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