Battle report:
Force A advanced as planned when the two anti-tank guns saw three armoured scout vehicles and destroyed two of them. After that five PzIV were seen and eventuelly four of them were destroyed by the commander of the SU-85 battery. The fifth and the last scout vehicle were destroyed by the infantry. Combat losses consisted of a SU-85. After this the infantry turned south and south-west and the SU-85 command vehicle together with the BA-20M continued west. The BA-20M was later destroyed by a anti-tank gun.
Force B advanced according to plan, but were unlucky enough to face a large number of Panther tanks in the forrest area. It was decided by the taskforce commander to give the entire firesupport from the BM-31 static rocket platforms to this area, which resulted in a large number of immobilised Panther tanks, of which all but two later were destroyed by the infantry, which took very heavy losses during the battle. One more was destroyed by a anti-tank gun positioned near the road and the last one survived and could be towed away by the surviving Panther tanks after the battle.
Force C also advanced according to plan, but were also unlucky to face a large number of Panther tanks, that were traveling on the road. After this this force was pretty much stuck here and also took heavy losses, although not as heavy as those of
force B. They were able to destroy a platoon of Puma armoured scout vehicles and a Panther, but couldn't do much more during the battle.
Force D had a good start and at first destroyed a PzIV platoon for only one combat loss and then were able to destroy two captured T-34/76 and some anti-tank guns for a few more combat losses. After that the force splitted up into two groups, one heading north towards the flags and one heading west. The group heading west continued to destroy several anti-aircraft guns and most importantly the German' artillery support and managed to capture and hold all the flags to the rear of the German' area. The group heading north however were wiped out by the Panther tanks.
The areas of
force A and
force B remained calm and they were able to maintain control of their objectives, even though it was at the cost of very high losses. The combined rear area of
force C and
force D were in danger as the Panther tanks, supported by PzIV tanks, broke through the defensive line. It was now that the anti-tank guns near the road and in the south-east performed a wonder and managed to destroy six Panther and one PzIV tanks for the loss of only one crewman. They also contributed in the destruction of yet another Panther tank by tracking it so it could be destroyed by a IL-2 Shturmovic.
After these actions some flags could be re-captured by MG units to the rear of the Soviet area.
Losses:
The Soviet taskforce lost a total of 34 tanks and 695 men, mostly infantry, and the German taskforce a total of 55 tanks, 4 halftracks, 21 artillery and about 750 men in total.
The tank battalion lost 22 tanks and 19 crews. The tank destroyer battery lost 6 tanks and 3 crews. The assault gun platoon lost 4 tanks and 3 crews. The BM-20M unit lost 1 armoured vehicle and 1 crew.
Claims:
The tank battalion claimed 14 tanks, 4 halftracks and 16 artillery destroyed. The tank destroyer battery claimed 17 tanks destroyed. The anti-tank gun battery claimed 10 tanks destroyed. The infantry as a whole claimed to have destroyed 12 tanks and armoured vehicles plus 5 artillery in close combat actions. And finally one of the supporting IL-2 Shturmovics claimed 1 Panther destroyed.
Battle result:
The result of this battle was a draw, as neither side had an advantage and held some lf the flags.
Replacing losses:
Since more than enough T-34/85 tanks were held in reserve, replacing the losses suffered by the tank battalion was no problem. It was also no problem to replace the entire losses suffered by the infantry. Four of the infantry companies also got their MG units replaced with Bazooka teams and the MG company was transformed into a pure HMG company, replacing the LMG units with HMG units.
The losses of the tank destroyer battery was a bigger issue however, since not enough SU-85 tank destroyers were available, because of this only the surviving crews got a replacement SU-85, increasing its strength from 4 to just 7 tank destroyers.
It was decided to re-build the assault gun platoon from scratch and with the good connections of the task force commander it was possible to replace the remaining SU-122 with two ISU-122 tank destroyers. If successful during the next battle, three more ISU-122 will be given to the unit, effectively transforming it into a complete tank destroyer platoon.
The BA-20M was not replaced.
New basic force:
Basic force:
-Soviet HQ + Boys Carrier (8 men)
-Tank Battalion (32 T-34/85 - 160 men)
-Tank Destroyer Battery (7 SU-85 - 28 men)
-Assault Gun Platoon (2 ISU-122 - 8 men)
-Artillery Regiment (8 122 mm - 288 men)
-Forward Observation vehicles (1 BA-20M - 3 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 12 Bazooka - 1.184 men)
Battle Two:
Vilna, July 1944 - Meeting Engagement
Support forces:
-Tank Company (10 IS-II - 40 men)
-Air Support (2 IL-2 Shturmovic - 4 men)
Note: With a family to care for, it's a lot of work. I'll hopefully be able to post my next AAR next Sunday. If not, you'll simply have to wait one more week. Btw, just in case someone wonders, I've added the IMG tags in this post, but the pics still only show as links.