Up Inferno Hill After Action Report

Attraction

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Muscular Orders of Battle

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Early model Panthers

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Flamethrowers and MOL

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Room to maneuver

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HIP surprises

Up Inferno Hill After Action Report

I had the distinct pleasure of playing the esteemed Rick Reinesch in this scenario from Action Pack 5. It depicts a German assault on a hill during the Kursk offensive. Part of the attraction in this action are the muscular orders of battle: the Germans bring 12 elite squads and 11 armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) to the party, while their Russian hosts await them with an assortment of party favors including mines, wire, trenches, a 45LL antitank gun, a dug-in T-34 M41, a couple of T-34 M43s, and a few support weapons, most notably a flamethrower. The Soviets bring some friends on as reinforcements, a pair of the formidable SU-122 assault guns, and later a couple of submachine gun squads and a few more T-34M41s. Another attraction for this dust up is the appearance of some uncommon units for the Germans. Their infantry are equipped with various motorcycles and sidecars, and the tankers are field testing the new Panther tank. They also bring a flame throwing PzIII(FL) to fire things up. The defenders of the Rodina have Molotov cocktails too. With a light breeze and dry conditions, this scenario could be a pyromaniac's delight. Perhaps the title of the scenario is a hint.

Quite a few of the defending Soviet assets get to start the game hidden from view. The dug-in tank starts hidden. They have the option of starting two squad equivalents out of sight, and of course the antitank gun and the mines will be hidden as well. The wire and entrenchments can start out of sight, only being placed on board when an enemy unit gains line of sight within 16 hexes. Since the Germans enter the map in this contest, all of the remaining Russians can start concealed, and they can use their extra concealment to create dummy defenders somewhere. With a lot of concealment terrain available, there are many options for the Russian player. A cagey defender should be able to find room up his sleeves for several little tricks and traps. Ultimately, however, victory will be decided atop the hills, so it might not pay to try to be too clever. Knowing where the attack must go can be an advantage to the defender, who can hatch his plots accordingly.

Early Turns

German Plan

Do not lose the Panthers

Be cautious with the flammpanzer

Straight-ahead attack: take the hill lengthwise

It was difficult to tell very much from Rick's setup, because so much of the Russian order of battle could start hidden. The mines, wire, entrenchments, and antitank gun were all nowhere to be seen. Additionally, these defenders also were allowed two hidden squad equivalents (plus any SMC/SW set up with them). Since the Germans enter from offboard, the rest of the Soviets could start concealed, and they had several concealment counters available for dummy stacks. Moreover there was a wide variety of places where these hidden units could be, so there could be plenty of traps awaiting. As the attacker there's only so much you can do in this kind of scenario to detect or skirt the traps. The terrain of this battlefield is dominated by a long hill running down the center, with mostly flat, open terrain to either side with lots of grain and wadis. The German marching orders call for them to control two widely separated hilltop hexes, and also make sure no Good Order Russian units are adjacent to those hexes, at game end. So basically, it's a “conquer the hilltop” scenario. That hill runs the length of the middle board, and reaches up to level 3 in two areas, separated by a saddle. The first victory hex is up front at level 3, while the other one is completely at the other end across the saddle, in the back. The Russian setup told me little, although it appeared he probably had a T-34 down on the plain on either side of the hill to guard the flanks. I briefly considered parking my StuGs at range in the plain to either side of the hill, to get a good view of the entire hilltop, and bombard it with smoke and explosive as needed, but ultimately I thought that might be too time-consuming, and opted

Early Turns

instead to make a simple, frontal attack, taking the hill on lengthwise. This would possibly create several advantages: it might be a faster attack than going the long way around (and the Germans had to take the front hill anyway), it might initially shield my attackers from many of the defending units, and it might be an unexpected avenue of attack, since I thought perhaps Rick would expect me to try to envelop the hilltops from all sides. However this approach could also have its challenges, as it could be the wrong guess, resulting in German troops and tanks getting hung up on wire or in minefields, and once committed to this avenue of attack, it might be a bit tricky to reposition units come down off the first hilltop to try any wide flanking maneuvers on the second one. Still, the hilltops had to be taken, and since I expected much of the wire and mines to be right on or close to the objectives, my troops were likely to run into them anyway. I saw it as a question of when, not if. The first turn was rather uneventful, as the initial German attackers drove their motorcycles up the shoulder of the near end of the hill, many of them dismounting, with the assault guns and half-tracks maneuvering in close support. The leading scouts discovered some entrenchments on the front part of the hill, but no Russian fire came, and both sides retained their concealment.

Turn 2

Only half of the German forces arrived on the first turn, and the rest followed them on turn 2. The second group included the true heavy hitters, the pair of Panther D tanks, the flame- throwing Panzer Mark III, and the 9-2 leader who would try to direct the medium machine gun once it was assembled, and pair it with the heavy machine gun removed from the SPW 251/sMG. I really didn't want to lose any of these great assets cheaply, and there were many ways to do so. A flank shot from a hidden Russian gun, or some other nasty surprise could spoil the day of any of these units, but also the Panthers could blow it without any help. Experimental models being field tested here at Kursk, these early Panthers have to roll the bones every time they start up: on a 10 they stall, on an 11 they immobilize, and on a 12 they catch fire and are wrecked. I certainly didn't want to give such powerful weapons away for nothing, so I resolved to start and stop them as little as possible. My early plan was to keep them in motion until I found a good spot for them, and then park them there and leave them for the entire game. As it turned out the leading German units swept over the front part of the hill because it was just a dummy position, and it looked like a good perch for the Panthers.

Turn 2

Here is a wider view of the battlefield on turn 2. The offboard artillery observer was bringing down 80mm on the far peak. More trenches and wire were revealed. On the flank of the far hilltop, the Russian left or German right, you can see where the defenders set fire to the grain field on that side, hoping that the mild breeze and dry conditions would spread the flames enough to seal off that flank from the Wehrmacht. Some Russian soldiers that had been initially deployed to the flanks, now made their move toward the hill itself, once they saw the Teutonic attack unfolding.

Turn 3

The German assault had suffered very little so far, and had made good progress. But that was because there was practically no opposition on the first hilltop. I was a bit concerned that my troops would therefore face a real hornet's nest as they went for the last redoubt at the other end of the hill. Already I could see more wire and entrenchments over there, and the Russian soldiers were heading there from the flanks. Thus on turn 3 I pressed the assault as far forward as I dared. Most importantly, both Panthers got into position on the level 3 hill on the initial Russian trenches. One bogged, but why should I mind? They were both in positions with great lines of sight to the sides of the hill, and they could even see across much of level 3 itself, although there was a woods hex directly in front of them that effectively bisected their view. Some infantry pushed forward toward the saddle between the two hilltops, while a couple of half-tracks used their speed to deposit a couple of squads in the woods below and to the left. The StuGs took up watch in hull down positions at level two, where they could see a good portion of that side of the arena, and they used the orchards there to protect themselves from prying Russian eyes (and guns) below them and to their left.

The German 80mm mortar artillery started shelling the far hilltop. It did not cause many casualties, but it did break a Russian mortar squad, and generally kept heads down.

In the Russian half of the turn, disaster struck the defenders. Early on, the Russians had tried to seal their flank by setting fire to a grain field. The flames quickly spread, and were getting uncomfortably close to the T-34 M43 on that side. The tank decided to drop concealment and relocate, but that made it more vulnerable to one of the watching Panthers, which deftly brewed it up with a shot through some drifting smoke. The SU-122s arrived this turn, and one headed for the back of the rear hill, while the other drove down the road on the Russian right flank of the hill. It passed through a crossroads where it was briefly visible to a hilltop StuG, which quickly drilled it with APCR. Finally there was another T-34 on the Russian right flank, which had changed positions in a previous turn to a spot behind a wall on that side. Most of the StuGs were careful to stay out of its sight, and were content to leave it to the other Panther, higher up on level 3, which rewarded their confidence with an efficient kill. In one turn, the Russians had lost 3 of their 8 tanks.

German Turn 3

Russian Turn 3

SU-122s prepare to ride to the rescue

Russian Turn 3

German gunnery takes its toll on the Russian right flank.

A hidden Russian squad with a flamethrower suddenly appeared and tried to roast a squad of Germans that were trying to push along the (German) left flank of the hill, but only succeeded in enraging them. In the meanwhile a dug-in T-34, which had been hidden in an orchard near the forward tip of the second hilltop, just near the saddle, showed itself and nailed the German StuH42, which had been prowling just to the German right side of the first hilltop. This dug-in tank was supported by a squad of infantry in a trench to its front, and wire to its rear. Later the Germans learned that it was also defended by some mines. This position was the next nut that needed to be cracked. It was a bit tricky because the ground to its front and sides was so open, and the artillery observer eventually got some shells falling on it. However, those shells also hindered German movement as they tried to assault the position, and ultimately the artillery moved off elsewhere after causing no casualties in this area. It was left to the German infantry, which had moved up under some smoke cover, to secure it. This they did by breaking the squad, and brewing up the armored cupola with a well placed demolition charge.

A T-34 burns on the Russian left flank, while German infantry use smoke and terrain to cover their move through the saddle.

A StuG moved into a nice overwatch position (U4) as the infantry pressed the assault through the saddle. Nearby in V3 is the wreck of the StuH42, a victim of the dug-in T-34 armored cupola. An SPW 251/sMG is

behind him in V4. The 9-2 with HMG, MMG, and two 2-4-8s is back with the Panthers in X5.

German infantry in the saddle pushes forward with the help of artillery and smoke, and prepares to reduce the armored cupola position.

The 2-4-8 has just set the armored cupola ablaze with a demo charge.

The berserk squad can be seen still trudging up the hill.

A StuG has moved up for support.

The forward units have already moved on to assault the final trench line.

The StuG was quickly destroyed by a flank shot from a hidden 45LL. Note that the StuH42 wreck in this picture has been misplaced, probably due to a LOS check.

The Russian 45LL at the lower left has just destroyed the StuG on the hilltop in U4. Meanwhile several German squads supported by a couple of AFVs assault the flank of the final trench position.

More Soviet reinforcements, three T-34 M41 tanks, two 5-2- 7s, and a 7-0 leader arrived on turn 4 and made a beeline for the back hill. The blazing grain field to their front, in addition to the large amount of smoke in and around the saddle, prevented the overwatching Panther from getting any shots on them as they approached. However, the German artillery was on target all day long, and soon 80mm shells were zeroed in on these reinforcements as they got to the hill. This shelling broke a squad and leader, and then later a critical hit brewed up one of the T-34s. One of the other tanks moved to support the SU-122 behind the final redoubt, while the other T-34 maneuvered around the back of the hill to get to the other side to try to provide some support over there. By this point I had sent a couple of my half-tracks around that side, as a threat to clean up scattered broken Russians by cutting rout paths, and perhaps eventually help the attack at the hilltop by suppressing Russian infantry. As German squads got into the trench line, they came under fire from the SU-122, which managed to break some of them, but not all, and even created a hero.

The flammpanzer had been biding its time, waiting for crunch time. As the assault carried past the saddle and toward the last redoubt of trenches on the second hilltop, this tank was quite helpful in clearing out the last defenders. As Germans took over the trench line, one of the T-34s crashed through the wire and right on top of a German squad and hero, which set it ablaze immediately. Finally one of the Panthers chanced a startup roll and motored over to the final hilltop to duel with the SU-122 and T-34 over there. The T-34 was forced to kick into motion, while the SU-122 put a HEAT round into the turret mantlet but failed to get a result. Since the T-34 was less dangerous while in motion, I moved a StuG behind it to prepare a shot for the next turn, and it did indeed brew up its Russian adversary as planned. The final redoubt was thick with German infantry and armor, and the last of the Russian soldiers went down fighting. A couple of half-tracks were destroyed, one by an ATR in the rear, the other burned up by a Molotov cocktail.

Conclusion

Another fine game against a fine opponent, this one lived up to its billing, with blazes of various kinds all over Inferno Hill. There was plenty of action to keep it fun and exciting for both sides. Some poor luck hampered Rick's defense. He lost 3 tanks early, two on somewhat low-odds shots. I like the idea of sealing off one flank by setting the grain field on fire, but if you do that you'd better not have it force your own units out of their positions. I think in this action the Russian armor has to avoid directly confronting the German armor as much as possible. The matchup simply does not favor the Russian armor here, especially at range. Instead they should try to survive to the endgame, harass the German infantry, and strike at the flanks of the Wehrmacht armor when it can. Certainly this is easier said than done. My men only stumbled into one of Rick's minefields, in a relatively inconsequential spot. There were AT mines protecting the flank of the cupola, but the German half squad waltzed right over them to place its DC. It is difficult as a defender to steer events so that your enemy falls into all of your traps, which is why in a scenario like this sometimes it is safer to put your mines directly on the objective.