Sno-King Krieg Spielers

The Battle of State Farm 23, May 1942
Fought on 20 January 2002, using Command Decision III Rules & Battlefront Miniatures

Background

The scenario takes place on the Soviet Southwest Front in May 1942. After they had pushed back the Germans in the winter of ’41 – ’42, the Soviets wanted to drive a wedge between the German Southern and Central army groups. Little did they know that the Germans had regrouped from the winter set backs and were planning their own summer offensive.

In this scenario, the Soviets had two and a half tank brigades to force the Germans out of State Farm 23. The Soviet plan was to advance on the flanks to deny the Germans high ground to the Northwest and Southeast of the village while making a strong push on SF 23 itself. Specifically, the plan was for 1st Tank Brigade to one, guard the Corps’ left flank and two, assault the woods to the left of SF 23 to support the attack by 2^nd Tank Brigade. The main attack was left to the 2^nd Tank Brigade, which had to assault straight up the gut and take State Farm 23. The 3^rd Tank Brigade was split in two parts. Force one, with one tank bn and one infantry bn, was to take the woods to the right of the farm and support 2^nd Brigade in seizing it. Force two of only a tank Bn, was to rush forward and take the far right hill overlooking the Soviet right flank. Force two main mission was to draw away as many panzer's as possible from potentially supporting the farm. 100% casualties were acceptable if it drew away German reserves.

To defend State Farm 23, the Germans had two battered panzer battalions and a panzer grenadier battalion. The Germans plan was to advance with the panzer battalions on each flank and engage the Soviet tanks to keep them from making an attack in mass on the farm. Defending the farm was the heavy company of the infantry battalion, with the three line companies arriving in support. SdKfz 251/1s transported one of these companies.

Map with Initial Plans for both sides

The Battle of State Farm 23

1400 Hours - The battle began ominously for the Soviets. On their right, the armored car platoon, from 3rd Tank Brigade zoomed to the front, only to be met by a panzer battalion redeploying in hull down positions on a hill. The Soviet light tanks followed close behind, quickly out pacing their Lend/Lease Valentine and T-34 comrades. Fire from the panzer battalion and the infantry Co's SdKfz 251/10, dispatched the armored car detachment and a company of T-60 A’s.

The immediate result of this, was that 3^rd Brigade commander decided that one tank battalion was not going to be enough of a diversion, so he redirected the other tank battalion to engage the German armor on the hill. This meant the Infantry had to go it alone, in its support of 2^nd Brigade attack. In the Soviet’s center, the weaker of the three tank brigades advanced at full speed with its motorized infantry riding on the backs of the tanks. The 1^st Tank Brigade advanced on the left flank to take up position Southeast of the farm.

The 2^nd German panzer battalion advanced to the woods Southwest of the farm and began engaging the Soviets at long range. The range and thick armor insured that no Soviet tanks were damaged. In the center, the weapons Co’s AT gun opened up on the approaching tanks with close range ambush fire. Fortunately for the Soviets, not a single tank was even hit, let alone damaged! Of course the Soviets did not even know they were under fire and continued to advance towards the Farm. The Germans soon rectified this with another salvo of Anti-Tank fire. The now surprised Soviet T-60s and armored cars in the center soon fell victim to the anti-tank gun in the farm. The T-34s and Valentines on the right took turns failing morale and retired to the rear to regroup.

1500 Hours - The lack of coordination in the Soviet center, gave the German armor an opportunity to concentrate fire on a small number of tanks, as the Soviets shifted them in a piecemeal fashion. Luckily for the Soviets, the German tank guns could not dent the thick Russian armor. On the Russian left, the Germans were having minor successes, however they had to face KV-1s, which in practical terms eliminated any German plans on turning the Russian left. The German center was holding staunchly, mainly with the tactic of staying in their entrenchment's and choosing when and where to shoot. After another round of dismal shooting from the antitank gun, it started to find the range. Russian tanks began to take significant hits and casualties. The fire was so intense that all surviving tanks were forced to fall back. This left the infantry with out any tank support, exposed in the open, several hundreds yards short of the farm ... Unfortunately for them, they did not go unnoticed by the Germans, an infantry company holding the woods to the right of the soviets, turned its attention to this exposed target. With a hail of gun and mortar fire, they effectively stopped an entire motor rifle battalion from having any part in the battle.

The frontal assault on State Farm 23 was faltering. To support the attack, the two Soviets infantry battalions on either flank began to press the farm on both sides, prompting the Germans to deploy the last of their infantry. When it looked like the Soviet right flank was crumbling, the 1st Panzer Bn commander advanced his battalion off of the hill to the north of State Farm 23 to close in for the kill. This was a gamble, as they were leaving good defensive positions, though they did have two of three tank brigades halted in front of them. The Germans now had an opportunity to crush the Soviets, possible destroying the entire Soviet Corps. However, the gamble went badly for the Germans, as both the 2^nd and 3^rd tank brigades recovered quicker than the Germans expected. Advancing the tanks on the north side of the farm allowed the Soviets to be close enough to start hitting in significant numbers. In a span of less than an hour, heavy fire from T-34s and Valentines, knocked out dozens of German tanks, the command tanks from the 1^st Panzer Battalion took especially heavy casualties. The few remaining tanks had enough and fled the field. The Germans were also forced to redeployed their tanks on the south side of the farm, as the Soviets advanced 1^st Tank Brigade, leading with their KV-1 heavy tanks.

1700 Hours - With both of his flanks being bent back around him, the infantry commander gave a textbook example of how withdraw under enemy fire. He extracted his battalion with only the loss of two platoons and the antitank gun crew. The battle ended when 3^rd Brigade’s Infantry Battalion advanced into and occupied State Farm 23, shortly following the German withdrawal.

Overall German tank casualties were heavy as they were unable to recover any of their disabled vehicles, but they had only minor losses to their infantry. The Soviet infantry battalion from 2^nd Tank Brigade took especially heavy losses, but many of the tank losses were recovered and placed back into service. Overall a solid victory for the Soviets, though it was close to being a stalemate (a.k.a. German minor victory) as the Germans were almost able to stop the advance of the entire Corps along its front