The Adventures of Kampfgruppe Klink

[bigjackmac]

All,

Morning, 13 April 1941

Here we are, continuing Kampfgruppe Klink's campaign in Greece.  The first battle saw Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen Battlegroup take a key mountain crossroads manned by members of the British Royal Engineers supported by Armored Cavalry from New Zealand.  The fight saw the Germans infantry nearly eliminate the Commonwealth battlegroup, which fell back in disarray.  Captain Freitag pressed his advantage, immediately pursuing south down, where it ran into defensive positions manned by the remnants of the New Zealand 21st Infantry Battalion.  1st Schutzen then evicted the NZ 21st Inf Bn from its positions, forcing them to fall back.  The third fight saw 1st Lt Ginter's 2nd Schutzen moving secure a crossing over the D3 bridge, forcing the 27th MG Battalion back.  The fourth fight saw Major Bohm's 2nd Recce Battlegroup push back the Australian 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment after some fierce fighting.  The fifth battle saw Captain Freitag's beleaguered 1st Schutzen Battlegroup defend the B3 bridgehead against attacks by the British Rangers/9th King's Royal Rifle Corps, and the Royal Engineers/New Zealand Cavalry, pushing the former back and destroying the latter!  The sixth battle saw Battlegroup Wehner (1st Recce) attack and destroy the Lee Force/Australian 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, though they suffered so many casualties they were in then combined with the 2nd Recce battlegroup.  The seventh fight saw Lt Loeb's Panzers absolutely shellack the Allies' 4th Hussars, seeing the final defeat of Allied armored reserves, opening the road to the campaign objective of Servia, and unhinging the Allied defensive line.  The eighth fight saw Col Klink lead the Panzer Battlegroup in a hard-fought victory that saw the Australian 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment destroyed.  Now we see Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen Battlegroup attempting to fend off a spoiling attack by the British Rangers/9th King's Royal Rifle Corps, in an attempt to buy their comrades more time to withdraw from the German encirclement.


The British are on the attack but the entrenched Germans are roughing them up before they even get off their start line.


The Allied armor decides it's time to do something about all these pesky Germans!


But things take a turn for the worse when the German Stugs come rolling up.

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-in-greece-fight-9.html

Next up we witness Colonel Klink leading the Panzer Battlegroup in an attack on the lightly armed Wellington Force, a hodge-podge of cooks, bakers, and candlestick makers hastily thrown together.  A victory here for the Germans will likely see the Wellington Force destroyed and the gate shut behind the retreating Commonwealth forces.

V/R,
Jack

[paulr]

 

The only faint bright point is there are only Kiwis left on the map

Go the Wellingtons

[Techno]

Boo....Hiss....

I think the Kiwis should be given a crack shot sniper and take this Klink chappie out of the equation.

Cheers - Phil

[paulr]

Either that or let Charlie Upham at them

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Poor show by the allies. If you tried a game of the Greeks had been fighting the Italians, that would show these bully boy Germans they  wouldn't have stood a chance...

[bigjackmac]

Yeah, I'm sorry guys, I didn't even want to post this fight, nothing (except the poor German mortar accuracy early on) went the Allies' way, and it just wasn't even close...

Paul cracks me up though, silver linings and such

One more fight to go.

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

Don't forget the sniper ! 

Cheers - Phil

[bigjackmac]

I can't promise that Phil

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

Well, we made it, the last fight of KG Klink's campaign in Greece! 

The ninth fight saw Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen Battlegroup absolutely bludgeon the weakened British Rangers/9th King's Royal Rifle Corps as they attempted a spoiling attack to buy their retreating comrades time to escape the German encirclement.  It didn't work, and now we find Colonel Klink leading an assault by the Panzer Battlegroup on the lightly armed Wellington Force.  A victory here for the Germans will likely see the Wellington Force destroyed and the gate shut behind the retreating Commonwealth forces.


The Germans advance aggressively, so aggressively that they allow their Engineer Platoon, still mounted in their trucks, to be ambushed by Kiwis dug in on Hill 312!


And those damned Allied 2-pdrs are on the scene, again!


As absolutely all hell breaks loose on Hill 421!


The Germans ultimately come out on top, but the ragtag, lightly armed Wellington Force sure put up a helluva fight!

To see the whole thing, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-in-greece-fight-10.html

For a post-mortem on the campaign, to include stats, thoughts on the map system and rules, and what's coming up next (hint: the largest invasion of the history of humankind), please take a gander here:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-mini-campaign-in-greece-map_30.html

If you're interested in seeing what KG Klink looked like at the end of Greece, check here:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-oob-greece-1941.html

If you're interested in the changes to KG Klink, what's it's going to look like and how it will be formed up, please take a look here:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-oob-for-operation-barbarossa.html

and:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-battlegroups-for-barbarossa.html

I thank everyone that made it this far, I hope you enjoyed it as much I did, and we'll be coming back to KG Klink as soon as I can get some stuff painted up and some stuff re-based.  In the meantime, we'll be heading over to my Cuba Libre blog for a massive, 30-fight campaign in the fictional African country of South Leon.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Well done Jack! 

[paulr]

 

I wonder what would have happened if the Welligtons had defended the village rather than charging up the hill

Thanks for an interesting campaign Jack

[bigjackmac]

Thanks, Lemmey!

My pleasure, Paul!  Hmmm...  My opinion is that if they'd simply have stood fast and defended the village the Germans would have by-passed them to take out the heavy weapons, then pounded them with impunity from afar.  Me, I wonder what would have happened if that assault on the hill had worked! 

V/R,
Jack

[paulr]

Good point

[Techno]

Nice one, Jack !

Couldn't find any mention of the sniper.....I must have missed that bit. 

Cheers - Phil.

[bigjackmac]

Paul - I get one every now and again!

Phil - I'm sure he was in there somewhere, keep looking!

V/R,
Jack

[pierre the shy]

Thanks for sharing your campaign Jack, very entertaining as always 

look forward to seeing what happens in Russia.....

[bigjackmac]

Thanks, Pierre, I greatly appreciate the support! 

I'm painting and basing as fast as I can; every day we grow closer to Barbarossa!

V/R,
Jack

[Ithoriel]

Good stuff, as always.

Drang nach Osten!

[pierre the shy]

Thanks, Pierre, I greatly appreciate the support! 

I'm painting and basing as fast as I can; every day we grow closer to Barbarossa!

Hope your Russian force has a couple of KV-2's in it, they would make life challenging for Col Klink and friends early in the 1941 campaign.

I haven't forgotten those 1/600th planes I got off you by the way Jack.....slowly working on a campaign that they will appear in   

[Ithoriel]

Hope your Russian force has a couple of KV-2's in it, they would make life challenging for Col Klink and friends early in the 1941 campaign.

LOL More of a challenge for the Russians if your rules model them properly. Slow, cumbersome, top heavy and prone to breakdown. The later SU-152 is a whole other matter.

I'd expect Colonel Klink to have a little more trouble than he did in Greece, but not much .... initially.

But .... Russia is vast, General Winter is cruel, the Rasputitsa sucks the life out of any offensive and eventually the Soviets will be able to mass the "Gods of War" at a rate of 200-250 tubes per kilometre of the front.

Vpered! Na Zapad!

Perhaps Klink will be lucky and get sent to North Africa or Normandy.