The Adventures of Kampfgruppe Klink

[toxicpixie]

Neither "off table arty commander" nor "logistics commander" are great for gaming or reading batreps for

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 1000, 1 Sept 1939, and KG Klink is in disarray, having just been thrown back from the village of Mokra by strong anti-tank defenses of the Polish 21st Uhlan Regiment.  As the KG is regrouping, the Polish 21st Armored Regiment and 12th Uhlan Regiment counterattack the 4th Panzer Division, which also was treated roughly by the defenders of Mokra.  One of the Polish counterattack columns strikes just south of the KG's last attack, right at the operational boundary of one of 4th Panzer Division's Panzer battalions and KG Klink.  Seeing the potential calamity, Maj Schultz grabs an ad-hoc force comprising 2nd Panzer Platoon and 4th Grenadier Platoon, and charges southeast to meet the enemy counterattack head on.

**WARNING: SEVERE, DISGUSTING PROXY ALERT**

The opposing forces, very armor heavy; I'll give up the ghost and let you know that the Germans lose (again), but it's the infantry that almost (almost!) save the day...

The Polish force.  I apologize for my hideous use of proxies here, but I don't have any Polish tanks.  So, this is very ahistorical, but I'm doing the best I can, and this is probably the only fight that we'll see Polish tanks in.  The Poles have their CO, three squads of cavalry, three medium tanks (T-26s), two light tanks (T-70s), two infantry tanks (Matilda Is), and two tankettes (Vickers, which I think the Poles actually had some of).  Hold your nose and bear with me, it's a good fight.

Ze Germans: CO for this fight is Major Schultz, the KG Executive Officer, with 2nd Lt Schiffer's 2nd Panzer Plt (of 3 Pz IIIs and 2 Pz IIs) and Officer Cadet Vetter's 4th Grenadier Platoon (of four rifle squads, though Cadet Vetter actually missed the fight as he was aiding Col Klink with the regrouping when Maj Schultz grabbed his platoon and sprinted southeast into the fight).


Overview, north is up, Germans on the left (west) and Poles on the right (east).  The Poles have armor across the board (Vickers in north, then infantry tanks (Matildas), then medium tanks (T-26s) then light tanks (T-70s) and cavalry in the south, and the Germans, with armor in the north and infantry in the south.


Things were going very poorly by the time Sgt Mader distinguished himself by close assaulting a Polish medium tank, earning the Iron Cross 2nd Class and Tank Hunter Badge.

Notes:
-2nd Lt Schiffer WIA, out for campaign.
-Cpl Schonan KIA.
-Sgt Mader recommended for Iron Cross 2nd Class for charging and destroying enemy tank.
-Four of five tanks of 2nd Pz Plt knocked out.
-Lost ~35 KIA/WIA/POW, two Pz III, and two Pz II.
-Caused ~30 KIA/WIA, destroyed two medium tanks.

Check out the full report here:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2015/01/kg-klink-poland-game-4.html

Another butt-whoopin'.  Hey, I'm getting used to it.  Just couldn't get my tanks going...  Now time for the enemy's infantry counterattack.  Should go okay, I've been doing better with infantry than tanks anyway

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Oops! 

[toxicpixie]

We used to play a big Europe sized WW2 game back in Uni, and on one occasion Germany surrendered after the Polish campaign, the Wehrmacht having gutted itself on the Polish Army to the extent the French & British couldn't beat the Poles to Berlin...

This isn't entirely dissimilar looking

[bigjackmac]

Ah, it's not that bad.  I have a vision in my head of how the early war campaigns went, and it's this: very heavy, ferocious fighting where it occurred, with widespread confusion and panic at the operational level, which doomed the Poles, Dutch, Belgians, French, and Brits.

So, I'm not showing the 'easy' days, where the panzers and grenadiers rolled across the country side, doing 50km per day, I'm only focused on where they ran into serious resistance. My reading of how that went down in real life is that, when they met serious resistance, the Germans suffered some serious adversity and even reverses.

My overall account of the fight at Mokra is actually historically inaccurate: in my fights the Germans did much better than they did in real life! In real life, the first fight the German recon elements and light tanks got shot to pieces, whereas in mine, the KG carried the day. Then my mech attack got beat, same as real life; the Polish counterattack beat the Germans back in real, whereas in mine, at least the KG stopped the infantry portion. Then in real life the Germans made another attack, and again got shot to pieces, but in mine (it's the next fight) the KG actually took the railroad embankment.

In real life the Germans won the fight because the Poles were outflanked by 1st Panzer Division to the southeast, and were forced to fall back. So, I'm ahead of the game. I've also played two games in the fight when 4th Panzer reached the suburbs of Warsaw; both were miserable defeats for the Germans in real life. I fought to a draw in the first one, then won the second one (barely). Now the KG has pulled out to deal with the threat to its rear (Battle of Kutno).

I just posted a batrep from a fun little game my 5-yr old son and I played.  I hope to have another of these batreps posted tonight or tomorrow.

Take care fellas.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

You missed Norway from your list!

[toxicpixie]

.       Ah, it's not that bad.  I have a vision in my head of how the early war campaigns went, and it's this: very heavy, ferocious fighting where it occurred, with widespread confusion and panic at the operational level, which doomed the Poles, Dutch, Belgians, French, and Brits.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. All the right fighting in all the wrong places. A quote I liked in the Command Decision army lists was about the structure & tradition of the Commonwealth army making it an army whose units were very difficult to make panic, but very easy to confuse. And could always therefore be relied upon to do the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time...

[bigjackmac]

Sorry, Lemmey, wasn't thinking about them as they're not on my list of stops for KG Klink.

Toxic - Hadn't heard that before, that's a good one 

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 1100, 1 Sept 1939, and the counterattack by the Polish 21st Armored and 12th Uhlan Regiments has been spectacularly successful, except for two issues: 1) they didn't really have a plan for success, so after breaking beating back 4th Panzer Division (and KG Klink) they drove about another kilometer, then lost their forward impetus, and just sort of milled about until 4th Panzer could mount a counterattack of its own to drive them back; and 2) the armor and cavalry pushed through with great speed and no coordination with the 12th Mounted Regiment, who found itself alone while following in trace of the Polish armor.

So, we find ourselves in the time after successful Polish armored counterattack, but before 4th Panzer's counterattack, where (mostly) dismounted portions of the Polish 12th Mounted Regiment runs smack into infantry elements of KG Klink, who were moving southeast (to where their armor had just been punished) when enemy activity was spotted to the east.  The two forces met on the fly, neither expecting the enemy to be where they found him.


The opposing forces: The Poles, with their CO, three squads of cavalry, and nine rifle squads.  As the 21st Armored had left them behind, in their haste to move forward they have left their heavy weapons struggling to catch up.

The German force, with their CO (again in action is the Schutzen Company Commander, 1st Lt Freitag, recipient of the Iron Cross 2nd Class for his actions at the frontier), portions of his Weapons Platoon (two x MG34 and 1 x 80mm mortar), and the better parts of two infantry platoons.  Both have 1 x HQ section and 2 x rifle squad, being 1st Platoon under Cadet Hinkle (with his 1st and 2nd Squads, the 2nd under Sgt Haas, also an Iron Cross 2nd Class recipient from the frontier), and the 3rd Platoon under 2nd Lt Tausch (with his 1st and 4th Squads).


Overview, north is up, Germans on the left (west) and Poles on the right (east).  Both sides are starting on their baseline.  The hill and the ville are the same from the KG's mechanized attack a few hours ago.  You can still see two Panzers burning on the hill, and a number of casualties from both sides lying about.


Things started well, then got a little crazy on the hill.  For the whole batrep, please visit the blog:

http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2015/01/kg-klink-poland-game-5.html

I won, but it was much more difficult than it should have been.  Another thing that's funny is about heroes; I really was trying to get Lt Freitag and Sgt Haas (the guys that already won the Iron Cross) into positions to further demonstrate their personal bravery, but it just didn't work out that way, though Sgt Haas' 'hero' ability allowed him to rally his troops without activation, which probably saved them from being overrun on the hill.  They subsequently got pinned, but stopped the enemy charge with snap fire, which they wouldn't have been able to do if they were still 'man down.'

More to follow.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great report Jack! 

However, not as good as the game vs your son! He ripped you to pieces! Rule 1 of Juves, their dice are amazing.
Rule 2- they alway beat their dad! 

[Techno]

Like it !
Cheers - Phil.

[toxicpixie]

I think your dice are trying to make things difficult for you

I suspect your battle with your son proves this

Either that or get him into West Point quick!

[bigjackmac]

Hey, I never said I was good at this stuff, and I didn't mind losing to my boy, I was just happy to have someone to play against!

Lots of folks have commented on how difficult the campaign has been, how my KG is getting its butt kicked.  To me it's been great; the games have been fantastically dramatic, always coming down right to the very end, win or lose.  For me, it beats the heck out of a series of 'pushover' games, so I'm having a great time.

I've played eight games, hope to have #6 posted tomorrow night.  I figure I have around another ten games to go before wrapping up in Poland and moving on to France 1940 (I'm also waiting on a few Pendraken toys in the mail, though not from Leon, from The Warstore).  I bought the Skirmish Campaigns "Ghost Division," which will serve as the backbone for my campaign in France.

Good to see you Phil, thanks for stopping by.  Now get back to work!

V/R,
Jack

[toxicpixie]

I don't know about "butt kicked", they've all gone down to the wire

It's looked good stuff

[bigjackmac]

TP - Glad you're enjoying them, and I certainly appreciate the dialogue.  I tell ya, I'm not much for commercialism, but I've really got to recommend FiveCore Company Command for guys wanting to play WWII (probably earlier, too) to present, company-level games in about an hour.  As you can see, I'm having a blast.

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

Good to see you Phil, thanks for stopping by.  Now get back to work! V/R, Jack

I've told you all before.....I CAN mix putty with one hand and type with the other. 
Cheers - Phil
PS....A couple of days ago I had a stopwatch going on the desk, to see how much time in a typical day I spent mixing putty for the wee men.
You can have a guess......For absolutely no prize.....If you want. 

[Maenoferren]

I've told you all before.....I CAN mix putty with one hand and type with the other. 
Cheers - Phil
PS....A couple of days ago I had a stopwatch going on the desk, to see how much time in a typical day I spent mixing putty for the wee men.
You can have a guess......For absolutely no prize.....If you want. 

Does the time include toilet stops and coffee breaks?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

.A couple of days ago I had a stopwatch going on the desk, to see how much time in a typical day I spent mixing putty for the wee men.
You can have a guess......For absolutely no prize.....If you want. 

0 Hrs, 0 Mins, 0 Seconds - and a custom fire for nowt.

IanS

[paulr]

1 hour 17 minutes

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

3hr, 55min, 28secs


And change...