When the siege of Cholm was lifted on 5 May, the Russians still held sizeable sections of the now nearly completely demolished town. One such portion was what KG Scherer had called the Northern Sector, the area that lay east of the Lovat and north of the Policeman's Gully. A month after the relief of Cholm, the Germans initiated an attack to regain control of this section. The lead element in the assault was IR 405, commanded by Oberst Wisozki. This regiment was a fresh unit to Cholm, however it was supported by MG-Battalion 10, elements of which had been present throughout the siege itself. In addition, this attack was backed up by a considerable weight of supporting arms including light howitzers, artillery, assault guns and Stukas.
Attacker: German (Bataillon II, Infanterie-Regiment 405, Infanterie-Division 121 and elements of StuG.Abteilung 184)
My word, this was a bloody affair, for both of us. In the end, Will held on to enough blocks to hold out and got me to 37 CVP; had he got me to 40, it would have been an auto win. This is a great one to play if you get this pack!
2021-09-22
(D) Jeff B
vs
Scott Sherer
Russian win
This was the third scenario from the pack we've played, and it was by far the best of the bunch. Things started quite poorly for me when the Germans overwhelmed my front line defenders and soon eliminated them because of my poor rout considerations. For some reason I also thought it'd be a good idea to HIP my mortar in the same orchard as my LMG crew. They were targeted next for an overrun and, while my crew survived to try their hands at some CC, they were reduced to a mere short term annoyance. Meanwhile my AT gun which was positioned to guard these men broke on it's first shot. I killed 2.5 German squads and a 7-0, but lost another squad which turned berserk. The next couple turns saw the Germans' inexorable march crush all before them, but my commissars did their best to keep my men in the fight. Turn 5 saw one of them fall, leaving my strong central position weakened, while a pesky German berserker caused havoc in the north. My radio had been fickle all day, but Turn 6 saw me blow up a gun and crew, and also knock out a StuG in CC. Meanwhile the battle in the south kicked off with immediate fireworks as my reinforcements poured on. I knew there was extremely little chance of me preventing him from taking enough real estate, and I really hadn't given much thought to hitting the seemingly unreachable CVP cap, so the bottom seemed to be my only hope. Hex PP19 was a constant battleground, changing hands like a seesaw. I had questioned Scott's apparent lightness on shoring up this part of the board, but in the end he had just the right amount of men and gun support to hold me off, his expertly positioned INF gun almost singlehandedly keeping me at bay. It would come down to the very last turn, and I would somehow snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. My last attempt to grab P19 was foiled, being tied up in melee with him in control, but in the center of the board I would get my revenge. A captured HS and commissar would revolt, killing their guards to rearm. This wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact they were next to an abandoned immobilized StuG, which they were able to capture in the last CC phase to push the Germans over the CVP cap. What a game!