KG Klink, Poland, Game 10

[Just Jack]

All,

It’s 1400, 14 Sept 1939, and, following its success in repelling a local Polish penetration on 12 September, the KG has been busy shoring up its cordon and patrolling aggressively to determin enemy strength, dispositions, and intentions. 10th Army HQ iterated several threats to 4th Pz Div that never really materialized, and then patrols determined the enemy had seized the town of Lokoshawo (fictional); Col Klink was determined to get there the ‘firstest with the mostest’ (i.e., a hasty attack using forces immediately to hand, as opposed to a deliberate assault), and so he launched a detachment to clean the enemy out of the town, dispatching the bulk of the 2nd and 3rd Grenadier Platoons, along with two tanks of 4th Panzer Platoon, let by the Schutzen Company commander, 1Lt Freitag (wearer of the Iron Cross 2nd Class).

The opposing forces: a small infantry force armed with several anti-tank rifles supported by a single medium tank, versus a largely German infantry force backed by a pair of tanks. The Germans have 1st Lt Freitag commanding, Sgt Mangold’s Pz Mk IV, Cpl Graebner’s Pz Mk II, and LCpl Steinkamp’s MG34 supporting three squads of 2nd Lt Tausch’s 3rd Platoon (Sgt Schlesssinger, Cpl Nader, and Cpl Hauer), and three 2nd Platoon Squads (Sgt Aust, Sgt Haas, holder of the Iron Cross 2nd Class, and LCpl Axthelm). The Poles have CO, 7TP medium tank (which looks suspiciously like a Soviet T-26, though they actually do look quite similar), six rifle squads, and four ATRs (which are not separate units, but attached to the rifle squads).

Overview, north is up, Poles on the left (west, still on blinds, AKA poker chips), and Germans on the right (east). The Germans have 2nd Plt with the Pz II in the north, and the CO, 3rd Plt, the MG, and the Pz IV in the south. For this fight I rolled up ‘urban’ for the terrain, but it became a little more urban than I intended. No matter.

Heavy fighting broke out in the park, where Sgt Mangold’s Pz Mk IV destroyed the enemy tank, but then was itself driven off by accurate fire from numerous Polish anti-tank rifles. Aside from that, the German Landser easily brushed aside the small Polish force. For the whole fight, please visit the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2015/01/kg-klink-poland-game-10.html

Standby, the next fight was absolutely incredible! You won’t believe what happened; at least I didn’t.

V/R,
Jack

[kyoteblue]

Hey good one, yes the Poles should have been selling their lives a bit higher…the tank should have hung back a bit. In a city fight the Poles would have had the high ground to fire down on the Germans. Any way looking forward to your next write up.

[Just Jack]

John,

Part of it was the set up (via how the blinds shook out, where the Poles ended up with most of their troops in the south).  Another issue was the fact the main ‘town’ portion had a narrow road running down the middle, and the Poles had placed two roadblocks on that road, so it necessarily split the battlefield, which was not a bad plan for the Poles due to their numerical superiority of the Germans (split the enemy, hold on one side and attack on the other).  Lastly, it was also the Polish plan to act very aggressively to take out the German Pz Mk IV; ‘selling their lives dearly’ is a good plan if it’s a foregone conclusion you’re going to lose and you’re just trying to delay/attrit, but the Poles weren’t thinking that, they were thinking about winning.  So they rolled big and lost big 😉

V/R,
Jack

[kyoteblue]

I know hindsight is 20/20.

[Just Jack]

I’m so bad, even my hindsight’s only 20/100.

I got in games 12, 13, and 14 this past weekend, should have game 11 posted tomorrow night.

V/R,
Jack

[kyoteblue]

Sounds good. Now if War Panda would show back up here…and post an AAR.

[Author]

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