AAR 1941 Eastern Front: East of Voin by Mark Luther

Two more 85mm AAA guns

All four of the 85s had opportunities to fire at the panzers. They managed to destroy three Pz IIIs and damage a Pz II.

Desolate looking landscape

The Germans came in from the lower left. NKVD troops are dug in on a spur of a ridge to the right. Their left flank is protected by a gully. The 85mm AAA is at the back of the table behind the trees. The bowl like area that dominates the center of the table is considered rough going and gives some cover to infantry.

View from the 85mm position

Nice field of fire for those guns, I gave slight minus for hitting(that would be a bad thing) and they would have to skedaddle if they were targeted by artillery or panzers got within 12".

NKVD positions

They had two platoons with only three LMGs among the squads. They did have four Anti-Tank Rifles and three MMGs. The gully to their left was considered impassible for armour.

Panzers on the ridge

Doug took his platoon and the CO tank to the right. The Pioneers also moved into the trees at the bottom of the slope. Cane's panzers stayed on the opposite ridge drawing some fire from the 85s.

85s open up

Two of the 85s had shots on the panzers of Cane's. First shots damaged a Pz II.

NKVD troops under fire

Although dug in, the combined fire from 13 panzer MGs and the pioneers puts some hits on the Border Guards. Their ATRs are ineffective against the Panzers and few of their shots are finding the Pioneers in the trees.

First hit on the Panzers

The left-most Pz II gets a turret hit that takes its turret weapons out. It was lucky to get away with such minor damage actually.

Flammenwerfer in action

The pioneers unleash the flamethrowers on the NKVD. The Soviet troops refuse to leave their positions though. The platoon leader rushes over to help hold the squad in place and remove shock.

Panzers rush across the bottom land

But they lose one of the Pz IIIs to the 85s. The command Panzer is also out there, but draws no fire. The FO was riding on the back of one of the tanks, holding on for dear life and hoping that the radio would still work after this adventure. A Pz II is still smoking from a previous strike.

More toasted NKVD troops

The Pioneers are using both of their flamethrowers to take out the front line rather effectively. The Soviets are doing very little damage in return against either the Pioneers or Panzers.

Tank overruns

Cane's platoon of panzers went back and forth over the dug in troops while Doug's panzer continued with covering fire. The Pioneers moved further into the gully in preparation to storming up the hill. Their flamethrowers finally ran out of squirts. At any rate the NKVD troops are hors de combat.

When one of Doug's Pz IIIs was destroyed by a 85 they moved down off the backside of the ridge.

Meanwhile, the FO discovered that his radio was not working. He had a 1/6 chance to get it to work...which he made. He called in a ranging round on the 85s, which landed close enough to get them to start packing. The next random event card was 'Lost communication', which meant that the FO's radio was still on the fritz. The panzer CO could have gotten the battery back, but this would take a couple of turns.

The 85s figured their time was short and continued to pack up. If they knew about this, they could've popped off a couple more shots. At this point the game was over.