The defense of Pokhlebin

 After they failed to hold on to Kotelnikovo (read the report here) the Soviets are about to attack the German lines again at Pokhlebin in the third scenario of the Winter Storm campaign.

The German firepower (2 LMGs per squad) made life difficult for the Soviets in the first 2 games, and this time it was no different. To make matters worse they would have to cross a significant stretch of open ground to get to the German held village.

Leading the Soviet attack is a lone T34/76.

The Germans deploy their PAK 40 and open fire, but the T34 proves to be a tough nut to crack.

Achtung panzer!

Suddenly there is movement in the wooded area. The Soviets deploy a platoon that immediately lays down fire on the PAK crew.

The T34 starts firing HE at the PAK crew. Together with the fire from the Soviet platoon in de woods, this inflicts a lot of shock. 

The Germans now deploy a squad in one of the buildings to counter the Soviet threat in the woods. Also the unterfeldwebel arrives to remove shock from the PAK crew.  A bit of a risk because this means the yet to be deployed 2 German squads may not arrive when required.

The unterfeldwebel keeps the PAK firing and finally the T34 is destroyed.

The second Soviet platoon now deploys in the area of scrub and sends a hail of fire through the wooden building containing the German squad. Casualties are mounting on the German side. An attempt to deploy a German squad in the building that overlooks the scrub area where the Soviets are fails because the unterfeldwebel was already deployed......

The PAK now switches to HE and blasts the Soviets in the scrub area. The 16 shots fired each activation by the German squad in the building begins to take its toll on the Soviets in the woods.

They have however one squad still in good shape. It moves towards a blind spot in the German line unopposed and without incurring any shock (two sixes for movement!).

At this point the Germans use their full Chain of Command dice to ambush the Soviet squad. Although the Soviets take some damage, their (wounded!) senior leader leads them in a charge and they wipe out the German ambushers.

Uraaah!

The Germans are now taking fire from their front and right flank and their left flank is open to the Soviets.

However, their deployment roll luck changes and the last German squad is deployed in the building overlooking the Soviet held scrub area. This is bad news for the Soviets: they are getting hit hard and their force morale is dropping.

On the left flank, the last German team deploys in time to block the Soviet squad from overrunning the PAK. Both sides open fire at point blank range.

 

Joined by the unterfeldwebel the team repels the Soviets, reducing their force morale to 1 and effectively ending the game.

Again a tough game for the Soviets, although the outcome could have been entirely different if the Germans had been unable to stop the flanking manouver. As it turned out, having a full Chain of Command dice available and especially a not unlucky deployment dice roll combined with a not unlucky arrival dice roll saved the day for the Germans.