Frozen Fire ETO (id:#67209)

(Schwerpunkt #25 ID: SP294)   [next]   [previous]

Rshevka, Soviet Union 1942-02-20 (8 others)

Overview:

The Soviet winter offensive resulted in numerous deep penetrations on the German eastern front. Near Tula, where the Germans had a significant eastern bulge, the Soviets had nearly cut it off at the base. The Großdeutschland Regiment was tasked to attack towards the rear to eliminate this threat. Großdeutschland made good progress until Rshevka. The infantry and StuGs initially seized the town the day before but withdrew in the evening due to the lack of forces to hold it. Großdeutschland made a determined attack to retake Rshevka (which had numerous fires due to previous fighting) in the morning. The attack quickly got them to a depression outside of town, but determined Russian resistance made it difficult to advance further. In addition, the weather was so cold that the pioneers' fuel in their flamethrowers froze. Cursing, the pioneers started a fire, disassembled their flamethrowers, and thawed their equipment until it was in working order. Not long after, two T-34 tanks broke into the German rear. Fortunately, a hidden 150mm support gun took out one T-34 and scared away the other. However, all this effort was not enough to fully control the town. The overall situation caused the Germans to pullback on their Tula front to more defendable positions.

Defender: Russian (1st Guards Cavalry Corps)  

Errata (source)