Armourgedon: Death Ride at Kursk: Prokhorovka re-fought:
Club Day: 25 August 2013
July and August saw the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Kursk. The telling armoured clash happened around a village called Prokhorovka in 1943.
We had a fantastic club day re-fighting Prokorovka on Sunday!
Battlefield seen from a Sturmovik perspective
German deploymen:t Panthers and 88 mm cannon of the 3rd SS Div Totenkopf in the North
Huge table, with enough place for 3 generals aside, but these were a bit thin on the ground on the day.
Interesting relay action ensued through the day, with multiple generals taking command of elements on the Soviet side over the course of the day, and also part of the German side at times.
Soviet Guards advancing to meet the Germans, 122mm Howitzers providing artillery support
History repeated itself to a great extent, with the exception that the 1st SS Division Das Reich achieved a telling blow against the Soviet Guards, annihilating their Churchill IVs, and also took control of the one objective, the bridge to the North of Prokorvka late in the day.
Tankovy following the Motostrelkovy streaming out of Prokhorovka
A Second Guardsunit (Chrchill IV and KV1s) protecting the wood mill and station
Light Matilda tanks covering the flank
Soviets dug in along the railway line - a hard nut to crack. ISU 122s in support
Wehrmacht (Heer) Panthers of Army Group Central advancing,
Heavy infantry Brumbaer and SIG 33s shelling the dug in Reds
Heer Panzers and elements of 1st SS Das Reich take on the bulge of Russian forces
Light armoured cars race to intercept the SS Recce Zug trying to flank the Strelkovy and spot for the 88s and LeFH 18s of the SS Totenkopf Div.
3rd SS Totenkopf Panthers surge forward
T34s going up in flames
Not much can withstand the 88mm and 75mm Panzer steel
Least of all the Motostrelkovy, who first saw their lead vehicles destroyed, and then the tank killers ensconced in the wheat fields alongside them.
Burning and destroyed trucks causing a bottle-neck that the Shermans just could not get out of, rendering them all but impotent to influence the rest of the course of the battle
Churchills and KV1s charging forward to meet the Heer Panzers, hapless Stuarts already knocked out
The German Pincer movement was about to close, and Army Group South About to capture Prokhorovka in the face of massed dug in Zis 3 guns, when we had to call it a day.
Not really unlike what happened at Kursk in 1943
Another turn, and it may have been a different story...The dug in Soviets would have been difficult to dislodge from Prokhorovka.
Chalk it up as a narrow Victory for Army Group South if you count taking the no-mans land objective as a victory point. Herr General Von Manstein would have been pleased.
Great fun with role-play and 40K also happening on the day, and a Memoirs '44 game. Thanks again to all that participated.
