Erik Pulkka ran a battalion-level World War II Eastern Front game using Reisswitz Press’s O Group rules. In early October, 1941, a reinforced battalion from German 35th Panzer Regiment of the 4th Panzer Divsion, XXIV Panzer Korps, the spearhead of the German effort to encircle Bryansk and drive on Moscow, was given orders to seize a town in the Orel area. They were faced by a reinforced battalion of the Soviet 4th Tank Brigade from the 1st Guards Special Rifle Corps, which sought to buy enough time to allow other forces to organize a defense to their rear.
I commanded the Soviets, assisted by company commanders Steve Healey and Jeremy. Jeremy’s son, Archer, commanded the Germans, assisted by company commanders Bernhard Rausch and Neal Smith.
O Group games typically begin with fairly sparse tables. Companies send out combat patrol stands that feel out the enemy, and from which they will deploy platoons or weapons sections. The Germans also had a pair of Sd.Kfz, 231 armored car sections that they used to try to uncover the Soviet disposition.
The Game began with the Germans sending an infantry platoon through a gully, while the Soviets pushed their combat patrols forward in order to jam up the German advance. The Soviet FO directed mortar fire onto the German infantry, but it proved ineffective.
As the German platoon continued into a copse, the Soviet A company sprang an ambush on them. The Soviets fared somewhat worse in the ensuing gunfire exchange.
In the Soviet B company sector, the Germans deployed an infantry platoon into a farm and their armored cars detected a Soviet infantry platoon in the next farm over.
Back in the Soviet A Company sector, the Germans sent the other armored car section forward, only to have it be destroyed by a Soviet 45 mm AT section that was positioned in the village. The combat in the woods was swinging toward the Germans, who opted to bring on a PZ III platoon. The Soviets countered with their second 45 mm AT section, which had been positioned, dug-in, in another woods.
Pressing their advantage, the Germans launched an assault against the Soviet A company infantry platoon in the woods. The Soviets, not wanting to take unnecessary casualties, successfully evaded and fell back to a wheat field in their rear. The 45 mm AT damaged one of the PZ III sections, and the Germans deployed a heavy MG section onto a hill to engage it. The AT gun would eventually be destroyed, but its presence had stood off the German tanks in its sector.
Both sides had so far been reluctant to commit more troops, waiting to see how the fight developed. In addition, bad command rolls had held back the Germans opposite the Soviet B company. The Germans decided to deploy another infantry platoon from a combat patrol in woods, triggering another Soviet ambush.
Both sides deployed more infantry as the Germans pressed their attack against the Soviet B company, whose losses began mounting. The Soviets countered with a BT-7 platoon.
In the Soviet A company sector, the Soviet platoon that had fallen back into the wheat field took additional losses, and the Soviets deployed a fresh platoon and MG section to protect it. The Germans dropped an artillery barrage onto it, catching both platoons and the AT section in the village. The newly-deployed platoon stepped back out of the beaten zone.
The Germans eventually captured the farm that Soviet B company had been holding, and combat continued along the rest of the front. We decided at this point to call a halt, and all players agreed that they had enjoyed the game.
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