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Hill 235.3 (Subset of Prokhorovka - The Historical Battle) - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

Hill 235.3 (Subset of Prokhorovka - The Historical Battle) Image
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Hill 235.3 (Subset of Prokhorovka - The Historical Battle)

By Alan R. Arvold
Axis 0 - 0 - 0 Allies
Rating: 0 (0)
Games Played: 0
SM: 10
Turns: 60
Type: Custom
First Side: Axis
Second Side: Allies
Downloads: 369
Hill 235.3, 10 Km Northeast of Prokhorovka, Russia: (Best played against a human player or as German vs AI):

The burden of the II SS Panzer Korps attack on the 12th fell on the "Totenkopf" SS Panzergrenadier Division. Its mission was to attack north of the Psel River towards the Prokhorovka-Kartashshevka road, and then upon reaching it, turn right and proceed towards Prokhorovka, stopping short of it upon capturing Hill 252.4. In essence, they were performing an envelopment of the Russian forces in the Psel River Valley.

But before they could begin their attack, there were several tasks to perform. They had to expand their bridgehead north of the Psel, move the attack force across the Psel into its attack position located there, and deal with the threat to their right flank in the town of Vassilievka.

By about noon these tasks were more or less accomplished, and "Totenkopf" could begin its attack towards the road. This attack was not the classic "blitzkrieg" assault, but rather it was a slow methodical attack as the Germans had two defensive lines to pierce and a partial third one just in front of the road as well.

The Russians were not idle during this time. The 95th Guards Rifle Division had assumed the main defense north of the Psel. It relieved the battered 52nd Guards Rifle Division and 11th Motorized Rifle Brigade, sending them north where they could regroup and resupply. The forward rifle regiments also launched a series of probing attacks along the front line of the German bridgehead in an effort to keep the Germans off balanced.

Nevertheless, the Germans proceeded with their attack. By about 10:00 PM, the forward company of the German force reached the road but could go no further as night had fallen.




Designer's Note:

First, the maps: The areas depicted are the actual areas that the forces had to work in historically. The limits represent their maneuver boundaries. Actually I cheated a bit and gave them one or two hexes past their historical limits because sometimes units would go past their boundaries before being hauled back in by higher command. To go any further is to go into another scenario that is occurring at the same time

Second, game turns: If I wanted to be totally historically accurate, then the these scenarios would be 70 - 90 turns in length to match the total length in time that combat occurred in the areas depicted. Of course, in each case the fighting was most intense the first couple of hours (20-30 turns), after that the Russians would attack with reduced forces, get beaten back, then spend an hour or so regrouping, then attack again, repeating this cycle for the rest of the day. Because of the mechanics of the Campaign System, I had already shrunk the time length down to eliminate those periods of no combat. But as we both know the Campaign System does not do a very good job in depicting the friction of war. Any way there are a lot of scenarios in the normal game that end well before the time limits too, mostly because of how people play the game

Last, but not least: this scenario is for history, not tournaments.


Updated 24 June 2018: Order of Battle and starting position updates
Updated 6 Feb 2018: A full design note document added to the download archive