Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev

[Plain Ian]

Turn 5 German

I'm afraid I'm struggling to put together the first few turns. I will have to start at Turn 5 and fill in the gaps as and when I can.
 


The pressure on the pocket continues to ramp up as the Germans swarm the perimeter and exploit the holes and my Disrupted units.

South: the German 113th north west of Manoylin keeps the 2/297th cut off but does not assault. The 2/297th remains Undisupted but is Low Ammo. The 1/297th is assaulted and  thrown back on the 3/294th. Casualties are low but the 2/297th is down to 227 men.

Ominously the Germans have brought up a company of StuG’s at Manoylin and have begun probing further east against the 415th and 303rd Sappers.

West: the 100th Jaeger (more like fast hornets than bee’s) isolate and assult the 1/753rd. It loses 138 men and is reduced to half strength 138 men. Annoyingly Morale remains high in the unit at Fatigue 54???
The 2/427th is also assaulted and pushed back. It amazingly recovers from Disruption.

Mike pushes a unit of the 100th forward in T mode? I’m not sure why he does this with foot units? I don’t think T-mode foot units move any further than non T-mode unless there are roads nearby? This unit is just ripe for air or artillery?

North: At Vlasov the 417th Anti Tank Bn (8 guns) and 200 Sappers (47 men) are hit by two assaults. They hold the first one but are pushed back by the second into Vlasov. All the guns are lost and only 15 sappers are left alive. They join the heavily fatigued 2/88th Gds who are are still Disrupted and heavily fatigued. Vlasov will not hold.

East of Vlasov the 3/676th is hit by two successive assaults and pushed back 2 km losing 25 men. They are Fatigue 108 and disrupted. Pioneers in T-mode? rush forward to exploit the gap.
The 1/40th Tnk Bn (13xT-34) which was rushed up last turn to shore up the defenses is now threatened with encirclement. Actually all of the defenses west of Vlasov are threatened. 

The rest of the pocket remains relatively quiet. The 4th Gds Mortar Rgt lose a further 2 rocket launchers to artillery. They were put into the front line to release the 1/40th. The artillerymen are none to happy with this role.......
 


In the south Mike continues to shuffle units of 369th form his flank to his centre and shuffles his disrupted units. A company of StuG's is left behind although they will be no match for a Bn of T-34's. An infantry company (305th) reinforces the Aufklarungs company (113th) on the front line. A Pioneer company moving in T-Mode is hit by long range T-34 fire and disrupts.



Not much to report here. He continues to fall back. No sign of any Marders?