#0712_05 Tolstoye Woods_1 - Kursk Southern Front

Tolstoye Woods, West of Verkhopenye, 12 July 1943 (Scenario Size: Corps. German Human vs Russian AI or Head to Head) General-Leiutenant Westhoven's 3rd Panzer Division was holding the western flank of the German thrust towards Oboyan. Stretched very thin, it had a unit from the Gross Deutschland Division holding part of its front lines. However, on this day this unit was recalled to its parent division in preparation for a final northern thrust to Oboyan. This created a six-kilometer gap in the front line just east of Tolstoye Woods. An infantry battalion from the 332nd Infantry Division was in the process of moving north to cover the gap, but it would be about a half-a-day before it would arrive. While Westhoven was worried about the gap, his superiors, Generals von Knobelsdorf and Hoth, both deemed the gap to be an acceptable risk as it was temporary and no Russian offensive was anticipated in that area that day. However, they could not have been more wrong. The Russian 1st Tank Army attacked with the recently arrived 10th Tank Corps and two fresh rifle divisions towards the very spot where the gap existed. At first the attack went easy, the 10th swept through Tolstoye Woods and Hill 252.6 encountering no opposition what-so-ever. The 10th then halted on top of the Hill 252.6 hill mass to reorganize and allow the two rifle divisions to come up and link up on both flanks, not realizing that the town of Verkhopen'ye lay open before them to east, defended by rear echelon units. The Germans, seeing the Russians on Hill 252.6, hastily recalled their other off-board units and formed a quick defense of Verkhopen'ye during the Russian pause. As the 10th Tank Corps resumed its attack, the 3rd Panzer Division would feel the pressure as it defended the town through out the day.