Into the Storm of Steel v2.1 - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

8 Sep 1943
Nedrigaylov, Ukraine SSR, 225 km NE of Cherkassy. Hypothetical scenario designed for team play. By Aug 31, on the 1st Ukrainian Front, Vatutin's Red Armies sat within kilometers of the German bridgehead on the Psel at Sumy. On Sept 5, this front once again ripped open and consumed the aforementioned city and other vital objectives in the German II Army region. On Sept 15, as Bryansk fell, AGS was officially separated from AGC, creating a German fear not known since Stalingrad. Originally planning to commit the newly formed XXIV Pz Korps ( 17th Pz. Div and 5th SS Panzer Div.'s ) to I Pz Army, von Manstein was offered no other ultimatum than to assign them to the IV Pz Army to attempt to counter the rapid rate at which Vatutin's front was currently advancing as well as to prevent his Army from routing at this most critical moment. Field Marshall Manstein's diversionary plan was simple; elements of the IV Pz Army would conduct a weak counterattack on Vatutin's front as the XXIV PzK slipped into position just north of Romny, at Nedrigaylov. Gen. Neihring's Korps would temporarily halt the Russian advance along the Sula River, and then fight a stubborn delaying action, as the 2 Divisions slowly retreated to Cherkassy on the western bank of the Dnieper. Yet, as fate would have it, on the morning of 17 Sep ; while the XXIV was still in transit, the 1st Tank Army smashed through the German lines north of Bumak. On the morning of the 18th, to the Soviet Marshall's disbelief, the 558th Armd Car Bn. relayed that the main road to Boryslaw lay unprotected. Realizing he had now busted into the German rear area, Katukov ordered the remaining 2 Corps of his Army ahead at full steam. For a utopian moment it seemed that the bridges across the Unzha and Sula would fall without a shot being fired. It wasn't until the first Armored car of the 558th went up in a ball of flame near Beleya-Glina that Katukov would learn different. A few short moments before, Gen Neihring's XXIV Pz Korps, had begun arriving in force, determined to quell the Storm of Steel that lay over their horizon. One which the 1st Tank Army was assured to bring with a vengeance.