Background
The Battle of Halbe (German: Kessel von Halbe, Russian: Хальбский котёл, Halbe pocket) lasted from April 24 – May 1, 1945 was a battle in which the German Ninth Army, under the command of Generaloberst Theodor Busse, was destroyed as a fighting force by the Red Army during the Battle for Berlin.
The Ninth Army, trapped in a large pocket in the Spree Forest region south-east of Berlin, attempted to break out of the pocket westwards through the village of Halbe and the pine forests south of Berlin to link up with the German Twelfth Army commanded by General Walther Wenck with the intention of heading west and surrendering to the Western Allies. To do this the Ninth Army had to fight their way through three lines of Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev, while at the same time units of the 1st Belorussian Front, under the command of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, attacked the German rearguard from the north east.
After heavy fighting about 30,000 German soldiers—one fifth of those trapped in the pocket—managed to reach the comparative safety of the Twelfth Army’s front lines. The rest were either killed or captured by the Soviets…
On the evening of April 25, Busse ordered the two battlegroups – Kampfgruppe von Luck, consisting of the 21st Panzer Division and Kampfgruppe Pipkorn, containing the 35th SS and Police Grenadier Division, both named after their commanders – to attempt a break-out in the direction of the road centre of Baruth to obtain the use of roads to Luckenwalde and Jüterbog. Von Luck, consisting mainly of the 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and tanks from the 22nd Panzer Regiment, started from Halbe, while Pipkorn, made up from the remains of the 35th SS Division with tanks from the 10th SS Panzer Division, started from Schleepitz. Colonel von Luck’s orders were to open a corridor and keep it open for the sole use of military units of the Ninth Army. No civilians were to be allowed to use it. von Luck made good progress across the Berlin–Dresden autobahn until it hit the Soviet defenses of the 50th Guards Rifle Division at Baruth, which had been reinforced by dug-in Stalin tanks. Pipkorn ran into the defenses of 329th Rifle Division early on, and the battle group was scattered, with some armoured elements, including Panther tanks, reaching Baruth. A pitched battle developed at Baruth, which was impossible for the German battlegroups to win. Busse ordered von Luck to stay near Baruth, but discontinue the attack when informed of this. However, von Luck disobeyed the order and disbanded his battle group, allowing soldiers to try to attempt to breakout individually.
On the following day, the battle continued around Baruth, and tank-hunting teams blew up some of the dug-in Soviet tanks. Some supply canisters were delivered by air, but the strength of the battle group was insufficient to hold off a Soviet counter-attack. Heavy air attacks, a strike by the 4th Bomber Air Corps around noon with 55 aircraft, and repeated strikes by the 1st and 2nd Air Assault Corps with 8–10 aircraft each, a total of ca. 500 missions, caused heavy casualties and chaos. The forces of the two battle groups were destroyed, with Soviet reports claiming 5,000 prisoners taken, 40 tanks and self-propelled guns destroyed, and almost 200 guns and mortars captured. These forces and weapons were severely missed during later break-out attempts. Pipkorn, the commander of the other battle group, was killed during the battle, and von Luck taken prisoner on April 27. Few of the survivors of the battle reached the Elbe.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halbe)
The Game
Situation:
Elements of the trapped German 9th Armee are attempting to break through the Soviet lines to reach the relative safety of the 12th Armee to the West. German Victory Objective: Open and hold an escape corridor through the Soviet lines on the edge of the table. Soviet Victory Objective: Prevent the Germans from achieving their objectives.
Terrain:
The terrain is heavily wooded and extremely soft and sandy, all cross-country terrain other than roads is considered Rough Terrain and difficult going. four inches along all roads and openings is considered very difficult going. Three roads cut through the woods and several paths (considered to be Difficult Going) connected the roads. Firebreaks and lakes also dot the area.
Special Rules:
- Play was edge to edge on the table.
- Each player received 1200 points. Units were built out of the Desperate Measures or Berlin.
- The Russian units started half of his units on the table, up to halfway in on the terrain, the remainder as Delayed Reserves.
- The Germans marched on to the table.
- Soviets had an Artillery Breakthrough Corps in the area and can attempt to call in a Devastating Bombardment each turn (5+ on a D6) with rerolls. on a 1-4 Soviets receive a 122mm bombardment and on a 5-6 a 152mm artillery bombardment. All companies have one artillery observer attached. This artillery support is in addition to pointed formations.
- Reflecting the following German units attempting to escape, the Germans may replace one of their lost companies and two infantry platoons for their other company (which must enter from the board edge).
- FoW special forest fighting rules are in effect (http://www.farfaraway.org/blog/2009/10/27/flames-of-war-forest-fighting-rules/).
- The Germans received the first move.
Forces:
The Soviets consisted of a Motorstrelk Battalion (3 x SMG Companies with HMG, medium mortar support and IS-2 Platoon). A second Motorstrelk Battalion (2 x SMG Companies with HMG support, A Pioneer company (with minefield placed after German deployment) and a Spetznaz Platoon. The Oviets were a mixture of Regular and Guards units and were rated Fearless or Confident Trained.
The Germans consisted of a Gebirgs (mountain) Company (3 x Infantry Platoons, MMG Platoon, Pioneer Platoon) and a Panzergrenadier Company (with two PanzerGrenadier Platoons, a Volksgrenadier Platoon and one King Tiger). The German units reflected the wildly differing quality of units at that time and were rated from Confident Veteran down to Reluctant Trained.
Narrative:
On Turn One and two: The Gebirgs troops through the woods as fast as they could go on flat land. The Panzergrenadiers advanced on foot, while the Tiger and halftracks moved up the left hand road towards a minefield in front of the Soviet positions. Soviet action was limited to a two devastating 152mm barrage that knocked out many of the German halftracks.
By Turn Three: The Germans were now in range of the forward deployed Soviet units along the road. The Germans were able to bring the Soviets under heavy small arms fire from their infantry and limited assaults. The remaining German vehicles were trapped by the Soviet minefield blocking the road and were fish in a barrel for the artillery strikes. The Soviets countered this with another devastating bombardments, knocking out the majority of the halftracks and several infantry stands. However, as hard as the Soviets tried, they were unable to knock out the Tiger, missing or having the heavy artillery rounds bounce off the thick armor.
On Turns Four through Seven: The Germans continued to launch attack after attack against the Soviets, with heavy losses on both sides. The Volksgrenadier platoon was able to flank the Soviet Company and along with the PanzerGrenadiers and a Gebirgsjager Platoon, destroyed it. The German spotters had finally moved close enough to the Soviets to call in their off board Nebelwerfer battery and the concentrated Soviets, kill several of the Soviet SMG stands and most of the Spetznaz along the road. The Gebirgsjager exchanged heavy fire and constant assaults with the Soviet MotoStrelk, with the Germans getting the worst of it. While the forward forces were engaged, the Soviet reserves moved onto the table and stiffened the line. The Soviet Heavy Artillery continued to come in on each turn and took out a number of German infantry stands.
Turn Eight and Nine: In desperation, the Germans decided to push the Tiger and remaining halftracks across the minefield (and maaged to get all across!). The reinforced Soviets continued to launch assaults against the Gebirgers, destroy the company. The Soviet artillery finally went quite for a few turn, but had caused much damage.The triggered the special scenario rule, so could be reconstituted. Two of the PanzerGrenadier Company’s platoons were also destroyed (mostly by artillery) and were reconstituted.
Turn Ten and Eleven: The right flank Soviet MotoStrelk was finally overshelmed by the German reserves and routed off the table, leaving a huge gap in the Forward Soviet lines. The game ended up being a Pyrrhic counter-factual German Victory! However, how many lines lay between the Germans and the Elbe??
– Manteuffel