Battle of Vitebsk extended

[SuddenWind 24]

Hello, here are some of my suggestions, as a player with no squadron (with no strategic layer and strategic resources of this game mode) only for Battle of Vitebsk scenario.

 

1. Extend the map to the South (including Orsha). The current historical map doesn't display the action of 13rd tank division of 5th Soviet mechanized corps.

Map 1

 

Map 2

Spoiler

The dividing line between the corps was Bogushevsk, Senno, Lepel (all for the 5th).

 

2. The battle between 6th and 10th July 1941 involved 6 soviet divisions (from which 4 tank divisions) and 4 german tank divisions (7th and 17th in first days, 12nd and 20th later). On the game map there are too few tank based units and too many infantry based units. Battle of Vitebsk (Battle of Senno or Lepel Counterstroke) was one of the most important tank battle (lost by historians and forgotten by history -- congratulations you found it and brought it in this game mode). Also too few artillery based and antitank based units on both sides.

3. To respect the historical facts, you shall analyze some historical characteristics and aspects of the battle:

a) Both sides has logistical problems during this battle, especially with fuel supply, also technical problems and soviet units had also communications and coordination issues during the operation.

"[...] tankers had difficulty driving the heavy tanks and burned out the clutches on seven KVs moving just 5km from the railhead to an assembly area. Over the course of the next few days, about half of the KVs were immobilized by the same fault"

"By the end of 6 July, the Soviet 5th and 7th Mechanized Corps were in contact with the two divisions [...] The actions of the two corps were not coordinated and difficulties in pushing fuel forward further desynchronized their actions." 5th and 7th Mechanized Corps used    75 percent of its fuel in moving to contact, but 7th decided to continue the advance while 5th decided to await for fuel.

(Source: Robert Forczyk - Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942)

b) German tank units have developed tactics to fight against superior T-34 and KV-1 tanks. The existence of in-game markers negate any attempt of maneuver (and any historical realism), therefore markers should not exist in this game mode.

(Source: Thomas L. Jentz - Panzertruppen: The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germanys Tank Force 1933-1942. Schiffer military history)

From the same source:

Spoiler

 

4. To this tank battle took part other vehicles we have currently in the game: KV-2 and 88mm Flak

Spoiler

(Source: Dr. Russel H. S. Stolfi - The German 7th Panzer Division in France & Russia 1940-1941, p.67)

information which fit with these records:

"Again, Kampfgruppe [...] repulsed this Soviet attack and a third at 1900 hours which included two KV-II and one T-34 tanks. During the course of the day, [...] destroyed a total of seventeen Soviet tanks (including both KV-II), at a cost of four of his own tanks and a 5cm Pak gun. Further north, the 14th Tank Division encountered Kampfgruppe [...], which included [...] I/Pz.Regt 25, II/Schützen Regiment 7 and 1./Panzerjäger-Abteilung 8 with six 8.8cm flak guns mounted on an Sd.Kfz.8 chassis. [...] Two of the self-propelled 8.8 cm flak guns, which had a very high profile, were destroyed"

(Source: Robert Forczyk - Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942: Schwerpunkt)

"[...] including thirty-seven KV-I and KV-II heavy tanks and sixty-nine T-34, into the operation. [...] a battalion of twenty-nine T-34s from the Kharkov Tank School and forty-four brand-new KV tanks from the Kirov plant be sent directly to reinforce 7th Mechanized Corps"

(Source: David M. Glantz - Barbarossa Derailed. The Battle For Smolensk 10 July-10 September 1941 Volume 1. The German Advance, The Encirclement Battle, And The First And Second Soviet Counteroffensives, 10 July-24 August 1941)

 

Here is the complete organization and strength of 5th and 7th Mechanized Corps on 6th July 1941 (from the same source as above):

Spoiler

 

5th Mechanized Corps (13rd and 17th Tank and 109th Motorized Divisions)
- Headquarters – 7 tanks (BTs) and 12 armored cars
- 13th Tank Division – 441 tanks (7 KVs, 10 T-34s, 238 BTs, 112 T-26s, 26 KhTs, and 48 T-37/38s)
- 17th Tank Division – 413 tanks (237 BTs, 130 T-26s, 35 KhTs and 11 T-37/38s) and 74 armored cars
- 109th Motorized Division – 113 tanks (113 BTs) and 11 armored cars
- 8th Motorcycle Regiment – 19 armored cars

Total – 974 tanks (7 KVs, 10 T-34s, 595 BTs, 242 T-26s, 61 KhTs and 59 T-37/38s) and 213 armored cars

 

7th Mechanized Corps (14th and 18th Tank and 1st Motorized Divisions)
- 14th Tank Division – 293 tanks (24 KVs, 29 T-34s, 179 BTs, 20 T-26s, 17 KhTs, and 24 T-37/38s) and 55 armored cars
- 18th Tank Division – 272 tanks (10 KVs, 11 BTs, 193 T-26s, 54 KhTs, and 3 T-37/38s) and 46 armored cars
- 9th Motorcycle Regiment – 17 armored cars.
- 251st Separate Signal Battalion – 6 tanks (6 BTs).
Total – 571 tanks (34 KVs, 29 T-34s, 196 BTs, 269 T-26s, 71 KhTs, and 27 T-37/38s) and 118 armored cars

 

1st Motorized Division (operating separately from 7th Mechanized Corps after 5 July) – 229 tanks (205 BTs and 24 T-37/38s) and 39 armored cars.

 

 

Best regards

 

[Princess_Pinch 5,623]

Open for discussion. 

[Daool 34]

2 weeks after creeping the operation scale to include this someone else wants to creep in more to include y or z :-(