Battle of Debrecen - October 1944

Snippersly · Battle of Debrecen - October 1944

This is my Operation Santa Clause Scenario Contest Entry...enjoy!

Battle of Debrecen
October 6 to October 29, 1944
Debrecen / Nyiregyhaza, Hungary

MAPS: 14 (east) - 15 - 16 (west)

SETUP: The Germans & Hungarians set up first. The Germans can occupy the selected hexes on Map 16. The Hungarians & Romanians set up in the selected hexes on Map 15. They held the foremost part of the German Lines on the north and south. The Soviet Union sets up on the selected hexes on Map 14. The Tisza River is the water hexes on the center of map 15. Refer to pictures.

Designer / Historical Notes: The Battle of Debrecen raged for nearly 23 days and in the end there was no clear victor, though the Soviets managed cross the Tisza and gain control of the Carpathian Passes through the mountains. This later enabled them to make thier push into Budapest.

It saw a lot of ups and downs for both sides. The Romanians broke free from German reign and were pressed into service of the Soviet Union. The Hungarians, almost pulled off a coup but were "relieved" and replaced by a puppet government under strict SS control. The Hungarian and Romanians clashed and fueled a hatred between the two nations as each raped and pillaged the other through the end of the war... and beyond.

The Russian even found themselves encircled and barely broke free from the German pincer move. Though they did break out, it cost the Soviets dearly and intead of a fast advance through Hungary, they had to suffer another winter.

There were several interesting things that occurred during this battle and I tried to incorporate as many of them as possible to represent a scenario of the overall battle. Many of the smaller battles fought would make excellent scenarios in their own right. I hope you enjoy the culmination of my historical research and mixing of Eastern Front A&A Mini Units. We playtested this scenario and had a blast! I hope you will too.

AXIS: Germany & Hungary-
Generals Johannes Friessner & Maximilian Fretter-Pico

German Army:
1X Tiger I 56 Points
2X Panzer IV Ausf G 46 Points
1X Panzer IV Ausf E 15 Points
1X Panzer II Ausf F 10 Points
1X Panther Ausf A 37 Points
1X Panther Ausf D 35 Points
1X Hummel 30 Points

1X PAK 38 8 Points
1X 88 w/ shield 20 Points

2X Opel Blitz 8 Points
2X SDKFZ 251 14 Points
1X SDKFZ 234/4 29 Points

1X SS-Haupsturmfuhrer 7 Points
2X SS-Panzergrenadier 14 Points
2X MG 42 20 Points
2X Panzergrenadier 8 Points
3X Mauser Kar 98K 9 Points

Total: 366 Points

Hugarian Army:
1X Tenacious Officer 6 Points
3X Turan I 33 Points
3X PzKpfw 38(t) 30 Points
3X 37mm Lt. Anti-Tank Gun 15 Points
3X 8mm Huzagol 35M 15 Points

Total: 99 Points

AXIS FORCES TOTAL 465 Points

ALLIES: Soviet Union & Romania
Generals Rodion Malinovsky & I.A. Plivey & Romania- Marcos Tubanescu

Soviet Union 6th Army:
1X Yak-9 (Spitfire MK 1) 15 Points
1X IL-10 Sturmovik 21 Points

1X KV1 Tank 32 Points
1X SU-122 22 Points
1X T34/76 28 Points
1X T34/76 1942 Model 30 Points
1X Guards T34/85 34 Points
1X Valentine VI 17 Points
1X Veteran IS-2 67 Points

2X 76.2mm Model 1942 18 Points
2X Lend Lease 1/2 Track 14 Points
1X BA-64 8 Points

2X Soviet Grenadiers 8 Points
2X PPSh-41 SMG 6 Points
2X Mosin Nagant 1891/30 6 Points
2X Maxim M1910 MG 14 Points
1X Veteran NCO 6 Points
2X Degtyarev DP-27 8 Points

Total: 354 Points

Romanian Army:
1X Vigilant Lieutenant 8 Points
2X Romanian Infantry 6 Points
2X Anti-Tank Grenadier 8 Points
1X Bohler Anti-Tank Gun 6 Points
2X R2 LT-35 Tank 18 Points
2X R-35 Tanks 18 Points
2X T-4 Medium Tanks 46 Points

Total: 110 Points

ALLIED FORCES TOTAL: 464 Points

Special Rules:
1) German Tiger I Tanks cannot move once placed. Due to a shortage of tank killers and the high costs of a Tiger I, they were deployed as tank killers using their range to thier advantage. After being placed the tank is on overwatch per the expanded rules for the rest of the game.

2) German SS-Haupsturmfuhrer must stay in the same hex as the Hugarian Tenacious Officer. Prior to the battle, Hugary almost changed sides and the Germans had to create a puppet government to prevent gaps in their lines held by Hungarian Soldiers. This simulates the take over of the government.

3) After the movement phase, before the assault phase of Turn 2 - the Romanian Army declares war on Germany and joins the Russians as an ally.

4) The Soviet Veteran NCO can serve as a commander for the purposes of the Degtyarev DP-27 Command Dependent Special Ability.

5) All vehicles (except tanks) have towing capabilities and can tow any artillery piece.

6) All Russian tanks gain the Exposed Transport SA (if the tank does not already have it) to transport 1 friendly soldier.

Victory Conditions: Soviet Union / Romania

Objectives:
1) Cross the Tisza River
2) Capture both mountain hexes (Carpathian Passes)
3) Eliminate German Resistance
4) Romanians must destroy all the Hungarian Units

Total Victory- All German tanks destroyed. Both mountain hexes (symbolizing the passes through the Carpathian Mountains are captured and not contested. All Soviet Union units are across the Tisza River. The Hungarian army is completely defeated.

Great Victory- All Soviet Units across the Tisza River. Capture of both mountain hexes, only one of which can be contested. Half of the Hungarian Army is defeated. (Count points, rounded down)

Marginal Victory- All Soviet Units across the Tisza River. Contest both mountain hexes. Less than half of the Hungarian Army is defeated. (Count points and round down)

Victory Conditions: Germany / Hungary

Objectives:
1) Prevent the Soviet Union from crossing the Tisza River
2) Maintain Control of the mountain hexes (Carpathian Passes)
3) Eliminate the traitorous Romanian Army.
4) Hungarians must destroy all Romanian Army Units

Total Victory- Stop the Russian advance at the Tisza river and prevent a crossing. Complete anhillation of the Romanians.

Great Victory- Maintain complete (uncontested) control of the mountain hexes and destroy all the tanks in the Romanian arsenal.

Marginal Victory- Contest the mountain hexes and destroy half of the Romanian forces. (Count points and round down.)

OVERALL MAP:

Snippersly

Russian Map Deployment

Hungary / Romania Map Deployment

German Map Deployment

dpurcell

Where are these maps to be found? Eastern Front?

Snippersly

Yes....these are the EF Map Set. This is a duplicate post from the wizards site for the Operation Santa Clause scenario contest. The contest was to design a scenario for use with the new minis and maps.

Snippersly

DaJudge

Our gang put together and played this scenario last night, Friday January 2, 2009.

Eugene and Mike were the Axis.

Karl, Robert, and Ken were the Allies with Rob playing the traitorous Romanians. The Russians were split between Karl and Ken equally.

My force(Mike) was the useless Hummel, both Panthers, the SS contingent, a Panzer IV G, both trucks, the 88, a machine gun team, a Panzer IV E, and Eugene played the rest, including the Hungarians.

We sent the KFZ234/4 up the road to throw a wrench into the Russian plans and ordered the Romanians to all cross the river if they could and attack the Russian right flank and they did, damaging a T-34 on the first turn. The 2 T-4's did not make it across though. We overtook the town in the middle of the map with the 88, a PAK 38, and a machine gun team ad 2 SSPG's backing them up, a pretty formidable force.

The 88 was a target of 3 attacks on turn 1, and 2 on turn 2 before dying but it managed to severely damage a KV-1.

The turncoat Romanians were moving forward still when German intelligence learned of their defection so the Panther D, Tiger 1, and PZIV-E and G opened fire at them from the rear, destroying both T-4's and damaging 2 other smaller tanks.

The Soviets were being unusually cautious since they only had so long to get across the river and take the passes.

The German leadership was clearly better as they won initiative all but one turn during the game, often just needing 1 dice to win it. The Soviet NCO was picked off around turn 4 or 5 so the Soviet troops were left leaderless and afraid to move.

The German fire was very disruptive but so were the Soviet planes. By turn 3, the German 88 was destroyed and turn 4 saw the loss of a mg team so the planes pretty much had their way and started attacking the Hummel, the backs of German tanks, and occasionally strafing troops. The Germans had no answer for it.

The end of the game saw the Russians finally moving up with the armor they had left, a damaged Valentine and damaged KV-85 and a healthy IS-2 Veteran, and a KV-1. Their infantry simply could not get across the river in time so the armor forged on alone only to face the mighty Tiger tank that was dug in on the hills. Unable to move but a still a nasty opponent, it destroyed 2 Romanian tanks and then damaged 2 Russian tanks before finally being hit but it was to little to late for the Russians. They did not contest either mountain pass nor did they get their troops across the river. The Romanian army was left with one tank and the Hungarians still had 2 troops and their fearless and tenacious leader.

It was a good scenario! Fun to play and actually pretty evenly matched. The Russian aircraft do make up the difference. If the Russian army really charges the objectives and gets across the river, it would have been a different game.

Thanks for posting it Snip!

Snippersly

Thank you for the battle report. I'm glad to see someone else played it and had fun. When we played, the Russians mopped the floor with Germans, so it is interesting to see the differences in initiative, style etc.

The airplanes are a huge advantage, and by that point in the war, Germany could not muster up hardly any planes to fight with.

You guys should play it again and switch sides. Get that Vet IS 2 in there...that is tank slayer. Flank it with a pair of T34s and watch the Germans squirm.

Thanks again
Snip

Shank77

This scenarios looks cool.