5th SS Panzer Division Wiking Part III: Kovel

general Hoth · **general Hoth**

After the disaster at Cherkassy the remaining 800 "combat ready" grenadiers of the Wiking were sent to Lublin, Poland at the end of February 1944 to rest and refit.
This short period would not last due to the desperate situation on the eastern front. SS Herman Fegelein (Hitler's brother in law) personally called the Wiking commander's Obergruppenfuhrer Gilles and ordered him to form a 4000 men strong kampfgruppe to defend Kovel. The city had to be defended he said to prevent a soviet attack into the rear of army Group Center still holding Minsk and parts of Belorussia.
Gilles, now bearing the oaks leaves to his Knight Cross decided to go there himself to judge the situation before the arrival of his division. Only to find a depressed SS commander with little apart from the remains of the SS kavalerie division Florian Geyer (Fegelein's division) and some forteress defenders.
The soviet attack came earlier than expected and Gilles found himself surrounded without his division! Outside Kovel, Joachim Ritcher the Wiking's artillery regiment commander took command of the relief attack force. The first attempt despite a wall of soviet AT guns managed to get some of the 8th's company panthers throught but the ring closed again behind them...
On March 28th a second assault supported by a complete wing of stukas was put up with Germania's grenadiers and most of the Panthers from the 6 and 8th companies in the lead...

Maps:

West- map3 (upside down)- map3 (upside down)- map1- East

Special rules:
i used the new 3 unit per side per hex new rule.
Soviets ignore the commandant dependant SA
Germans set up first:
The Kovel garrison on map1, anywhere on the city hexes.
In addition the german can add 2 city tiles anywhere around the city.
The relief force starts on the western map3 up to 5 hexes from his side.
Soviets set up anywhere on the "middle" map3.
I used the books SS Wiking by Jean Mabire and Steven Zaloga's "Bagration 1944: Destruction of Army group Centre" as sources.

SS Panzer Division Wiking Relief Force:
ss leader
ss panther x3
sdkfz 251 x2
veteran x2
ss panzergrenadier x10
mg 42

Kovel's Festung Forces:
HQ
forteress defender x4
mg 42
panzerfaust x2
20 mm flak gun
pak 38
ss panther
ss grenadier
bunker x2

55th Stuka Wing:
stuka x3

1st Byelorussian Front's 69th Army:
cossack captain x2
zis AT gun x5
mortar x2
mosin x8
dp 27 x2
observer x2
maxim x2
su 85
sniper
minefield x2
bunker x2

from turn 2 the following 8th guards army units enter anywhere along the sides of the "middle" map3:
t34-85 x3
ba 10 x2
zis truck x2
ppsh x3
maxim
sturmovnik x2

Victory Conditions:
The Wiking player wins if he manages at the end of turn 8 to clear all of the road hexes from soviet ZOCs.
The soviet wins by preventing the german victory conditions, he has thus kept Kovel seperated from the frontline. Operation Bagration is under way... Cool

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Scenarios?:
http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/forum3.php.