Campaign #4 Battle #5 "The Dead of Winter, Northwest of Staritsa, December 29th, 1941"
***Friday 26 May, 20.00 BST - 02.00 BST ***
Report after Battle 4
The rumble of thunder booms outside in the spring air and a quite drizzle falls across the forest. Across the hills the Germans and Soviets were prepping for war. A new Soviet general had taken the field after the last one had been removed by Stalin himself. Vehicles slosh through puddles and mud, grinding towards the confrontation ahead of them. The shouts of men can be heard as they prep themselves for the hell ahead.
With a thunderous roar both armies swarm out of their bases. The Axis army quickly seizes the high ground and a windmill while the Soviets take the forested valley. Bloody slaughter rampages around the windmill as waves of Soviet troops meet the well defended position. Brute force is enough to push the Germans back, but not for long, and the windmill changes hands many times.
Mortars scream down on the valley troopers, blasting holes in the landscape and throwing mud and bodies into the air. Trees are shattered and flying splinters lacerate many of the defenders. Taking refuge behinds rocks and in craters the defenders clench their teeth and wait for the end to come. It was not to be however, and the valley was left untrodden by Axis feet.
In the end however the Germans proved too mighty for the ill equipped Soviet troops. The ground is littered in bodies, and the ground soaked with so much blood that not even the rain can wash it away. Dead eyes gaze up at the sky coated with rain water. The dead can not explain what has happened, and none shall ever know their last thoughts. The gentle rain continues and the sun is blotted from the sky by clouds. The day is done, and a quite darkness falls across the land
Battle Gallery
"Panzergrenadiers with PzIII L"
"Russian armored personel vehicle in the field"
"Infantry on the attack"
"Vassili Zaitsev with his spotter"
"Motorised Infantry somewere in Russia"
"Two migs on the tail of a stuka"
Battle #5 Map info
Battle 5: The Dead of Winter, Northwest of Staritsa, December 29th, 1941
The German army was frozen in place. Bitter cold and deep snow made the thinly-clad Wehrmacht dig in and fight first for warmth, then the Russians. The Siberians were well equipped for war in the snow, but the Soviet High Command still threw them piecemeal at the German strongpoints.
The much heralded Soviet winter counter-offensive was in fact a series of small-unit actions amongst the white and evergreen of the Russian winter. The raid on the crossroads northwest of Staritsa was just one of many.
Aftermath: To protect the critical crossroads, the Germans had cut a maze of trenchworks through the snow. If not in comfort, at least in cover, sentries peered into snowy distance. Deep silence. Then, the sound of tank engines. The white, boxy shapes of T-34s with their snowmen-like supporting troops emerged fromt he east heading straight for the crossroads. The Germans were momentarily stunned until their emplaced Panzers took the advancing tanks under fire.
The German infantry ran from one fire position to another. The Siberians advanced in line abreast, some clinging to the sides of the slewing T-34s. Within minutes it was over. The panzers had been destroyed by Russian infantry assault and a number of German troops had died. However, all the attacking T-34s were smoking and there no moving Siberians to be seen. The Germans were to learn that this by no means meant they were all dead. But, the Russians had been thrown back for another day.
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