49th Mountain Corps:
Scenario Preview, Part One
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
November 2021

With Fire in the Steppe: 49th Mountain Corps, we return to the initial battles in West Ukraine in June 1941, as the Red Army’s South-West Front faces the German Army Group South. This is a Campaign Study, a small book with scenarios for other games. In this case, it’s for Fire in the Steppe, drawing pieces from Parachutes Over Crete (German mountain troops) and Slovakia’s War (Soviet NKVD troops).

49th Mountain Corps, the book, focuses tightly on two divisions of the German 49th Mountain Corps (the 1st and 4th Mountain Divisions) in the first two weeks of operation Barbarossa, pitted against the Soviet Sixth Army defending Lvov, the one-time capital of Austrian-ruled Galicia and therefore familiar to many of the German formations’ senior officers; the Austro-Hungarian XIV Corps, a mountain unit raised in Tirol and Salzburg, fought over the same ground in 1914.

By looking just at these two divisions, we can use the scenarios to help tell the story. The Soviets fought very hard here, and put some very good divisions in the path of the Germans. But poor higher-level coordination on the part of the Red Army, a lack of transport to keep the artillery moving, and well-executed and never-ending German air attacks all helped unravel the defense. But at the core of the battles, it was the German Gebirgsjägern who overcame the Soviet riflemen in a series of intense actions.

The Campaign Study format lets us look at just a slice of a battle or campaign, and study it in game format. A wargame is by no means the equivalent of an actual historical study, but it can help illuminate some aspects of history in a way that other formats cannot. And that’s what we’ve tried to do with 49th Mountain Corps. So let’s have a look at the first of the book’s two chapters.

Scenario One
The Attack Rolled
22 June 1941
The 1st Mountain Division filtered into positions along the German-Soviet border in the days just before the scheduled 22 June offensive, moving at night to maintain the element of surprise. With the 68th Infantry Division on its right flank and the 71st Infantry Division (from IV Corps) on its left, the division was to drive for Lvov. But first it would have to penetrate the Soviet positions along the border.

Conclusion
As the division’s war diary noted, “the attack rolled.” The NKVD border guards put up surprising resistance, but they were badly outnumbered and eventually overrun; “the enemy appears completely surprised,” the division diary also recorded. The division staff decided that they faced a “Siberian” division, since NKVD troopers included men from all over the Soviet Union and some of the prisoners and dead appeared to be ethnically Asian.

Notes
The Germans have an extreme advantage in numbers, artillery and surprise, but the NKVD border guards are tough bastards who aren’t about to give in easily. With all of those advantages, the Germans are going to be expected to achieve a lot in order to win, so this isn’t as easy a task for them as just the array of forces might indicate.

Scenario Two
Hill 273
22 June 1941
Having crushed the border guard outposts, the 1st Mountain Division surged forward quickly in two battle groups, formed around its two mountain regiments. Col. Hermann Kress and his 99th Mountain Regiment, having smashed through the Soviet border defenses, would advance on the division’s left. Their target would be Hill 273, the highest ground in the area and therefore a key early objective for the Mountain Corps’ advance.

Conclusion
Col. Nikita Zakharov’s 97th Rifle Division and the 1st Mountain Division were old acquaintances – troops of the two formations had exchanged fire in September 1939, just a few kilometers to the west of this battlefield. Afterwards the Red Army division saw extensive action in Finland, and returned to the same area as one of the few full-strength divisions on the front lines on 22 June. With a full allotment of men, weapons and artillery, and plenty of combat experience, it suffered only a shortage of transport. The Germans captured Hill 273, but division commander Hubert Lanz realized this campaign would be no walkover.

Scenario Three
Oleszyce Castle
22 June 1941
After crossing the Soviet border, Col. Egbert Picker’s 98th Mountain Regiment marched on the town of Oleszyce. The Soviets had turned the town, its adjoining castle and the castle grounds into a fortress – but had not evacuated the civilian inhabitants. An outnumbered NKVD border guard detachment held the positions as the Germans approached, but reinforcements were already on their way even as German artillery rounds fell on the castle.

Conclusion
Boasting its full shtat of howitzers, the 97th Rifle Division actually out-gunned 1st Mountain Division, itself an anomaly among German mountain formations with the artillery allotment of a regular infantry division. House-to-house fighting raged in Oleszyce throughout the afternoon, and Soviet infantrymen continued to defend the castle even as it burned down around them. Only with nightfall did Zakharov’s division withdraw, having taken heavy casualties but dealt out severe punishment in return.

Notes
This scenario takes place on just one map board, and at first the Soviets hold the town with just a detachment of NKVD border guards. The Germans need to overrun them as quickly as possible, because help is on its way in the form of a large RKKA force with solid morale and artillery support that can match what the Germans deploy.

Scenario Four
Second Line
23 June 1941
Despite the heavy fighting against 1st Mountain Division and its neighbor, 68th Infantry Division, the Red Army’s veteran 97th Rifle Division fell back in good order and formed a new line of resistance. The German advance continued and on the next day Hubert Lanz’s mountain troops renewed their assault. The rifle divisions on either flank began to crumble, and the position could not be held for long – but help was supposedly on its way.

Conclusion
A day of hard fighting and incessant air attacks had worn down the 97th Rifle Division, but it remained a very capable formation and only slowly gave ground. The road to Lvov was not yet open for the mountain troops, but the Soviet Sixth Rifle Corps had suffered terrible losses already and lost touch with some of its subordinate units. But the crack 4th Mechanized Corps was expected to crush the invaders and relieve the pressure on the hard-fighting Red Army riflemen.

Notes
The Soviets are starting to show the wear of a terrible first day to the war: their morale and initiative are slipping, and that once-awesome divisional artillery is melting away. They still hold a slight edge in numbers, and they still know how to fight, so driving them off their positions is going to be another difficult task for the Germans. For their part, the Germans still have strong artillery and air support and that excellent leadership to see them through.

You can order 49th Mountain Corps right here.

You can order the Mountain Package right here.
49th Mountain Corps, Fire in the Steppe, Parachutes Over Crete and Slovakia’s War all for one low price.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published an unknowable number of books, games and articles on historical subjects. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children and his dog, Leopold. Leopold knows the number.

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