Legend of the Iron Wolf:
Scenario Preview, Part Two
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
June 2022

While our alternative-history stuff has been pretty popular at the strategic level, and for our naval games, it never really caught on for Panzer Grenadier. But we had a stockpile of Lithuanian pieces in the warehouse from a foolish venture some years back, and I built Lithuania’s Iron Wolves around it.

That in turn gave me the excuse to write an expansion, Legend of the Iron Wolf, to flesh out the rest of the story with two additional campaigns (with ten more scenarios between them). The attraction here from a player’s standpoint is that, since I made up the history, I could make up the battles to maximize their play value as Panzer Grenadier scenarios. This winds up the Lithuanian alternative history, unless we build a Golden Journal around it someday, because we’d need more pieces to continue the story.

So, let’s have a look at the second half of Legend of the Iron Wolf:

Campaign Six
Resisting Barbarossa
For a year and a half, Lithuania had played coy with her powerful neighbors, balancing Germany and the Soviet Union against one another to avoid occupation by either. The Lithuanians purchased small arms, ammunition, tanks and howitzers from producers in German-occupied Czechoslovakia, as Germany sought influence in its small neighbor, but declined the presence of a German training mission. The Lithuanian Army expanded from three to six infantry divisions, plus a cavalry division and a mechanized brigade. This enlarged though still very small army would hopefully serve as a deterrent; Lithuania would not be quietly occupied by either side.

When the Germans began to make inquiries about Lithuania’s willingness to join in an attack on the Soviet Union, the Lithuanians declined to participate. Germany and the Soviet Union had formed an alliance, and Lithuania’s military and political leadership didn’t believe the Germans would launch an attack when Germany already received so many economic benefits from its ties to Stalin’s regime – trainloads of oil, grain, timber and ores flowed through Lithuania on their way west.

Lithuania’s intelligence service followed the German buildup in Poland, and noted the German armies deploying to East Prussia as well. The Germans obviously intended to march through Lithuania as part of their sneak attack on their putative Soviet ally, an assessment confirmed by a tip from the Finnish general staff. Lithuania quietly mobilized as well and prepared for war.

Scenario Twenty-Three
The Crossing at Alytus
June 1941
In the early morning hours of 22 June, 7th Panzer Division raced over the border from East Prussia into Lithuania and headed for the key bridges over the Neiman River at Alytus. The Lithuanian Mechanized Brigade, stationed there in peacetime, had already begun to withdraw. But when Lithuanian engineers tried to destroy the big concrete bridge on the south end of town, it withstood the blast. The Lithuanian tankers turned around to strike the Germans as they deployed into their newly-won bridgehead.

Conclusion
A confused tank battle developed on the fields west of Alytus. During their rapid advance the units of 7th Panzer had become badly intermingled and command and control suffered accordingly from this lack of march discipline. The Lithuanian Mechanized Brigade inflicted considerable damage on 7th Panzer and only the timely arrival of 20th Panzer’s tank regiment allowed the Germans to drive off the Lithuanians and resume their offensive.

Notes
This is a modification of a scenario from the old Panzer Grenadier: Eastern Front. It might be the best scenario of the 112 (yes, one hundred twelve) in that set so I thought it would be fun to re-make it with Lithuanians.

Scenario Twenty-Four
Infantry Attacks
June 1941
Despite increasing its number of panzer divisions, the German Army that invaded Lithuania (and the Soviet Union) in June 1941 remained primarily an infantry force that pulled its supplies and heavy weapons with horses. The Lithuanians had a year and a half to prepare themselves for the German onslaught, but could do little to redress the imbalance in firepower. But they could dig.

Conclusion
While the panzers got the headlines, the German assault on the Soviet Union (and on Lithuania, unfortunately sited right in their path) started off with massive artillery barrages. The heavy guns allowed the Germans to smash their way through the Lithuanian prepared defenses, but the Iron Wolves extracted heavy casualties from the invaders in exchange.

Notes
The Lithuanians have all the accoutrements of defensive warfare: entrenchments, barbed wire and mines. They have artillery support and good morale. The Germans can meet that morale, and add an artillery park matching that of the Great War’s Steel Wind tactics.

Scenario Twenty-Five
Tank Engagement
June 1941
The Lithuanian Mechanized Brigade had been organized and equipped as an armored counter-attack force intended to blunt the force of the German panzer spearheads. After their brush with 7th Panzer Division at Alytus, the Lithuanian brigade turned west to intercept the rapidly-advancing 8th Panzer Division.

Conclusion
The Lithuanians fielded some tanks that out-classed the German machines, but mostly had their way through strength of numbers. The Germans had been delayed on this front, yet Lithuania had but one mechanized brigade while the Germans deployed six larger, better-equipped panzer divisions just against Lithuania. The brigade could not stop them all.

Notes
I like this scenario a lot, because of the tank matchup – both sides are driving Czech-made LT38 light tanks as their main battle tank. The Lithuanians are good tankers (they have leaders and efficiency, in Panzer Grenadier terms).

Scenario Twenty-Six
March Column
June 1941
Lithuania fielded two mobile formations in June 1941, the Mechanized Brigade with its tanks and motorized infantry, and the undersized Cavalry Division, mostly horsed. Lithuania had a long and very proud cavalry tradition forged in wars with the Mongols and Muscovites, but tradition had little place on the mid-20th-Century battlefield. Even so, the Lithuanians would once again ride to war.

Conclusion
Catching the German column by surprise in the dead of night, the Lithuanian horsemen inflicted severe casualties, including an entire artillery battalion. The anticipated rapid advance had made the Germans lax about security precautions, and the Lithuanians took advantage of their mistakes. But as with their tank force, Lithuania had only a limited number of cavalry squadrons.

Notes
I wanted to use the Lithuanian cavalry on the attack (which is tough to manage except in a special situation like this) and I wanted them to deliver a serious ass-kicking unto the Germans. And that’s what happens here (the Germans win by keeping their losses low).

Scenario Twenty-Seven
Lithuania’s Last Ditch
June 1941
In front of Vilnius, their ancient capital, the Lithuanians dug in for their final stand. The city stood directly in the path of the German Third Panzer Group’s advance to the north-east and could not be bypassed. Despite the overwhelming odds against them, the Lithuanians would fight.

Conclusion
Lithuanian courage ultimately could not meet the weight of German firepower and numbers. The panzers broke through the Lithuanian positions and though they suffered heavy losses in the Lithuanian armor’s counter-attack Vilnius eventually fell after days of fierce house-to-house fighting.

Notes
A book like Legend of the Iron Wolf is only going to appeal to the Panzer Grenadier hard core, and I wanted them to have a big scenario suitable for team play, and that’s how this one is constructed: three layers of Lithuanian defenses, each set up so one player can control each. Two approaching German divisions, each along a different axis, so different players can control them. Of course, you don’t have to do that, so anywhere from two to five players can play.

Aftermath
Lithuania’s forces performed much better than the Red Army in the early days of the German invasion: her forces were ready, and delivered repeated defeats to the invaders. But it was not enough, and by early July the last organized resistance had ended and Lithuania’s cities had fallen under German occupation.

A small core of Lithuanian soldiers and Rifle Association volunteers escaped eastwards to form a brigade of exiles who fought alongside the Polish II Corps in the Italian campaign. Despite Lithuania’s status as an Allied power, Lithuania came under Soviet occupation in late 1944 and after the war the Red Army did not depart. Lithuania’s freedom would be bargained away at Yalta in 1945, and the small republic’s territory was absorbed by the Belorussian SSR in 1946. Latvia and Estonia would win their freedom in 1991, but not Lithuania.

While some blamed the Smetona government for shedding so much Lithuanian blood in a quixotic gesture, the Lithuanian government had had no good choices in 1939. Every option ended in widespread death and destruction, including the deliberate murder of Lithuania’s Jewish citizens. Faced with impossible choices, Lithuania’s leaders chose to fight, but could not stave off the horrors.

And that’s all for Legend of the Iron Wolf.

You can order Legend of the Iron Wolf right here.

You can order Lithuania's Iron Wolves right here.

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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 believes himself an iron wolf.

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