Red Warriors
A Scenario Preview
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
October 2013

I hate to see good counters wasted.

We used to print games in fairly large quantities, by our standards, with all of the color parts made at about the same time: boxes, playing pieces, and maps. Playing cards too if the game included them. Inevitably, the numbers didn’t match up nor could they ever do so: even if the various printers somehow delivered exactly the quantities ordered, there would be misprints and some parts would be damaged in shipping, dropped in the warehouse, stabbed by a forklift or whatever.

So at the end of the game’s life, there might be some leftovers, usually playing pieces. These days, we can make small numbers of boxes and maps to match them and keep a game in print (or bring it back), but for a long time that wasn’t economically feasible. So we re-purposed the extras, usually in books or in scenario supplements. And that led to Panzer Grenadier: Red Warriors, using the leftover pieces from a game called Heroes of the Soviet Union.

Mike Perryman concocted the scenarios, and they’re very good ones based on the Soviet Operation Mars launched near Rzhev in late 1942. Here’s a look at them:

SCENARIO ONE
Guards Before Moscow
6 December 1941

One of the toughest units of the pre-war Red Army, the 78th Rifle Division had been guarding Vladivostok from Japanese attack during the war’s first months. Released for front-line duty in October, it fought tenaciously to hold the ground south of the Volokolamsk Highway and near the end of November was designed the 9th Guards Rifle Division. Ten days later, reinforced by tanks, the newly-minted Guardsmen went over to the attack.

Conclusion

Eager to go on the attack against the hated SS, the Guards went forward with considerable spirit. Already suffering from losses and cold, combined with poor training and leadership, the SS unit crumbled and fell back precipitously. The great Moscow Counter-Offensive was off to a successful start.

Notes: This is completely new, one I’d wanted to include in Sinister Forces but we had no Guards pieces in print when that book came out. The German has to defend with shaky but well-equipped infantry against a powerful Soviet attack force, all in heavy woods.

SCENARIO TWO
The Chosen
25 November 1942

Twentieth Army prepared to attack the eastern side of the Rzhev “bulge” with a fairly standard four phase attack: a massive artillery bombardment, followed by an advance by penal troops cynically known as “The Chosen” among the regular units, then an infantry assault, and finally tanks would exploit the breakthrough. After ninety minutes of pre-planned bombardment, The Chosen (political prisoners for the most part, with a leavening of petty criminals) went forward.

Location: Red God map hex 2610

Conclusion

The German division had been caught in the midst of a “relief in place” of 5th Panzer Division and its artillery was not all ready for action. The Soviets suffered enormous losses getting across the river, but fought their way through the German defenses and eventually opened a breach for the 6th Tank Corps to exploit. It was a successful first day in what would soon become a terrible failed offensive for the Red Army.

Notes: This is another “new” scenario; I didn’t think the original set made enough use of the penal infantry pieces. The German player’s forces are in some disarray and most of them are “conditional” reinforcements, reflecting the chaos of two division commands occupying the same sector. The Soviet is facing an enemy of variable strength, but has ample forces to fling at him.

SCENARIO THREE
Unleashing the Red God
25 November 1942

At the outset of Operation Mars, General G.F. Tarasov of the Soviet 41st Army was charged with attacking the German line on the western shoulder of the Rzhev bulge in front of Moscow. He chose his target carefully. Scouts reported that the German lines were held by Luftwaffe ground troops, who Tarasov called “Army Group Center’s Romanians.” Lax German security allowed the Soviets to mass their assault troops, register artillery fire and clear approach routes without the enemy suspecting anything. At 0900 Tarasov executed Marshal Georgi Zhukhov’s order to “unleash the Red God of War.”

Location: Southwest of Belyi (Red God map hex 1012)

Conclusion

Col. E.V. Dobrovl’sky’s 17th Guards Rifle Division smashed the badly-trained Luftwaffe ground division. Two of the Luftwaffe Division’s regiments and one from the neighboring 246th Infantry Division disintegrated, and panicked Germans flooded the rear areas. Within hours, Maj. Gen. M.D. Solomatin’s 1st Mechanized Corps was pouring through the hole, and patches of heavy forest slowed the Soviet tankers more than German resistance.

Notes: Heroes had a scenario much like this, but the new version uses a different set of boards and has different victory conditions.

SCENARIO FOUR
Across the Vazuza
25 November 1942

The 326th Rifle Division and 25th Tank Brigade began Operation Mars with an attack on the German 102nd Infantry Division around the village of Vaselki. Preceded by the desperate men of the penal companies, the riflemen of the 326th and the tanks of the 25th advanced through the snow-covered fields.

Location: Northwest of Karmanovo (Red God hex 2712)

Conclusion

Col. G.P. Karamyshev committed all three of his regiments in repeated attacks, but they went nowhere. After suffering massive casualties, the attackers melted away as the survivors straggled back to the start line. The battered 326th Rifle Division would make some progress in coming days, but the Soviet breakthrough would come to the south of its sector.

Notes: Tank Battles had a scenario based on this action, but this one is pretty much a new scenario on the same battle.

SCENARIO FIVE
The Air Force’s Army
26 November, 1942

After successfully breaching the German lines on the 25th, two regiments of the 17th Guards Rifle Division attacked southward to take the town of Demekhi and anchor the southern shoulder of the breakthrough. To the east, tanks of the 1st Mechanized Corps raced into the German rear areas while the Guards fought to widen the breach.

Location: Red God map hex 0814

Conclusion

Although driven back east of the village, the Luftwaffe formation held and further bled the Guards division. By the end of the day the Soviet formation was useful only for limited defensive operations, and the army command desperately sought a fresh replacement division to take over its sector.

Notes: We had one like this in Heroes, but it grossly overstated the capabilities of the Luftwaffe ground troops of the 2nd Field Division. Again, boards and victory conditions have been changed, so it’s another new scenario on the same battle.

SCENARIO SIX
“To the Highway!”
26 November, 1942

Colonel P.M Arman’s 6th Tank Corps had been ordered to help the 247th Rifle Division capture the villages of Bol’shoe Kropotovo and Maloe Kropotovo from the Germans. He was also ordered to cut the important Rzhev-Sychevka Highway. A tall order indeed, made worse when half of his brigades became tangled in the rear areas and had not reached the start line when the attack jumped off.

Location: Red God map hex 2310

Conclusion

The Germans stubbornly defended both villages. The 247th Rifle managed to wedge itself into Bol’shoe Kropotovo only to be ejected in a counterattack. However, the Soviet 22nd Tank Brigade under Captain M.S. Pinsky captured a portion of the Rzhev-Sychevka Highway. Although all objectives had not been taken, it was a good day’s work.

Notes: One like this appeared in Tank Battles; this one has a different set of game boards and more appropriate victory conditions.

SCENARIO SEVEN
From Bad to Worse
26 November 1942

The first day of Operation Mars smashed the 2nd Luftwaffe Field Division’s defenses and tore a wide gap on its right flank. While Soviet divisions and brigades surged into the opening, the division’s survivors huddled around the town of Demekhi and faced repeated attacks. As the Soviets probed for the Air Force division’s open right flank, the cavalry arrived: several squadrons from the SS Cavalry Division rode in to help shore up the position. The new arrivals might have had better combat effectiveness than the Air Force men, who had only been transferred to infantry duty in September. If so, it wasn’t by much.

Location: Red God map hex 0915

Conclusion

The Air Force division had only one artillery battalion, its men were barely trained and its officers had no infantry training. Yet the Air Force had first pick of the German draft pool, and the division’s men probably had the highest level of intelligence, physical fitness and individual initiative in Ninth Army. The SS men, recruited wherever their commander could find warm bodies including the sweepings of Hungary’s prison system, had spent most of the war slaughtering unarmed civilians. But sometimes the Red God of War shows a streak of ironic humor: These two incompetent forces managed to hold off the tough Siberians of 17th Guards Rifle for a second day, buying time for German panzer divisions to mount a counterattack.

Notes: Another one intended for Sinister Forces, but we lacked both Guards and Air Force troops at the time. It’s always easy to pick out the ones I wrote: The introduction and conclusion run on forever.

SCENARIO EIGHT
Molodoi Tud River Blues
26 – 28 November, 1942

Marshal Georgi Zhukov ordered 39th Army to breach the German lines on the Molodoi Tud River and advance south to the village of Urdom. The Soviet 158th and 135th Rifle Divisions, supported by the 28th, 81st and 242nd Tank Brigades, attacked through heavy forests and threw themselves at the German lines. Grossdeutschland Division and the garrisons in the intervening villages of Bortniki, Palatkino, and Briukhanvo were well-prepared for the assault, but Zhukov made it very clear that failure was not an option.

Location: Red God map hex 1604

Conclusion

The Soviet attacks on the 26th breached the German lines and took the village of Palatkino, but Grossdeutschland’s counterattack on the 27th drove the Soviets back to their original starting line. On the 28th the Soviets bypassed the German village garrisons for a direct assault on Urdom, but German anti-tank fire inflicted heavy casualties and drove them back to the woods.

Notes: It’s hard to define the “largest” scenario in the Panzer Grenadier series: does that mean length, playing area, or number of pieces involved? This one is a contender for that title; some of the Desert Rats mass tank battles and Beyond Normandy scenarios are in its weight class. Tank Battles broke this action into a set of smaller scenarios, but they work far better as a whole.

SCENARIO NINE
Luchesa River Valley Blues
26 – 27 November 1942

Maj. Gen. M.E. Katukov, the Soviet Union’s premier armor commander, spent the first day of Operation Mars frantically moving his 3rd Mechanized Corps through the heavy forests to reach attack positions. Meanwhile the initial Soviet assaults shredded 110th Infantry Division’s forward positions. Once the tanks made it to the front, Katukov and the infantry commanders drew up plans to seize the village of Staruhki from the elite Grossdeutschland Division. With the village in Soviet hands, the tanks and motorized units would have access to open country and could unravel the German position. With Katukov atop the lead T-34 of his crack 1st Guards Tank Brigade, the assault got underway.

Location: Red God map hex 1309

Conclusion

Amid furious fighting, the Germans stopped the Soviet attack thanks to fortified positions and the piecemeal commitment of Soviet tanks. During the night, Katukov got another of his brigades into line and convinced the infantry generals to renew the assault on the 27th. The Germans had brought a regiment of the Grossdeutschland into position as well and once again a day’s worth of furious close-quarters combat left Staruhki in German hands. The tankists made it to the town’s outskirts and moved out into open country, but the great breakthrough still eluded them.

Notes: This is another “weekend” scenario, almost as long as the other “Blues.” Again, a series of smaller scenarios on this battle appeared in Tank Battles, but they probably should not have been split up.

SCENARIO TEN
From the March
27 November 1942

Under orders to move forward and attack as soon as possible, General V.A. Reviakhin pushed his 1st Guards Motorized Rifle Division west. As soon as the lead regiment crossed the Vazuza River in the late afternoon, he ordered an immediate attack on the German-held village of Nikonovo, which had been bypassed in the initial advance. Another regiment rushed in behind to take the village of Maloe Kroptovo. Considered the finest division in the Red Army of Workers and Peasants, the 1st Guards went into action without waiting for their tanks or artillery to catch up with the hard-driving infantry. The fight began as daylight began to fade.

Location: Red God map hex 2309

Conclusion

Soviet fighting spirit proved no match for German automatic weapons. The riflemen of the 1st and 3rd Guards Motorized Regiments advanced unsupported by artillery and armor and suffered horrendous losses, with fully half of 3rd Regiment’s 3,000 men killed in action. By nightfall both regiments had been withdrawn, no longer a combat-effective formation.

Notes: Heroes has a scenario very similar to this one; boards and victory conditions have been changed here.

SCENARIO ELEVEN
Mounted Mischief
28 November, 1942

Along with other units of 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps that had managed to filter through the lines of the XXXIX Panzer Corps, Col. M.D. Iagodin’s 3rd Guards Cavalry Division became surrounded by hordes of counterattacking Germans. Ordered to continue attacking west while 20th Army tried to relieve the encircled force, the depleted division sent its troopers off to attack the German positions based on the village of Karpovo.

Location: Red God map hex 2110

Conclusion

The troopers of 3rd Guards Cavalry Division temporarily drove the Germans back, but increasing pressure forced an end to the foray. Badly depleted by fighting, with only one of its regiments still functioning as a combat unit, on the next morning the remnants of 3rd Guards Cavalry Division came under the command of the neighboring 20th Cavalry Division.

Notes: The similar Heroes scenario is not nearly chaotic enough to reflect the problems faced by Iagodin. Had he known what forces would join him (or the Germans, for that matter) he doubtlessly would have acted very differently. The new scenario gives both players much less confidence in the future, forcing them to weigh the same risks as the actual commanders (though no one’s likely to die from it).

SCENARIO TWELVE
Pankratov’s Cossacks
29 November 1942

Sixth Tank Corps had made a deep penetration into the eastern edge of the Rzhev “bulge” during the first several days of the Mars offensive. But on 28 November, the attack’s third day, German counter-attacks struck the flanks of the advancing units and cut off both the tank corps and most of 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps. The tank corps’ commissar, P.G. Grishin, radioed that spirits were running high but food, fuel and ammunition were running low. If contact could be re-established quickly, Grishin believed, great success lay ahead, but if not, morale would quickly drop. Maj. Gen. N.I. Kiriukin, the 20th Army commander, ordered the cavalry corps to take command of adjacent units and re-establish contact with all speed. At dawn on the 29th, the coordinated assault began with a heavy artillery barrage.

Location: Red God map hex 2510

Conclusion

After a heavy artillery barrage, Col. G.I. Pankratov mustered all of his remaining cavalrymen and launched them in a division-sized charge against the German lines. Right behind them came the 247th Rifle Division’s foot soldiers, marking their fifth straight day of full-scale attacks. On the northern flank of the attack, 100th Tank Brigade came forward as well. The Germans held their positions and huge numbers of Soviet dead piled up on the battlefield, yet they would not give up the assault. Finally the corps command called off the attacks as dusk approached. Pankratov’s division had lost 490 men and 145 horses killed in the charge.

Notes: A new scenario; just why this action was overlooked for some of the others in Heroes and Tank Battles is hard to say but probably because we did not have enough cavalry pieces available. The Soviet player gets 29 of them, the most ever in a Panzer Grenadier scenario. As my daughter constantly reminds me, you can never have enough horses to play with.

SCENARIO THIRTEEN
Red God of War: Reviakhin’s Riflemen
29 November 1942

Among the units selected to relieve 6th Tank Corps was 1st Guard Motorized Rifle Division, considered by most the toughest unit in the Red Army. On the northern flank of the cavalry attack, Maj. Gen. V.A. Reviakhin’s Moscow Proletarian Division would also jump off in the early morning behind a heavy artillery barrage. The division had yet to live up to its promise during the first days of Operation Mars, having rushed into battle without waiting for their tanks and artillery, and the command staff was determined to earn back Stalin’s confidence.

Location: Red God map hex 2509

Conclusion

“Again and again the attacks were unsuccessful,” recorded one of the 1st Guards’ regimental historians. “Neither artillery fire from open positions nor direct fire from regimental guns could suppress the numerous bunkers and dug-in tanks. Suffering considerable infantry losses and losing eight tanks, the guardsmen of the regiment dug themselves into the snow.”

Notes: This is the companion piece to Pankratov’s Cossacks, another new one. We had some fairly weak scenarios in Tank Battles on the second day of this assault, but it’s the first day that makes for the far more interesting battle, with the best division in the Red Army trying to force its will on a very good German panzer division.

SCENARIO FOURTEEN
Feldwebel Schaffer
30 November, 1942

Having crossed the Nacha River with heavy casualties, Maj. Gen. M.D. Solomatin of 3rd Mechanized Corps was determined that the Germans could not have the bloody ground back without paying a price of their own. Knowing that the fresh 12th Panzer Division was making its way to his front along the narrow forest roads, he ordered his brigades to drive the Germans back from the river. When the German attack came, Solomatin planned to occupy a firm line. But a battalion-sized task force stood in the way of his 65th Tank Brigade near the town of Basino, in particular a single PzKpfw IV tank commanded by Sgt. Schaffer.

Location: Red God map hex 1313

Conclusion

Feldwebel Schaffer’s crew destroyed one KV-1 and at least, according to the division history, fourteen T-34s. As panzer grenadiers from 12th Panzer filtered into the German lines to prepare for a counter-attack, Solomatin went to each front-line unit and urged its officers to extract one more attack from their tired troops.

Notes: The original “Feldwebel Schaffer” in Tank Battles lacked a context as to why the Soviets were attacking at all, so its victory conditions did not reflect the tank brigade’s actual mission. This one is pretty much a new scenario on the same battle.

SCENARIO FIFTEEN
Struggle for Urdom
30 November 1942

Maj. Gen. A.I. Zygin of 39th Army was very worried. The night before, Marshal Georgi Zhukov had very clearly explained to him what happened to generals who failed. Zygin and his staff came up with a very simple plan. They would take the infantry and their remaining tanks and push them through the German positions to take the village of Urdom.

Location: Red God map hex 1604

Conclusion

The Soviets forced the Germans out of Urdom, with Col. K.A. Malygin leading the way with an assault group of KV tanks gathered from 28th and 81st Tank Brigades

Both sides suffered horrific losses. Over half of the Soviet armor was knocked out while the pampered Grossdeutschland Division had to be pulled out of the line for rest and refit. Zygin had the success he needed to satisfy Zhukov: the German divisions facing him had not been able to detach any reinforcements for more crucial sectors. It would be up to other commanders to exploit this.

Notes: The Tank Battles scenario on this battle actually was pretty good, but it needed a different set of boards (with more woods).

SCENARIO SIXTEEN
Rear Echelon
30 November 1942

Twentieth Army had ripped a hole in the German lines during the offensive’s first days, but stout German defenses on either “shoulder” of the breach kept the Soviets from fully exploiting their success. On the northern edge, assorted German units around the town of Belyi fought off repeated assaults. Maj. Gen. German Fedorovich Tarasov sent two relatively fresh brigades at the problem once again, hoping to catch the Germans off-guard.

Location: Red God map hex 1113

Conclusion

Tarasov, a former NKVD officer, had no concern for losses and the two brigades suffered massive casualties. They came within 400 meters of meeting their objectives before falling back under punishing machine-gun and small-arms fire. The 1st Panzer Division’s headquarters staff fell out and picked up arms to make a last stand, but were saved by the final Soviet collapse. The Soviets were unaware of how close they came to decapitating German command and control in this sector.

Notes: A “new” scenario and the last one designed. I wanted to use the hill boards out of Road to Berlin and this presented a good action mixing tanks and infantry on both sides.

SCENARIO SEVENTEEN
Nikitinka Station
1 December, 1942

The Soviet 37th Mechanized Brigade had racked up a string of successes against the 1st Panzer Division, and was coming close to its goal of cutting the vital Belyi-Vladimirskoe road. Thinking on his feet in a crisis, Colonel Holste, commander of 1st Panzer Division’s 37th Artillery Regiment, formed a combat group of various elements and headed out to recapture the key position of Nikitinka Station from 37th Mechanized Brigade.

Location: Red God map hex 1316

Conclusion

The Soviets were ejected from Nikitinka Station. The odd force had done a good job for the Germans. The Germans’ ability to improvise small battlegroups kept the situation from getting out of hand. A day or two of rest was sorely needed by both sides, but wasn’t likely to happen.

Notes: A reworking of a Tank Battles scenario, with a different board layout and new and improved victory conditions.

SCENARIO EIGHTEEN
Shanaurin Strikes Back
4 December, 1942

The 37th Mechanized Brigade had been forcefully ejected from Nikitinka Station and appeared to have lost the initiative as well as their objective. Lt. Col. N.M. Shanaurin, the Soviet commander, had been forced to ask permission to withdraw on the 3rd and this still rankled. Even as his corps commander was ordering all wounded and support vehicles to the rear, Shanaurin was sending his forces forward. When orders came for the front-line brigades to pull back, Shanaurin hurriedly launched a counterattack on Group Holste.

Location: Red God map hex 1316

Conclusion

Even as Shanaurin’s force went over to the attack, his corps commander, Maj. Gen. M.D. Solomatin, was busily apologizing to army command for the brigade’s unauthorized “withdrawal” and presenting the new positions as much more favorable. Shanaurin finally complied with his orders, but not before losing five T-34 tanks and several dozen dead soldiers.

Notes: Companion scenario to Nikitinka Station, also a new version of one appearing in Tank Battles. Context was weak in the original, and the new victory conditions better reflect Shanaurin’s self-appointed mission.

SCENARIO NINETEEN
Cutting Off the Head
7 December 1942

After successfully containing the Soviet 41st Army’s penetration south of Belyi, XXX Panzer Corps slowly gathered the forces necessary to cut the base of the penetration and isolate the Soviet 1st Mechanized and 6th Rifle Corps. Gen. Maximilian von Fretter-Pico put all of his corps’ tanks and halftrack-equipped infantry under command of 19th Panzer Division to bring it close to full strength. Soviet partisans delayed the attack’s commencement with timely ambushes and demolitions, but eventually the reinforced division launched its assault.

Location: South of Belyi (Red God map hex 1012)

Conclusion

The German attack caught the 78th Brigade by surprise. “Without regard for the nests of resistance to the right and left,” one German officer wrote, “the 19th Panzer Division fought against the tenaciously-defending enemy, whose rocket-launchers were unable to halt the attack’s momentum.” With the rather dubious assistance of the SS Cavalry Division to the west, the panzer division advanced 4 kilometers on the 7th and six more on the 8th to close the Soviet escape route.

Notes: Heroes had one like this; the new one changes board layout and has more appropriate victory conditions.

SCENARIO TWENTY
The Bloodiest Fight
13 December 1942

As Operation Mars stalled, only Maj. Gen. A.I. Zygin’s 39th Army showed any signs of success. German counter-attacks isolated 39th Army’s armored spearhead, mostly tanks of 81st Brigade, and Zygin ordered fresh divisions to break through to rescue the trapped tankers. Preceded by a four-hour bombardment, the 16th Guards Rifle Division assaulted the positions held by the 11th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. “The battle raged,” wrote one German survivor, “and the earth, covered by a maelstrom of fiery iron fragments, trembled.” Operation Mars had only a few more days to run, as even the most optimistic Soviet commanders began to recognize the waste of men and materiel as pointless.

Location: South of Molodoi Tud (Red God map hex 1504)

Conclusion

The Soviet attack made only minimal gains, and could not penetrate the German lines. But by disrupting the German defenses, the attack did give the trapped tankers the chance they needed to break out of their encirclement and return to the Soviet lines. The Germans pulled back in hopes of re-organizing their own battered units, but Zygin gave them no peace and attacked the next day, this time with more tank support.

Notes: And we end with another that originally appeared in Heroes, and received a total overhaul for inclusion in Red Warriors.

Red Warriors is available right now! Click here to order it.