Map for my Ponyri Station and Hill 253.5 – A Big Crossfire Scenario during Kursk.
Kursk 1943
The Battle of Kursk (July to August 1943) saw massive German and Soviet forces clashing near Kursk (450 kilometres southwest of Moscow) during World War II. The German offensive was code-named Operation Citadel and led to one of the largest armoured clashes in history, the Battle of Prokhorovka. The Soviets retaliated with two counter-offensives, Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev and Operation Kutuzov. Kursk was the last German strategic offensive on the Eastern Front. After Kursk the strategic initiative shifted to the Red Army.
Timeline for Ponyri Station and Hill 253.5
My timeline on the action around Ponyri Station in the Battle of Kursk. Details primarily taken from Remson and Anderson (2000).
Sources for Ponyri Station and Hill 253.5
An annotated bibliography for Ponyri Station in the Battle of Kursk.
German Order of Battle at Ponyri Station
The German massed a strong strike force against the sector containing Ponyri Station in the Battle of Kursk.
Ponyri Station and Hill 253.5 – The Northern Sector of the Battle of Kursk
Hit the Dirt, the supplement for Crossfire, has a scenario set at Ponyri on the northern flank of the Kursk Salient during WW2. It is one of my favourites and I’ve played it several times. But it was obvious that there was a much bigger story behind the brief outline in the HTD. I wanted to find out more. It seems Ponyri Station was the focus of heavy fighting and was viewed as a “little Stalingrad”.
3 Round Kursk: A 3 Game Campaign for Crossfire
This is a 3 Round Campaign set at Kursk in 1943 and Crossfire as the tactical rules.
3 Round Campaign
I picked up the idea of a 3 round campaign from the BattleFront: Kursk Campaign and the BattleFront: Campaigns in Flames of War page on the Battlefront Miniatures website. Essentially it is a serious of linked scenarios, with some pre-determined logic for which scenarios are fought depending on the results of earlier games.