Eastern Front

During World War II the Axis powers tried and failed to defeat the Soviet Union. The Germans called this theatre the “Eastern Front Campaign” or “Russian Front Campaign” but to the Soviet citizens it was the “Great Patriotic War”. The battles on the Eastern Front constituted the largest military confrontation in history. Fighting in this theatre was characterised by unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life variously due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres. Fighting lasted from the Axis invasion of the USSR (22 June 1941) to until the Soviet capture of Berlin (9 May 1945).

Bessonov – Tank Rider “Mount the Tanks!”

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Bessonov is one of many memoirs coming out of the former Soviet Union. Evgeni Bessonov was a young Russian officer in a Tank Rider unit during World War II. In two years of fighting he led his unit from the Orel Offensive (Aug 1943) to Berlin. Bessonov (2003) is his own account of those years. I found it one of the better memoirs. It is a good read and I enjoyed in insight into the life of tank rider.

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Ponyri Station and Hill 253.5 – A Big Crossfire Scenario during Kursk

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Table - Ponyri Station and Hill 253.7 - Crossfire - Banner

I volunteered to run a day long Crossfire multi-player event for my old club in Guildford. This scenario represents one attack and counter-attack cycle of the battle around Ponyri Station and Hill 253.5 on 7 July 1943. The parameters were:

  • WW2
  • 6-8 players
  • one big table (’cause I wanted to try out the Multi-player Rules with the Guildford chaps)
  • playable by a mix of Crossfire novices and more experienced gamers
  • using the kit I have available (Germans and Russians)
  • must finish in about six hours of gaming (set up and pack up time was in addition)

This is what I came up with.

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Ponyri Station and Hill 253.5 – The Northern Sector of the Battle of Kursk

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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”.

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