Colonel Katukov's Panzers

The German Army ripped into the Soviet Union in 1941, aided by Stalin's convoluted peasant cunning and paranoia. In the late thirties, his NKVD thugs murdered almost all the Red Army's Officer Corp and Stalin himself forbade the Red Army to take any measures against a German invasion on the grounds that it was all a plot of the SIS, the British secret service.

Only a handful of competent officers were left. One was, of course, Zhukov, another was Colonel Katukov, commander of the 4th Tank Brigade. He had trained his tankers in ambush tactics and fire and movement. One of his battalions was equipped with T34 medium and KV heavy tanks, the finest armoured fighting vehicles in the world.

On the 6th October, 1941, Kakutov laid an ambush for Guderian's 4th Panzer Division, which was advancing up the Mtsensk road as part of Operation Typhoon, the ill-fated attempt to capture Moscow. 4th Panzer was equipped with Pz II's, III's and IV's.

The Germans were horrified to find themselves attacked by tanks whose frontal armour were impervious to their short barreled anti-tank guns.

Following standard tactics the panzers retreated back into cover of their anti-tank guns that were positioned on a ridge behind them. Katukov took the bait, sending his light tank battalion up the road behind the panzers. But his highly mobile, fast, wide-tracked T34 battalion made a right hook through the mud and forests to catch 4th Panzer in the flank. The 76mm cannons on the Russian tanks proved equally effective against anti-tank guns.After a short and bloody tank and gun duel, Katukov withdrew to fight another day, having halted 4th Panzer in their tracks. Guderian had to visit 4th Panzer personally to repair their shaken morale

Shaun and I recreated this battle, using the Rapid Fire rules.

The picture above shows the start of the Russian pursuit, from left to right.



The first tank losses occured after an exchange of long range fire. The 88mm Flak Battery opens up on the Russians taking out a T26 light tank.


4th panzer charges the Russian T34s, closing down the range to try to penetrate the Russian armour. T34s take out the fearsome 88mm flak battery with HE fire.


The Panzer IIIs outmanouvre the Soviet T34s and Kvs, firing into their rear armour and causing losses.

The Russian light tank battalion is massacred and Katukov withdraws his remaing T34s and KVs.

Shaun, alias Col Eberbach of the 35th Panzer Regiment, 4th Panzer Division, wins on points as he had knocked out more than the Russian force. On the other hand I had given 4th Panzer a bloody nose and two thirds of my T34s and KVs were still runners, so I did not think Stalin would be displeased.

Guns of Autumn

More German WWII guns. Models by HaT. The big jobby on the left is a German Pak36, a rebuilt Russian 76.2 anti-tank gun from the hundreds captured in 1941. It used upgraded high velocity ammunition and was a serious tank killer. The model shows how large and unwieldy AT guns became in WWII. Infantry did not re-acquire a man portable long range tank killer until the advent of the guided missile.

The pic illustrates something else. As the winter progresses our day length shortens up here on the roof of the world and our light is 'pastel', filtered by its long glancing pass through the atmosphere, the last stage of which is in the air pollution of the Thames Valley.

PS I sprayed these with Valejo acrylic spray to keep the static grass on. It is so much better that Citadel satin.

Achtung Panzer

A depleted Panzer Regiment as it might have appeared after the terrible battles on the eastern Front in 1942. It has three battalions but all are understrength (one model = a platoon).

These are Pz III Gs. The PzIII started production in 1939 and was one of the best main battle tanks of its time. It had a 37mm anti-tank gun but was deliberately designed with a large ring turret allowing an upgrade to a 57mm L42 gun Shown above.. The G version had this weapon for Barbarossa, the Pz III being the standard German main battle tank in 1941. The experience of meeting T34s and KVs resulted in another upgrade to a 57mmL60 in 1942, the PzIII J.

The PzIII was obsolete by the Battle for Kursk but both 57mm variants served in large numbers in the Panzer and SS Divisions.

These are cheap easybuild HaT Armourfast kits (£4 a tank) designed for wargamers.

German Infantry Support Weapons

HaT soft plastic figures that cost around £5 for a box of four. These are a 37mm anti-tank gun and a 75mm howitzer. They are the sort of support heavy weapons under an infantry battalion's direct control. I have mounted them on GW stands.

The frosting on the AT gun came about becuase I decided to use up the last can of Citadel satin varnish rather than throwing the damn thing away, a mistake I have rectified.

Russian Mobile Detachment - 1943

This is my finished Russian Army for the Rapid Fire Rules. Everything ia in 1/72 plastic.

It consists of three battalions, one armoured and two infantry (tank riders).

The armoured battalion has an HQ tank (T34-76), two companies of medium tanks (each of two T34-76), and a company of light tanks (two T26). In support, it has two batteries of self propelled anti-tank guns (each of one SU-85)

The first infantry battalion has an officer and three men (riding on the HQ tank), and two companies of tank riders (six men each, riding on the T34's). The second battalion has an officer and three men riding on the light tanks, and two companies of four men each riding on the SUs.

The T34s and SUs are from Armourfast kits and the infantry from Pegassus Hobbies kits. The T26s are actually Vickers light tanks from Airfix. The early Russian light tanks were based on Vickers prewar designs. They should really be T80s (or similar) but I have not got any. However, the Red Army had a huge number of T26s so it seems likely that a few were still running in 1943. Light tanks are all much of a muchness anyway. Too slow to keep up with median tanks so useless for reconnaissance, they were also deathtraps in combat. The Soviets called them a 'grave for two brothers'. Everyone stopped using light tanks during the war (note the successful Stuart was technically a medium tank) as reconnaisance was much better done by cheaper armoured cars, which were not expected to fight.

The infantry are mounted on spare GW plastic bases.

The total cost of this army is one box of infantry at £7, seven T34s and SUs at £28 the lot and two light tanks at £14: total £49.

This is wargaming on the cheap, without sacrificing the visual appeal of miniature wargaming.