Not so quiet on the Eastern Front (Part1)

Here is an update from last night's battle. Peeler popped over and I set up a Rapid Fire game. The basic scenario was that one side had to cross a river at two possible points to occupy a town at the other end of the table. The opposing side simply had to cause as much hassle to the other as possible until the town could be reinforced. We chose Soviets as the attacking force and Germans as the defenders.

The forces were made up as:

Germans:

2 x Companies of Waffen SS each with transport

2 x HMG teams

A reduced tank company of Tiger I's (2 tanks) with a supporting Marder III

A forward detachment of 1 Panther tank

1 x 75mm gun (crewed by locals in German service)

Soviets:

Command - 1 x T34 & Armoured car as supporting recon

1 x Infantry Battalion (3 Companies of Rifle Infantry) plus 1 HMG and 1 Medium Mortar

Infantry Battlion Command = Lend Lease Jeep, Officers and Political Commisars

1 x Medium Armoured Company (2 x T32)

1 x Heavy Armoured Company (2 x SU 152)

It was envisaged that the Red army would quickly storm over the crossing points of the bridge and the ford and that the relatively green Waffen SS who were commanded by Von Waudby would make a fighting retreat into the town where they would use their infantry anti-tank weapons to stop the Soviet armour from progressing through the town and ever closer towards Berlin!

... all did not go to plan!