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Pre-game Brief.

Posted by Niewiele DupekFor group 0
Niewiele Dupek
GM, 83 posts
Mon 17 Dec 2012
at 15:09
  • msg #1

Pre-game Brief

RBS Members:

I could rewrite it, but I am playing Battle Of Kalisz pretty much exactly how it is in the core rules, just on First Batt's, and eventually Alpha Company's micro scale. To that end, I want to describe what happens when the First Shirt and the Captain leave the Major General's briefing.

So, to do that, I'll copy and paste from the July 17th description in the core rules. To give players and GMs leeway, it was made pretty vague on purpose. So, please ask questions if you are not absolutely sure what has happened the 36 hours before the early morning of 18 July 2000, when the game starts.

From the core rules:

July 17th: By daybreak, the pressure on 1-40 Armored, by
now joined by the remnants of 4-12 Cavalry, was mounting.
Polish infantry from Pleszew was now being joined by light
armored vehicles believed to be from the 10th Polish Tank Division. The infantry at Ostrow had been identified as elements
of the Soviet 12th Guards Tank Division, a weak formation
which had been in reserve near Legnica. However, it was now
being joined by mechanized vehicles believed to belong to 21st
Motorized Rifle Division. At midday, advanced pickets of the
4-12 Cavalry reported a large mechanized column advancing
up the road from Sieradz toward Kalisz. 1-40 Armored was
beginning to strain under the pressure from the west and
southwest and couldn't spare any troops for the new threat.
Advanced elements of the 1st Brigade were approaching from
the north, however, and the remaining 10 M1A2s of 3-70 armor turned south off the road between Kalisz and Turek and
advanced overland to take the Soviet column in flank. 2-21 Field
Artillery pulled its six howitzers off the road behind them and
set up to deliver supporting fires. 3-10 Infantry, mostly in trucks,
would follow up to support the tanks.

3-70 Armored reached a position two kilometers north of the
road at 1100 hours with nothing left in its fuel tanks but fumes.
Taking up defilade positions atop a low rise, the battalion
commander saw the main body of the Soviet 124th Motor Rifle Division stretched out on the road below him. At 1110 hours
the battalion opened fire and immediately began registering hits
along the length of the column. Soon the column was covered
in dense black smoke from burning vehicles, through which the
tankers could see numerous secondary explosions as ammo
vehicles went up.
By 1220 hours the Soviets were counterattacking, but several
attempts to storm the position by tanks and armored personnel
carriers were broken up, and the 2000 meters of open ground
between 3-70 Armored's position and the road became littered
with the wrecks of most of the Soviet division's remaining armor. A late afternoon attempt to outflank the position was
thwarted by the arrival of 3-10 Infantry.
As night fell, the division commander took stock of the situation. 1st Brigade, with 3-70 Armored and 3-10 Infantry, was
on the left overlooking the Sieradz road. 4-12 Cavalry and 1 -40
Armored were holding Kalisz. 3-143 Infantry of 2nd Brigade was
in the woods north of Kalisz on the road to Konin, guarding the
division's right, while 2nd Brigade's 3-77 Armored formed a
small division reserve just behind Kalisz. 3-19 Field Artillery was
deployed with 3-77 Armored, while 2-21 Field Artillery was still
several kilometers to the northeast, along with most of the division supply and maintenance echelon.
The Soviet 1 24th Motor Rifle Division had been shattered on
the Sieradz road, but pressure was building from the Soviet 21st
Motor Rifle Division at Ostrow and the Polish 10th Tank Division at Pleszew. Rearguard parties were reporting increased
activity along the Warta River line behind the division, and the
remnants of the Soviet 20th Tank Division were still out there
somewhere.
The division commander decided on a breakout to the south,
exploiting the damage 1st Brigade had handed to the 124th
Motor Rifles the day before. The division's emergency fuel
reserve would be dispersed to the units, everyone would top
off and draw as many rations and as much ammo as they could
carry. Supply and maintenance parties would split up and attach themselves to the nearest combat unit and follow them out.
2nd Brigade would spearhead with the 3-77 Armored and
3-143 Infantry (moved down by night from the north), driving
south by southeast from behind Kalisz. 1st Brigade would cover
its left flank with a drive south from its blocking position. The
division artillery would put every available round on Ostrow to
break up any potential attack from the 21st Motor Rifles. 4-12
Cavalry would follow up the 2nd brigade and work its way into
the woods between Ostrow and Ostrzeszow to cover the right
flank. 1-40 Armored would hold Kalisz until the remaining
elements of the division had moved south, and then fight a delaying action against pursuit. Considering the odds, the chances
of success were slim, but it was the only show in town.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:36, Tue 18 Dec 2012.
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