World at War: Death of the 1st Panzer: Counterpunch

The objective is for the West Germans to take the city of Eben. The 1/71st deploys down south on the hills just to the west of Eben while the Leopards from the 2/174 deploy in the town of Obetz far to the north.

The 33rd Motorized Rifle Division deploys its resources carefully in Eben, forming a ring of infantry and armored carriers on the outskirts and the command and anti-air forces safely in the downtown area. 


Meanwhile, north of Eben sits the 87th Rifle Division, ready to either reinforce Eben or try for an attack on the West German forces as they make their approach to Eben.



Turn 1: The West German Marders of the 1/171st drop off their infantry on the hillside to the southwest of Eben. The Soviet 33rd MRD commander counters by sending out his own infantry towards the hill. The Leopards Is from the 2/174 move into the forest east of Obetz and start hammering on the armored carriers in Eben from long range.

Soviet infantry creeps towards the 1/171st.

Turn 2: The Soviet 33rd MRD commander decides against passively defending the city. Soviet infantry attacks the West German infantry on the hillsides near Eben. The Marders from the 1/171st withdraw to the west. 


The 87th Rifle Commander makes a bold and tragic mistake by sending his forces to assault the Leopards to the west. As they traverse open ground, they are hammered ruthlessly by the long range AT missiles and cannons from the Marders down south. The company is reduced to half strength in a matter of minutes. 

Turn 3: The Soviet commander starts firing back at the West Germans. The Soviet harassment has delayed the West Germans long enough for the Soviet commander to rearrange his forces within the city. The BTR-60s along with the infantry from the 87th Rifle Division are destroyed shortly after trying to creep across the northern part of the map, a victim of long range fire again from W. German Marders.

Turns 4 and 5:  The Soviets in Eben are getting picked off one by one by the 2/174 Leopards up north. Things don't look good for the Russians.

Where'd everybody go?  The Soviets take big losses in Eben as NATO picks units off .

But the brave little BMP south of the city does manage to kill off half a platoon of West German Marders. The Soviet infantry in the woods to the north gets lucky and kills of an entire platoon of 2/174 Leopards along with the company commander.

The 2/174 Leopard Is are badly hurt from the Sagger missiles and some lucky shots from Soviet BMPs sitting in defensive positions on the outskirts of Eben. 

The commander of the 87th Rifle Division abandons Volksburg and heads south to reinforce Eben. The Leopards in the 2/174 are taking a pounding. 

The Germans make their push. The 1/171st infantry streams from the hill and assaults the BMP platoon sitting to the south of the city. 

The final rush towards Eben.  Can the West Germans make it?

The brave BMP platoon north of Pfalzburg takes four consecutive assaults before being destroyed by the Marders on the hill. 

Turns 6 and 7:  The West German infantry from the 1/71 makes its way into the south of the city but it faces stiff opposition. The AAA platforms are used to great effect against the West Germans, who are also running very low on ammo. Without the Soviet heavy armor destroyed, the success of the infantry's assault is in major doubt. The Soviets pull their infantry back and try to hold off the advancing West Germans.

The 2/174 Leopards must move in and take out the 33rd MRD's heavy tanks or the West German infantry down south will be crushed. Unfortunately, the West German Leopards take heavy losses as they drive towards Eben. The Russian infantry to the west uses its Saggers to great effect and the commander of the 87th manages to disrupt a Leopard platoon before succumbing. 

With a stalemate in the north, the 1/171 commander decides to cash in all his chips. He calls in an F-4 Phantom airstrike on the Soviet units to the east along with a DPICM artillery strike. The F-4 is hit by a SAM on its way to the battlefield and aborts but the DPICM manages to wipe out the T-62 platoon. 

Yeah , it's an Israeli F-4 counter.  Couldn't find my W. German one.

The German infantry, tired and almost out of ammo, makes a last ditch assault to the east while the commander of the 2/174 Leopards finally gets his tanks in order and secures the north. The Soviet commander of the 33rd MRD finds himself surrounded and surrenders. Very very close game.

The biggest mistake here was the Soviet commander making an impetuous charge at the Leopard tanks near Obetz at the beginning of the game. Had the gamble worked, it would have paid off nicely and delayed the 2/174 from getting to Eben. As it went, however, the Russian infantry and BTRs got caught with their pants down and paid dearly for it. As the Soviet commander, I should have played it safer and taken the time to set up ambushes for those Leopards as they approached the city rather than attempt a clumsy counter-attack. Oh well, it was a good game and the fight for Eben was nail-biting!