Tank mission - "Prelude to "Winter Storm". Pokhlebin, 4th dec.1942"

[Lofte 65]

To the attention of TC amateurs, I present another historical single mission for the German side, dedicated to the events of December 1942 - the battle for the farm Pohlebin December 4, 1942
Feature of the mission - the player controls the tank company Pz-IVG. Control is made by signal flares, four commands are available: 1) column 2) line 3) stop 4) continue driving.
The historical information that we managed to collect about the battle in the Pohlebin area on December 3-4, 1942 - see the PDF link (Russian language, sorry - no time to translate to English properly).

But if someone really needs the translation - I can try to do that.

Mission briefing (see spoiler bellow and sorry for translate.google.ru widely used):

 

Spoiler

 

*** OPERATIONAL SITUATION ***

 

To release the 6th Army encircled in Stalingrad at the end of November 1942, the Wehrmacht command began urgently collecting fresh armored units in the Kotelnikovo area. The first to arrive at the concentration area was the 6th Panzer Division, some units of which had to engage in battle directly from the platforms and wagons. Having unloaded at the end of November and beginning of December 1942 in the area of Remontnaya-Semichny-Kotelnikovo, the division with part of its forces immediately took up defense on the river Aksai-Kurmoyarsky, creating a network of strongholds.

One of these strongholds on the left flank of the division was the Pokhlebin farm.

On December 3th, units of the Soviet 51st Army launched an offensive along the Don River. The main blow was delivered by the 81st cavalry division of the 4 cavalry corps with the 85th tank brigade attached to it. The direction of the main attack was Pokhlebin, in which there was one company of the German 114th motorized infantry regiment of 6th Pz.Div. with attached units. During a stubborn battle, Pokhlebin was taken, after which units of the 81st cav.division launched attack on Mayorsky and Kotelnikovo, but were stopped by tanks of the 6th Panzer Division a few kilometers southwest of Pokhlebin and went on the defensive.

Hanging large forces of the Soviet troops on the left flank of the 6th Panzer Division threatened to concentrate the rest of the forces to prepare a release strike (operation "Winter Storm").

The German command decided to just concentrate the most unloaded 11th Panzer Regiment forces first strike against the enemy, to encircle and destroy the Soviet 81st Cavalry division in the area of Pokhlebin and eliminate the threat..

 

December 4th, 1942, area near Pokhlebin.

130 km to Stalingrad.

 

You are the commander of the 4th tank company 11th Tank Regiment Hauptmann Wils <br>You are subordinate to the commander of the 1st Tank Battalion of the 11th Tank Regiment, Major Erich Löwe. During the operation, he will give you instructions and provide information about the situation. You will also listen to the radio at level battalion-regiment and will be in the know.

Your battalion (1st) strikes the rear of the Russians. The 2nd battalion with motorized infantry attacks the Russians in the forehead. Armored personnel carriers of the 2nd battalion must freely enter Pokhlebin and capture it - this is the main condition for the success of the operation.

You will control your company with the help of signal flares with the duplication of commands on the radio. A table of signals and their corresponding commands is on your map (there are 4 in total).

Remember that your company is the only one in the division armed with PzKmpf.IV Ausf.G tanks with a 75-mm long-barreled cannon. In terms of firepower, your tanks are significantly superior to Russian T-34s. The loss of each such tank is a significant weakening of the combat power of the division. Remember that if you lose all tanks of the company, the operation will be canceled. 

Good luck in the battle.

---------------------------

Headquarters of the 6th Pz.Div.

 

 

Some screenshot (sorry for low quality of pictures)

 

 

     

 

 

Download link >>>  Prelude to "Winter Storm". Pokhlebin, 4th dec.1942

Set up: deploy archieve to ....\IL-2\data\Missions

PS - can't guarantee proper work for all resolutions except FullHD (1980x1080)/

Any feedbacks, comments etc. - will be very much appreciated.

 

 

Edited September 11 by Lofte

[SCG_Neun 670]

Thanks for all your hard work!

[Crashbangwallop 6]

Just had time for one play at this earlier – looks good, and thank you for making it

 

Is it just me or has anyone else who's played this had their gunner and bow machine gun act independently? I played it as commander, and at first sign of the enemy, the bow machine gun opened up, the turret swivelled round, and when I stopped the gunner fired. As commander standing up in the hatch I got killed pretty fast (naturally), but then found myself in the driver's seat.

 

I haven't seen this before. Is it just the PzIV this happens with, or is it something that you've ticked in the mission building? Or is it a keyboard combo or command I've clicked accidentally? Or have I missed something else entirely?

 

I think this gunner AI is a Good Thing by the way...

[Lofte 65]

8 hours ago, Crashbangwallop said:

Is it just me or has anyone else who's played this had their gunner and bow machine gun act independently?

When I tested the mission I was also surprised. Turret gunner act like MG-gunner on airplane.
I think it's a part of some new feature infiltrated in current version of BoS...

[Crashbangwallop 6]

Thanks Lofte, glad it wasn't just me

Hopefully that'll be applied to the other tanks - will have a go on them later