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

[Lofte 148]

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.

 

UPD 28.06.2020:

Minor changes added:

1) Your company now consists of detailed Pz-IVG, you can control them also with standard command system (by pressing "~")

2) Fixed german localization texts (copied from ENG)

3) Current objective now can be seen on map

Download link >>>  http://bodenplatte-45.narod.ru/Pokhlebin.rar

+

for players who didn't buy TC yet added version for free (undetailed) Pz-IIIL as commander's tank.

Please note that in this case you can not use binoculars and standard command system (by pressing "~"), but still can use custom flare (rocket) command system.

Download link >>> http://bodenplatte-45.narod.ru/Pokhlebin_PzIII.rar

Edited June 28 by Lofte

[SCG_Neun 807]

Thanks for all your hard work!

[Crashbangwallop 24]

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 148]

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 24]

Thanks Lofte, glad it wasn't just me

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

[vlad_8011 5]

I got message that this mission is not available on my account. Did i do something wrong?

Edited September 20, 2019 by vlad_8011

[Lofte 148]

9 hours ago, vlad_8011 said:

I got message that this mission is not available on my account. Did i do something wrong?

 

Perhaps this because you don't have BOS and for this reason unable to play on Stalingrad map in single missions..

Edited September 21, 2019 by Lofte

[Lofte 148]

Some time ago found the great video about operation "Winter Storm". Description says it is a private footage made by a german officer..

Made it little bit brighter and added subtitles

 

 

[andres43 54]

Very good, thanks you! 👍

[gabuzomeu 91]

Hello,

this is a great mission, thanks for your efforts and dedication, 

Two remarks though:

- The flare system is excellent, but I wondered which color to use at first... I guess all work OK

- Probably a game problem , but our company is a bit lagging behind 

 

Anyway, a very good mission, I'm waiting for the next ones!

 

[Lofte 148]

1 hour ago, gabuzomeu said:

Two remarks though:

- The flare system is excellent, but I wondered which color to use at first... I guess all work OK

- Probably a game problem , but our company is a bit lagging behind 

 

@gabuzomeu, thanks for feedback!

Unfortunately It's impossible use definite flare color in mission, there is no such option in editor. You can fire any color, there is no difference.

About lagging - yes bots can't keep up with you if drive at max speed (maybe this beacuase of that fact they are "simple" tanks, and your tank is "detailed" tank). But you can reduce speed using gearbox (z/x). For example, at 10 km/h (3 gears down from top gear) formation is ok.

 

[gabuzomeu 91]

Good point for the gearbox, I did not use it ! 

Thanks

 

[Eremin2222 0]

Can be played coop?

[Lofte 148]

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 10:03 PM, Eremin2222 said:

Can be played coop?

Hmm.. No, I think.. Only single-player mode..

PS - Btw, what is coop? When you play with a friend on one side?

[oneeyeddog 162]

 

On 10/14/2019 at 9:42 AM, Lofte said:

Hmm.. No, I think.. Only single-player mode..

PS - Btw, what is coop? When you play with a friend on one side?

Yes Lofte, you are right. It's when two or more people play on a side. 'Coop' is short for 'cooperate'

[Lofte 148]

I see we have special thread for tank missons now. Move also this topic there please. Thanks)

[tribal50 35]

Many thanks, Lofte, for this mission. Good story and some stress when t34s sent out from the village!

one little comment, the radio communications are displayed onLy few seconds, no long enough to understant ;-)

[Lofte 148]

On 2/27/2020 at 1:15 AM, tribal50 said:

one little comment, the radio communications are displayed onLy few seconds, no long enough to understant 😉

Yes, maybe in my next missions l'll duplicate orders by appearing/disappearing text notes on map..

[tribal50 35]

Many thanks!

[Geoweb35 78]

Hi, this mission is hard but i manage to finish it, you dont have enough time to clear the village, you have to move fast and clear the village   , thanks for this mission.

[Anton_Hynkel 1]

Hello,

firstly thanks a lot for making this mod disponable for the community! I'd like to report a little issue to You, that I couldn't solve yet by myself. Maybe You could lend a hand? The textes on the briefing map and the campaign map as well are not readable, it looks, as if there are lots of placeholders instead of readables displayed and the radio voice and textes are in russian. If You had any idea how to solve these problems, I'd be most grateful!!

 

Thanks beforehand!  Sincerely    

Anton 

[Lofte 148]

8 hours ago, Anton_Hynkel said:

Hello,

firstly thanks a lot for making this mod disponable for the community! I'd like to report a little issue to You, that I couldn't solve yet by myself. Maybe You could lend a hand? The textes on the briefing map and the campaign map as well are not readable, it looks, as if there are lots of placeholders instead of readables displayed and the radio voice and textes are in russian. If You had any idea how to solve these problems, I'd be most grateful!!

 

Thanks beforehand!  Sincerely    

Anton 

Hi, thanks for this report. What localization (languange) is in your Il-2 client?

Maybe you could post some screenshots?

[Anton_Hynkel 1]

Hi, my client is set to german language. I'll send a screenshot soon! Thanks so far! Anton

Here You've got three samples! Regards1 Anton

[Lofte 148]

@Anton_Hynkel - thank you, I'll try to fix it

Hope fixed it (see start topic)

Edited June 28 by Lofte