Overrun at Shellerten – A World War Three Team Yankee British Book Narrative Game

by Tom Burgess

My friend, Charles, and I continued on with our narrative gaming following the stories and scenarios from the World War Three Team Yankee British Book. In our last battle, A Squadron of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, the “Bays,” did little to thwart the Forward Detachment from the organic tank battalion of the 207th Motorized Rifle Division in a scenario we played a few weeks ago.

Following up on that success. the 207th Motorized Rifle Division has now committed the rest of its organic tank battalion against the mainline of the British 3rd Armoured Division.  This main attack is directed at the town of Shellerten defended by C Squadron of the 17th/21st Lancers, the “Death or Glory Boys.”

Like our last game. the forces were pretty much set. The scenario is effectively a modified Hold the Line mission. Charles would continue to play his British while I play the Soviets.

In this battle, the Soviets would have to advance across very open fields towards the north end of Shellerten. Just to the north of the town, there is a factory. This would provide the British and advanced position to try to break up the Soviet assault. Further back,  the main town would prove a mainline position.  To the east and the west of Shellerten, there was a small copse of woods that could serve as a good ambush position into the flanks of the Soviet advance.

The British would have some hastily emplaced minefields and a one platoon size ambush.  However, they would be hampered by Deep Reserves requiring most of their heavy hitters to stay have board initially.

The Scenario

The scenario was basically a hold the line missions. Since the Soviets won the preceding scenario, this scenario called for a reduction of the defender’s minefields from four to two.  I offered Charles the opportunity to keep all four, but he elected to go with the recommended limitations. The scenario set up from World War Three Team Yankee British book follows.

 

 

The Defenders

 

 

 

The Attackers

 

The Battlefield

I really enjoyed setting up this table. I love the use of terrain shown on these maps matching the terrain Battlefront offers. This makes setting tables for these battles very precise.

 

 

Deployments

 

 

 

 

Turn 1 Soviet

The basic Soviet plan was to advance with the tanks on the left, infantry on the right, with BMP-2s in overwatch using the elevated position on the hill in the Soviet deployment zone.

To support the advance, the Soviet 2S1 artillery laid down a smokescreen.  Note that the ranged in marker for the smoke bombardment is on the edge of the factory. This is a “tactic” that I often use with my Soviets with their low skill making ranging in difficult.

There is no modifier for tall terrain when using smoke and the ranged in marker stays in place afterward. So I will often lay a smokescreen with the starting target point set where I also later want to use a HE bombardment. This means in the next turn, I will switch from smoke to HE with the effect of a repeat bombardment.

 

 

Turn 1 British

Already down a Challenger platoon, the British situation did not improve when Charles’ roll for reserves failed. Charles decided to ambush is Striker platoon from the woods on the west of town (Soviet right flank).

 

 

 

Turn 2 Soviet 

With no British reserves on the board yet, one Chieftain platoon destroyed, and the SU-25s arriving again, turn 2 looked very promising for the Soviets. the only drawback was the failure of the Soviet Infantry Company to rally.

 

Turn 2 British

Again, the reserve rolls for the British fail. Under intense bombardment, Charles decides to have his infantry fall back from the factory. He sends his FV432 APCs out to cover the withdraw of their dismounted infantry. He also lays in smoke from his remaining Abbots.

 

 

Turn 3 Soviet

The Soviet Motorized Infantry Company again fails to rally. The Soviet tanks break to the east and west of the now-abandoned factory. For a third straight turn, the SU-25s arrive again and go after the Chieftain Squadron command tank.

 

 

Turn 3 British

For the third straight turn, Charles reserve rolls fail. So he only gets his automatic arrival and chooses his Harriers, which do roll to come in.  At this point the battle has gone horribly for the British and Charles really needs his Harriers to come in and hit hard with a cluster bomb salvo or all may be lost.

 

 

Turn 4 Soviet

The Soviets are facing virtually no resistance at this point. The eastern Soviet tank company swings around the oil storage tanks to assault the remaining British infantry. The western tank company pushes down the center of the map. The BMP-2s advance to a new firing potion.

 

 

Turn 4 British

Charles reserve rolls fail completely again, and he gets only his automatic unit.  He chooses to bring in his Challengers which attempt to assist the Irish infantry but fail to land a hit.

Turn 5 Soviet

 

 

Conclusion

This was an inextricably difficult game for Charles’ British. The constant support from SU-25s and the late-arriving British reinforcements in an already difficult situation certainly impacted Charles’ enthusiasm. As this 8-1 Soviet win was so over the top, I did not really want to write this AAR.  I tried to convince Charles to give it another go where he’d benefit from hindsight and luck might be a little more average. I even offered to play the British on the rematch. but he just did not feel this scenario was winnable as the British.

In the book, the battle results were described as follows:

The remainder of the T-72 battalion that had clashed with the Queen’s Dragoon Guards at Steinbrück attacked late in the afternoon, backed by SU-25 Frogfoot strike aircraft, Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters, and artillery.  The Soviet infantry company pushed down the rail line, assaulting the factory on the outskirts of town under covering from their BMP fighting vehicles. Ably supported by the Royal Artillery, the Micks held despite heavy casualties, even resorting to a bayonet charge to regain positions overrun by the Soviet advance.

Meanwhile, the T-72 tanks advanced at speed into the fire of the Chieftains and Swingfire missile carriers. After losing a tank, Spencer’s troop fell back into the outskirts of Schellerten, losing another soon after to a Hind’s missile. The timely arrival of Lieutenant Turner’s 9 Troop and a f­ight of Lynx HELARM helicopters slowed the Soviet advance, while the Blowpipe section forced the Soviet Air Force to be more cautious in its attacks.

A renewed Soviet attack nearly overran the British position until a well-timed air strike by Harrier jump jets and a counterattack by Brown’s two surviving tanks restored the situation.

So what do you think? Can the British win this mission? What advice might you give aspiring British players facing this challenging scenario?

The good news is, though Charles does not want a rematch, he is on for scenario three, “A Bridge Too Far?” In this one, Charles will be the attacker for a change and he’ll have AA assets deployed from the start, and more importantly…the initiative.