Born Again Near Prokhorovka

12th July 1943. Soviet counter attack against the LSSAH Panzergruppe at Prokhorovka.

During this action Obersturmfuhrer Rudolf Von Ribbentrop, commander of the 6 th Company II Abteilung 1 st SS Panzer Regiment, won the Knights Cross.

In this action the Soviet tank attack ran into one of their own anti-tank ditches. This channelled the attackers into a small area where the German supporting armour easily picked off the Soviet armour.

It should be borne in mind that this scenario is very difficult/impossible for the Soviets to win, plus the anti-tank ditch limits the Soviet attackers options. My intention was to recreate this action, not necessarily create an action with lots of attack options for the Soviets. In this respect the A/T ditch DOES limit attack options.

On the plus side what it does do is give you a very unsubtle close combat tank melee, which I hope goes some way to recreating what the actual action may have been like.

Semi-historical

Map Size: 1.1 x 1.6Km

Total number of points combined: 21000

Dawn: 12 th July 1943.
Weather: Overcast and warm, breeze from the east.
Ground Conditions: Dry
Allied tank assault with nominated units exiting south for points.
Axis have a
9000 points bonus
Axis Defenders dug in.
Turn Length: 50+

Play recommendations

Best played as the Germans Vs Soviet AI; for the first attempt use ęstick to scenario default' for AI.

If you choose to play as H2H then the more experienced player should play as the Soviets.

Notes on the Scenario

This scenario is based on the events described by Ribbentrop himself in ęPanzer Aces' by Franz Kurowski, and at which Ribbentrop was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. I have used additional information from ęThe Battle of Kursk' by Glantz and House; ęOperation Zitadelle' by Franz Kurowski, and ęJochen Peiper' by Patrick Agte.

This scenario is semi historical in that the map though constructed from Ribbentrop's description, and maps of the area still involves a degree of artistic licence to allow for a reasonable game.