Russians and Germans at Kursk

Russians and Germans at Kursk

Been quietly working away at my Russian Army for the Kapiti Wargames Club Armourgeddon Kursk Commemoration Battle coming up on 25 August.

IS-2s with undercoats still wet

Obtained some more Tank destroyers (gotta have those if we are re-fighting Kursk): Added two more ISU 122s and 2 SU 85 tank destroyers, 2 Zis 3 76mm guns.I also finished building the PSC StuGs (3 to the pack, Yay!) with interchangeable guns - 3 options, went for the 88 with Saukopf mount, but modelled the interchangable  Kurz and Lang barrels too, effectively creating 9 possible variations on the same theme!

Armourfast SU 85s (Left) and Italeri ISU 122s (Right) under construction

Have been painting (under-shading) 4 more IS-2s with 85mm guns, topcoats ready to go on now; bringing the IS-2 force up to 7 tanks. The rest consists of 2 KV1s, another (PST model) stll giving me uphill with the track assembly. (Hate those fiddly bits) But this will also give me the option of three guns: 85mm, 76mm and 54mm. I have chosen not to use the puny 54mm, and have built two turrets with the larger guns. (Again inter-changable) Stuarts will have to do for light armour, as Russian armoured cars in multi-packs for wargaming are almost unobtainable in this scale .

Winter Camo Whitewash T34/85

So my (pure) Soviet Tank origin army now  has:

3 x KV1 variants
7 x IS-2
4 x T34-76
1 x T34-85
2 x SU -85
4 x ISU 122

Plus lend-lease from my Western Front allies army:

5 x Churchills, Umpteen Sherman M4 variants, 6 x Stewart M5, 4 Lee/Grants, Soft skin vehicles etc

I'm also continuing to work on the German IG 33s, above,  survivors of Stalingrad, who saw action at Kursk, and surviving to cover the withdrawal back to Germany by 1945. 

Very limited numbers were built, so a rather unusual (but welcome) kit from Armourfast. Eventually replaced by the Brumbaer and Sturmtiger these medium armoured assault guns were welcome in  urban fighting and as infantry support.

                           Cossack unit also taking shape

 Russian Infantry coming along slowly

Falschimjaeger champing at the bit

Gun crews and SS Krad fahrer (Motorcyclists) at the ready

Pioneer zug waiting to be based on 20mm FoW bases

Early and Mid-war Wehrmacht Heer lined up for their basing. Shoudl arrive any day by post - have ordered laser cut MDF bases from my regular supplier in Dunedin.

Through Autumn's Golden Gown we used to kick our way...

Russian weapons teams based, and being painted

Kursk: The Order of Battle: Part 1

This month sees the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, so I have been reading a little, and thought I'd share some info distilled from the internet:

Order of Battle Kursk: Part 1 The German Forces
The Protagonists

  

The Germans' goal during Citadel was to pinch off a large salient in the Eastern Front that extended 70 miles toward the west.

Field Marshal Günther von Kluge's Army Group Center would attack from the north flank of the bulge, with Colonel General Walther Model's Ninth Army leading the effort, General Hans Zorn's XLVI Panzer Corps on the right flank and Maj. Gen. Josef Harpe's XLI Panzer Corps on the left.

General Joachim Lemelsen's XLVII Panzer Corps planned to drive toward Kursk and meet up with Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Army Group South, Col. Gen. Hermann Hoth's Fourth Panzer Army and the Kempf Army, commanded by General Werner Kempf.

Opposing the German forces were the Soviet Central Front, led by General Konstantin K. Rokossovsky, and the Voronezh Front, led by General Nikolai F. Vatutin.

The Central Front, with the right wing strengthened by Lt. Gen. Nikolai P. Pukhov's Thirteenth Army and Lt. Gen. I.V. Galinin's Seventeenth Army, was to defend the northern sector.

 To the south, the Voronezh Front faced the German Army Group South with three armies and two in reserve. The Sixth Guards Army, led by Lt. Gen. Mikhail N. Chistyakov, and the Seventh Guards Army, led by Lt. Gen. M. S. Shumilov, held the center and left wing.

East of Kursk, Col. Gen. Ivan S. Konev's Steppe Military District (renamed Steppe Front on July 10, 1943) was to hold German breakthroughs, then mount the counteroffensive.

Grammatical note: 
"ß " is the German letter for the double "s "sound : "ss"; not pronounced as a "B"
I.e. It was General Walter Weiß (Weiss: (White); not Weib (which is Wife)

Part 1
German Commanders

Army Group Centre (Günther von Kluge)

§  2nd Panzer Army (Erich-Heinrich Clößner) 

§  9th Army (Walther Model)

§  2nd Army (Walter Weiß)

§  4 Army Group Reserve

Army Group South (Erich von Manstein)

§  4th Panzer Army (Hermann Hoth)

§  Army Detachment Kempf (Werner Kempf)

§  Army Group Reserve

Luftwaffe

• Luftflotte 4 (4th Air Fleet: Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen)
• VIII Fliegerkorps (8th Air Corps)

•  Luftflotte 6 (6th Air Fleet: Robert Ritter von Greim) 
• 1. Flieger Division (1st Air Division)

ARMY GROUP CENTRE 

(GÜNTHER VON KLUGE)

2nd Panzer Army 

(Erich-Heinrich Clößner)

 

XXXV Corps 

(Lothar Rendulic)

 

34th Infantry Division

LIII Corps (Friedrich Gollwitzer)

208th Infantry Division

25th Panzergrenadier Division

LV Corps (Erich Jaschke)

110th Infantry Division

9th Army (Walther Model)

XX Corps (Rudolf Freiherr von Roman)

45th Infantry Division

XLVI Panzer Corps (Hans Zorn)

7th Infantry Division

102nd Infantry Division

258th Infantry Division

XLI Panzer Corps (Josef Harpe)

18th Panzer Division

86th Infantry Division

292nd Infantry Division

XLVII Panzer Corps (Joachim Lemelsen)

2nd Panzer Division

9th Panzer Division

20th Panzer Division

6th Infantry Division

XXIII Corps (Johannes Frießner)

216th Infantry Division

78th Assault Division

Army Reserve

4th Panzer Division

10th Panzergrenadier Division

12th Panzer Division

2nd Army (Walter Weiß)

VII Corps (Ernst-Eberhard Hell)


26th Infantry Division

68th Infantry Division

75th Infantry Division

88th Infantry Division

XIII Corps (Erich Straube)

82nd Infantry Division

327th Infantry Division

340th Infantry Division

Army Group Reserve

5th Panzer Division

8th Panzer Division

 

ARMY GROUP SOUTH

(ERICH VON MANSTEIN)

4th Panzer Army

(Hermann Hoth)

II Corps (Eugen Ott)

57th Infantry Division

255th Infantry Division

332nd Infantry Division

XLVIII Panzer Corps (Otto von Knobelsdorff)

3rd Panzer Division

11th Panzer Division

Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland

167th Infantry Division

II SS Panzer Corps (Paul Hausser)

1st SS Panzergrenadier Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

2nd SS Panzergrenadier Division Das Reich

3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division Totenkopf

Army Detachment Kempf (Werner Kempf)

III Panzer Corps (Hermann Breith)

6th Panzer Division

7th Panzer Division

19th Panzer Division

168th Infantry Division

XI Army Corps (Erhard Raus)

106th Infantry Division

320th Infantry Division

XLII Corps (Franz Mattenklott)

39th Infantry Division

161st Infantry Division

282nd Infantry Division

Army Group Reserve

XXIV Panzer Corps (Walter Nehring)

5th SS Panzergrenadier Division Wiking

17th Panzer Division

       

Luftwaffe

Luftflotte 4 (4th Air Fleet)

 Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, Commander in chief

Otto Deßloch, Chief of staff - Air support for Army Group South

VIII Fliegerkorps (8th Air Corps)

Luftflotte 6 (6th Air Fleet)

Robert Ritter von Greim as commander in chief and Friedrich Kless as chief of staff

 Air support for Army Group Center

1. Flieger Division (1st Air Division)

• Luftflotte 4 with:
•  I. Fliegerkorps,
• IV. Fliegerkorps, 
• VIII. Fliegerkorps, 
• Comandamentul Aviatiei de Luptã (Romanian Combat Aviation Command), 
• 102. Repülődandár (Hungarian 102d Air Brigade), 
• Seefliegerführer Schwarzes Meer.

 Assigned units on 5 Jul 1943:

Stab/FAGr. 4, 2.(F)/11, 2.(F)/22, 2.(F)/100, 4.(F)/122, 

1.(F)/Nacht, 4.(F)/Nacht, Westa 76, Stab/NAGr. 1 (with 1.(H)/41, 2./NAGr. 16?), Stab/NAGr. 6 (with 5.(H)/32, 2.(F)/33), Stab/NAGr. 9 (with 1.(H)/21, 7.(H)/32), Stab/NAGr. 14 (with 5.(H)/11, 5.(H)/41), II.,III./JG 3, Stab, I.,II.,III./JG 52, Stab, I.,II.,III./St.G. 2, Pz.Jäg.St./St.G. 2, Stab, I.,II.,III./St.G. 77, Stab, I.,II./Schl.G. 1, Führer d. Panzerjägerstaffeln (5 Hs 129B-2 Staffeln), Störkampfgruppe d. Lfl. 4, Stab, I.,II.,III./KG 27, 14.(Eis.)/KG 27, Stab, II.,III./KG 55, 14.(Eis.)/KG 55, I./KG 100, plus a large number of liaison, transport and med-evac units along with Romanian and Hungarian air units