World War 2 The battle of the Korsun Pocket

Battle of the Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket

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Korsun Pocket includes all of the historical forces available to each commander and their challenges as well. Prior combats can influence movement, units have a wide variety of combat and supply abilities and SSG's legendary AI routines make for a fearsome opponent. The Decisive Battles combat system faithfully reports all aspects of a battle to you as the commander. This allows you to make fully informed decisions before a battle, and to determine whether a particular outcome was the result of generalship or luck. In December , the German Army launched a furious surprise attack against American forces in the Ardennes.

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This special bonus now gives you two great battles to command. Gamespy - 5 Stars Korsun Pocket is arguably the best traditional hex-based wargame of all time. The runaway winner of wargame of the year and ranks among the best in the genre of all-time. The direction of the German retreat had to veer off to the south toward the Gniloy Tikich River. When daylight arrived, the German breakout plan began to unravel. Very few armored vehicles and other heavy equipment could climb the slippery, thawing hillsides and the weapons had to be destroyed and abandoned.

General Konev, now aware of the German breakout, resolved to keep his promise to Stalin not to let the German forces escape.

Soviet intelligence, however, at this stage vastly overestimated the armored strength of the III Panzer Corps, and Konev therefore proceeded in force. At this time, the 20th Tank Corps brought its brigade of the new Joseph Stalin-2s to the Korsun battlefield. With no anti-tank weapons in the field, Ts commenced to wade into support troops, headquarters units, stragglers and Red-Cross identified medical columns. Under the yellow sky of early morning and over ground covered with wet snow Soviet tanks made straight for the thick of the column, ploughing up and down, killing and crushing with their tracks.

Almost simultaneously massed Cossack cavalry wheeled away from the tanks to hunt down and massacre men fleeing for the refuge of the hills: The killing in this human hunt went on for several hours and a new round opened on the banks of the river Gniloy Tikich, where the survivors of the first collision of the German column with Soviet troops dragged and fought their way. By mid-day, the majority of the now intermingled divisions had reached the Gniloy Tikich stream, 15 meter wide and two meters deep due to melting snow. Since the main body was away and south of the bridgeheads, the last tanks, trucks and wagons were driven into the water, trees were felled to form makeshift bridges and the troops floundered across, with hundreds of men drowning, being swept downstream with horses and military debris.

Many others succumbed to shock or hypothermia. The unit was equipped with Tigers and Panthers and an engineer battalion with specialist bridging skills. Though most of the trapped men escaped, they had to leave nearly all of their heavy equipment behind. These units had to be withdrawn for rest and near complete re-equipping. The escaped wounded were transported from collection points near Uman to rehabilitation areas and hospitals in Poland, and were then sent on leave to their home towns.

Army brief written following the war, Lieb commented that when he assumed command of Force Stemmermann:. The 72nd and Wiking Divisions were completely intermingled. No longer did they have any tanks, artillery, vehicles or rations. Many soldiers were entirely without weapons, quite a few even without footgear. Neither division could be considered in any way able to fight. One regiment of Task Force B was intact and still had some artillery support. However, this regiment also had no vehicles and no rations left. All wounded, estimated at about 2,, General Stemmermann was killed during the breakout when his command car was hit by a Soviet antitank gun.

Konev also survived the war. The battle around Korsun was a major Soviet victory that enabled later advances the next spring into Romania. Hitler's insistence on holding the exposed salient strongly limited the options of German field commanders. The effectiveness of the German counterattack was limited by Hitler's plan for splitting his strength to attempt a counter envelopment. Though the III Panzer Corps was far more effective, the corps wasted a week on a failed attempt to encircle the Soviet forces. Hill remained under Soviet control, resulting in significant casualties among Stemmermann's retreating force.

The Soviet performance was also beset by errors.

Soviet intelligence on German forces in the pocket was faulty in overestimating their strength. Given the initial circumstances of the battle, the degree of Soviet losses makes it clear that while the Soviets won at Korsun, it was a victory that came at a high price. Soviet sources and testimonials from the front line assert that the total loss in German men was catastrophic, with estimates collected from mass graves and the battlefield accounting for roughly 55, dead and 18, German prisoners from the encircled formations alone.

Total casualties killed, wounded or missing, were claimed at 31,, yet these numbers do not count losses from the rescuing forces. Soviet sources tally losses of 80, casualties for the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts, with 24, killed and missing, and 55, wounded.

These losses were incurred over the period of 24 January — 17 February during both the encirclements and the breakout attempts. Both sides hailed the events at Korsun as a victory. Marshal Konev claimed to have inflicted , German casualties, an assertion that German official history dismissed.

Soviet historian Sergey Smirnov described the victory at Korsun as a "Stalingrad on the Dnieper," and the victory was hailed as a culmination of Soviet armored strength against the ailing Wehrmacht. Marshal Zhukov disliked being overshadowed by his rival, noting that on 18 February , official honors were given in Moscow to the 2nd Ukrainian Front —but not the 1st Ukrainian Front —"an unforgivable error of the part of the supreme commander [Stalin]".

On the part of the Germans, the counterattack was depicted as a glorious success in which one group of brave German soldiers freed their equally heroic comrades who had been trapped in the pocket. However, General von Vormann, who commanded the relief attempt of the XXXXVII Panzer Corps, bitterly noted that "the troops who took part were astonished and unbelieving when they were told they had won a great victory at Cherkassy in the Ukraine in Adolf Hitler supposedly only complained briefly about the amount of equipment that had to be left behind.

One of the initial historiographical works on the fighting at Korsun was a U.

The Battle of Korsun-Cherkassy

German Experiences in Russia. Erickson did not question Soviet claims regarding German casualties, and Glantz questioned the veracity of German claims regarding the total of escapees from the pocket. Konev also indicates 4th Guards Army is attacking toward Pastorskoye, while 53d Army maintains pressure on 3d Panzer Division. Your forces cannot dislodge German 11th Panzer Division, which now holds the southern half of Kapitanovka and the high ground to the east.

The 11th Panzer supports 14th Panzer Division at Tishkovka, dominating your lines of communications and cutting off your headquarters from the lead tank corps. At midday, unable to wait for the advance of 4th Guards Army and 53d Army, you receive permission from Konev to use 18th Tank Corps to clean out the panzer units around Kapitanovka. He sends you 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, reinforced with an anti-tank gun brigade, to resume the advance once the lines of communications are open. Both units become engaged in heavy fighting, and scattered, confused combat continues throughout the night around Kapitanovka and Tishkovka.

Yet they complain that their units lack ammunition and fuel. You can only promise to see what you can slip by the Germans that night. Early January 28, you launch 18th Tank Corps to open the corridor to the forward tank corps so the advance can resume. That afternoon, you receive reports of heavy German artillery fire and Stuka dive-bomber attacks in the contested area.

Later, intelligence reports PzKw V Panther tanks approaching Kapitanovka, suggesting a fresh panzer division is joining the fight. The encirclement is complete, turning the Korsun Salient into the Korsun Pocket. Any aggressive German counterattack will certainly break the encirclement and allow enemy forces in the Korsun Pocket to escape the Red Army trap.

You also ask Konev for 5th Guards Cavalry Corps and additional anti-tank, artillery and infantry units to hold an outer encirclement ring against German assaults. He wants your tank units to reach Zvenigorod first and ensure trapping the German units in the Korsun Salient. The 29th Tank Corps will advance while screening your southern flank against continued German counterattacks.

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Early January 27, 18th Tank Corps, with priority on the roads, pushes through 29th Tank Corps to advance on the left flank of 20th Tank Corps, which continues attacking from Shpola. That afternoon, you receive reports of a strong counterattack by 11th and 14th panzer divisions from the south moving toward Kapitanovka and heavy fighting against German 3d Panzer Division near Tishkovka. Additionally, a strong infantry counterattack with SS panzers from the north is heading to Kapitanovka, where German tanks are moving up and down the lines of communications, shooting up your ammunition and fuel transports.

The German counterattack strikes the tail of 18th Tank Corps as it moves to the attack and effectively cuts the lines of communications to your tank army from 2d Ukrainian Front. Konev sends 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, reinforced with an anti-tank brigade and an infantry division with artillery from 4th Guards Army reserve, to clear a line of communications through Kapitanovka and to establish an outer encirclement ring.

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He also urges his rifle army commanders to advance their forward troops beyond Kapitanovka to relieve your cut-off tank army. As the fierce rear area fighting continues January 28, 20th Tank Corps reports capturing Shpola, but the corps is running low on fuel and ammunition. You order the commanders of 18th and 20th tank corps to pool their fuel resources into reinforced tank brigades as forward detachments continue the advance to capture Zvenigorod. Meanwhile, rear area reports indicate a renewed German counterattack from the south with reinforcements of PzKw V Panther tanks near Kapitanovka.

You respond by turning back a tank brigade and rifle brigades from 29th Tank Corps to assist with opening your supply lines. He has pulled a rifle corps, a rifle division, a Katyusha rocket division, and anti-tank artillery from rifle armies across the front; however, they will not arrive until January 29 or Your tank army is now fighting in two directions and suffering from shortages of ammunition and fuel, but you have achieved your objective. You must use most of 29th Tank Corps to help clear your supply lines. You fear that any escape attempt by the Germans will succeed.

You order 20th Tank Corps to seize Shpola and advance to Zvenigorod, and you direct 29th Tank Corps to defend the shoulder of the breakthrough to the south and southwest. The command post of 20th Tank Corps is cut off, isolating it from its brigades. Groups of German tanks move up and down the supply routes destroying vital ammunition and fuel trucks destined for your forward tank units. Meanwhile, a counterattack from the north by German infantry supported by SS panzers threatens to cut off your entire tank army. The situation is critical.

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