CMRT Der Ring Der 5 Panzer Division

Playing the scenario – This scenario covers the following action (as recorded by von Plato in his history of 5th Panzer Division) in the closing stages of Operation Bagration. Smorgon is on the main rail line from Minsk to Vilnius – hence it was strategically vital for allowing Germans to bring units into action. They were low on fuel/transport so railways were a vital component for keeping armies supplied and flow of reinforcements/moving units etc. The Soviets had just cut the rail line. 5th Panzer Division under the command of Major -General Karl Decker (His General Staff Officer or Ia was Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Detlev von Plato) or at least what was left of it, was concentrated into one group for a last gasp attack. “Early on 6 July an armored group with I./ Pz. Gren. Rgt.14 and I./ Pz. Gren. Rgt. 13 and Pz.Rgt. 31 is formed under Colonel Lippert. The II./ Pz. Gren. Rgt.14 takes Sakowice and II. / Pz. 13 the section west of it on the road of advance. The armored group moves out at about 11.00 am. After short, heavy fighting the enemy is thrown north of Sakowice. The armored group thrusts above Krasne Osinowka until just before the railway, southwest of Smorgon, nearly 10 km deep. Then our power is exhausted at Osinowka – Bialkoszcyna as the enemy throws new armored units against us.” The scenario covers later part of this attack i.e. the armoured kampfgruppe’s thrust to Osinowka – Bialkoszcyna. By this stage in the fighting 5th Panzer had been in continuous heavy combat since 27th June, moving to and fro across a huge area. By the evening of the 5th July it had endured several cycles of full on combat. By the 6th July and was starting to show signs of strain and this final throw of the diec was to be it’s last major offensive and combat cycle during Operation Bagration. Many of the panzergrenadier companies were down to 35 men. Their armoured strength had gone from 70 Panzer V Panthers and 55 Panzer IVs to a recorded strength on the evening of the 5th July of 25 Panthers and 25 PzIVs. From a Combat Mission perspective such heavy casualties mean it’s possible to simulate this without having hundreds of units on the map. Correspondingly the map is huge – 3km wide x 4.5km deep. The map is based on a contemporary Russian map of the area. What it highlights is this area was at least fairly suitable for a large scale armoured attack. It’s one of the few areas in this part that’s not bog and wood infested – being mostly rolling terrain with patches of wood but generally fairly open sight lines. The down side is several rivers/streams run across the terrain which mean the Germans had to attack across these natural barriers. The attack did make headway but the Soviets managed to very quickly push armoured units (from the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps and 3rd Guards Mech Corps under General Oslikovski) into the area. These are the attacks that halt the tired and run down 5th Panzer.

George MC

WHAT VERSION OF COMBAT MISSION IS THE FILE FOR? CM : RED THUNDER
WHAT IS THE SCENARIO / MAP TITLE? Der Ring Der 5 Panzer Division
FILE TYPE? SCENARIO VS AI ONLY
DOES THE SCENARIO / MAP REQUIRE BATTLEFRONT DLC OR MODS? YES [PLEASE ADVISE WHAT IS REQUIRED IN DESCRIPTION FIELD]
WHAT SIZE IS THE BATTLE? MEDIUM
WHAT TYPE OF BATTLE IS THIS? ATTACK
WHAT IS THE LENGTH OF THE SCENARIO? MORE THAN 1 HOUR 29 MINUTES
WHERE IS THE SCENARIO / MAP BASED? SOVIET UNION [RED THUNDER]
WHEN IS THE SCENARIO BASED? JULY 1944
WHAT TIME OF DAY IS THE SCENARIO BASED? DAY
WHAT IS THE WEATHER IN THE SCENARIO? CLEAR
NATIONALITY OF SIDE ONE German
NATIONALITY OF SIDE TWO Soviet
THIS SCENARIO IS BEST PLAYED AS… H2H, SIDE ONE VS AI

About Author

Author: George Mc
Treadhead peacenik with a fascination for recreating historical #armoured actions from the Eastern Front using Battlefront's Combat Mission.

8 thoughts on “CMRT Der Ring Der 5 Panzer Division

  1. After the scenario is loaded, I have got a “out of memory” message. I have the latest version and have never experienced this problem playing very large battle before. Has anyone encountered the same problem?

  2. A monster scenario that was a tough slog. Minor spoiler – It quickly becomes apparent that your infantry are your limited resource in this fight. Was tempted to ceasefire a number of times and wasn’t looking forward to trying to take the last two objectives with my battered companies that were down to around a platoon strength each. Luckily for me the Soviets lost the stomach for the fight.

    Great scenario for those wanting to fight big battles commanding multiple fronts.

  3. man was looking really forward to this battle but about 20 minutes in i just couldnt handle the absolute atrocious frames i was getting and i have a 2060 with a i7 7700k more then enough to handle this game thats graphics reside from 2007 and none of this was the author and designers fault map was great and what a shame i wasnt able to fully enjoy it to its full potential. battlefront really needs to optimize their games cmon man its 2021!?

  4. Hi mate
    Hhmm not sure why you would have that issue. I’m running a i5 chip with a GTX970 and can run it fine at best settings. Might be worth checking that the game is using the graphics card. Not my forte this but worth checking some of the info at the BFC forum regarding settings?

  5. Instead of advising how to deal with the crews or the remaining soldiers from the squads.
    It would be better if you provided for the cover closeness of the start positions of the Germans from artillery fire

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