Overview
When Unternehnreyr Taifun (Operation Typhoon), the last major assault toward Moscow by the Wehrmacht, was launched by Army Group Center at the end of September, it quickly shattered the front of the Western, Reserve and Bryansk Fronts. In the south, Guderian's Panzer Group 2 captured the major rail and industrial center of Orel on the run and then drove north toward the ancient Russian armaments center of Tula.
The Soviets sent Major General D. D. Lelyushenko to Tula, ordering him to take command of whatever troops were available and stop Guderian's panzers at all costs. Lelyushenko's command, designated the 1st Guards Rifle Corps, at first consisted of the newly named 4th and 6th Guards Rifle Divisions, the 4th and 11 th Tank Brigades (both fairly recently formed), and several units of artillery and other supporting troops. Within days, the 5th Airborne Corps of three brigades was also airdropped along the Orel Highway (in friendly Soviet territory) to join Lelyushenko's command.
At the same time, the German spearheads were preparing for a dash to Tula. The 24th Panzer Corps was responsible for the Orel-Tula highway, and its 4th Panzer Division lead the attack. The spearhead of 4th Panzer Di vision was commanded by Guderian's young protege Colonel Eberbach, commander of the 3rd Panzer Brigade, refered to throughout the battle as "Brigade Eberbach." The original panzer divisions had included a panzer brigade of two regiments and a Schutzen (motorized infantry) brigade of one regiment and one motorcycle battalion. When the tank complement of the oh visions had been reduced at the start of 1941 to a single regiment, one of the brigade headquarters was removed. But for the 1941 campaign, the panzer divisions still maintained one brigade headquarters which was often used to control the combined arms spearhead of the division. Sometimes this was nominally a panzer brigade, sometimes a Schutzen brigade.
Although Lelyushenko had to cover a fairly broad front, the most dangerous avenue of approach was the highway that Eberbach drove north along, and to block this route he assigned his most capable unit: Colonel Mikhail Yefi-emov Katukov's 4th Tank Brigade.
Fifty years later it is difficult to assemble a clear picture of the events of the week from October 4 through 10. Sources differ as to a number of important details, not the least being the date on which Brigade Eberbach forced its way across the Lisiza River and fought its tank battle on the rolling open field in front of Voin. What follows is my assessment, from a variety of sources, of those events and their timetable.
The 4th Tank Brigade's lead battalion was in action south of Orel on October 4 and fought a skillful covering force action for the next two days, exacting a stiff cost from Eberbach's reconnaissance units. It gave ground slowly to the north, allowing the retreating Soviet infantry to regroup and the brigade main body to take up organized positions along the Lisiza River south of Mtsensk. A major action was fought on the 6th in which the Germans penetrated the Soviet positions and were turned back only by comrnitment of a newly arrived battalion of the l 1 th Tank Brigade, which launched a counterattack against the left flank of the German penetration and stalled their advance. Under cover of night, and the fire of two battalions of Katyushas, the Soviet forward elements disengaged from the Germans and fell back north of the Lisiza River.
Throughout the 7th and 8th Eberback regrouped his troops. Shortly after dawn on October 9, Brigade Eberbach resumed its advance by crossing the Lisiza River bridge. Eberbach's brigade consisted of a reinforced panzer battalion (with a total of five companies) and the divisional motorcycle battalion, supported by an artillery battalion, a battery of Luftwaffe heavy flak guns and other lesser assets.
The Germans fired a short preparation and then drove across the bridge at 0900 hours, Eberbach's tanks and dismounted motorcyclists scattering the light covering force nearby. The ground around the bridge was extremely open, hardly suitable for a protracted defense, so the crossing site was not seriously contested. The motorcyclists remounted and the mobile column drove on, getting as far as the crest of a low ridge between the river and the village of Voin. As they crested the ridge they came under long-range tank fire from Soviet tanks deployed in the village. At this point the scenario begins.
Battle of Mtensk CDII Scenario: October 9, 1941
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© Copyright 1995 by Greg Novak.
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