Commemorating the 55th Anniversary of the End of World War II in Europe

Reviews of some of the absolute best (and slightly less good) operational-level games of WWII

Kharkov: The Soviet Spring Offensive, 12 May to 21 May 1942
Game Design: Stephen B. Patrick
Physical Systems and Graphics: Redmond A. Simonsen
Development: Brad Hessel
New York: SPI; 1978
Originally appeared in S&T 68

Kharkov was, at the time it appeared, an eagerly awaited adaptation of the PGG system to the Soviet Spring Offensive of 1942. Historically, this offensive failed miserably, and had little bearing on the further course of the war. Kharkov appears to have been one of the most fought-over cities on the East Front. This Spring ’42 offensive is sometimes termed the First Battle of Kharkov, or Izyum pocket. From February to March 1943, the Second and Third Battles of Kharkov took place in the wake of the Soviet offensive after the collapse of the German forces driving to Stalingrad and the Caucasus. Ironically, in February and March 1943, in virtually the same place where he had won his triumph at Izyum in the Spring of 1942, Erich von Manstein was able to stabilize the German front through a second great victory, the so-called backhand blow.

There was also the Fourth Battle of Kharkov, the Soviet offensive in August ’43, in the wake of the massive German failure at Kursk. In Kharkov, the Soviet player has a mass of armoured brigades, a lot of untried infantry, as well as some already tried Guards Rifle Divisions, to achieve his objectives. There are a number of special rules to reflect the unique circumstances of this offensive. The front is divided into a Northern and Southern sector. The large German forces in the Southern sector will usually remain unactivated until Game Turn 5 (the entire game is ten turns long). This allows the huge Soviet forces, strengthened by various infiltration and morale bonuses, in the Northern sector to slowly pick their way to Kharkov, against a desperate German defense, as well as to sometimes make a lunge for Poltava, on the far-western edge of the board. However, when the Germans in the Southern sector roar into action on Game Turn 5, the Soviet Southern sector often crumbles, although the Soviets may finally capture Kharkov in the north.

The author remembers a game where he had played the Soviets well until Game Turn 5, capturing two of three hexes of Kharkov and one of three hexes of Poltava, but was then annihilated in the South in what was effectively a repeat of Izyum pocket. Dozens of Soviet divisions in the South were destroyed in one or two turns.

Thus, one main appealing aspect of Kharkov is that both players are involved in surging offensives and desperate defenses at different points in the game. One interesting point about the game is that though there are no zero-strength units among the untried Soviet units in Kharkov, their average combat strengths appear to be slightly weaker than in PGG. The Soviet player often faces the frustration of hurling a number of untried units against one depleted German unit, only to find that the attack is being made at not especially favorable odds.

While adding some interesting new rules (e.g., the possibility of German retreat before combat) Kharkov continued the tradition of the essential elegance of PGG.