Smoke drifts from the hull where the round impacted, but the Commander doesn’t see any flames – hopefully they can get the fire out quickly. 

Across the battlefield, the Commander sees the Stug moving into a flanking position, it won’t be long until he stops and aims at our weaker side armor! We need to find a better position. The PZ IV turret is rotating, scanning the battlefield and looking for targets. Thankfully he hasn’t appeared to focus in on any of his tanks. 

His tanks… are just sitting there!

“Move it everyone! Move! Don’t just sit th….”

The words are drowned out by another impact that rocks the SU-100, almost throwing the Commander out of his hatch. Something knocks his headset off, he flinches well after the shrapnel nearly took his head off. Battered and dazed, he slowly looks around to see smoke coming out of another hole in the hull, this time on the driver’s side.

Where did that come from? The Panther!!!!

 “Status!”

“Driver wounded, still on Fire – we have to get out of here!”

The Commander pauses for what feels like minutes though he knows it is only a few seconds. Assessing the situation, it isn’t good. We are on fire, the Panther has us in its sights, the Stug is about to flank us and I don’t know if we can even move…

“Bail out, bail out!”

The crew bails out, dragging the wounded driver out with them. The Commander jumps down, and leads his rattled crew deeper into the gully, looking for better cover and a spot where he can watch the battle.

He notices the T-34/76 finally moving, attempting to flank the Panther! But the Panther notices the T-34/76 and rotates to keep its front armor and gun facing the T-34/76! That is an incredible crew… The T-34/76 is still searching for cover, while the T-34/85 just sits there. What are they doing? The Commander notices the Stug stopping and zeroing in on the T-34/85…”Move!!! Move!!!” but his shouts are useless. If only he had a radio.

Behind him, his loader shouts that another SU-100 is moving forward to shore up this side of the battlefield. They need the help, the Germans are threatening to capture the High ground and gain control of this battlefield…

“I’ve got a clean shot on the Panther!”

“Fire!”

The Commander braces himself as the SU-100 cannon roars again. He watches as the shot impacts the Panther’s turret and the Panther Commander is blown out of his hatch! “Great shot! Reload!”

Nearly simultaneously, the T-34/76 fires and the PZ IV erupts in a massive explosion! Finally, we’ve dislodged the PZ IV from the hill!

The Commander’s attention is drawn back to the Panther, which despite two hits to the turret and no commander is advancing up the hill! What is it going to take to kill that Panther? We need to flank him!

The replacement T-34/85…. I forgot to give him orders… it’s just sitting there! “T-34/85, I need you to…”

The Commander’s vision blurs, the ringing in his ears threatens to drive him insane. His chest hurts from impacting the cupola, shouts are coming from inside the SU-100 but he can’t quite make them out… “Fire!” … “Give me the fire extinguisher! Hurry!”… “We need to bail out!” “No, it’s not that bad, not yet! I think we can…”

The Commander shakes his head and looks around as his vision clears. They’ve been hit, lower hull, across from the driver. Thankfully no serious injuries but there is a small fire and his crew is panicking though they are trying to put the fire out. We need to do something fast!

Looking at the battlefield he sees that the Stug fired the shot that hit them. The Panther is still on the move, its cannon pointing in his direction… they may stop and fire again! It appears the Stug is starting to move and is going to try and flank them while moving up the hill… they are well coordinated, I can only engage one at a time. I need support!

“Status! Can we move or engage? How bad is the fire?” The Commander knows he only has moments to decide to try and stay in the fight or bail out before the next round impacts…

The Commander’s heart rate quickens as he watches the Panther’s long gun barrel rotate past him and settle in on the T-34/85 on the hill. Unable to line up a shot on the Panther in time, he can only hope that the T-34/85 realizes the danger and moves, but they are too focused in on the PZ IV. The ground shakes as the Panther’s gun erupts in flame and smoke. The shot flies flat and hits the T-34/85 in its tracks. Smoke drifts out of the front hull from the impact. 

“Status T-34/85?”

“AD is KIA, we are on fire! Get that fire out before we burn up! Hurry! Hurry!”

From the front, the Stug and the PZ IV open up and two more rounds impact the T-34/85 nearly simultaneously! One appears to bounce off, while the other penetrates the hull.

“Get out of there!” The Commander shouts into his radio, though the words are hardly out of his mouth when he sees most of the crew bail out of the T-34/85 and take cover in the woods. Amazingly the T-34/85 doesn’t explode or erupt into flames, but it is out of the fight. Not good, we have lost 2 tanks already!

His SU-100 rocks backwards as the 100mm cannon fires – we finally have the Panther in sight! He watches the round hit the Panther in the turret! It appears the Panther Commander slumps over in his hatch but he’s still moving. Other than that he doesn’t see any other damage – “Reload, Fire!”

The air around him crackles and rumbles as a round roars past him – the T-34/76 behind him opens up and hits the PZ IV in the turret! Fire breaks out and the commander appears to be wounded… Finally, we inflict some damage! Hopefully that will knock the PZ IV out of the fight and off that hill.

“Where do you want us to go?” comes over the radio – another T-34/85 is joining the fight! The Commander thinks for a moment as he assesses the situation, trying to decide the best place for the new tank entering battle…

Round 3

“We are too exposed! Look for cover or a place we can go hull down!” the SU-100 Commander shouts to his driver as the battle rages on. The Panther is on the move making it nearly impossible to hit. He flinches as the T-34/85 hidden in the woods on the hill opens up, firing at the PZ IV on the opposing hill – looks like a HIT! But his elation quickly wanes as the PZ IV returns fire at the T-34/85. A near miss, lucky. Looking back to the Panther, he is pleased to see it hit a patch of mud and come to a quick stop. Now’s our chance! 

“Gunner – Panther, 11 O’clock –fire at will!” The SU-100 slowly rotates to get the Panther in sight.

A T-34/76 moves up behind him and tries to conceal behind a small building but grinds to halt while still exposed to the enemy.

BAM! The T-34/85 on the hill rocks as a shell impacts it – that Stug has found the range!

“We’re ok, failed to penetrate. Reload! Hurry!”

The Stug moves further into the rubble – there isn’t much there to shoot at now. And the Commander notices the Panther’s turret turning towards him… can we get him in our sights before he has us in his?

Situation Map at start of Round 2:

Round 2

As the SU-100 Commander looks around the battlefield, trying to spot other enemy units, the roar of the T-34/76’s cannon makes him flinch – the first shot of the battle has been fired! Looking at the Stug in the distance, the SU-100 Commander sees the shell impact into the side of the STUG superstructure, just below the German Commander. The German Commander is blown out of his hatch, and there’s some smoke coming from the superstructure! Great shot! The Russian Commander hopes to see the Stug burst into flames, but as he watches the Stug, the smoke stops and the Stug starts to retreat, eventually climbing into some Rubble. The Stug is still visible, barely. The T-34/76 still has him flanked – come on, reload and fire!

As the Russian Commander prepares his crew to move out, his German counterpart already has tanks on the move. It comes as a shock when the Russian commander spots what looks like a Stug moving to his right in order to capture a hill, but it suddenly lurches to a halt before reaching it. Probably hit a patch of Mud… Lucky break for us, but luck only goes so far…To the Commander’s left, the T-34/76 moves forward and to the side to set up a flanking position on the Stug –nice maneuver though he hasn’t found any cover and stops in a field to set up a shot. The Commander’s SU-100 and the T-34/85 are still warming up their engines when another German tank is spotted moving towards the hills – a PZ IV, that drops into a shallow gully before reaching another hill. The Russian Commander’s heart starts pounding in his chest and his mouth is dry as he sees that the Germans are gaining an early advantage. He needs to be able to advance and find cover before the Panzers start shooting at him…  

Come on, we need to move! There are other tanks out there! Move!!!!

The Russian commander looks out from the cupola of his SU-100, surveying the ground before him. His orders are to advance to the low hills approximately 400m away and hold them against a suspected German tank force in the area until reinforcements arrive. An uneasiness grips him, for he knows the Germans also want to capture the hills a bit further away, and that whoever holds the high ground will have a commanding view on the neighboring areas and be able to halt any further advance.

He knows this area well, having fought here just a few weeks ago. There are a few buildings, brush and woods in the area, crisscrossed with shallow gullies here and there. With the recent rain, some areas will probably be mud – he will need to keep an eye out for that. The Hills are a mix of brush and woods, finding cover will be key to helping fend off the Germans. 

The commander looks to his right and left, confirming that a couple of T-34’s are there to protect his flanks. Excellent, we have a T-34/85 in addition to the older T-34/76. He’d like some infantry support as well but none are ready to move out now. He looks over and gives the command to start engines, load ammo and prepare for action…