Red Bear : Allied Forces on the Eastern Front, January 1944–February 1945

228 Pages·2013·59.553 MB·English

by  Peter Simunovich, John-Paul Brisigotti, Wayne Turner and Sean Goodison

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from their Succ~ses in 1943, the Red Anny continued on offen'live into the winter
early 1944. They broke the Siege of Lening-ran. ami then pushed the Germans Ilack into
r~:;o~~~
I In the Ukraine, two Gennan armie!'J were encircled, one after the other, in the Korm.m
;4 Kamenets-podol!!ky Pockets. }'inland waq finally ejected from the war in June ami the fol
lowing month the Red Anny sma.qhed Germany's Army Group Centre in Operation Bagratioll.
With Gennany anri her a1lies reeling, the Soviets }ltlshed on, forcing Romania to change sirles in
'-It=~'~ Th;eY~th~e;n~~P\~,"~h!ed~t~h~e~Gerrruu~~~l"J
back into Poland to the very rloorstep of the Third Reich
~; and the 1945.
ALLIED FORCES ON THE EASTERN FRONT. JANUARY 1944 - FEBRUARY 1945
• • ,,
)II'
&d Btar was compiled from the following books: Fortrtss Etlium: Peter Simunovich, John-Paul Brisigotti
Europr, Stalini O/ulaughr. Hammrr and Sickk, Rivtr ofH (roN Gmphic Design: Sean Goodison
and Stalin's Europr. These books wert originally produced by Ttrrnin. Motklling and Photography: Battlefront Studio
the Battlefront tcam and friends. Painting: James Brown. Blake Coster, Casey Davies, Mike
Haught, Jeremy Painter, and Matt Parkes
Compi/rd and (diud by: Wayne: Turner
COllU Art: Vincent Wai
Nrw maurin/ writt(1l by: lllurnaf Art: Warren Mahy, Vincent Wai, and Ben Wooten
: Camel, Alessandro Fasolo. Andrew Haught, Mike Haught, Miniatures Drsipl: Evan Allen
Van Nonon, Phil Yales. Many thanks to aU ofthr plnyusun and proofoadm who !Javt
matk this compilation possibk.
CONTENTS
Introduction .", •.•• " •. , ............ 2 8y Gvudry,kiy Su",lkovy Korp"'" .••..• 72 Soviet Sp«ial R"les .••..••.••..•••.•• 160
Warrior: Uyttn:lnl A V Pyl'cyn •..•...•.7 3 ThcPoluh HomcArmy •.....••••••.•• 164
Soviet Foras on the E• .' ltem Fron! •••••.• 10 8Uydaa Ornryd Syuddnkayoav ySh &t"l'llaf1noony .&.,.ra.I.o.n. .....•........7 7 84 Poli.s.h. .B•..la.l•io•n. A..rm..i i Kl'lljow. .c.j .S.p.«.•ia.l• R•u.l e1s6 7.
Polish Fo«a! on the Eastern Fronl . • • . . .• 13 The Hammer and the Sickle •.••.••.••.. 88 &lalion Armii Kra;owq .....•......•. 168
Romanian Forason the Eastern Front ••.• 13 Warrior. Kapitan V I Nc-vsky. •..•.......9 2 &,a1ion Armii Kra;owei Anocnal. . .... 174
Rdieving Leningrad .••.••.•..•••.••.• 16 Warrior: BriKaCle Kom;M:lr M A DetIov ....9 3 RomaniaatWar ..................... 176
Gn rdeyskiy"Tankovy &taIon ...........9 4 Warrior: &rg.:nl Aure! Sandu .•........ I 79
The Narva Winter Baula! . . . ....••.• 17 Motosudko,,), &Ialon . . ...9 8 COmpanie T.neu'; .................. 180
The Auack On Finland •..•..••..••.••.• 18 Peredovoyc Olryad .................. J0 4 Com.pnic·limeur; Medii ... . .... 182
Ta nkovy &ualon. . . • . . . . . ..•..•...•2 0 Rof2 Ra~vedkL ..................... 106 Comp:lnit: Van'llori MOfOriula. . .... 186
Strdkovy ...•..•..••..• 24 4"'Guan:lsCavairyCorps .••.•...•.... 110 Companit: de Caval(1'ic. . ..•..•. 190
...3 0 Warrior. Podpolkovnik ra,"'! Kamnev .... 113 Ba,a1ion Pusasi ... .. .. 1%
ill &lIalon .•....3 4 Gvardeyskiy Kauehiy Polk. . .. . . . .. . .115 Di"isionaJ Suppan • . .. . . .....•.... 202
...........3 8 Paniun$kiy Bripla .........•• 124 German Suppon .. • . .. . . .....2 05
".
................... 46 Romanian Sp«ial Rul., . . ..•.•.2 08
Romanian At$t'nal.. . .. . . .•.2 09
................ 50 Soviet Invulon of Romani .............. 132
.•.. . 52 SoV;<l:1 l'alnting Guide .•..
Balde for liungary• .••.••.••.••.••.•• 120
Brigada! . • .. • • .. ... 56 Wartior: Polish Painting Guide ....
V S R:II ..•...•..•... 58 Gvudeyskiy Kapilan Dmirriy Lou .. . 137 Romanian PaimingGuide ..••.••..••.• 221
Warrior: Ivan Zabolomy •..•..•5 9 Inomarochnikiy Tankovy &lalon . . . .. .138
Tynbelyy Shlrumo.,... B.lalon..... . .142
SamokJ,odno-aniUyeriyskiy Polk ••.....6 0
Sminiy Szmokhodno-anillycriyskiy Polk .. 6-4 COrpsSuppon ..••...........•.••.•• 147
lNiY SamoltOOdno-anillymyskiy Polk ...6 6 Soviet Anc:nal •.••.••.••••••.••••••• 156
Inrl.en.::mo-Sapcrniy B.:ualon .....•..•..6 8
REVISED EDITION
This is a supplement for FLrmfJ Of War, the World War 11 miniaturu game.
A copy of the rulebook for FLrmeJ Of war is necessary to fully use the contenu of this book. :\-
"'~ 'r-c, r _,,~ _~. . ~ I'"
'-A11 rJ. ght5'w r-ts;crv«J. N0 part ~ u,l$ puh i!' ca•tL. on may Lrn:.: repruuuce d,S'l"o rcu In a remeva SySlem, or rraFnSm.l tle d• 'II I a"n'y ,o rm or hy.1 any JI'
means wilhoUl the prior wriuen permiSSion oftq.c publisher. nor be otherwise circu'iated in any form of binding or covtr olhtr than thai
'in whkh it is publisru..u and without a similar condilion being imposed on the sub5equtm purchaser. •
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p'" " ' ;.
"«,., ''" ". ,iii .. '"
,4:1 Copytight Battlefront Ntinialures
the fleeing Germans back into Poland with your mobile tank
and cavalry forces.
Flames Of ~r you take on the role of a company
commander manoeuvring your troops across the battlefields Follow up .your success by liberating the Ukraine from
of World War II. This classic period of warfare is brought Germany and its lapdogs Hungary and Romania. By quickly
to life in your own game room. Rtd Bear provides the core crushing Romania forcing them to change sides, the Soviet
armies in the form oflnrelligence Briefings. These Intelligence and Romanian combined forces can move on Hungary.
~~::;:;';~ allow you to field the Soviet, Polish and Romanian Push the Germans and Hungarians out orfransylvania before
('; that clashed with the Germans and their allies'across
fighting the epic tank barrles around Debreeen. Storm the
Eastern Front in 1944.
Tisza River with your brave Soviet and Romanian infantry
To play Fldmrs Of War you'll also need the Flames Of War before encireling Budapest with your Guards tank forces.
rulebook. The rulebook contains all the rules that you need
Finally assault Budapest, fighting through the streets against
to fight miniature World War II battles.
stiff resistance in a barrIe that will last IOO-days. While your
brave infantry fight for control of the Hungarian capital,
WHY COLLECT A FORCE FROM RED BEAR?
your mighty armoured forces will hold back the desperate
Red Bear provides Flames Of War players the forces needed attempt's by German armoured forces to break through your
to recreate the heroic Allied forces from the bloody baules cordon. Bm eventually victory will be yours!
Leningr,ad and Narva in the north, through Operation
They are all here in Rrd Scar, looking for the right general
to the final subjugation of Rqmania and '"0.><
to rake command and bring the roar of bartle to your 0"'
Hungary. ,
room.
witi,l the liberation of Leningrad after an epic 900-day
p~sh back the besieging German forces to the Narva How THIS BOOK WORKS
: Then encircle and reduce over confident German
This book is divided into sections for each major offensive
at the Korsun and Kamenets-Podolsky Pockets, before
on rhe Eastern Front in 1944. Each army has Intelligence
:knodciog'F;,I,,,,d out of rhe war after a massive assault..
• Briefings for tank, mechanised, and infantry companies .
Next launch Operation Bagration to secure Byelorussia from
Each company has easy-to-use charts, highlighting available
the Fasci~t. Smash/through German Army Group Centre,
platoons which are the fighting units of your company. Each
retaking Hitler's 'Festerplan' one by one. Mercilessly pursue
platoon diagram visually displays what troOps are included
in rhe plaroon~
.. ) ,.r"" -""" ~ .... A ...,.......,-....- 1 ..... A detailed arsenal at the end of each section describes the
• REOAmr STRElKOVY BATAlON speeific ratings for your units and the weapons they use.
From tanks to infantry, this book contains everything you
~I Suelk"vy8ataion HQ (Compulsory HCadqua'tero~O po;;",' '.1
need to get started on your army!
Battalion HQ
Strelkovy Company (Compulsory Combat Platoon)6 . [n addiTion to the technical information you'll need to build
with 3 Rifle Platoons an dKoml's sar tea m_ 35pollltS your force, each book contains plenty of inspiring pictures to
Cit help you capture d,e flavour of your new Flames OfW ar force!
Strdkovy Company (Compulso:Combat Platoo~65 oints
with 3 Rifle Platoons and KOIIU6sar team P All of lhe forces in [his book are based on historical examples
. Co . any (Conlbat Platoon) that fought on the Eastern Front between I January 1944
'i' Strelkovy MachlDe-gun mp 45 .
'-II 1 pOllltS and mid-February 1945.
with 2 Machine-gun platoons
Strclkovy Anti-tank Company (We:o.pon Platoon) . To find Out more, visit your local game store, or visit our
75 pOHlts
with 4 45mm obr 1942 guns informative website at IlIww,FlnmesOfWiJr.com,
4)
Guards Heavy Assault Gun Company
(s.p,r.o-,t Platoon) 3 45 pom. ts
with 31SU-I22
ta Limited Air Support (Support PlatOOn) 5'
\11 'k 22 pOInts
. h II-2M Tip 3M Shturmov! .
WIt Toral-1550 pomts
uses a point system when setting up and In most Flamrs Of war games you will command a
PH'Y"', games. Typical games are around 1500 points, but company with several plalOons. However, in Soviet and
are certainly not limited lO any value! Play any poine value some Romanian forces these will be a battalion with several
and your opponent decide. You can play small 600 point companies, but these behave JUSt like other forces' plalOons.
in an hour, or you can play mammoth games using For these forces whenever the rules talk about a Platoon read
,Jm,i~ that are 3000 or 5000 points or more! that as a Company. Where the rules talk about a Company,
read that as a BanaHon.
,
COMPANY HQ
In Ffllml'S Of \U7r, you are the
Company Commander. As such
you'll needacompany headquarters
platoon. When you choose your
force the first thing you must
purchase with your points is your
company headquarters platoon.
COMBAT PLATOONS
Usually, at least TWO combat
plawons are required. Whatever
your battle plan requires, the
Combat PI:Hoons are the ones yOll
rely upon lO get the job done!
WEAPONS PLATOONS
Weapons platoons come rtom
your own battalion. They arc
not required, but can offer your
company excellem suppOrt, such
as heavy machine-guns. mortars,
reece, and ami-tank weapons.
SUPPORT PLATOONS
Supporr platoons are loaned to
your company by the regiment,
brigade, division, or corps. These
platoons give you extra suppOrt in
many forms ranging from t:lnks
to artillery.
Each force begins with the Company Diagram, which demonstrateS the company organisation graphically in an easy-to-read
i'."",,,.
This simple diagram will help you create your Flames a/War company and gec you playing in no time ar all!
YOUR COMPANY OR BATTALION
This firstcsrep is entirely up to you. There is a wide variety of companies or banalions, including infantry, reconnaissance,
mechanised, and tank forces. Have a read through the history texl. Find a force that you find interesting and you're off!
INSTRUCTIONS
.~""'C, you have decided which company or banalion
build, have a look at the small box that 00"";""
:,"d"",",,,;,,",
you will need to build your force.
II will also talk about any divisional variants that rhe
"iI company or banalion might have. The example to lhe
right tells you that there are tWO variants: Red Army
and Guards. When building a force with variants,
choose one variant and follow the instructions for
variant forces below.
VARIANT FORCES
companies or banalions are based on a single
Heavy Tank Regiment). However,
,'~"""f'''''rlp,in;'' have several variants based on their
army, such. as the Sue1kovy Balalon
can be made up of regular Red Army HOOpS or
:""p,,;,,,,,d
Gu';rds.
\
" When building a force that has several variants, you
. must choose one o~the ~ariants and stick to it. Your
1
.Compant or Battalion HQ and all of your Combat.
""Weapons, and a few SuppOrt platoons or companies
,'I;.. must match the division you have chosen. To help,
. included symbols to distinguish the variants.
:
~f~~;~!~u;":~~ili:;':;'::',~m.e variant symbol when calculating
I'~ platoon options.
~1D.~~C;"'(Ol)R COMPANY
the. Company or Battalion
~t~~~:~:,~;;~~:!~~~:~:~:~!
of sbolladcike ras,n dg ugnres,y obro xveesh, iecalecsh. fSPECl)lL PLATOON OPTIONS
boxes are platoons or companies available to
Sometimes a platoon box in the company or battalion
,
, diagram will have special platoon options available to a
,
. black DOXes are the core of your force. When building specific variant. These are always marked with the variant's
company, you must field one platoon from each box symbol [0 the left of {he platoon name. Only forces based
rov',1",d,~ blade :me grey boxes a(C optional platoons. You may on the same variant as the special option may take that
one platoon from each box shaded grey. platoon.
The example below (from
" PAGE REFERENCE
the Romanian Companie
Each platoon or company box i have a page number. Use Vanatori MOlOrizata on page
I this [0 find the pla,toon and its poims value. 184) demonstrates that while
any of the Companie Vanarori
ALLIED PlATOONS Motorizara variants may field a
..some plaroom; or companies available to your company or Cavalcrie Co~lpany or Vanatori
battalion are from a completely different nation. These can Blindata Platoon, only [he
Ire easily idenri§e,d bx;:special national symbols found to the Allied variant can field a Soviet
right of the platoon titl~ in {he company diagram. Al,licd Srrelkovy Company from [he Red Army (,S,).
'. OJ.
platoons follow AIl!ed rules fourtd i.n the Flam~s war
,
~
have chosen 10 field a 'S*trc)lk ovy Balalon (found on page
using the Red Army variam. I chose the Red Army
because ir allows you to field a truly massive Soviel horde .
• '(ead;"grhe instructions, I need to field al least a Battalion
twO Sm:lkovy Companies from the black boxes.
Prom there: I'll add some of the optional platoons in grey
boxes.
(*'
~ chose the Red Army as my variant, so all of my
~mba( and weapons platoon or companies should match
tJ!
-.fhat symbol. The Air Sflpport has no divisional rymbo4 but the company
diagram SIl]S! (an include it.
of (he optional plaroons I would like ro rake is a
~,!;'ndk'''y Machine-gun Company (page 26). This mea(*ns 'I
Finally, I want add some armour. A Guards Heavy Assault
to use the poillls listed in the column marked (0
Gun Company (page61) with some ISU·122 assault
malch my variant. "nlcre arc twO available variants: Red
guns should do the trick. The Guards Heavy Assault Gun
Army and Guards. Since I have chosen the Red Army as my
variam, I must use the column marked with my symbol (see Company is marked :IS Guards in its platoon Comryand i[S
divisional symbol does nOl match mine. However, since the
example below).
company diagram has no variant symbol attached to the
platoon option (see below eumple), I am allowed 10 rako it
in my company.
ARMOUR
---------
Guallls Heavy Assault
GurtComparty
Assault GUrt Comparty
'XIlth inc ....... in~ prod",,;"n. •h e.e i. no ,""onOS'" of ami-rank
Tank Destructiort
CUM in rht RI;d A.my.li1t !onB·b.a.",lltd ~5mm obr 1?42 is Comparty
IT
When buijJing my Red Army foru ! uS( the points in the -
A Red Arm] Strtlkovy Bmllion is Illio~d to take a Guards
collimn. Htavy Assa.u.lt Gun Compan]. .. -
"
-.-~.~.~----~.
Once I have selected all of my plawons and totalled up my
points, I just have to find an opponent with equal points, SCI
up a batllefield and start playing!
:tlly Warriors throughout this book. Thc:se arc: hcroic soldiers who can join your force and help it win vicwry.
Flames War
;~::!~~::~:~:I~~I~( from the Of website www.Flamc:sOfWar.comandindependentretailersasspecialorder
~O###,), blister packs (SU### or ROtNN), or in boxes (SBX##). Use the table below to find the relevam
code for each Warrior.
is the Warriqr Kapitan Dmiuiy Lou'in his M4 76mm Sherman rank.
Warrior name Product code
Lc:ytanant V S Rat (Page 58) SBX12
Leytenanr Ivan Zabolomy (Page 59) SSOl93
Lc:ytenant A V Pyl'cyn (Page 73) SU733
Kapitan V I Nevsky (Page 92) SU884
Brigada Koniissar M A Dedov (Page 93) SUBS3
Podpolkovnik Pavel Kamnc:v (Page 113) SSD 143
Gvardeyskiy Kapitan Dmitriy Loza (Page 137) SU88S
Sergent Aurd Sandu (Page 179) RSO 10 4.
&mlefrom Miniatures packages Fla11lN O/War produclS to give you everything you nud 10 assemble your force as quickly
accuralelyas possible. Our blistcrs and box sets are packaged to give you all of the options available 10 build your army.
How TO BASE DIFFERENT TYPES OF UNITS
Every army organises its platoons differemly. and the organisation diagrams reflect this. For example, a Rifle platoon in a
Srrelkovy Company is comprised of 31 men split into seven tcams. five of four soldiers and four of five, yet a Tank-rider
pi,,,,,,," in a Tank-rider Company has 27 men split into six teams, three offour soldiers and thru offive soldiers. Of course,
in combat rarely mainrain their theoretical strength. We reflect this by allowing you to take fewer squads or platoons.
INFANTRY TEAMS
The fundamenral building blocks of an infantry platoon or company are the various types of infantry teams. The most
common ones are shown below with a brief description of their function and organisation.
COMMAND TEAMS A Command lcam is made up of an officer, an NCO and a rifleman on
a small base. There are ofren options to upgrade your Command team
with a different weapon. To do so, simply replace the rifleman with the
- - -chosen upgrade. You can see an example of this on the following page.
RIFLE TEAMS Rifle teams are the basic form of infamry. All the miniatures in a rifle
learn will normally be armed with rifles. Some squads may have a single
machine-gun, but its efreCi is diluted by thc number of rifles in the
squad. Base your rifle {cams on a medium base .
..- R-I-'-LE-(-M- G- T-E-A-MS------------R";-A-,'-M- G-.,,c,-m-,-,-,-,or;liscd like rifle teams, except that every squad oi"
r
M)l~ ~l~' twO tcams has a machine-gun. Base Rifle/MG teams on a medium base
""_ _________________w_ ;_,h_,h_,_,_~_o_n_d_b_,_~_n_o_'_m.'.IIY modelled with a crew-fed m~-gun.
MG TE,AMS MG teams are bener armed than Rifle/MG teams. Every MG learn has
a machine-gun. Base MG teams with a crew-fed machine-gun and tWO
to three riflemen on a medium base.
SMG TEAMS Some nations equipped entire platoons with submachine-guns. SMG
teams are made up of miniatures armed exclusively with submachine
guns. Base SMG teams on a medium base.
~;;':;:;;-;;:;::;-----------~A~P;;i,oneer::;:;::s n:r~al cha:cte~istics b:i~g
th: and of irs rype,
e.g. a Rifle team on a medium base, and gains combat engineering char
acteristics and abilities such as an increased anti-rank r:lting in assault
- and the abiliry 10 clear mines and demolish fortificadons.
-~i:ature :it~ ·a·;;~h~
LIGHT MORTAR Light Mortar tcams a: mad:"up of a armed t
TEAMS mortar and a loader on a small base.
KOMISSAR TEAMS The Red Army relied on political officers to keep their soldiers motl\l"Jred
for battle. A Komissar [earn is modelled with a komissar and a riAeman on
a small base.
GUN TEAMS
Artillery barreries and machine-gun, anti-tank gun, infantry gun platoons combine command infamry teams with gun
Information on basing gun teams can be found in Basing Your Miniatures in [he rulebook. Essemially, Man-packed
teams aTe mounred like infantry learns on a medium base, anri-tank and infantry guns are mounted on a medium base faGJI~
the narrow end, and artillery is mounted on a large bre facing the narrow end.
PLATOON, DIAGRAMS • .' ",
Eacb platooJl (or company) diagram indicates me required squads (or platoons) and teams you must. have ro make that unit
com bar-worthy. Troo.ps and vehitles in black a(e the core of the unit. Troops and vehicles in grey are options lhat you, C:1I1
add to' give them more ptlnch or mobility. Mao.y platoons also include options allowing you to improve rhe equipmem or
capabilities of some of the reams. The platoon entry wiU also Iisf"che special rules that the: platoon follows.
,