Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Chain of Command - Sharp End on the East Front

Background
I have decided to attempt a Chain of Command Campaign. I want to base this at the start of Operation Barbarossa. I am basing this on an ordinary rifle platoons. I have created a German and a Soviet platoon for this but have set up the campaign so that it is based on a company moving forward on three parallel roads towards the Ukrainian town of Annowka just north of the Romanian border. The town is the objective of the campaign. I am using only a half ladder campaign as it is an invasion.

Update There is a name generator that I used to come up with the names for my platoon leaders: http://fantasynamegenerators.com/russian_names.php#.UvKF87S1sa4

German Background

June 22, 1941 - Romanian Border with the Ukraine
Your unit has been ordered to move from Rommanian territory into Ukraine/Moldova to liberate the German population there. You are to push up the road toward the town of Annowka. There are 400 Germans suffering under yoke of bolshevism that must be liberated. Your company will advance in parallel to you to sweep the Communists from our path and liberate the Germans of the Ukraine.

The platoon is lead by Leutnant Emil Hartz, who was raised in the ranks of the Hitler Jugend and is taking his place leading his platoon in combat for the first time. He is assisted rather ably by Feldwebel Gerwin Radder who before the war was a simple waiter in Danzig. He moved in 1938 in order to don the uniform.

Note: I am using the platoon structure from the 1940 list rather than the actual structure at the start of Barbarossa.

The four squad leaders come from across Germany. Guntar Boche is a former dockworker from Hamburg. He is a huge and strong man. Jurgen Skroch was a gamekeeper for the Duke von Anhalt in Dessau before the war. Now he is an experienced soldier. Jules Herzing was an office clerk in Berlin before waking up after a drinking binge to find himself in the army. He has proven competent enough. Last is the youngest of the leaders, Kain Jutte. He was just recently a schoolboy who joined the colors in a fit of patriotic fervor.

Campaign Map
The campaign is semi-historical in that is it based off of actual maps from the period and contains plausible troops. The map is an extract from map M-35-136-C that is hosted on www.wwii-photos-maps.com. This is a great site and worth a visit.

Scenario 1 Preparation
The Germans can choose up to list 4 in supports. They are opting for an Adjutant and a Sdkfz 221.

Yet to come
I will post on the Soviet forces tomorrow. If Brian or Mark decide on joining in this madness, I will add their notes here as well.

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link - squirrelled away in case I need it for a CoC campaign!

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  2. Nice background you've done! And the map link is great. Thanks! Need to bookmark that for further use

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  3. Looks like this is going to be fun!!!

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  4. Very nice link for maps and a good idea for a campaign. Also very cool to have your own little gaming buddy. We play mostly board and card games right now, but he has started painting miniatures.

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  5. I am attaching the name generator here too.

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  6. I just bought At the Sharp End yesterday. Looking forward to reading the progress.
    The name generator is useful too, thanks for the link.

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  7. Very exciting news Chris. I will follow this with interest, thanks for the great resources n your post.

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