Game of the Week, Feb 24 to Mar 2
Hi everyone,
It’s Monday again, and it’s time for Game of the Week!
We have decided that this week’s Game of the Week is Panzer Campaigns: Korsun ‘44. The 81st anniversary of the battle was earlier this month (February), so it's a fitting time to highlight this title.
Panzer Campaigns: Korsun ‘44 covers one of the most desperate situations on the Eastern Front. Following on a year almost to the day of the capitulation of Stalingrad far to the east, the Germans found themselves in a similar situation with two corps of troops, cut off and isolated after the attack and meeting of two Soviet fronts. Korsun was to experience the desperate attempts to free the pocketed troops and the final bloody and brutal breakout, that was to see such heavy loss in equipment and men. The Soviets too, were heavily damaged in both the initial breakthrough and the attempts to contain the German pocket, leaving both sides a shadow of the forces that started the operation.
Panzer Campaigns: Korsun ‘44 is the latest 4.05.1 version, and our product description encapsulates this campaign well:
By the end of December 1943, with Kiev retaken by the Soviets, Hitler ordered the German Army in the bend of the Dnepr to hold at all costs. The front has stabilized somewhat, and the German Army is clinging to its last toe hold on the Dnepr River that forms the Korsun Salient when the Soviets strike. Even Mother Nature gets into the act with a February thaw that turns the ground to gumbo and makes mobility the Germans rely on an impossible feat. Among the units given these desperate orders to hold are the 11th and 42nd Corps whose positions formed the large bulge in the front line. Attacking on January 24th, 1944, on both sides of the bulge, Soviet forces encircled over 60,000 German in the Korsun Pocket, - the little Stalingrad on the Dnepr.
There are 57 Scenarios included. All the historical forces that had been allocated to the campaign are included.
The longest campaign scenario is 240 turns, with most scenarios a very playable sub-30 turns.
The master map (46,410 hexes) covers the entire area from Belaya Tserkov' in the west to Kirovograd in the east.
Panzer Campaigns: Korsun ‘44 includes the aforementioned playable scenarios, and campaigns, as well as a Getting Started scenario to introduce new players to the game system. The included scenarios are a good mix of small (company), medium (battalion) and large (regimental) engagements.
The Order of Battle has 3,000 units from the German, German SS, Luftwaffe, Russian, and Russian Guard forces that participated in the campaign.
We included a lot of historical documentation and notes with this title, you can review each by clicking on the links below.
There has been a range of books covering the Korsun Pocket. Following are some representative books for anyone that would like some more background on the campaign. You can click on the book images below to be taken to the Publisher or Amazon, if applicable.
Informational
“KORSUN POCKET: The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944” by Niklas Zetterling, Anders Frankson. This book is extremely well researched and clears up many of the ‘myths’ propagated by the Soviet General Staff report of the battle. It provides a detailed view of the battle, but also the equipment available for both sides and the subsequent loss of much of it. It is written at a scale equivalent to the game, so it is easy to follow the action. The Alt campaign scenarios included in the game were completely redone using this book and others for strengths and positions.
“Battle of Cherkassy: The Encirclement and Breakout of Army Group South, 1944” by Nikolaus von Vormann. Von Vormann commanded the XLVII Panzer Korps during the battle and was to see his units pushed aside by the initial Soviet attacks and then subsequently attempt to rescue the trapped German units in concert with III Panzer Korps. It is one of the few primary source materials that exists and is therefore of significant historical interest.
“Hell's Gate: The Battle of the Cherkassy Pocket, January-February 1944” by Douglas E. Nash. This book is brilliant, ‘you are there’ volume. Available used only, still at a reasonable price, it is described as: “The culmination of years of research and survivor interviews, Hell's Gate is a riveting hour by hour and day by day account of this desperate struggle analyzed on a tactical level through maps and military transcripts, as well as on a personal level, through the words of the enlisted men and officers who risked the roaring waters of the Gniloy Tickich to avoid certain death at the hands of their Soviet foe.”
“Ostfront 1944: The German Defensive Battles on the Russian Front 1944” by Alex Buchner. Buchner covers all the critical battles on the Eastern Front in 1944, to allow the reader to understand the strategic context of each. Cherkassy/Korsun is the first battle covered.
The Battle for the Ukraine: The Red Army's Korsun'-Shevchenkovskii Offensive, 1944 (Soviet (Russian) Military Experience) by David M. Glantz, Harold S. Orenstein. This is a good overview of the operation from a Soviet perspective.
Not a book, but considered the seminal board game on the topic, “Korsun Pocket 2: Little Stalingrad on the Dnepr” by Jack Radey, is the updating and republishing in 2023 of the 1979 game. Played at a battalion level. There are similarities between the board and PC game. At $300 USD it’s not cheap!
Now for video content:
Let’s talk about hex recently did a six-part review of Panzer Campaigns: Korsun ’44. You can see the first episode below:
Tik History has a great two-part series covering the different phases of the battle:
Part 1: The Formation of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket 1944
Part 2: Manstein's attempt to relieve the Korsun Pocket
Following are some in-game screen shots of what to expect. Each image can be clicked for a full-sized view.
As mentioned, the build we are making available today is a the new 4.05.1. A range of new features were included, and you can read the Changelog here. All new purchases will be this latest version.
If you don’t already own this title, what are you waiting for? You can buy it directly from the dedicated product page.
We hope you enjoy this week’s, Game of the Week. Like all WDS titles, there is a lot of game play included at a very attractive price.
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