Game of the Week, Jan 13 to 19
Hi everyone,
It’s Monday again, and it’s time for Game of the Week!
As we kick off a new year, and the Northern hemisphere shivers through the winter, we have decided that this week’s Game of the Week is Panzer Campaigns: Rzhev ‘42.
Panzer Campaigns: Rzhev ‘42 (Operation Mars) is a very interesting title that doesn’t get its due respect. In history, it is overshadowed by the titanic struggle occurring at Stalingrad (Operation Uranus) at the same time, yet it was probably the more important strategically. The Rzhev ‘salient’ was only two hundred kilometres away from Moscow, and the Soviets feared it would be used as a staging area for an attack on the capital. It would be fair to say that the failure of Operation Mars would move all emphasis to Southern Russia and leave the area west of Moscow a sideshow by comparison. Panzer Campaigns: Rzhev ‘42 also has the distinction of being the only title designed by Mike Avanzini. Mike is our resident historian/researcher extraordinaire. Mike specialised for many years in the Eastern Front and has actually worked with David Glantz on a number of his published works. David was kind enough to allow us to include some of his research in the player notes.
We believe this title is a little like Panzer Campaigns: Scheldt ’44. An example of a battle fought in less-than-ideal conditions, with desperation on both sides. The weather conditions meant this was as much a battle with the elements as it was with the enemy. One of Germany's premier divisions, Gross Deutschland, was to record the fighting in the Rzhev salient as some of its hardest for the war. It had to be rebuilt post Rzhev, to then be committed prematurely to the defence of Kharkov in February 1943.
Panzer Campaigns: Rzhev ‘42 is the newest 4.05.1 version, and our product description encapsulates this campaign well:
In late September 1942, all eyes were focus on the titanic struggle taking place at Stalingrad. Stalin, Zhukov, and the STAVKA met to plan the upcoming winter operations. Zhukov convinced everyone that the Red Army had amassed enough strategic reserves to conduct two major counteroffensives. Here at the Rzhev salient Zhukov planned the second, lesser-known strike. Operation Mars was meant to destroy the German 9th Army. As the Soviet player, can you to do what Zhukov could not accomplish - eliminate the German threat on Moscow and pinch off the Rzhev salient? Or as the German player, can you halt and defeat the massive Soviet armies that threaten your entire Army Group Center?
There are 59 Scenarios included. All the historical forces that had been allocated to the Operation Mars and Operation Jupiter are included.
The longest campaign scenario, which combines both operations, is 200 turns, while most scenarios are very playable sub-30 turns.
The master map (50,800 hexes) is centered on Rzhev with Smolensk just off map to the west, and extends as far east along the Moscow highway as Gzhatsk.
Panzer Campaigns: Rzhev ‘42 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 over 3,750 units from the German, German SS, Luftwaffe, Russian and Russian Guards 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 Operation Mars. 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
“Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942” by David M. Glantz was a key source for the game and is considered one of the best works on this climactic battle. It’s hard to find anything but a used copy these days.
"Meat Grinder: The Battles for the Rzhev Salient, 1942–43" by Prit Buttar – This 2022 book has additional insights thanks to the subsequent opening of the Soviet archives. As quoted: Using German and Russian first-hand accounts, Buttar examines the major offensives launched by the Red Army against the salient, all of which were defeated with losses exceeding two million killed, wounded or missing, until eventually, the Germans were forced to evacuate the salient in March 1943.
“The Rzhev Slaughterhouse: The Red Army's Forgotten 15-Month Campaign Against Army Group Center, 1942-1943” by Svetlana Gerasimova. Another exceptional book recognized in Russia as one of the best domestic studies of the Rzhev battle. From the description: The author, Svetlana Gerasimova, has lived and worked amidst the still extant signs of this colossal battle, the tens of thousands of unmarked graves and the now silent bunkers and pillboxes, and has dedicated herself to the study of its history.
“Through the Maelstrom: A Red Army Soldier's War on the Eastern Front, 1942-1945” by Boris Gorbachevsky. Boris Gorbachevsky was a junior officer in the 31st Army who first saw front-line duty as a rifleman in the 30th Army. Through the Maelstrom recounts his three harrowing years on some of the war's grimmest but forgotten battlefields: the campaign for Rzhev, the bloody struggle to retake Belorussia, and the bitter final fighting in East Prussia. As he traces his experiences from his initial training, through the maelstrom, to final victory, he provides one of the richest and most detailed memoirs of life and warfare on the Eastern Front.
“The 'Grossdeutschland' Division in World War II: The German Army's premier combat unit” by James F. Slaughter. This is a good primer on the history of this leading German unit. It includes extensive details on its time fighting in Rzhev.
Now for video content:
WW2TV interviewed Prit Buttar (see book 2 above) on the Rzhev campaign.
The Russian movie Rzhev, aka 1942, Unknown Battle (2019) This particularly visceral movie can be found on streaming services or the Russian version with auto-translation is below. The fighting is around the Rzhev salient but in February 1942. Note that you can click the image below and then click Watch on YouTube inside the warning note.
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 the newest, 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.
The timing is amazing because I just started reading “Meat Grinder” by Prit Buttar and went into a rabbit hole over the Battle of Rzhev!
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