Think Tank Nurve, ad hoc wargamers posting at wargamer.com, have posted:
"Is anybody else following this game..."..."there's no game covering the 1943 battle as a main scenario, so yes, there's a need for" FRONT ROADS: Kharkov 1943/ЛИНИЯ ФРОНТА: БИТВА ЗА ХАРЬКОВ "from a wargaming perspective."
FRONT ROADS: Kharkov 1943 is unique and has broken new ground during "one of the most impressive German victories of the war and also the last significant large scale victory in the east." For the Rodina !
Here is a
gratis American
english rough draft submission rewrite of the
FRONT ROADS: Kharkov 1943 homepage for your evaluation and use. I will post more American
english rough draft submission rewrite evaluation, God willing.
FRONT ROADS: Kharkov 1943
Developer: Graviteam
Russian Publisher: 1C/Snowball Studios
Genre: War Game
Russian Title: ЛИНИЯ ФРОНТА: БИТВА ЗА ХАРЬКОВ
Russian Release Date: September, 11 2009
FRONT ROADS: Kharkov 1943 is a ground-breaking war game uniquely dedicated to the last great German victory in the east. Our carefully researched archival military records put you on that battlefield. Opposing commanders control battalion and near-brigade strength battle groups locked in a fight to the death.
FRONT ROADS: Kharkov 1943 in-game god-mode camera gives you the ability to zoom into close quarter combat action and observe individual unit combat result battle detail. The enemy is relentless. “Hold what you’ve got!” There will be no retreat. There will be no surrender.
Commanders may choose from two separate campaigns fought in the pivotal Kharkov sector of operations.
Campaign one: Soviet Army operations of February 1943.
Campaign two: Heer Wehrmacht operations of early March 1943. In addition, commanders may explore a number of training missions. The game is solidly rooted in the proven Graviteam engine.
Front Roads: Kharkov 1943 throws you headfirst into the Eastern Front gristmill where Iron Crosses grow and Heroes of the Soviet Union fight. You will be totally immersed in graphic, bloody World War Two battles. Combat infantrymen, tanks & crewmembers have been accurately recreated and rendered in painstaking historical detail, including injury and battle damage. As you relive these historical battles, you will command combined arms forces on a large battlefield while engaging in pitched battle. Life, death, victory, or the shame of defeat hangs by the slender thread of your every decision. The battles for Kharkov in early 1943 altered Soviet and Wehrmacht tactics forever. You will become part of those swirling eventful days of trial by combat judgment.
Comparable Titles: Close Combat Series, Combat Missions Series
GAME FEATURESLarge-Scale Battles Your Field Grade and Company level command skills will be tested. Two hundred and fifty (250) soldiers & officers await your orders. More than forty (40) types of combat and tactical vehicles will be maneuvering on the battle area at the same time. As in reality, your virtual tactical outcome will depend upon how skillfully you interact with your subordinate units and how well your battle plan survives trial by combat. Lay down suppressing fire and smoke ! Recon by fire and turn the enemy’s flanks. Hold him by the nose, kick him in the pants, and make him die for
his country.
Balanced Game World An awesome mixture of realistic global factors such as topography, Line of Sight/Line of Fire, target acquisition systems, range to target, projectile velocity, kinetic & explosive penetrators, and the sheer magnitude of battle sector operations compose a near real-world tactical symphony. This game engine will tear you out of your cozy little room and thrust you into the bitterly cold
winter war of 1943. Fight or die. In this respect, the
Front Roads: Kharkov 1943 ambient game environment is superior to all other marketplace competitors of this genre known at this time. This is the definitive East Front
time machine you have been searching for.
Fully Interactive Landscape Deformable terrain and destructible objects are the basis of in-game battlefield terraforming. During battles you can tear down, blow-up, and destroy everything from a small bush to an entire village. Beware, so can your enemy! This tactical battlefield destructive terraforming capability opens unprecedented operational battle area opportunities. Sculpt kill zones, funnel the enemy into your prepared
muzzle-action fields of fire, and become the
master of any battlefield topographical challenge. Make good ground serve you and
use it to annihilate your enemy. Blow-up bridges and deny the enemy an opportunity to advance! Is the enemy well hidden? Recon by fire. Destroy everything around him. Burn him out. Flush him out. Turn his flanks. Send your forces into his rear areas and turn his best laid plans into route! You are in command of this highly realistic battlefield environment. Act decisively-- everything is possible!
Seeing is Believing Front Roads: Kharkov 1943 features an in-game
Adaptive Scale god-Mode Cam which allows you to view the entire battlefield, a single combat vehicle, or even a single soldier. Do you have a favorite historical warrior? See him in virtual action. This gives you the opportunity to become a tactician with a capital
T. You may even recline comfortably in your chair, relax, locate the enemy on the map, send sufficient forces his way, and watch your units defeat the enemy in detail. Alternately, you may lead from the front at the forward edge of the battle area and begin to discover how come Soviet and Wehrmacht battlefield tactics at the
sharp end were forevermore changed by
Front Roads: Kharkov 1943.
DEMO page suggestions:
FRONT ROADS: Kharkov 1943 Quick_Start_DEMO_Kharkov_1943
DEMO Version: You will command a Company strength unit on a six square kilometer
Battle Area during an operation lasting one (1) day.
Battlefield Note. The
four square kilometers at the
center of the Battle Area are
fully interactive.
DEMO Order of Battle:*Т-34/ОТ-34, PzII F/C, PzIIIL / (fl),
*ZIS-3, 53-K, М-42
*Sdkfz251/1 (2, 9, 10), Marder IIIH
Note. In the
full-version game, you will command the complete historical
Order of Battle force mix.
link 1 link 2 link 3
WALLPAPER- FRONT ROADS: Kharkov 1943
640 x 480
800 x 600
1024 x 768
1152 x 864
1280 x 960
1280 x 1024
1600 x 1200
1980 x 1200
On-going American english HISTORY page suggestion submission:
FRONT ROADS: Kharkov 1943History
The Big Picture The pivotal struggle for Kharkov during 1943 developed in two separate campaigns, prior to the battle of Kursk. The Soviet Army took to the field during the bitter cold of February and the Wehrmacht attacked in early March. The Third Battle of Kharkov immediately foreshadowed the debacle at Kursk. It was a series of aggressive offensive operations undertaken by German Army Group South against the Red Army in the battle area surrounding the city of Kharkov (Kharkiv). These operations were conducted between 19 February and 15 March 1943. The Germans of Heer Wermacht knew them as the Donets Campaign. The Soviets named them operations Donbas and Kharkov. The German counterstroke led to the masterful destruction of approximately 52 Soviet divisions and the recapture of Kharkov and Belgorod.
The Stage To the south in and around Stalingrad, von Paulus’ German Sixth Army was enveloped, cut-off, and bled-white by the Red Army and on 2 January 1943 the Soviets launched their westward drive called Operation Star. In January and early February, the Soviets recaptured Kharkov, Belgorod and Kursk. Despite the success of the Soviet offensive, participating Soviet units found themselves over-extended. Heedless of Soviet unit positional vulnerability
and free from further operations in Stalingrad by the 2 February
unconditional surrender of von Paulus’ German Sixth Army, the Red Army's Central Front HQ recklessly turned its attention toward the west. On 25 February, they expanded their offensive, attacking both German Army Group South
and Army Group Center. However, months of continuous operations had taken a heavy toll on the Soviets and some operational divisions were reduced to a mere 1,000–1,500 combat effectives. Then, disaster struck. On 19 February 1943, Field Marshal Erich von Manstein seized the opportunity to launch his Kharkov counterstroke and unleashed his fresh SS Panzer Corps and two panzer armies.
Although the Germans were also understrength, the Wehrmacht successfully flanked, encircled and defeated the Red Army's armored spearheads south of Kharkov. This enabled von Manstein to renew his offensive against the city of Kharkov proper. It began on 7 March. Despite direct orders to encircle Kharkov from the north, the SS Panzer Corps directly engaged Kharkov on 11 March in set-piece battle. This led to four days of vicious
house-to-house fighting.
Leibstandarte 1st SS PanzerDivision took Kharkov on 15 March. Two days later, the Germans also recaptured Belgorod and created the salient that in July 1943 would lead to the epic Battle of Kursk. Although the German offensive had cost the Red Army an estimated 70,000 casualties, the
house-to-house fighting in Kharkov had been particularly bloody for the SS Panzer Corps-- they lost approximately 44% of their strength by the time operations ended in late March.
Battle Area Details At the start of 1943, the German Wehrmacht faced a major crisis. Soviet forces encircled and reduced the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad and expanded its Winter Campaign towards the Don River. On 2 February 1943 and in violation of direct orders, the Sixth Army's commanding officers surrendered an estimated 90,000 troops to the Red Army. They were marched east into captivity. Total German losses during the Battle of Stalingrad, excepting those captured, amounted to between 120,000 and 150,000 troops. Throughout 1942, German casualties totaled approximately 1.9 million personnel and by the beginning of 1943, the Wehrmacht found itself under strength by nearly 470,000 troops. A scant 495 German tanks remained combat ready along the entire length of the German–Soviet front. Most of these tanks were of obsolete design and in poor mechanical repair. In comparison, at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht had been equipped with about 3,300 tanks. The Red Army was emboldened by possible strategic and operational opportunities arising from this German weakness. The Soviet victors of Stalingrad launched an offensive towards the Donets River, in the area west of the Don River, with the intent to destroy
in detail all German forces in the area.
On 2 February, the Red Army launched Operation Star, threatening recapture of Belgorod, Kharkov and Kursk. A Soviet armored spearheaded, led by four tank corps organized under Lieutenant General Markian Popov, pierced through the German front in a lightning crossing of the Donets River and ripped into the German rear echelon areas. On 15 February, two fresh Soviet tank corps threatened to cut the last primary road supplying Rostov at the city of Zaporizhia on the Dnieper River. This threatened the headquarters’ commands of both Army Group South
and the Fourth German Air Fleet. Because of and
in violation of Hitler's direct orders, German forces abandoned Kharkov and the Red Army recaptured the city on 16 February. Hitler immediately flew to von Manstein's headquarters at Zaporizhia. The German general informed Hitler that whiles an immediate counterattack on Kharkov would be fruitless; he could successfully attack the Soviet overextended flank with his five Panzer Corps and recapture Kharkov over the long run.
Meanwhile for the Red Army, the surrender of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad had freed up six Soviet armies. They were under the command of Konstantin Rokossovsky and were refitted and reinforced by the 2nd Tank Army and the 70th Army. These forces were repositioned in an offensive posture between the junction of German Army Groups Center and South. With these forces, the Soviets launched operations Kharkov and Donbas, the offensives sought to surround and destroy German forces in the Orel salient, cross the Desna River, and surround and destroy German Army Group Center. Originally planned to begin between 12–15 February, deployment problems forced the Red Army's command,
STAVKA, to push the start date back to 25 February. Concurrently, the Soviet 60th Army pushed the German Second Army's 4th Panzer Division away from Kursk, while the Soviet 13th Army forced the Second Panzer Army to pivot upon its own flank. This suddenly opened a 60-kilometer (37 mile) breech between these two German forces. Rokossovsky's offensive intended to exploit this breech. While the Soviet 14th and 48th Armies attacked the Second Panzer Army's right flank and made minor gains, Rokossovsky launched his offensive on 25 January. His forces broke through German lines and threatened to surround and cut-off the German Second Panzer Army and the Second Army (to the south). However, unexpected German resistance began to slow the operations considerably; affording Rokossovsky limited gains on his left flank and in the center of his attack. Elsewhere, the Soviet 2nd Tank Army had successfully penetrated 160-kilometers (99 miles) into the German rear, increasing the length of the army's
flank exposure to threat by an estimated 100-kilometers (62 miles).
As the Soviet offensive continued, Field Marshal von Manstein was able to place the SS Panzer Corps—now reinforced by the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf—under the command of Fourth Panzer Army. Simultaneously, Hitler agreed to release seven under strength panzer and motorized divisions for this impending counteroffensive. Additionally the Fourth Air Fleet, under the command of Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen, was able to
regroup and increase the amount of daily sorties from an average of 250 in January to 1,000 in February, giving German forces battle area air superiority. On 20 February, the Red Army drove perilously close to the operation’s
trip-wire: Zaporizhia on the Dnieper River. Von Manstein counterattacked, beginning the German Donets Campaign.
Comparison of forces Between 13 January and 3 April 1943, an estimated 500,000 Red Army soldiers took part in what was known as the Voronezh–Kharkov Offensive. In all, an estimated 6,100,000 Soviet soldiers were committed on the Eastern Front, not including 659,000
out-of-action WIA suffering wounds of varying severity. In comparison, the Germans deployed 2,200,000 troops on the Eastern Front, and maintained a 100,000-strength garrison in Norway. Thus, the Red Army had a 2-1 superiority over the Wehrmacht in early February. However, because of Soviet
positional over-extension and casualties incurred during their offensive, at the moment of Manstein's counterattack the Germans were able to muster and achieve a tactical numerical superiority-- even including battle area armor. For example, Manstein's 350 tanks outnumbered Soviet armor almost
seven to one at the point of contact.
German forces involved Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, commander of Army Group South at the time of the battle, could count on the Fourth Panzer Army (composed of 48th Panzer Corps, the SS Panzer Corps, the First Panzer Army, and the XL and LVII Panzer Corps). The 48th Panzer Corps was composed of the 6th, 11th and 17th Panzer Divisions, while the SS Panzer Corps was composed of 1st SS Panzer Division
Leibstandarte and 2nd SS Panzer Division
Das Reich. In early February, the combined strength of the SS Panzer Corps was approximately 20,000 troops. Geographically, the Fourth Panzer Army and the First Panzer Army were situated south of the salient created by the Red Army. The First Panzer Army was poised in positions east of the Fourth Panzer Army. The SS Panzer Corps lay in wait, arrayed along the northern edge of the Soviet salient and upon Army Group South‘s northern front.
Comparatively, the Germans were able to amass about 70,000 men against the 210,000 Red Army soldiers earmarked for offensive operations aimed at the Don River. The German Wehrmacht was perilously under strength, especially after continuous operations between June 1942 and February 1943. To address this situation, Hitler appointed a committee composed of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Martin Bormann, and Hans Lammers dedicated to recruit 800,000 new
able bodied men—half of which would be harvested from
non-essential industries. However, the effects of this recruitment were not seen
in the field until May 1943. At that time, German armed forces were at their highest strength since the beginning of the war-- with 9.5 million personnel.
By the beginning of 1943, Germany's armored forces had sustained
near catastrophic casualties and losses. It was unusual for a Panzer Division to be capable of fielding more than 100 tanks and most were capable of fielding only 70–80 serviceable tanks at any given time. After the fighting around Kharkov, Panzer General Heinz Guderian embarked upon a program designed to bring Germany's mechanized forces up to full strength. Despite his efforts, average Wehrmacht German panzer divisions could only count on an estimated 10,000–11,000 troop strength of an authorized strength of 13,000–17,000 troops. It was not until June of 1942 that those efforts began to bear fruit, allowing panzer division’s to field 100–130 tanks each. SS divisions were in generally better condition. Deploying an estimated 150 tanks, a battalion of self-propelled assault guns,
and enough half-tracks to motorize most of its infantry & reconnaissance soldiers. SS panzer divisions were authorized a strength of approximately 19,000 troops. At the time of the battle, the bulk of the Germany's armor was still composed of Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs, although
Das Reich SS Panzer Division had been outfitted with a number of
Tiger I main battle tanks.
The Fourth Panzer Army was commanded by General Hermann Hoth. The First Panzer Army was under the leadership of General Eberhard von Mackensen. The 6th, 11th, and 17th Panzer Divisions were commanded by Generals von Hünersdorff, Hermann Balck, and Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin, respectively. The SS Panzer Corps was commanded by General Paul Hausser, who also had the 3rd SS Panzer Division
Totenkopf under his command.
I seek to make Warsaw Pact veteran acquaintances willing to contribute overtly to war game research at Swatters wargamer.com forum topic: NATO versus Warsaw Pact- The Ground Warhttp://www.wargamer.com/forums/tm.aspx?high=&m=363867&mpage=18#370846Godspeed. Art