The over run of the 256th Brigade

[Cdnwolf]

I am trying to modify the Assault game to replicate the death of the 256th Brigade.

I know the main attackers are the 124th Motorized Rifle Division, but very little details of the attack are mentioned. Did anyone every role-play this event or even worked out details of what happened?

[Cdnwolf]

Still looking for any info on this section of the battle. Can't find anything in the archives.

Basically looking for info on the destruction of the 256'th Brigade days before the final battle at Kalisz.

[Olefin]

do you have the V1 game rules - there is a great writeup of the battle there

[Cdnwolf]

All it says is

July 16: The division's situation began deteriorating rapidly.
256th Brigade at Lask was hit hard from the east and northeast
by strong mechanized forces and the brigade headquarters
was overrun. Still short of fuel, most of the brigade's
tanks fought and died in place, and surviving personnel broke
out on foot into the woods to the southwest. The attacking force
was identified as the Soviet 124th Motorized Rifle Division,
another component of the 4th Guards Tank Army

My question is how strong was the 124th MRD if it was able to take out a full brigade with 1 Armor and Mechanized Bttns?

[Olefin]

The 256th and the 1st had to have really beaten the snot out of the 124th - by the end of the battle all they had left was 3000 men and 6 tanks

"A Soviet captain from the 124th Motor Rifle Division is still stunned from the beating his division took from the 1st Brigade. He just keeps shaking his head and cursing "Those damned
M1's!" He commanded a battalion of twelve tanks, and his whole battalion was wiped out in the first ten minutes of the battle."

The description of that force shows just how badly they were handled by the two US brigades and that they must have lost a lot of tanks between the two fights

Soviet 124th Motorized Rifle Division: Commanded by Major R. B. Bologov. The division took very heavy casualties the previous day, including the three highest ranking officers in the
division. Current effective strength is 3,000 men and 6 tanks, but they are scattered and very short of ammunition and fuel (most of their forward supply vehicles have been destroyed).
Small groups of troops were reorganizing and trying to hold athin line astride the Sieradz-Kalisz road, but this line has been shattered by the final breakout attacks. There are other pockets
of troops in Sieradz, Zloczew, and the woods west of Zloczew. The woods east of Zloczew contain several hundred stragglers from the division. The woods southeast of Zloczew are also full
of demoralized stragglers. None of the small groups reorganizing have more than 200 men and a tank or two. Major Bologov has his headquarters in Sieradz and is collecting stragglers as
they try to cross the bridge. He has assembled about 300 men there. The supply dump and rear echelon hub of the division is at Piotrkow. There are about 200 men there from the division.
Morale is very low and most of the men are not prepared to put up any sort of a stiff fight.

[Olefin]

So given that description of how heavy they were hit and still had 3000 men and six tanks left then the 124th may have been close to full strength when the attack occurred - so lets say the 124th still had all its tank battalions and all were at a strength of 12 tanks - there are three motor rifle regiments each with a tank battalion plus a tank regiment

that gives six battalions - so a total of 72 tanks at the start of the battle

if all they had left at the end were 6 tanks (of which at least were non-operational) then the 256th must have fought hard before it went down and then the 1st absolutely butchered what was left