204th Tank Battalion, 90th Tank Brigade,
12 May 1942

Army List

The force is the battalion immediately before the Kharkov offensive in May 1942, formed according the December 1941 shtat. The Battalion is supported by tank-riding sub-machine gunners and an understrength rifle company from 90th Motor Rifle Battalion. At Kharkov the VVS made an effort to provide air support, mostly from Polikarpov I-16 Ishaks of 4th RAR.

Tank Battalion HQ 1x T-34 (HQ: 85 points)

The battalion is commanded by Major Malyshev in a single T-34 medium tank.

 Medium Tank Company 7x T-34 (Combat company: 630 points)

The core of the battalion are its T-34 tanks, like their crews, fresh from the factories at Stalingrad. Typical for Red Army tanks, the crews have expressed their devotion for the Motherland by painting patriotic slogans on the turrets. PPSh armed tankdesant troops ride aboard the tanks. In the game SMG bases follow each T-34.

Heavy Tank Company 4x KV-1 (Combat company: 420 points)

Giving the battalion heavy armoured support is a company of four KV-1 heavy tanks.

Light Tank Company 7x T-60 (Combat company: 140 points)

These tankettes are too fragile to match even German light tanks, but they are useful for overrunning fascist infantry, hence their nickname, “ineradicable locusts”.

Motor Rifle Company (Weapons company: 125 points)

Attached to the 204th Tank Battalion is a rifle company from the 90th Motor Rifle Battalion, with a Kommissar. Typically for Red Army infantry units in 1942, it is seriously understrength and merely the size of a single platoon.

Limited Air Support (Limited Air Support: 100 points)

Polikarpov I-16 Ishaks of 4th Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment, with 200 kilo bombs or RS-82 rockets, fly in air support of the ground forces. To prevent mishaps, the vehicles of the battalion are painted with white identification symbols.

Points: 1500 points

History

This army was used by Paul Goldstone at Natcon in 2003.

The 204th Tank Battalion of Lt-Col Malyshev’s 90th Tank Brigade was formed in April 1942 at Stalingrad. A few weeks later it was assigned to 28th Army in the Ukraine, where it spearheaded the Kharkov offensive. On 12 May 1942 the Battalion, in support of 13th Guards Rifle Division, smashed the German front-line, storming the fortified villages of Krasnyi and Petrovskoe after stubborn resistance, and advancing several kilometers. However, the Germans counter-attacked with the 3rd Panzer Division and Fleigerkorps IV. A frenzied battle erupted, in which the remnants of the 90th Brigade and 13th Guards Rifles managed to fight off the relentless German attacks. However losses were horrendous, and in July the survivors were withdrawn back to the Volga District.

In October 1942 the Brigade returned to action at Stalingrad. In honour of its achievements it was titled 41st Guards Tank Brigade. In 1944 it participated in the liberation of the Ukraine, and then in the destruction of Army Group Center. The battalion ended the war in Austria.

Sources

Glantz.D, Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster, New York 1998.
Sharp.C, “School of Battle”: Soviet Tank Corps and Tank Brigades January 1942 to 1945, 1995.
Zaloga.S and Ness.L.S, Red Army Handbook, 1939-1945, 1998.