Just to give everyone some basic information, here is the introduction from the Design Notes.
A. Introduction
After reading David Glantz’s book “Zhukov’s Greatest Defeat”, I became intrigued with this unknown, but major operation. According to Col Glantz, the Soviet forces used for Operation Mars, were substantially larger then the more well known Operation Uranus, the counterattack at Stalingrad. Two Soviet fronts, Kalinin and Western, seven Armies, consisting of 667,000 men and over 1900 tanks, attacked on 25 November 1942 with the goal of destroying the German 9th Army, pinching off the Rzhev salient, and eliminating the threat this salient posed to Moscow. By attacking in four directions, the Soviets planned on tying down what little mobile reserves the Germans had, and not allowing them to be deployed elsewhere. The battle was fought during blizzard-like snowstorms which, along with the poor terrain in the area, contributed mightily to the Soviet defeat. The Germans fought back hard, with a stubborn defense, their strong points holding out behind the Soviet lines, further complicating moving the second echelon offensive troops forward. Beside the two panzer divisions in reserve of 9.AOK (9th Army), the Germans were able to send three more panzer divisions, from Heersgruppe (Army Group) reserve, to halt the offensive and counterattack. There are others who insist that this battle was just a diversion, and that the Soviets only used a small portion of the troops assigned to both Fronts, yet the archival German records seem to indicate that this was a major offensive operation.
Operation Mars is the Eastern front at its nastiest. While the German army was still the tactical master, the Soviets were learning from their previous mistakes. This was a huge battle, fought while the eyes of the world were focused on the monumental events taking place in southern Russia. It was fought by a stubborn Soviet Army General, Georgi Zhukov, against his nemesis, Heersgruppe Mitte (Army Group Center), commanded by the tenacious and resourceful General Oberst Walter Model. German sources estimate that the Soviets lost over 200,000 men including about 100,000 dead. The total Soviet tank losses were between 1700 and 1800 tanks. The Germans counted only 5,272 prisoners taken, so this was a struggle to the death.
David Glantz has been kind enough to let us use a historiography titled “Operation Mars Revisited” which is an in depth summary of the battle featured in Section III of these notes. I encourage all to read this account of the operation in order to understand how the battle unfolded. The text, along with the maps, will give the reader an insight into the objectives along with the forces involved in each of the operational areas, providing useful information to plan your attack or defense. A reading of his book “Zhukov’s Greatest Defeat” is considered a must for anyone who wants a more detailed history of the operation.
A number of scenarios have been included that depict the Soviet offensives during August 1942 in the Rzhev area. These operations, conducted by Zhukov, were meant to reduce the Rzhev salient, destroy the German 9th Army, and tie down reinforcements. These operations came close to realizing their goals and were a major factor in Zhukov’s planning of Operation Mars. "
Although Glantz's book became the starting point of this game, much information was collected from the Capture German Records to complete the picture of this Operation. I was surprised at how much info was contained in the various unit war diarys and Korps and Army orders.
You will find an unusual collection of units in the German OOB, as all kinds of rear area units were thrown into the battle.
below is the overview for the campaign scenario ...
The scenario design was a collaboration between myself, Glenn and Blackie and there are a total of 29 scenarios cover "Mars" along with the Soviet offensive in August of 1942.
If anyone has any questions, fire away.
#1125_01_Op_Mars_Campaign: Rzhev ’42 The God of War Unleashed Rzhev Salient, November 25th 1942: The Soviet High Command had been convinced by Marshal Zhukov's proposal that two strategic operations be carried out, almost concurrently, in the winter of 1942. Both were assigned codenames of a planet, and were scheduled to be the opening gambits of two further reaching strategic plans. Operation Uranus, which, if successful, would open Operation Saturn, became the focus of world attention and is better known as the Battle of Stalingrad. The northern action, Operation Mars, if successful, was to be the opener for Operation Jupiter. Mars is one of the least known and least publicized Soviet battle’s, it is also one of the greatest defeats the Soviet Army suffered in World War II. Basically, the Mars plan was to annihilate the German 9th Army in the Rzhev Salient. To accomplish this entailed four Soviet Armies attacking simultaneously at four different locations around the salient. The two main thrusts were to be carried out by the 20th Army on the east side and the 41st Army on the west. Massed infantry was to be used to punch holes in the line, then mobile forces would race through to meet, and cut off, all German forces north of this line, these would then be destroyed. Two other thrusts, in the Luchesa valley by the 22nd Army and close to the town of Molodoi Tud by the 39th Army, were to tie up the use of mobile German operational reserves. Zhukov had overwhelming odds in his favor and was so confident that he took a Mechanized Corps, earmarked to exploit the gap at Belyi, and moved it to the Velikie Luki sector. The plans were complete, the Armies were ready, but, ominously, so were the Germans and the forces of Mother Nature. [Size, large]
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