Nate Feyma's Schwere Panzerregiment Bäke Panzerkompanie Panzerkompanie from: Schwere Panzerregiment Bäke (Official PDF) Company HQ   1 Panther A            + upgrade to Franz Bäke + add Bergepanther 190 points 60 points 15 points

Combat Platoons   Panzer Platoon 3 Panther A 560 points Schwere Panzer Platoon 2 Tiger 1e 430 points Support Platoons   Gebirgsjäger Platoon 3 Jäger Squads 155 points Rocket Launcher Battery 1 Launcher Section + add 1 15cm NW41 launcher 95 points 30 points Panzerspäh Patrol Sd Kfz 250 (recce) with:     2 Sd Kfz 250/9 (2cm) 115 points

Air Support Sporadic Ju 87D Stuka 100 points Total: 1750 points Background Leutnant König was tired. He and his Panther crews had known little besides marching and fighting ever since the formation of schweres Panzer-Regiment Bäke in mid-January. Through the snow and mud, the regiment had thrown themselves time and again into the breach, always giving better than they received. Still, the constant fighting had worn them down - only a few of his original crews remained, and even fewer of their mounts had survived the fighting.

Their comrades in Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 had been reduced to fewer than ten of their mighty tanks, and König's armor was similarly depleted. As he shifted to find a more comfortable resting position in the Panther, König's thoughts drifted back to February.

The early days of the regiment had seemed almost heady as they had rushed into action to encircle a Soviet salient that threatened to pocket Balabonowka. There, they had seemed nearly invincible as they defeated five armored corps in as many days. Well over two hundered enemy tanks had been reported destroyed for the loss of only one Tiger and three Panthers. Sweeping on, they found that the 1. SS-Panzer-Division which had been intended to link up with them, had been separated from its logistical support by the enemy and brought to a halt. Arriving just in time to foil the Soviet attempt to destroy the supply train, the schweres Panzer-Regiment swept through to the SS Panzers with the necessary fuel. Even as the forces that would become known as Gruppe Stemmermenn were caught in a noose, the regiment continued its success - surprising several large Russian forces through flanking maneuvers and deception. Always, the Doctor had been at the fore - leading his regiment to victory time and again.

Then came Cherkassy. Through repeated attacks, fighting the mud and lack of supplies nearly as much as the enemy, they managed to force a crossing of the Gniloi Tikitsch river. Left with only a few tanks, Bäke had then pushed them through to the town of Chishinzy. At that moment, less than ten kilometers distant were the fifty thousand remaining men of Gruppe Stemmermenn, encircled by two rings of predatory Soviet armor.

Without support, and facing encirclement themselves, the weary panzer crews were forced to retreat back to the west. Five days later, they had tried again to reach their beleaguered comrades, reaching Hill 239 and pinning Soviet forces in place.

The rest of the breakout was in the hands of Stemmermann, from within the noose itself. And now, König thought, schweres Panzer-Regiment Bäke found itself encircled, along with the entirety of Hube's 1st Panzer Army.

Arrayed against them were eleven Soviet Armies and the weather of Russia itself, and once again schwere Panzer-Regiment Bäke would be in the forefront of the attack. Schwere Panzerregiment Bäke... Nate's background PDF... Source: Steinhardt, F., von Rosen, R., & Rubbel, A. (2000). The Combat History of schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503. Manitoba: J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing.