Decapitation ETO (id:#57459)

Critical Hit (Rout Pak III ID: RP3-7)   [next]   [previous]

Artelnoye, Russia 1943-02-27 (3 others)

Overview:

Manstein’s counteroffensive was pushing the Soviets back to the Donets River. As the German units stretched forward, many lost contact with their headquarters. On February 26, Theodor Eicke, commander of SS Division Totenkopf, took off in a Storch aircraft to see from the air what his units were doing. Late in the morning his pilot spotted a tank company of the SSTK panzer regiment in the small village of Michailovka. As the aircraft approached to land, it flew directly over the Russian positions in Artelnoye, where an intense fusillade instantly tore the Storch apart in mid-air. It crashed in open ground between the two villages. Repeated attempts by the SS to reach the wreckage were beaten back by heavy Russian fire. With darkness approaching, a call was issued for reinforcements as word spread through the division that Eicke had been killed. By 0515 the next morning a scratch group of two assault guns, three tanks and a company of motorcyclists attacked Artelnoye under cover of artillery fire. Desperate to recover their fallen leader, they drove into the village and finally held the Russians back long enough to recover the bodies. Although far from a mortal blow, the Russians had decapitated the despised Totenkopf.

Defender: Russian (Elements of the 6th Army)  

Errata (source)