Tactics in 'Fronte Russo'
Scenario #40: 'Danger at Bachmutkin,' Part 2
By Doug McNair
June 2007

The Soviets continue their drive on the town of Bachmutkin in today’s installment of my Fronte Russo, Scenario #40 replay.

As Episode 1 ended, Group 1 of the elite Savoia Cavalry Regiment had driven back the Soviet attempt to circumvent the roadblock north of Bachmutkin and enter the town. But opportunity fire from the Soviets wiped out one cavalry platoon and disrupted an Italian leader, leaving 1st Group disorganized and unable to charge again in the coming turn.

To the northwest, a Soviet infantry company has rushed the position of Italian LX Artillery Group and is now in a position to assault one of the gun batteries. Northeast of Bachmutkin, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of Soviet 610th Infantry Division are making good time in their drive across the steppe to the town, and they’ve gotten the jump on Savoia’s Group 2, closing the distance so the cavalry between them and the town can’t charge. But they’ll need to keep a move on, because Italian reinforcements and German air support will be arriving shortly.

The battle continues.

Turn 4: 1315 Hours

The Italians roll a 3 + 2 = 5 for reinforcements, and since they need a modified 10, XLVII Motorcycle Battalion still does not arrive. The Soviets then beat the Italians for initiative by one activation, and this time two out of three companies of 2nd Battalion activate and head southwest toward the town. There are two Savoia cavalry platoons on their southern flank, so two Soviet HMG platoons fire point-blank on one of them and demoralize it before the rest of 2nd Battalion moves. The rest take no opportunity fire on the way southwest.

Second Battalion stayed out of cavalry charge range while moving, and the newly-demoralized cavalry platoon is in grave danger of assault by the remaining 2nd Battalion units. So, the capitano east of 2nd Battalion charges the Soviet sergeant who would lead such an assault. The SMG unit in the hex with the sergeant is demoralized, but opportunity fire from his good-order INF unit demoralizes the capitano’s cavalry before it can finish the charge! Savoia Group 2 is rapidly falling apart.

Not wanting Group 2 to have all the fun, the Soviet lieutenant who survived Group 1’s charge north of Bachmutkin calls in an HMG and INF unit to counterassault the CAV unit who charged him earlier. They assault on the 18 column but only roll a 2, and the leaderless CAV passes its morale check but does no damage in return. LX Artillery Group then opens fire on the hex containing the lieutenant on point with Soviet 2nd Battalion, which is getting far too close to Bachmutkin for comfort. They roll an 11 on the 42 column for an X result, killing an INF step and disrupting both INF platoons in the hex. LX Group’s infantry screen also fires at the Soviet recon platoon set to assault the gun battery, and disrupts it.

With only one good-order leader in play right now, 3rd Battalion’s first two companies head south across the gully before more Italian artillery can put said leader out of action and stop their advance. Unfortunately for the Soviets, opportunity fire from the Italians in the gully disrupts that leader just south of the gully, so that’ll slow 3rd Battalion’s advance considerably. More units advance beyond the gully, and a few from farther back stay north of it with their demoralized major in hopes that he rallies and can lead them south.

The demoralized CAV adjacent to 2nd Battalion recovers morale, and the tenente and the nearby CAV unit assault the Soviet SMG unit next door so it can’t assault the recovering CAV. They kill an SMG step and disrupting the other. But the tenente who led the assault gets demoralized by defensive fire (the CAV with him is fine). Another leader will have to move in fast to salvage the situation for Group 2.

Soviet offboard artillery goes to work on the leaderless roadblock units which will be able to hit 2nd Battalion with opportunity fire next turn. It rolls a 4 on the 42 column and demoralizes an MTC unit. Italian offboard artillery then hits 2nd Battalion’s lead units but they both pass their morale checks. Soviet mortars hit LX Artillery Group but are ineffective.

A tenente from Bachmutkin activates and sends trucks east to pick up Italian HMGs, and he himself then moves north to the roadblock but is disrupted by opportunity fire when he gets there. Then the Soviet company that rushed LX group fires point blank rather than assaulting a dug-in enemy that will get First Fire, but is ineffective. One of Savoia Group 1’s cavalry kills an INF step in the same hex with it and demoralizes the other, and the turn ends on a Fog of War roll after redeployments and recoveries.

Turn 5: 1330 Hours

The Italians roll an 11 + 4 = 15 and XLVII Motorcycle battalion arrives, along with German air support. This is a good thing, because the vast majority of the Savoia cavalry is scattered and disorganized and not in much of a position to stop the main Soviet advance. The Soviets have lost seven steps so they’re still hanging onto their initiative of 5, but the Italians beat them by one activation.

German airpower this turn is pretty average — one flight each of Ju88s, He111s and Bf109s. All three of them hit the hex containing the lieutenant colonel leading 2nd Battalion. Unfortunately, two out of three of them miss the hex, and when the Ju88s roar in they roll a 7 and do no damage!

Second Battalion wastes no time and heads for the town. Opportunity fire from the town and the roadblock is only minimally effective, but one company gets out ahead of the other due to units having to recover morale. The HMGs on 2nd Battalion’s south flank continue hammering the adjacent cavalry, but only succeed in keeping the CAV demoralized.

Savoia 2nd Group needs to neutralize the Soviet company that’s been tying them up the last couple of turns, so the only charge-eligible units on the board head straight for the sergeant leading that company. The INF with the sergeant performs brilliantly on opportunity fire, rolling a 10 and an 11 on the 16 column.

But the Italians also perform brilliantly on morale, with one CAV unit only becoming disrupted and the other plus the tenente surviving an M2 morale check to charge into the hex with a full +4 column shift. They only roll a 3, but on the 24 column that’s enough for a 1 result, which kills one step of the brilliant INF unit, disrupts the sergeant, demoralizes the other INF step and kills a step of the demoralized HMG in the hex by demoralizing it again! For their part, the Soviets score an M1 result, but the tenente and his CAV both pass the morale check. And since the charge demoralized all enemy units in the hex, the elite cavalry exit the hex and pull back to a new charge position.

Soviet offboard artillery hits the hex containing the HMG units that are about to board trucks and head into Bachmutkin. Putting those HMGs out of action will nix the only units that can block the lead company of 2nd Battalion from reaching the outskirts of Bachmutkin next turn. The fire scores an M2 result, and one of the two HMG platoons is demoralized (the other and the trucks are fine). Soviet mortars can self-spot for another shot on the same hex next impulse, so the Italians send the good-order HMGs into town while the maggiore stays with the demoralized HMG to try and rally it. It fails, and flees into the woods. The remaining truck heads into town.

The Soviets north of the roadblock need to rejoin the advance, so the lieutenant there assaults the CAV that charged him two turns ago. His three units attack on the 18 column while the CAV defends on the 9 column. BOTH SIDES ROLL A 6! The cavalry all die from a 2 result, but they give back almost as good as they got, scoring a 1 result to kill an INF step, disrupt the lieutenant and all three Soviet units in the hex. They killed the CAV, but they won’t be joining the advance anytime soon.

With Fog of War rolls in the offing, the Italians can’t delay bringing in XLVII Motorcycle battalion. Four platoons head straight into Bachmutkin from the west board edge, but two more head north to help LX Artillery group deal with the Soviet infantry attack.

Soviet mortars hit LX Artillery Group but do no damage. The turn then ends abruptly on a Fog of War roll!

Turn 6: 1345 Hours

The Soviets have now lost 10 steps, so their initiative drops to 4 while Italian initiative holds steady at 5. Nevertheless, the Soviets win initiative by one, and Soviet offboard artillery starts by hitting the HMGs guarding the northern road into Bachmutkin. They roll a 3 for an M2 result, demoralizing a capitano and one HMG with him.

The Italians respond by sending their air support again to hit the Soviet lieutenant colonel commanding the lead companies nearing Bachmutkin. The same air units as last time hit the hex, and this time the Ju88 misses while the Heinkels and Messerschmidts hit the target. The colonel passes the M1 morale check, but both INF units with him roll 11s and are demoralized!

That leaves very little of 2nd Battalion in working order near the town, so the captain commanding the stragglers brings them up. Opportunity fire from the town and the roadblock is ineffective. Motorcycle units then move up to defensive positions all along the eastern border of Bachmutkin.

Soviet mortar fire hits the same hex at the north end of Bachmutkin again in an attempt to demoralize the other HMG there (which has held some of its opportunity fire lest the lead Soviet company rushes the town). Once again the Soviets roll a 3, and the last HMG is indeed demoralized on a roll of 10!

The Italians need to keep the Soviets from sending troops forward to an assault position on the demoralized HMG stack, so LX Artillery Group bombards the two hexes containing the nearest INF units to the town. An M2 result demoralizes one INF and an M result disrupts another.

LX Artillery Group’s infantry screen — now reinforced by two MTC units — then attacks the Soviet company harassing it. The two MTC units assault the disrupted Soviet recon unit, scoring a 1 result on the 18 column with no damage in return. One recon step dies but the other rolls a 4 and doesn’t become demoralized. Two more units from LX’s infantry screen fire point-blank on the remaining Soviets and demoralize an INF unit.

Most of 2nd Battalion is now disrupted or demoralized, so 3rd Battalion needs to get itself into the fight. Their lieutenant fails to recover from disruption, but the two INF units with him head south, hoping to get picked up by other officers from the south. Then the tenente from 2nd Cavalry Group who charged through the Soviet sergeant’s hex last turn makes a charge on the last undemoralized Soviet unit in the sergeant’s company. The half-strength, disrupted SMG unit does very well on opportunity fire, rolling an 11 on the 11 column for an M2 result. But once again the tenente and his CAV hold morale and charge in. Unfortunately, they only roll a 1 on the 24 column for an M1 result, but that’s enough to demoralize the SMG. The SMG does no damage in return, so the CAV once again exits the hex and moves to a new charge position to the north.

A stack of Soviet units north of the roadblock fails to recover from disruption, and then a CAV in the hex with the SMG unit the charging tenente just demoralized wipes it out. The last good-order Soviet INF near LX Artillery Group assaults the group’s infantry screen while a demoralized INF there recovers.

The dug-in Italian infantry gets first fire and scores an M result, and the assaulting INF becomes disrupted and does no damage in return. Then Italian offboard artillery goes to work on the remaining good-order units of 2nd Battalion, hitting two HMG units which would be a prime charge target if demoralized. The artillery rolls an 11 for an X result, killing an HMG step but only disrupting the other (the remaining HMG in the hex is fine).

The lead company of 2nd Battalion has mixed results when trying to recover, and more Italian offboard artillery hits the HMGs again and disrupts one while demoralizing the other. A 1st Group CAV unit kills the last step of the Soviet units that tried to circumvent the roadblock AND their Lieutenant, and the Soviet company that was trying to draw cavalry away from the main advance heads in from the eastern road to pick up stragglers. Stragglers move to meet it since it’s got the only good-order leader in the area, and one SMG unit gets demoralized by opportunity fire from Italian infantry in the gully. The turn then ends on recoveries, with several demoralized units failing and fleeing.

So, after an hour and a half of combat, there are numerous Soviet units tantalizingly close to the VP goldmine of Bachmutkin, but Italian artillery fire and cavalry charges have disrupted so many of them that the Soviet advance has stalled. The VP score for enemy steps killed is now Italians 14, Soviets 8.

The company sent to destroy the Italian artillery has met with little success. Savoia Cavalry Group 1 is starting to reorganize itself, while the brave tenente and his unshakeable cavalry squadron have cut to shreds and driven off the Soviet company sent to tie up Group 2. With elite cavalry reforming ranks on both their flanks, the Soviets will have to find a way into Bachmutkin fast or they’ll never get there at all.

Can they do it? Tune in next time and find out!

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