Tactics in 'Fronte Russo'
Scenario #40: 'Danger at Bachmutkin,' Part 3
By Doug McNair
June 2007

The Soviet human wave crashes against Bachmutkin’s defenses in today’s episode of my Fronte Russo Scenario #40 replay.

As Episode 2 came to an end, the Soviet drive stalled a mere four hexes from the town as Italian artillery and cavalry charges disrupted or demoralized most of the lead Soviet units. Soviet attempts to silence Italian onboard artillery have been ineffective, and one cavalry unit and a brave tenente have done a masterful job of harassing the lead Soviet infantry battalion so that the rest of the Italian cavalry can recover morale and reform ranks.

But German air support drops to one flight per turn starting on Turn 7, and the Soviets still greatly outnumber the Italians. If they can recover morale and resume their march toward Bachmutkin, there may not be enough Italian units to cover all approaches and keep them out.

The battle continues.

Turn 7: 1400 Hours

Soviet initiative is still 4 while the Italians are holding at 5. The Italians beat the Soviets by one activation, and they give the brave tenente precedence. He and his CAV unit charge southwest toward the two HMG units bringing up the rear of Soviet 2nd Battalion near Bachmutkin. One HMG is disrupted and the other is reduced-strength and demoralized, so rather than being suicidal this particular charge on enemy HMGs only takes opportunity fire on the 16 column.

The Soviet roll of 6 scores an M result, and the riders pass the morale check easily. This prompts more opportunity fire from an HMG and an INF unit farther away, but the Italians pass all morale checks and charge into the hex. They roll a 6 on the 24 column, scoring a 2 result which wipes out the full strength, disrupted HMG unit in the hex and kills the remaining demoralized half-strength HMG by demoralizing it again! That’s three Soviet HMG steps lost from one charge, and the Soviet roll of 2 on the 5 column scores no damage on the tenente, who exits the charged hex once again and pulls back to a new charge position on the south flank of 2nd Battalion.

Getting charged again next turn by that damned tenente is not an option for 2nd Battalion, so they activate and send two good-order INF units southeast to screen the battalion from another charge while the rest of the INF units in the battalion try to recover morale. Most of them succeed, but the demoralized INF in the woods fails and has to flee north since the tenente is within firing range of it now. The battalion’s mortars would like to move on to the edge of the woods, but that would expose them to so much opportunity fire from the town and roadblock that it wouldn’t be worth it. So, they just unlimber out in the open and trust to their infantry screen to keep cavalry from annihilating them.

There are plenty more disrupted Soviet units north of Bachmutkin on the road, so Italian offboard artillery hits them to keep them from recovering. The Soviet leiutenant who led the assault that wiped out the Italian CAV unit last time passes his morale check, but the other units in his hex don’t and all become demoralized.

The sergeant whose company fled from the Brave Tenente last turn leads two fresh INF platoons from 3rd Battalion southwest while two out of the three demoralized units he activates flee for the village north of Bachmutkin (the third, a demoralized full-strength SMG, rolls a 2 and recovers all the way to good order).

Two of LX Artillery Group’s 105mm batteries then self-spot and fire on the remaining two undemoralized Soviet units on the road north of Bachmutkin, while the third battery fires on the hex with the reduced INF and the mortars that just unlimbered northeast of Bachmutkin. The fire demoralizes the HMG north of town plus the INF in the hex with the mortars (the mortars are fine).

LX Artillery Group’s infantry screen then counterassaults the Soviets assaulting them, scoring an M1 result but disrupting only the Soviet captain leading the assault. The Soviet captain who was going down the eastern road brings his company west to start gathering stragglers from 3rd Battalion, and the maggiore northwest of the roadblock moves his two cavalry units into charge positions on both Soviet stacks north of the roadblock.

To prevent the same happening on their right flank, Soviet mortars self-spot and hit the cavalry east of 2nd Battalion. It has the desired effect, disrupting the CAV in the hex (but not demoralizing their already-disrupted leader).

Italian offboard artillery hits the lieutenant colonel leading Soviet 2nd Battalion near Bachmutkin, demoralizing him and an INF unit with him!

The Soviets on the road north of Bachmutkin then try to recover, and three out of four demoralized units fail and flee north.

With no enemy units able to advance on Bachmutkin this turn, Italian units fire out of the town on 2nd Battalion while others try to recover morale. A tenente with a +1 combat bonus combines the fire of two stacks and rolls an 11 on the 22 table, killing a step of the Soviet INF unit closest to town and demoralizing the other step while disrupting the Lieutenant in the hex with it. However, a demoralized Italian HMG unit on the northern edge of town fails to recover and flees.

Soviet offboard artillery hits the roadblock north of Bachmutkin, disrupting an MTC unit. Three Italian INF move west along the gully toward the Soviet mortars in the village north of Bachmutkin, German air support misses its target hex, and the turn ends on recoveries and redeployments.

Turn 8: 1415 Hours

The Soviets have now lost 18 steps so their initiative drops to 3. The Italians beat them by two activations, but they only draw a weak Bf109 unit for air support. So the Italians start by sending offboard artillery against the sergeant who’s leading stragglers from 2nd and 3rd Battalions south from the gully. The fire demoralizes one INF unit with him but he and the other INF are fine.

That’s enough for the tenente south of the sergeant, who sends his one CAV unit that’s in a charge position against the sergeant’s hex. Unfortunately, the INF unit which Italian artillery fire failed to demoralize rolls a 2 on the 16 column for opportunity fire, wiping out the charging CAV with a 2X result. With little else to do, that tenente moves the other CAV unit with him to a charge position on the just-unlimbered mortars of Soviet 2nd Battalion.

Soviet offboard artillery responds by hitting the maggiore preparing to charge the last undemoralized Soviet units on the road north of Bachmutkin. The fire disrupts the CAV unit with him, so he stays to rally that unit while sending the other CAV in on a charge, hoping to clear the last Soviet units from the road so he can move to charge 2nd Battalion’s west flank later.

Once again Soviet opportunity fire is brilliant, rolling a 12 on the 11 column for an X result and killing a CAV step. But the now-reduced CAV rolls a 5 and passes its morale check, so the remaining cavalrymen charge in. They only get a +2 column shift for the charge itself (no leader and no morale superiority since they’re reduced-strength), but they demoralize the Soviet INF in the hex while taking no damage in return. That lets them withdraw back to their charge position, and the other CAV recovers morale.

With the lieutenant colonel commanding 2nd Battalion demoralized, the battalion’s captain activates and takes two INF units in to assault the Brave Tenente who wreaked such havoc last hour. Both sides roll on the 13 column but end up rolling a 1 and a 2, and the Italians pass their morale check with ease. The battalion’s lieutenant recovers from disruption, but the unit with him fails to recover morale and flees into the woods. Another INF makes it into the woods voluntarily (they’re getting killed out there in the open).

Italian offboard artillery once again hits the sergeant heading south toward 2nd Battalion’s position, since he’s leading the only unit that could move in to screen a charge on 2nd Battalion’s mortars next turn. The sergeant and his good-order INF hold up fine, but the INF which the artillery demoralized last turn is again demoralized and takes a step loss.

The Sergeant wastes no time moving in to screen the mortars from the cavalry, and while the long-suffering INF unit fails to recover, it’s outside Italian direct fire range so it can stay where it is rather than fleeing.

LX Artillery group then hits the portion of 3rd Battalion which the captain coming from the eastern road has gathered to himself. He and an INF unit pass an M2 morale check, but another INF with him is demoralized.

Soviet mortars then self-spot on the lone CAV unit standing in the way of the captain, but roll a 7 for no damage. The Italians in Bachmutkin activate and send out a recovered CAV and capitano to a charge position on 2nd Battalion, while HMGs from the town fire on 2nd Battalion as well. The HMGs do brilliantly, rolling a 2 and a 3 to demoralize the last undemoralized 2nd Battalion INF who’s out in the open and not in an assault hex. Another HMG in the town also recovers from demoralization.

The unlimbered 2nd Battalion mortars hit the CAV unit standing in 3rd Battalion’s way again, but the CAV passes the M2 morale check. German air support is ineffective against 3rd Battalion, and it moves south, keeping mostly outside the opportunity fire range of the CAV. The CAV declines to fire at them, choosing instead to move adjacent to the closest Italian leader.

The demoralized lieutenant colonel with 2nd Battalion rolls a 2 and instantly becomes good-order (the sight of massing cavalry concentrates his mind), and the INF unit with him also recovers to disrupted status. The MTC units that went to the relief of LX Artillery group kill the recon step they’ve been assaulting for a while, but one of them becomes disrupted in the process.

The Soviet captain assaulting LX Artillery realizes it’s a lost cause and pulls out of the assault hex, hoping to make it to the woods and start calling in offboard artillery on LX Group again. But the Free Shot the Italians in the assault hex get as he’s leaving rolls a 6, scoring a 1 result which kills one of the captain’s INF steps and demoralizes both him and the remaining INF step.

That done, the freed-up INF and HMG units shoot at the remaining Soviet unit point-blank, but it passes its morale check.

Soviets offboard artillery fire on the CAV unit that withdrew from 3rd Battalion’s advance is ineffective. The Brave Tenente counter-assaults the Soviets who assaulted him earlier in the turn, and rolls a 5 for a 1 result, killing a Soviet INF step and demoralizing the other step of the same unit. The captain and the other INF in the assault hex are fine, and their defensive fire disrupts the tenente (his CAV unit is fine).

The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll — bad for 1st Battalion on the road north of Bachmutkin, whose units are mostly demoralized now and never got to recover.

Turn 9: 1430 Hours

The Italians have lost seven steps now so their initiative drops to 4, and the Soviets hold steady at 3 since they’ve lost 22. The Italians beat the Soviets by two activations again, and the maggiore of Savoia 1st Group starts by ordering a charge on the disrupted and demoralized Soviet units on the road north of Bachmutkin.

Opportunity fire on the reduced-strength CAV unit is ineffective, and it attacks on the 9 column and scores an M result, which demoralizes the disrupted, reduced Soviet INF in the hex. The cavalry smashes through Soviet lines and moves to a charge position on the 2nd Battalion’s mortars to the southeast.

Then the maggiore charges the already-demoralized Soviet INF unit in the next hex south, but a reduced-strength HMG in the village north of Bachmutkin rolls an 11 for opportunity fire and disrupts the maggiore before he can enter the hex. His CAV unit passes the morale check, and it enters the hex and scores an M2 result that again demoralizes the demoralized INF and causes a step loss.

The CAV pulls out of the hex to rejoin the maggiore, but the reduced-strength CAV that smashed through Soviet lines is leaderless for now since the maggiore got disrupted and couldn’t follow with his own CAV.

Then, the capitano who led the recovered CAV out of Bachmutkin last turn charges the lieutenant colonel leading 2nd Battalion. Opportunity fire is ineffective, and the charge scors a 1 result, killing a Soviet INF step and demoralizing the other, but not shaking the morale of the lieutenant colonel. For that reason, and to avoid opportunity fire from other Soviet units on the way out, the Italians decide to stay in the assault hex rather than withdraw to a new charge position. That will keep the lieutenant colonel from adding his +1 morale bonus to neighboring demoralized units trying to recover later this turn. It also puts the cavalry adjacent to the Soviet 2nd Battalion mortars, which they will be able to assault next turn if the demoralized unit in the hex they just charged fails to recover and flees.

Third Battalion is now the only viable Soviet force left on the board, but if it advances south now it’ll be exposing its right flank to charges by two Italian CAV units. So, the sergeant who led the 2nd Battalion stragglers south takes those stragglers and assaults the lieutenant commanding the aforementioned cavalry. Both sides roll on the 13 column, and the Soviets score no damage on a roll of 1 while the Italians roll a 2 for an M result. All Soviet units pass their morale checks, and while they would have liked to kill some cavalry, at least 3rd Battalion won’t be getting charged this turn.

So, the Italians fire offboard artillery at 3rd Battalion’s captain — and roll a 2 on the 42 column, scoring a 2X result which kills both steps of an INF unit and demoralizes both the captain and the other INF in the hex. That effectively immobilizes 3rd Battalion for the turn.

Soviet mortars take out their frustrations on Italian cavalry to no effect, but LX Artillery group hits 3rd Battalion again and scores an X result, killing an INF step and demoralizing the other step. Fire from LX Group’s infantry screen again demoralizes a demoralized INF unit, killing its last step and leaving the demoralized captain that withdrew last turn all alone in his hex.

Soviet offboard artillery and German air support are both ineffective. Then the CAV unit which Soviet mortars and artillery have been firing at and missing all this turn gets called into the neighboring assault hex by the tenente there, and scores a 1 result to kill a Soviet INF step and demoralize the other one plus the sergeant in the hex. The Soviets demoralize the CAV that entered the hex, and then the captain commanding 3rd Battalion recovers from demoralization. But three demoralized INF units in 3rd Battalion fail to recover and flee, bringing the captain’s entire force down to just four platoons.

At that point the Soviets no longer have an effective fighting force, and they order a general retreat.

The Soviets scored 14 VPs for killing seven CAV steps, and the Italians scored 29 VPs for killing Soviet steps. A side that scores 10+ more VPs than the enemy wins a Major Victory, so Savoia Cavalry Regiment saves the east flank of Jagodny Sector and holds back the Soviet tide for one more day!

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