Moscow '42 AAR: Sukhinichi II : We Will Rescue You

[Dog Soldier]

Russian Turn Five
14:00 22 January 1942 Visibility 2km

The German 18th panzer grenadier troops continue to inflict a lot of damage on my 328th rifle division. A hole is now in the encirclement of the Sukhinichi garrison. My troops are being hammered pretty hard by the 18th panzer troops. I have to give up more ground than I would have liked near the village just to prevent a sudden German assault cutting off a Russian unit or two. The 328th rifle division’s recon element holds the Germans in their trenches, allowing their comrades to retreat to safety. They pay a high price. Only a dozen survive.
The opening of Suhinichi will now allow the Germans better supply in the village. There is a dilemma. To abandon all those VP locations in the village will be costly to winning the game. Continuing to hold those VP locations leaves the Germans weaker. I had hoped some of the garrison 216th ID units would come out of the trenches this turn to give me an indication of what the Germans are planning to do with them.

The cavalry advance with the T-40 light tanks sniffing the way. Keeping the cavalry hidden today is driving my opponent to tie down units rather than moving aggressively against the spread out Russians. It has left me with more freedom of movement except where the 18th PD has been attacking.

In the NW, other Russian units are being systematically shredded. Only 177 men remain in the village VP location at hex (13,15). The ATG unit has one gun left when it makes its escape. The German corps artillery has been particularly effective this game. All my moves in the NW were stopped dead as soon as my units were spotted by intense artillery bombardment causing the Russians to disrupt.

In the south, Vertnore falls in the SE. The Russians move away to the SE to lure the Germans from the fighting up north. Now the Germans have excellent interior lines with the road running north from Vertnore secure. My cavalry has to look to their left flank for German infantry on day two coming up from Vertnore. That will weaken their impact eventually. I do not want the hunters to become the hunted.

Dog Soldier

At Suhhinichi we can see the Russian recon unit in the center of the Russian position NW of the village on the hill where the 18th PzGr have been attacking steadily all day. The 12 on the upper left hand corner of their counter represents the dirty dozen who survived the last turn and held open the escape route for the battalions south of them.
The cavalry make their move. If undetected, they can settle in next turn using the low visibility of dusk to consolidate their jump off positions for the dawn jack-in-box attack on the rear of the 18th PD.
Then I can pay back the Germans for the damage they have done to the 328th RD.


In the NW, the 10 VP village NW of the main road will fall. My division has probed the Germans flanks to find no weaknesses. In a previous play test game I was able to surround two of Strela's battalions and really maul them on this front. The Germans are being more cautious this time out. No such opportunities have developed. I should note, in that previous game the Russian cavalry came in using the north S/O. Thus the threat to the 18th PD was between the 18th PD and the 339 ID. This caused the Germans to stretch the 339th ID further east allowing such opportunities.


Here is the situation in the south. I met my first goal on this front. The defending units in Vertnore have escaped and broken contact with the German infantry of the powerful 208th ID. It would have been nice to have held the village through the night. In that way my division could rest and recover troops from the fighting that occurred before this scenario opened. The cost would be only two battalions while giving the Germans no rest.