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

[Dog Soldier]

Russian Turn Eighteen
08:00 24 January 1942 Visibility 4km

A big disappointment occurs with the Russian command report this turn. Zero of my 23 disrupted units failed to rally. I am still stuck with a big chunk of the Russian force in disarray. I have been stuck at this level of disrupted units since turn ten. The good news is that it could be a lot worse. David has tried to knock out the Russians in the second day. Maybe his Germans around Sukhinichi are in worse shape than I thought. It is time to get aggressive at Sukhinichi and maybe a little sneaky in the NW to see if I can grab some final VP at the end of the game.

Sukhinichi Front
Two assaults south of Sukhinichi result in gaining some breathing space for the next turn. The German 208th ID recon units move out against my strong village position. The bicyclists move out to the south of village to envelop it. The motorized recon unit comes straight in down the road. The police from the 18th PD approach from the NW. The defenders disrupt the motorized unit. The cavalry regiment assaults the Germans and sent them reeling back to the their jump off point in the nearby village. The T-40 tanks and a disrupted regiment of cavalry join up east of the village to prevent it from being isolated next turn. If the cavalry regiment can rally next turn, it can pounce on the Nazi bicyclists should they press their luck. We will see next turn what David does.

The rifle regiments of the 328th RD assault forward against the infantry of the German 216th ID continuing their advance to reconnect with their comrades to the NW.
The four other regiments of the 83rd Cavalry Division engage in fire fights with the 18th PD troops. The stack closest to the Russian valley village becomes disrupted. This could be big trouble next turn. These regiments were needed in good order to cover the flank of the rifle regiments 2 km north of them. All this in spite of the 83rd Cavalry Division HQ being out of command again! I am going to call the NVKD to have a talk with the commander of the 83rd Cavalry Division if he does not get his command back on line next turn.

My units north of Sukhinichi move forward to put pressure on the Germans defending there. At the very least, this move will prevent the relatively unscathed German units north and east of the village from moving some companies to help their hard pressed comrades south and west of the village. This will force the Germans to stay and face being surrounded again or try a retreat, giving up valuable victory points. The German attacks elsewhere could make up the difference in victory points they would give up in the Sukhinichi area. However, nothing is certain. This makes the end game here quite dynamic.

The best outcome for the Russians would be the Germans trying to hang on everywhere around Suhinichi and risking sending a few companies from the north and east defenses to the south and west. Such a compromise will weaken the defense temporarily. I may be able to make an assault or two which crushes some positions in the north or east of the village. This will create a crisis I want.
I do not expect David to make a rookie mistake like that, but stranger things have happened. In this scenario, even a small mistake can send ripples through the next few turns for either side.

Proloskoye –Thirteen km east of Vertnore. A small action is brewing up this last game day that typifies this scenario in most of the play test games. A few units are attempting to strike deep at the Russian held village. This could degenerate into a desperate close quarters fight or a quick turn of the tables on the Germans, in this case. The German cavalry unit was hoping to catch the Russians by surprise. Now My Russian mounted recon unit will attempt to encircle the German cavalry unit. We will see if the German infantry battalion can batter through the Russian rifle regiment to assault the VP village before time runs out. Many times the scenario was a match up with many of these types of small desperate actions around the VP locations, just as it was historically. That is what I like to see in this scenario. It can be a real mind game for both sides and a test of wills.

In the NW the Germans have begun their advance towards the VP location at Verk’ Syaglova.

In the south the beaten 322nd ID is just trying to escape. A lone unit stops the expected German rush down the secondary road to envelop the Russian left flank.

Dog Soldier