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

[Dog Soldier]

Russian Turn Nine
Dawn, 06:00 23 January 1942 Visibility 2km

In the south the 322nd RD moves in to see what the Germans have garrisoning Duminich. Turns out to be a full battlion of the German 208th ID. I had hoped the Germans might have broken down to companies to try and envelop the left flank of the 322nd. My stack of three Russian regiments could have dealt with a company easily and two companies perhaps. A full German battalion is a no go. The 322nd will withdraw next turn.
Special note: AS can be seen in Strela's image for this turn, there are 650 German infantry in Duminich which are B morale with negligible fatigue. While my Soviet regiment (three battalions stack) out numbers the Germans at 903 men, they are D morale. Consideration of the difference in firepower (Russian S/A values of five, German S/A of 9) and the fact that my regiment is three units which can be fired upon individually degrading the close combat performance of the group by concentrating the defender's fire on one unit makes this attack a 'no go'. The Russian units will pull back next turn unless some lucky shot disrupts the Germans. The chance of disrupting both German units in the village in a fire fight without superior artillery support is remote. This demonstrates the use of the 37mm ATG company stacked with each German battalion in the village. Wasting Soviet firepower on the ATG will mean crippling fire from the German infantry without a response. Also without adequate artillery, the Soviet regiment will have to take several turns to disrupt both defending German units. The weak 37mm ATG companies play a significant role in the defenses for the Germans. Most players new to the system might miss this point. A quick strike (assault) is not possible against this strong defense.

At Sukhinichi I am probing the positions on the west side of the perimeter looking for a soft spot to close the circle on the village again. The 18th PD is rocked back by the cavalry appearing at dusk last night deep in their rear. A fast defense was cobbled together to halt my horsemen. Now I will try to apply pressure to see if I can at least wound the 18th PD more than they hurt me. That will halt their northern drive and give the 328th RD a chance to recover. I sent the T-40s of the 23rd Tank Squadron south along the road to scout and form a picket line of sorts to warn me if the German 208th ID tries to come north to attack the 83rd Cavalry division rear.
The village in the valley south of Sukhinichi is swarming with my infantry from the 328th RD. With the Germans of the 216th out in the open north of the village, I will concentrate fire on them. Hopefully I can badly damage that unit enough to turn my full weight onto its neighbor and defeat them one at a time. If the cavalry attack attracts all the 18th PD’s attention, I might be able to explode out of the village into the southern part of Sukhinichi or drive NW to link up with the rest of the 328th RD.

In the NW, the 323rd RD is defensive. I will wait and see if the Germans make any mistakes I can use to turn the situation around. I sent some units forward to probe the German defense there as a show of strength to ties down the German 329th infantry from coming to the aid of the 18th PD. As expected they drew a lot of German artillery fire this turn. I withdraw most of the units. Maybe I can get the majority of the Germans to chase my unis further north allowing for a strike at the VP location village on the southern end of the enemy line.


The 23rd Areosleigh Battalion appears as the Russians final reinforcement. This is an interesting unique unit in M42. Not much for combat strength, but very fast in the frozen deep snow of winter outside Moscow in 1941/42. It can reconnoiter deep behind the German lines. I will try to sneak it into the German center and at least garrison the one remaining Russian victory location. That might allow for a surprise for the Germans if they send a weak ATG to snatch the hex in travel mode.

Dog Soldier

Overall view of the battle as dawn breaks for the Russians.