Exploitation in the Caucasus

Turkish forces had 'stolen a march' on their Russian foes, with a breakthrough in previous days. Now a Turkish divisional commander is exploiting the breakthrough, pushing north towards Baku. The past winter had been horrendous, with losses that no-one had predicted. The inability of the commissariat to supply winter clothing had cost hundreds of thousands of lives. However this summer was different, those awful winter days of 1914/15 were behind them. There was victory in the air. Push on. Push on. Push on.

This was another fictional Great War Spearhead game, fought between Andy and me, using our 20mm HaT armies - Russian and Turkish. We'd planned something grander, but the week had been pretty torrid on the work front, so we scaled things down, and tried to create a scenario again using elements of the scenario generation system. In each game we try to add an additional layer of complexity as we reacquaint ourselves with the rules. 

This time we created an attack defence game, something akin to a 'hasty attack'. The attacking force was a full Turkish division, with a regiment of corp 150mm guns attached. The defending force we set as an ad-hoc force of an independent Russian Infantry Brigade, and an understrength cavalry regiment. The infantry brigade included its artillery regiment of 76mm guns which I decided to brigade on-table. The Cavalry regiment came with its attached artillery, two stands of 76mm guns which I deployed as independent stands supporting the cavalry. The cavalry regiment was placed in reserve, ready to support the right flank. The Russian forces were deployed in some entrenchments (no wire).

The Turkish attack plan, attacks around the entrenchments on the flanks, while pinning in the centre.

The Russian deployment, the entrenchments seen defending the major coastal town, and an inland village, form the Turkish advance coming on from the left. The reserves entry point can be seen marked on the map top right, as can the arrow drawn at the time the reserve was committed.

The forward flank defence on the Russian left, three companies occupying the flanking forest which was to become the scene of some horrendous fighting

The Russian centre, a regiment occupying a large wooded area.

The Russian Infantry Brigade's artillery regiment, 76mm field guns,  deployed brigaded on table.

The Russian right

The Turkish attack begins to take shape, advancing from the left in the photo

 

Opening shots of the battle, as a Russian MMG company fires on an advancing Turkish company in the centre. The infantry go to ground

The Russian reserve, the cavalry regiment, is committed, its artillery advancing behind and in support

The Russian cavalry, Cossacks, and dragoons.

The Turkish left flank regiment advancing against the Russian right, coming under fire from the two Russian companies holding the heights in advance of the main position.

The Turkish regiment holding in the centre under MMG fire on the left, and artillery fire on the right (from the on-table brigaded artillery).

 

The Turkish right flank regimental attack coming under fire fro the Russian left flank regiment

The Russian cavalry reserve deployed, the artillery in position and about to unlimber

The Turkish right flank attack enters the woods, a part of the plan to outflank the entrenchments

The centre ...

... under fire, and now pushing forward through the forest

The Turkish right takes fire

The view from the Turkish left flank entrenchments

Fire coming down on the Turkish left too, seen from behind the Russian cavalry position in the forest

Having located the Russian defenders on the Russian left, the Turkish right flank regiment attacks with the bayonet. The assault on the left of the photo is repelled with fire but on the right, the dice tell the story, and the first Russian defending company is eliminated

The desultory firefight in the centre continues

More furious assaults on the Turkish right, again the dice tell the story. This time the Turkish assaulting companies are repelled. They did however eliminate another company of the Russian defenders on the left of the photo

Numbers thinning out in the forest on the Russian left/Turkish right

The Russian MMG company in the village in the centre comes under fire from the Turkish 150mm guns.. and is suppressed

On the Russian right/Turkish left, as the Russian company on the heights comes under fire from the on-table Turkish guns. The Turkish infantry are taking small arms fire from the infantry and the cavalry, and the cavalry's supporting 76mm guns have now aded to the fire

The cavalry regiment's attached guns firing over open sights at the Turkish right flank attack

More close assaults on the Turkish right, again the dice tell the story, and another Russian company is eliminated. However the Russian commander has been able to pull companies from the entrenchments, pushing them into the forest to prop up the flank.

The Turkish right flank assault has been costly. With casualties pushing over 50% the Turkish regiment fails its morale check.

The Turkish left flank regiment has continued to take casualties and also finally breaks off the attack.

We called the game at this point. There were some significant learnings/reminders here.

The game was set in something of a hurry. Giving the Turkish division its full complement of artillery (giving it an artillery superiority of just over 2 to 1) should have given it a significant advantage. It also had a numerical superiority of around 1.5 to 1 in fighting stands.

However, using that artillery in an attack is problematic. Having to locate the enemy, and having sufficient stands then stationary to call down fire, is a major obstacle to the effective deployment of the artillery. This was of course an issue in the attack in reality too, so that was no surprise. So Andy was effectively unable to use his artillery superiority against the defenders. Next time we will build in pre-planned fire options as well.

The entrenchments had no direct effect on the attack. They did however channel the attack, as Andy skirted around them. This did spread his attack, meaning that the two attacking regiments did so in isolation. He was therefore unable to establish the point superiority that his attack needed.

Another great game of Great War Spearhead.

Forcing the Uvarova

The vastness and the difficulty of the terrain through the Caucasus meant that by 1915 there were still avenues to be explored if victory was to be gained by either side. In this fictional scenario a Russian division attacks towards an approaching Turkish division. The Turkish commander had pushed his leading regiment forward to capture the high ground to the north of the Uvarova river covering the town of Koshcheyevo, the regimental commander hoping that the remainder of the division would be hurrying forward to his support.

In this game we framed the tactical situation as an Advance to Contact from the scenario generation system, albeit wth forces that had not been generated using a points system. Each force included a regiment of Corps heavy artillery to supplement the divisional guns. With each game we add slightly more complexity, as we grow in confidence with our return to the rules.

The two bridges, and the village sectors, were all objectives in the scenario. The game was fought between Andy and me, using our 20mm armies, all modelled using the HaT figures.

The battlefield with the Russian plan, the Russian division advancing from the right (the north). The advanced Turkish regiment was deployed on the 2 contour feature in the centre of the battlefield.

The Turkish commander's plan.

The advanced Turkish regiment deployed on the 2 contour feature top centre, with two Russian brigades advancing towards them. The right hand of these two brigades was intended to be held in reserve.

Overview of the initial advances

The advanced Turkish regiment had a regiment of 75mm guns deployed brigaded on table in support

The reserve Russian brigade comes under Turkish MMG fire, The removes it form reserve, and so significantly reduces the Russian commander's ability to shape the battlefield with the reserve.

The Russian right flank brigade advances to wards its first objective, a village sector on the right. The plan was to take that position on the flank, and then step off on a timed order to assault the main river crossing and town sectors from the flank.

With the Russian reserve brigade now no loner in reserves, the commander pushes companies forward to engage the advanced Turkish regiment

The Reserve brigade

The firefight begins with the Turkish advanced regiment bringing down artillery fire on the spotted Russian companies

The advanced Turkish regiment, We chose to use 6mm aircraft models as 'identifiers' of those fighting stands being used as FOs. In future we will try to use 'in period, in theatre' aircraft, but in the meantime ...

The Russian right flank regiment, supported by a regiment of 75mm field guns, in the process of deploying

The 2nd Russian brigade pushing fighting stands forward. The plan involved them stepping off on a timed order too, to assault the main river bridge in an assault coordinated with the right flank brigade.

Manoeuvring individual fighting stands against the Turkish advanced regiment. Of note is that the 2nd and 3rd Russian regiments had not advanced to provide close support t=for the advanced regiment.

The Russian left flank brigade, with spotted enemy, manoeuvres fighting stands forward to apply more pressure in the firefight

Intense fire from artillery and small arms causes casualties on both sides

The right flank Russian brigade swings left at the end of its command arrow.

The advanced Turkish regiment suffers heavy fire and mounting casualties

However the opposing Russian infantry are sharing a similar experience

Artillery fire starts ot fall on the Russian right flank brigade

Fewer and fewer stands remain in the advanced Turkish position

Russian artillery fire starts to fall on the Turkish left flank

Fewer and fewer Turkish stands in the centre

But the Russian brigades are not having it all their own way

The Russian right flank brigade charge forward, perhaps slightly precipitously. Heavy fire falls

The Russian infantry assault the Turkish infantry

The Russian 2nd Brigade has also stepped off to support the right flank assault

Fighting stands from the Russian 3rd and 4th Brigades advance to put more pressure on the Turkish centre regiment. Efforts to change orders for what had been the Russian reserve, to initiate a general advance fail repeatedly.

Casualties now pass both the 50% and 75% marks in the one turn. While the regiment passes the first morale throw, it fails the second, and the entire Turkish centre is a gaping whole

The right flank Russian brigade assault fails, with significant casualties

While in terms of our evening we had run out of time,  the overall position was now reasonably clear. The Turkish centre had disintegrated, and the left was under extreme pressure. The only factor limiting the Russian progress would be the ability of the divisional commander to get new orders through to his brigade commanders.

In victory point terms, the Russian force had 6 to the Turkish 3.

Perhaps the Turkish deployment had seen the advanced brigade lacking support, with the division spread too thinly for regiments to support each other.

As the Russian commander, I had allocated the corp guns to counter battery fire, preferring to use the WW2/Moderns Spearhead approach to CB fire. The guns were singularly unsuccessful throughout the entire battle, not getting to fire a single round (read that as - a series of 1s and 2s on the dice throughout the game). This meant that the Turkish artillery was able to fire unimpeded. The Turkish commander allocated his heavy corps guns to fire support of his advanced regiment. It did quite some damage.