Friday night Russo - Polish War 1920

 With our genial host Julian FINALLY back from his extended European tour, Chris, Paul, John, Rick and I turned up on Friday evening for a game of Red Actions, pitting Russian Bolsheviks against the Poles.

As it had been my idea and I had brought along my RCW Bolsheviks, some of my figures made it onto the table - primarily cavalry, augmented from Julians own collection, as the scenario called for an all-cavalry Bolshevik force to assault a strategically important Polish village - as soon as I saw the table and Julian gave us the pre-game briefing, I thought we were in for a hard slog, and so it proved!

Initial layout - ten Bolshevik cavalry units, two groups of three and one of four, each with a Tchanka cart-mounted MG for "support" and a horse gun in the centre. The Poles had local peasant militia infantry in both woods plus regulars supported by a mortar, a field gun and a couple of HMG's in the centre. Three more Polish regular battalions were arriving as reinforcements in the top right of this image

I had a command of three cavalry units, a Tchanka and our sole artillery piece. With a congested front and insufficient room on either flank, I advanced straight towards the Poles!

To my left, John also advanced and was soon in contact with the first batch of Polish militia

The Polish militia are by Siberia Miniatures and are self-described as "caricatures" by the manufacturer. Some very interesting sculpts and poses, including a "pet" bear!

Paul's regular Polish infantry man the fence line.

There was another unit of Poles, supported by an HMG and field gun, in my line of advance.

Johns' cavalry goes in ......

..... and win the day!

I had dismounted 2/3 of my cavalry and had them advancing "evasively" (the "E"!) but they still accumulated hits (or "terror" markers) each turn.... the leading unit has already lost one base 😕

To my right, Rick also charged into the woods, pushing back the local militia unit there, too!

Meanwhile, Chris maneuvered his three battalions of regulars up to confront Ricks Cossacks. 

As seen from the Polish perspective - all my cavalry and most of Johns had dismounted - the Tchanka's were knocked out pretty easily and early on, so we had no MG support and the gun was initially hit and forced to retire, then, struggled to find a suitable position from which to target the Poles.

The Red right flank (Rick) with my dismounted troopers in the centre

Ricks Cossacks have another go at the peasant militia .....

.....  and drive them back, with loss!

The woods full of Bolshevik troops (mine and Ricks!)

The centre and left were pretty much a stale mate, the Poles were too strong for John to advance against them in the open

Rick put in a couple more charges on our right flank, but Chris easily repulsed them.

And that was the game, basically. Julian had included the possibility of Polish cavalry arriving as reinforcements, but they obviously were not required, as we Bolsheviks did not even come close to breaking the Polish infantry - apart from the field gun (which was eventually destroyed by Paul in Polish counter battery fire), I don't think any of my command ever actually fired their weapons - my Tchanka came on, did a U turn to get into position to fire, and was then hit twice and removed from play! Ricks lasted a bit longer but was about as effective, and John kept his out of the way, so it survived - but as a result, I don't think it ever fired - they are not particularly useful weapons for an attacker!

So, on this occasion, the Red Horde of the Konarmiya (конная армия) was driven off with heavy loss by the stout-hearted Poles!

Here is a short piece (courtesy of Wikipedia, of course), about the background to this scenario:

South-Western Front: the war against Poland (1920)

In 1920 Budyonny's 1st Cavalry Army took part in the Bolshevik defence against Poland's invasion of the Ukraine during the Polish-Bolshevik War, at first with remarkable success. The 1st Cavalry Army pushed Polish forces out of Ukraine and broke through the Polish southern frontlines, but later was bogged down at Lvov. This in turn led to a heavy defeat of the rest of the Bolshevik forces in the Battle of Warsaw. When Budyonny's Cavalry finally joined the battle, it was also soundly defeated in the Battle of Komarów, known as the last great cavalry battle in history. At this point, the 1st Cavalry Army's morale and discipline were at a low point, and robbery and violence against the civilian population became commonplace.  The 1st Cavalry Army also became known for periodic outbreaks of murderous anti-semitism.