Beneath Lilly Banners Attack on the Poltava Redoubts - Part Two

So last night, I finished off the first 4Play Poltava scenario. You will remember that at the end of part one, the Swedes had taken the first two (of four) Russian redoubts but had lost one infantry battalion (of five engaged) and half their cavalry strength in the process, with a second battalion wavering from the galling Russian artillery fire.

A reminder above of the scenario I have played (in two parts, due to table size restrictions!)

Part two commenced with a carryover from part one - the Swedish infantry unit carrying 7 casualties did a morale test - and passed. For now, they can stay in the fight as the attack moves forward to the third Russian redoubt!

A view from the Russian lines as the assault commences. The second squadron of Russian dragoons, absent in game 1, have arrived on the Russian right and as a reminder, the Russians have two artillery units off table on their right/the Swedes left, flank.

Russian infantry in the first redoubt (or third, if you want to look at it that way!)

The severely depleted Vasterbotten (not their real name!) regiment from game one.

1st Battalion of the elite Dal regiment

1st Squadron of Liv Dragons (also elite!)

A fresh battalion joins the fray, representing the Jonkoping regiment.

On turn one, the Swedes were able to issue orders to half of their units and the Russians to 3/4 of theirs, albeit they really only had one unit, the dragoons, who had any actual need of an order. Carrying on from game one, as is his wont, the Swedish general Roos ordered both leading infantry battalions to charge the first redoubt! The Swedish infantry, after the brutal handling in game one, were not too keen to say the least. The Dal regiment courtesy of their extra modifiers for being supported, within 12" of Roos himself AND being elite, JUST scraped in a HALT result by rolling 2 on a D12 - but the Vasterbotten had had enough, rolling a 1 which caused them to rout - they were gone from game 2 before anything had happened! The Russian cavalry, who had also been ordered to charge, failed to do so in dramatic fashion, by rolling a 1 and being forced to retire disordered a full move!!

The Russian infantry were made of stouter stuff than their mounted colleagues - they passed the test to receive the Swedish charge, and then rolled well in the closing fire test, delivering a volley at close range into the HALTED Dal regiment and causing three hits, while suffering only one in return fire by the Swedes.

In turn two, the Swedes again were only able to issue orders to half their force while the Russians had 3/4. The Russian cavalry, as a result of the previous morale failure, were obliged to spend this turn with a FORM order, to get themselves back into some semblance of order. The Swedish orders were again CHARGE to the Dal regiment (General Roos is nothing if not consistent!) and a MOVE to a newly arriving infantry reinforcement. The Dal regiment, stung by a "robust" motivational speech from their officers and NCO's, this time surged forward up the gentle slope towards the Russian redoubt. Again, the Russians stood firm and they held their fire until they could almost feel the breath of the charging Swedes on their faces, rolling 8 x D8 requiring a 6 to hit and re rolling misses - with the result of another 6 casualties on the Dal! The Swedes were compelled to test to charge home.....and again their nerve failed, and they were HALTED for a second time!

In turn 3, the Swedish command and control improved remarkedly, as Roos sent his ADC's galloping in all directions, desperately trying to recover what was rapidly becoming a dangerous situation for his command. All the Swedish units were issued fresh orders, whilst the Russians too were able to issue a flurry of commands, with the reformed dragoons again ordered to charge the Swedish infantry to their front.

The Swedish Liv Dragons moved between the rear of the first redoubt and the second, drawing fire from the latter, although they very fortunately took only one casualty from a potential six. 

General Roos, though potentially overly aggressive in his attack on the Russian positions, certainly did not lack courage and joind the front rank of the Dal regiment to personally lead the assault on the first redoubt. His presence either inspired or shamed the battalion into action, and this time the assault went in on the position as intended. The Russians, intimidated by the fanatical screams of the charging men in blue, and the presence of the enemies commanding general, blew their defensive fire, only scoring one hit from six possibles.

The melee that ensued raged for three rounds (the maximum permitted in the rules) with neither side giving or receiving quarter, at the end of which, the Dal regiment was carrying 14 casualties on a unit of 18 and the Russians had 5 on a unit of 10. The Swedes were forced to retire one full move, but so were the Russians, so now, the first (or third) redoubt had been abandoned!

As the Swedish Liv Dragon squadron was in position to the rear of the retiring Russian infantry, blocking their escape route, I ruled they were captured/destroyed, and removed them from the game!

View from above of situation before the Russian infantry in the forward redoubt took to their heels and the unit disintegrated.

And after! The Russian cavalry to the right above now had charge orders to attack the very depleted Dal regiment.

The Liv Dragons again were extremely lucky with NO hits on them from a round of Russian fire!

In turn 4, the exhausted combatants were only able to issue orders to one unit each. The Russian dragoons were again told to charge and the Liv Dragons to move away from the musketry of the last redoubt. The Russians passed their test and charged into the Dal regiment. In the first round of combat, the Russians inflicted another two hits whilst the Swedes scored nothing in return...but the hard-nosed infantrymen PASSED the subsequent morale check and the combat continued! In a second round of melee, the cavalrymen scored another four hits and as the Swedes only had 2 of their original 18 manpower points remaining, they were destroyed and removed from the table!

On turn 5, Roos had his staff officers busy again, issuing commands to all the remaking Swedish units - one squadron of the Liv Dragons and two infantry battalions - whilst the Russian dragoons were instructed to charge the next Swedish infantry regiment ahead of them! The Liv Dragons moved around the flank, coming up towards the rear of the Russian cavalry, who after their recent exertions against the Dal regiment, took time to reform and catch their breath (they failed the test to charge!) The Russian artillery, silent thus far through lack of targets (the Dal regiment had been engaged in close combat the entire game to this point), let rip at the Liv Dragons with a thundering roar. As the smoke cleared from the field, General Roos saw a miracle - his cavalry was still more or less intact! (The Russian guns rolled 12 x D8 needing 6 or more to hit....and only got ONE!)

The sixth, and final turn, saw orders issued to half the remaining Swedish units and all the Russians. Both commanders exhorted their cavalry to charge! The Russian dragoons, once again, declined to oblige, but the Liv Dragons had no such compunction, and tore into the rear of the enemy horsemen. The Russians passed the test to receive, and after scouring the rules for five minutes, I could only assume this meant they could do what they like, so I turned them to face the incoming Swedes. This only postponed the result, however, as in the following melee, the Swedes comprehensively beat the Russians, who rolled poorly in their test and were forced to rout.

There was now only a single Russian unit on the table, the two base "garrison" of the final redoubt, but the Swedes only had a weakened squadron of the Liv Dragons and two infantry battalions left, and General Roos dejectedly decided to abandon the attack and ordered his remaining men to follow the other retiring Swedish units back into the Yakovetski woods to the east. The assault on the Russian redoubts was at an end, with little achieved for the loss of about one third of the Swedish army

This seemed like quite a good, historically accurate recreation of what actually happened on the day - see below courtesy of Wikipedia (sorry, its quite long, if you just want the parts relevant to my games, they are highlighted - just scroll through the rest!)

Battle of Poltava

Swedish attack

Between the Russian and Swedish forces the Yakovetski and Budyschenski woods formed a corridor, which the Russians defended by building six forts across the gap.  Peter, in addition, ordered four more redoubts built so the entire system of ten forts would have a T shape, providing flanking fire to a Swedish advance. Two of the redoubts were still being constructed on the morning of the battle, but 4,000 Russians manned the remaining eight, with 10,000 cavalry under General Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov stationed behind them.

Because of his wound, Charles XII turned over operational command to Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld.  Four columns of infantry and six columns of cavalry were to form during the night, 600 meters south of the redoubts, intending to attack before dawn in order to swiftly bypass the redoubt system and hit the Russian fort. The infantry was in place by 2:30 a.m. but the cavalry arrived late, having lost their way.  Riding forward, Axel Gyllenkrok observed the Russians at work on the two nearest redoubts and rode back to inform Rehnskiöld.  A reconnoitre by Major General Wolmar Anton von Schlippenbach was discovered by the Russians and the alarm was sounded by the firing of a pistol.   Having lost the element of surprise, and without sufficient cannon to breach the fortifications, Rehnskiöld consulted with Charles, Carl Piper and Lewenhaupt on whether or not to proceed with the assault.  By the time Rehnskiöld decided to proceed with the attack by quoting, "In the name of God then, let us go forward", it was nearly 4:00 a.m. on 28 June (Swedish calendar) and dawn was already approaching.  The Swedes in Carl Gustaf Roos' column quickly overran the first two redoubts, killing every Russian soldier inside them, but by 4:30 a.m. the attempts to take the third redoubt stalled.

Lewenhaupt's ten battalions on the right bypassed the first four redoubts entirely, advancing to the back line and, with the aid of cavalry, took some redoubts while bypassing others.  Two of Roos' rear battalions joined them, indicating that issued orders lacked clarity as to whether to avoid the redoubts or attack them in series.  The cavalry on the left wing, commanded by Major General Hamilton and an infantry regiment, advanced by passing the redoubts on the left and charged the Russian cavalry, forcing them to retreat. It was 5:00 a.m. when the left and right wings of the Swedish army made it past the back line of redoubts, sending the Russian cavalry in retreat. However, Rehnskiöld ordered his cavalry to stop their pursuit and Lewenhaupt, already advancing towards the fort, to withdraw to the west.  There they awaited Roos' battalions for two hours, while the Russian cavalry and Ivan Skoropadsky's Cossacks waited to the north, with 13 Russian battalions deployed north of their camp and ten to the south, anticipating a Swedish advance.

Surrender of Roos and Russian advance

General Roos and six battalions (one-third of the Swedish infantry) became isolated while attempting to take the third Russian redoubt.  After suffering severe casualties from several assault attempts, Roos led the remaining 1,500 of his original 2,600 men into the Yakovetski woods to the east at 6:00 a.m.  The Russians reoccupied the first two redoubts and launched a two-pronged attack by ten regiments around 7:00 a.m., forcing Roos to retreat towards Poltava and take refuge in an abandoned fort by 9:00 a.m. when he could not make it to the Swedish siege works.  Roos was forced to surrender his command  at 9:30 a.m.

The Swedes continued to wait for Roos' troops to return, unaware of their surrender.  As time went by Peter led the 42 battalions of Russian infantry—22,000 soldiers—into an advance out of the fortified camp, supported by 55 three-pounder cannons and 32 guns on the ramparts of the fort. Ten regiments of dragoons formed under Lieutenant General Adolf Fredrik Bauer on the Russian right and six regiments under Menshikov on the left. Just west of the camp the Russians were faced by 4,000 Swedish infantry,  formed into ten battalions with four three-pounders, and the cavalry under Major General Carl Gustaf Creutz in the rear.  The Russians slowly moved forward to engage. According to Charles and reports from other Swedish officers, the weather at that time was already very hot and humid, with the sun obscured by smoke from the Russian cannons in the fort.

Final stage and turning point

At 09:45, Rehnskiöld ordered Lewenhaupt and the Swedish line to move forward, advancing towards the Russian line, which started firing its cannons at 500 meters.  When the Swedes were 50 meters from the Russian line, the Russians opened fire with their muskets from all four ranks.  Advancing to within 30 meters of the Russian line, the Swedes fired a volley of their own and charged with their muskets and pikemen, and the Russian first line retreated towards their second line. The Swedes seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough and needed the cavalry under Creutz to break the Russian lines.  Unfortunately for the Swedes, Creutz's and the other cavalry units were unable to reform completely in time. With the Russian line longer than the Swedish line, the Swedish infantry on the left flank lagged behind the right and finally threw down their weapons and fled.  As the Swedish right flank was still advancing, a gap began to open in the Swedish line which the Russians filled and the battle turned into a Cannae variation. Barely able to gather his cavalry squadrons, Creutz tried to advance on the right flank, but the Russian battalions were able to form into hollow squares, while Menshikov's cavalry outflanked the Swedes and attacked them from the rear.  At this point the Swedish assault had disintegrated and no longer had organized bodies of troops to oppose the Russian infantry or cavalry. Small groups of soldiers managed to break through and escape to the south through the Budyschenski woods, while many of the rest were overwhelmed, ridden down or captured.

Realizing they were the last Swedes on the battlefield, Charles ordered a retreat to the woods, gathering what remaining forces he could for protection, including the remnants of Creutz's detachment.  The Russians halted at the edge of the woods and their artillery fire stopped; only the Cossacks and Kalmycks roamed the plains south of the woods.  Emerging from the woods at around noon, Charles—on horseback after his litter was destroyed, and protected by a square of a couple of thousand men—headed to Pushkaryovka and his baggage train 5 km to the south, reaching it after 1:00 p.m., by which time the battle was over.

Charles gathered the remainder of his troops and baggage train and retreated to the south later that same day—at about 7:00 p.m., abandoning the siege of Poltava.  Lewenhaupt led the surviving Swedes and some of the Cossack forces to the Dnieper River, but was doggedly pursued by the Russian regular cavalry and 3,000 Kalmyk auxiliaries and forced to surrender three days later at Perevolochna on 1 Jul

Apologies - that was a bit more than I intended to post, but stopping at the part where Roos pulled back from the redoubt's seemed to me would have left you wondering "what happened next....?" Or maybe not!

If you did persevere - WELL DONE and THANK YOU!