Resisti
Posts: 1351
Joined: 1/22/2001
From: Livorno, Italy
Status: offline
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Hi fellow gamers.
I need two/three (if more never mind ) testers for a scenario of mines.
Send me a mail at RESISTI64@HOTMAIL.COM or leave yr address here.
Just to let you know what is about I attach hereunder the scenario text:
_____Isbuscenskij, the last charge*
It is the second summer of war on the eastern front.*
German advance seems still unstoppable and Hitler is preparing what in his plans should be another big step towards the final victory, but will turn to be the beginning of the end, instead: the siege of Stalingrad. In order to get the job done,all available elite units were needed, and many divisions along the whole front were therefore redeployed and replaced by average,if not green, units of romanians,italians and other axis minor powers.*
But russians were quick to react to this move, and started pushing more and more aggressively on the weak spots.*
Many attempts of expanding bridgeheads on the right(western) side of Don were conducted during July and August by russian infantry elements and several Italian units were involved in the effort to oppose to this objective.*
During one of the counterattacks to push russians back on the other side of the river,one of the two cavalry units stationing in the region, the "Savoia" Regiment, was ordered together with other infantry units, to move north and reach the river bank. On its way to the target the Regiment reached at the end of the day an area known as "Hill 213.5" near the town of Isbuscenskij and there it stopped for the night.*
Early in the morning, as usual before dismantling the camp and defensive positions, groups of mounted scouts started their patrol and in doing so they entered to inspect huge sunflowers fields which were lying along the route the Regiment should have followed on its approach to the river.
They were almost done when: "An helmet with the red star crawling? And there is a russian beneath it!".Tough caught by surprise, the scouts reacted promptly shooting and killing the man.*
A few seconds after a pure hell unleashed from all the corners of the fields around them;hundreds of russians have started crying and firing at once; during the night two infantry battallions backed by 82mm mortars had silently crossed the river digging in at few hundreds of meters from the camp and preparing to ambush.The prompt reaction of the machineguns protecting the camp as well as the accelerated fire set by the artillery attached to the regiment managed to slow the russian waves but the more the time passed the stronger the pressure became, so that the Italian commander decided that it was time to do what they were trained for: a cavalry charge!*
The 2nd squadron was ordered to charge the left wing of the enemy line making a wide turn in order to go in not from the front, but from the flank.The manouver perfectly executed caught by complete surprise the russians which before having the time to re-orientate the weapons were overruned by the horses,fired at close range or having their head opened in two by deadly sword hits;many of them immediately surrendered or routed away.The italian squadron meantime, after the first successes, and having lost the advantage of surprise,began to find fiercer opposition as long as they were reaching the center of the enemy line, and losses started to became heavy.*
It was decided therefore to move against the front of the enemy the 3rd squadron on foot,as the terrain there was much less favourable to horses and the advantage of surprise was no more on their side.This eased considerably the pressure the men of the 2nd squadron had on them,allowing to gather, invert the direction and charge again from the right to the left of the enemy line.Shortly after, to support the attack on the centre also the 3rd squadron,on mount,was sent in with the same order: charge!*
Despite the questionable decision of the squadron commander not to follow the approach route of the first charge, but to go straight in the middle of the enemy, which caused a number of losses higher than necessary, this second charge resulted in the final collapse of the enemy, which hastily abandoned its digged positions of the second line,too,leaving on the ground 450 dead or wounded, 500 prisoners as well as many mortars, tens of MG's and hundreds of rifles and SMG's.Italians had 32 dead, 52 wounded and more than 100 "veteran" horses dead,too.*
After the battle was over the same phrase was on all Italian cavalrymen's mouth: "Savoia has charged,Savoia has charged!"*
What could seem to be only a dream in a fully mechanized war, had become true....*
[ November 29, 2001: Message edited by: Resisti ]
_____________________________
Federico "Resisti" Doveri
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