Favoured by a higher number of leaders (and by their overall unusually high quality) and making good use of their superior artillery and mortar support, the Blackshirts successfully assaulted the larger village on map 4 and wiped out the Soviet defenders by turn 15.

They then took advantage of the remaining turns of darkness to approach the village on map 1 without having to fear the Soviets' own artillery and mortars. Still, the defenders refused to give up and contested every inch. Italian artillery was now useless (for some reason I wouldn't have leaders call arty strikes into assault hexes, although it may have paid off), and the Blackshirts had to work hard for every hex.

They managed to contain their losses, but the last 2 hexes were cleared of defenders in the last turn, one on the last Soviet activation, when a demoralised reduced INF platoon failed to rally and had to exit the village, only to be destroyed in a subsequent assault by a 13-FP strong Italian stack.

A major Italian victory, confirmed by a very lopsided body count.

Losses: ITA 1 INF, 2 HMG steps