Introduction

June 23, 1941. As the attacks along the Russian borderlands began the Romanians established some bridgeheads, one such bridgehead is being held by elements of the Romanian 6th Guard Infantry Regiment. A Russian counter-attack by elements of the 5th Cavalry and 25th Rifle Divisions attempts to dislodge the residing Romanians. Our action begins at midnight…

The main objectives: 1. Capture/Hold the town 2. Capture/Hold the Bridgehead 3. Avoid taking casualties (Romanians only)

Note: Score will be denoted by (x), where x=number of Romanian steps lost. Russians achieve their victory condition if they inflict 12 or more Romanian step losses.

000 (visibility=1 hex)

Romanians are feeling vastly outnumbered. They need to hold two positions (town and bridgehead) while taking minimal losses. The Russians are bound to hit them hard…

The Russians spend the first 45 mins advancing their troops and poising their cavalry for the charge.

Romanian foot troops fall back to defend the AT Guns.

0045

Russian foot troops advance against the Romanian HMGs in the town. The result is slaughter as a total of two platoons of Russian infantry and HMG are cut down!

As the Romanian forces are preoccupied, 6 platoons of Russian cavalry charge into the city! The cavalry are broken against the staunch Russian defenders and suffer minor losses. But a Romanian HMG is demoralised, and, although costly, the Russians have gained a foothold in the city!

By the river, Russian infantry rushes the Romanian AT guns as artillery shells begin to fall.

The Bloodbath has begun.

0100

At the Bridge the Romanians manage to hold off the Russians. The armour advances and a T-37 platoon is damaged.

In the town both sides begin to rally. The Romanians counter-attack. They are disrupted but eliminate half a cavalry platoon. But the Russians send in reinforcements!

0115

Romanian AT gun hits another T-37 as their infantry assaults the Russian armour.

Meanwhile in the town, more cavalry charges in and the first Romanian half platoon is lost. (1) Russian foot troops begin to encircle the town.

Romanian reserves in the woods move to reinforce the bridgehead.

An artillery strike hits the Romanian infantry caught in the open. (2)

0130

Remaining T-37s are eliminated in close assault.

Russian assaults eliminate half Romanian Infantry platoon by the bridge (3). The Romanian Locotenent flees the assault and is killed by an artillery shell.

Night chaos leads to an abrupt end as the Fog of War takes affect.

0145

Russian forces try to surround the dug-in Romanians as the Guards reinforce from the woods. But the Romanian HMG reinforcement is shattered by friendly artillery fire!

Meanwhile, the action begins to stagnate in the town…

0200

At the town, the Romanians lose a half platoon of infantry in an assault (4), as some Russian cavalry are eliminated by some 81mm mortar fire.

By the bridgehead, some T-26 are laid to waste by AT Gun fire as they are busy fighting off Romanian infantry!

0215

The Romanians eliminate a Russian infantry platoon in close assault by the bridge as a second Russian platoon flees. More T-26s fire at the Romanian infantry and a half platoon is lost (5).

0230

Russian Cavalry is decimated by Romanian bombardment. One and a half platoons are lost!

0245

Russian artillery and small arms fire combine to eliminate a platoon of Romanian infantry. (7)

A brave Romanian Locotenent breaks ranks to lead some men towards the Russian artillery emplacement.

0300

Fighting remains fierce near the bridge.

Russian artillery continues to pound Romanian forces and a half platoon and locotenent are eliminated (8).

sidenote: This really hurt the Romanians. A lack of leaders by the bridge (with two locotenents killed) severely limits the Romanians ability to initiate assaults or call in off-board artillery. It also meant the brave locotenent driving north had to quickly return to the bridgehead.

The town begins to quiet down.

0315

Russian cavalry charges the Romanian mortar battery in the woods, disrupting it.

0330

Another Romanian infantry by the bridge is reduced (9). The broken Romanians are trying to hold on to their bridgehead, but it is beginning to look hopeless.

0345

The Romanian 81mm mortar is lost. (10)

0400

At the bridgehead, in a massive counter-attack, Romanian forces strike out: AT Gun cuts down some Russian infantry. Dug-in Infantry counterattacks and 2 Russian HMGs are lost. Another Russian infantry lost by the bridge.

The Russians lost many men, and suddenly the bridgehead situation is looking less dire for the Romanians as the Russians are fleeing into the night.

0415

At the bridgehead, Russian forces begin to regroup to the Northwest as Romanians begin to dig-in once more.

0430

The Romanians lose a half platoon to the last Russian captain still in close assault. (11). They respond with a risky artillery strike which smashes the Russian assaulters.

Sensing complete loss for his men, the Russian captain responds by calling down his own artillery directly upon himself. The gambit pays off, and the other Romanian half infantry platoon is lost! (12)

Gamenote: The Soviets have just completed a victory condition of eliminating 12 Romanian steps. In order to obtain a draw, the Romanians must now drive the Russians out of the town and away from the bridgehead.

0445-0500

Waiting for dawn to break, Russian forces which are rallying to the northwest begin to dig-in.

0515

Message from Soviet High Command: We no longer care about casualties. You must hold either the town or the bridgehead! Nothing else matters!

Gamenote: Random Event: Change in orders: Halt! If enemy doesn’t win, you do. Which means that there is no draw condition. If Romanians do not fulfil their objective of keeping the town and bridgehead clear, the Russians win.

Broken Romanian forces flee the town and are smashed by Russian artillery (lost half HMG and half Inf). The Romanian AT Gun is eliminated by friendly fire.

By the bridge, the Russian Captain is killed.

The Sun begins to rise. Now it’s going to get violent.

0530 (visibility=2)

By the bridge the Romanians initiate fire first, and a half Russian platoon is cut down.

In the town, Romanian forces initiate an assault and both sides lose a half platoon.

0545 (visibility=4)

By the bridge, the Romanian AT Gun takes out some T-26s. Return small arms fire demoralised the Gun crews and an infantry half platoon is lost.

In the town some of the Romanians begin to rout.

0600 (visibility=6)

By the bridge, the last Romanian locotenent is eliminated by artillery fire! The Romanians are now completely leaderless at the bridgehead.

Gamenote: So theY can’t close assault the T-26!

In the town, the Romanians hold out in the south-eastern quarter. The rest of the town is lost as a Captain and his half platoon are cut down trying to flee.

0615 (visibility=8)

Outside the town Russian cavalry eliminates more fleeing Romanians.

At the bridgehead, the T-26s are eliminated by an anti-tank gun battery when Russian small arms fire couldn’t suppress it.

Surprisingly, the Bridgehead has been saved while the town has been lost!

0630 (visibility=10)

Romanian HMG unhorses some cavalry in the town as Russian artillery bombards them.

0645 (day)

81mm mortar and 76.2mm artillery combine with the Regimental off-board batteries routing the Romanian infantry. The Romanian HMG is reduced by charging Russian cavalry.

0700

Reserve Romanian infantry by the bridge head towards the woods with the hope to find a leader who can help them re-take the town.

A Russian Lagg3 arrives and cuts down some fleeing Romanian infantry.

The Romanian AT Gun is finally silenced by Russian artillery fire.

By the bridge, only one Russian platoon is left as the rest flee from Romanian small arms fire. They set another rally point to the northwest.

0715

Russian cavalry charge into the HMG which is eliminated. The Romanian Major is captured!

The only Romanian leader still present is a Colonel in the southeast quarter of the town protected by only one infantry platoon!

Meanwhile by the bridgehead, another Romanian infantry platoon is eliminated by combined mortar and regimental artillery.

With a lack of available leadership, and seeing no hope in retaking the town, the Romanian forces surrender.

Aftermath

Although titled Night of the Guards, this scenario was very hard for the Romanians to hold out.

In essence, this scenario contains two separate battles, one at the town and the other at the bridgehead. It is up to the commanders to determine which battle will be best served by the artillery and other forces.

One possible Russian set-up would be to ignore one of the two objectives and just slam all your forces into the bridgehead or town. But where’s the fun in that!