Dunkirkski
Part Three
A Bolo armored car, reinforcements, now made an appearance and drove down the road, through the now abandoned white infantry position, toward the old American position. The Bolo cavalry was, by this time, whittled down to almost nothing; but rallied at the sight of the armored car lumbering down the road. The advancing Bolo infantry was beginning to show the wear and tear of combat, especially among the two naval infantry battalions. Infantry in Rapid Fire checks morale only when they have reached 50% casualties. In our game the Cheka rule was used. Any Bolshevik battalion that failed its morale test had the option of inspiring the troops with the presence of the Cheka. The Cheka would shoot one stand (two figures) and the battalion would re-roll its morale dice. Whatever effect was rolled would be counted. The Cheka performed admirably that day, shooting the equivalent of a company of reds, and the troops continued to advance. In a bloody two turn assault on the trench line the reds took heavy casualties but forced the Anglo-American defenders out.
American machineguns did valiant work trying to hold up the armored car and cavalry The later were now trying to cross the creek at newly discovered fording spots; but in vain (in Rapid Fire it is impossible for small arms to knock out an armored car but given the shoddy workmanship in the Austin-Putilov I gave the machine guns a limited opportunity). As the Anglo-American forces pulled back the consensus was that the Allies would be able to hold Dunkirksky and that the Bolos were, by now, too weakened to force the issue. So much for conventional thinking. The British artillery, firing directly and at close range, failed to inflict any hits on the exposed Russian infantry. The artillery never got another chance. The armored car’s machine gun and massed rifle fire destroyed the crews. Both Americans and British were by now at 50% and were required to take a morale check. Both "crapped out" with a 1 requiring them to rout off the field. And so a very bloodied Bolshevik commander could report to Comrade Trotsky a victory.
The game scenario relies a great deal on luck. If the dice break evenly for both sides it is a bitter little fight; however several things serve to render each game very different from the others. Will the bridge be blown? Will, despite Cheka efforts, red morale crack? Will there be a drought in airplane support? Will the French rally? And how many French will rally? It is a great little scenario with a lot of variations. All the players had a good time and, in the best Rapid Fire tradition, it was fought to a conclusion in about three hours.
The Bolsheviks were trying to re-organize for the final push when both American and British morale cracked and the allies fled the field.
Text and photo captions by Henry Lubbers.
Go to the rules that we used for this game: RED AND WHITE
Additional Russian Civil War rules sections with Aircraft & other items ADDITIONAL RULES
Go to our Russian Civil War Period Page
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