WInter War campaign, scenario #1: Patrol the road to Hukkajärvi,

 Rules: Nuts! By TwoHourWargames (28mm WWII skirmish)

Finnish Words: As a confirmed Finnophile, especially with their military history, I like using the actual Finnish words when I can.  Here is a list of words used and their abbreviations. Note that these may not be the proper abbreviations, just the ones I use.

·       Sotamies (Sm): Private or soldier

·       Korpraali (Krp): Private First Class

·       Alikersantti (Aks): Under-sergeant or corporal

·       Kersantti (Krs): Sergeant

·       Ylikersantti (Yks): Upper sergeant or staff sergeant

·       Geography suffixes: -järvi (lake), -joki(river), -vaara (wooded hill)

·       Character Names: Most of the character names come from the excellent Finnish films Talvisota (Winter War) or Tuntematon Sotilas (Unknown Soldier).

Campaign Introduction:

   This campaign follows the exploits of Tapio Kalvela (AKA Metsään Kauhu, “Terror of the Forests”). He starts out as an assistant squad leader of a SMG squad in an (fictional) independent Jääkäri platoon, assigned to the Kuhmo sector of central east Finland.

Scenario Details:

Date: December 1st, 1939, road to Hukkajärvi, Finland

Campaign Morale: Soviets (4), Finns (4)

Investment Level: Soviets (4), Finns (3). I started the investment level higher than stated by the rules to represent the overwhelming strength of the initial Soviet attacks.

Weather: Clear, light snow covering (not enough to affect movement)

Historical Note:  At the beginning of the war, the 4th Company of the 54th Soviet Division’s 188th Infantry Regiment attacked at Hukkajärvi, forcing the few defenders to retreat to Kiekinkoski.

Briefing:

 While the main forces are reorganizing in Kiekinkosi, Lt Kantala has been ordered to take his platoon and patrol the road north from Kiekinkoski to the Takajoki crossing and locate the enemy’s current position. Krs Kustaa Kulervo’s squad (Kalvela is his 2IC) will be in the center, with other squads from the platoon on each flank and in reserve (all off map). They are to fall back to prepared positions if they meet serious resistance.

The Finns enter at the white arrow on the left center of the board. The black lines indicate the prepared positions they can fall back on. The red stars are the Soviet PEFs locations at the begining of the game. Lehtovaara (the suffix vaara means wooded hill) is the name of the terrain feature that will a prominent roll in the narrative.

Turn 1: Finnish initiative

From the moment he entered the field, Krs. Kulervo decided he had “A bad feeling about this.” He decides to withdraw, needing to check back with headquarters, without ever even sighting the enemy.

Rules note: Normally, your “Star” is a squad leader and can act however the player sees fit. However, on this occasion, my star is second in command, which means the group will act according to “non-player” die rolls. In this case a disaster. His first movement was to “Convert mission to fighting withdrawal,” meaning he left the board first turn.

Company commander Lamio is furious and demands action. Lt Kantala instantly sacks Kulervo. Rumor has it he will be teaching home economics to nuns at a convent in Turku. Kantala appoints Krs Jaakko Rajala to take over the squad and orders him to get the squad moving immediately.

Turn 1 – Again: Finnish initiative

Krs Rajala moves his force forward cautiously. PEF #1 is identfed as a false alarm, but PEF #2 is a full Soviet platoon of three squads. In-Sight Test (IST) goes to the Finns who drop back under cover.

A bad omen. !st PEF revealed & outnumbered 4:1

"One Finn is a match for 10 Soviets, but what if there is 11?" (quote from movie Tuntematon Sotilas)

The Soviets aren’t particularly motivated and, inspite of their superior numbers, convert to a ”Defensive Mission.”

Turn 2: Soviet Initiative

The Soviets maintain their defensive posture.

The Finns attempt to move off to the right into the woods, but spot PEF #3 – which turns out to be a half squad of five men with a LMG in a defensive position. To make matters worse, the Soviets win the IST.

Oh look, they have another LMG

Rifle fire from both Soviet and Finn is ineffective, but fire from the Soviet LMG kills Krs Rajala, wounds Aks Kalvela and causes others to scatter. Kalvela shakes off his wounds (i.e. he was saved from being knocked out of the fight by special ”Star” rules) and stays in the fight. He is able to wound the Soviet LMG. It seems Kalvela is destined to take over the squad after all.

During the active phase, the Soviet squad leader and two riflemen fire at the Finns, while the LMG assistant takes over as the new LMG gunner and a spare rifleman moves over to be his new assistant gunner. The rifle fire wounds Sm Ylinen, but fails to hurt Kalvela, who wounds the Soviet NCO in turn.

The fire from the Soviet position has split the Finnish squad in two. Aks Somppi and two riflemen go left, while Kalvela and the others go right. Aks Kalvela provides covering fire, taking out the new LMG gunner, while Sm Erkkilä goes to the wounded Sm Ylinen. The small Soviet squad has had enough and leaves the battlefield.

Turn 3: Finnish initiative

Aks Somppi mans the previously prepared defensive positions ot the left of the road. Aks Kalvela has got his dander up and is not ready to abandon the mission yet. He leads three men through the cover of the woods on the right. In the mean time, Sm Erkilä has moved the wounded Ylinen to the cover of the right defensive position, which Erkkilä mans.

Finnish defensive position

As for the Soviets, Political Officer Badinov has lost patience with the caution of platoon leader Kuldinov. The latter is “encouraged” to initiate offensive operations.

Turn 4: Finnish initiative

Not much action here. Kalvela continues his advance through the cover of the woods, while the others maintain their defensive positions.

The Soviets begin a slow advance. The squad nearest Somppi (2^nd sqd) initiates a firefight, with the Finns firing first. Aks Somppi is able to wound the Soviet squad leader, with two others dropping back. Soviet active fire forces Somppi’s group to drop down out of sight into their trenches.

Turn 5: Soviets fail to activate

Aks Somppi rallies his men. Aks Kalvela has reached Lehtovaara.

Turn 6: Finnish initiative

Kalvela and his group come to the edge of the woods and are spotted by Soviet 1^st squad. However, a clumsy step alerts the Soviets, who fire first (the first of several terrible rolls from Kalvela). Sm Helske is wounded, as Kalvela and the two others drop back into the woods.

The Soviets are still advancing slowly and there is no further action. The political officer does convince the two previously dropped back privates as to the benefits of being a hero. They move off to rejoin 2^nd squad.

'It takes a brave man not to be a hero in the Soviet Union"  J Stalin

Rules note: I was misremembering the rule here and was moving them as if they were unidentified PEF, which means they were often moving slower than they should have.

Turn 7: Finnish Initiative

Aks Kalvela rallies his small squad; Krp Veikko Korpela readies a grenade.

On the left, fire from Somppi’s group stops Soviet 2^nd sqd. advance and they retreat to cover.

During the Soviet phase, Soviet 2nd squad rallies. Fire from Soviet 3^rd squad causes Sm Erkkilä to duck deep into his trench.

Sovie 1^st squad advances on the hill, they call for the wounded Helske to surrender.

Turn 8: Finnish initiative

Kalvela decides he won’t leave Helske behind, so using the wooded hill as cover, he leads his small group on a Fast March to the flank of Soviet 1^st squad. Unfortunately, the Soviets fire first. Fortunately, the hill is blocking the line of sight of about half the squad (which is exactly why Kalvela took this approach). Better still the Soviet rifle fire is ineffective.

Kalvela and Sm Huhtala both miss; fortunately, Korpela’s grenade makes up for it. When the smoke clears, two Soviet riflemen are killed, two others are wounded (one being the LMG gunner) and the squad leader, his second in command and another rifleman are forced to drop back behind the questionable cover of the road. Five Soviet riflemen are left standing (Probably should spread out more in the future).

Hakkaa Päälle!

With five Soviets left standing, Kalvela decides it is time to get stuck in. With shouts off “Hakkaa Päälle!” (An ancient Finnish war cry: basically “cut them down”) the Finns charge in before the Soviets can fire. When the dust clears, four Soviet riflemen are killed; but so is Sm Huhtala. With the political officer nowhere in sight, and surrounded by several dead or wounded comrades, the last surviving Soviet rifleman surrenders.

Soviet phase:

Squad one survivors (NCO and 2 riflemen) stays under the dubious “cover” of the road.

Squad two rallies from “Drop Back,” just in time to avoid the wrath of the political officer who now joins the group.

Squad three advances and is spotted by the Finns in their Defensive positions. They fire first, but ineffectively. With no cover nearby, several Soviet Riflemen just drop prone in the snow. Soviet return fire is also ineffective.

Active fire from the squad’s LMG is a different matter and kills Sm Paavo Hakala. There are no Soviet casualties. The Finns grimly hang on.

Turn 9: Soviets fail to activate

With two strong squads closing in, Aks Somppi decides the position is no longer tenable and orders a withdrawal. Sm Martti Hakala gathers his brother’s body and follows Somppi.

Seeing Somppi fall back, Sm Erkkilä gathers up Sm Ylinen and withdraws also.

Aks Kalvela and Krp Korpela gather up their POW and go back into the woods to collect Helske; Kalvela does not have enough men to handle everything he would like to, so is forced to leave Huhtula (dead) and the two wounded Soviets behind. Kalvela fires one last burst at the three surviving soldiers of Soviet squad #1 – and true to form misses.

Turn 10:  New PEF in sector #5 (center of map); Finnish initiative

Kalvela uses the cover of the woods to beat a hasty retreat at the double until he exits the board.

Review:

Final outcome: Soviet victory. The Finns were able to make contact but were forced to withdraw prior to completing their reconnaissance. Although they were forced to leave their dead behind, the Finns did manage to recover their wounded and take one POW.

Finnish casualties:

Cashiered: Kersantti Kulervo

Killed: Kersantti Rajala, Sm M Hakala, Sm Huhtala

Wounded: Sm Ylinen, Sm Helske

 

After the Battle Events:

·       Sm Ylinen and Helske were treated by medics and returned to their squad

·       1^st Sqd receives one replacement: Sotamies (Sm) Pentti Saari

·       Aks Kalvela is promoted to Kersantti (Krs) and made squad leader

·       Krp Somppi is promoted to Alakersantti (Aks) and made assistant squad leader

·       As the mission was a failure, there will be no Rep increases

·       As a patrol mission, there will be no changes to campaign morale or investment

·       Military Awards (rather than use real ones, I created my own)

o   Sisu Badge: Aks Kalvela

§  For taking a wound that would disable others, but still fighting on [namely, saved by “Star Power”]

o   Star of Kalvela, 4^th grade: Aks Kalvela and Krp Korpela

§  For their charge against superior numbers in order to rescue a wounded comrade

At the conclusion of the battle, 1^st Squad’s roster looks like this

ID	Roll/Figure	Rank - Name	Rep	Wpn	Attribute
1.	Sqd Ldr	Antti Kalvela	5	SMG	STAR 3:2, 3:4
2.	ASL	Erkki Somppi	6	SMG	3:6 Nerves of Steele
3.	Sniper	Korp Helske	6	Rifle	2:2 Crack Shot
4.	Satchel/Rif	Korp Korpela	5	Rifle	6:2 Tank Killer
5.	Rifle #1	Martti Hakala	4	Rifle	4:3 Quick Reflexes
6.	Rifle #3	Matti Ylinen	4	Rifle	5:1 Shirker: Always outgunned
7.	Rifle #4	Vilho Erkkilä	3	Rifle	4.6 Runt: -1D6 in melee
8.	Replacmnt	Pentti Saari	3	Rifle	3:3 Lucky: Reroll any 1 result