Encounter on the Hill - 3/7/39

At the opening of the days fighting the Japanese were present in the sky..

Ki-27 ineffectually strafes the BT's of the 11th Tank Brigade. (ICM model)

Japanese 71st Infantry Regiment in its start positions advancing across the steppe

72nd Infantry Regiment

At the start of the Battle the Soviets are heavily outnumbered. One third of the force comprises of a BA-6 of the Armoured Company 8th Mechanised  Brigade. The other two thirds were a pair of BT-5's from the 2nd Battalion 11th Armoured Brigade

The Soviets had good air support. I-16 strafes the 71st Infantry Regiment

I-16 (old Revel kit)

2nd Battalion 11th Tank Regiment squares up against the 71st Infantry Regiment. At this point Ian had a god-awful run of bad luck with his dice rolls. He had to make 5 checks with infantry and two with commanders. The worse check was roll 5 or lower and most were 7 or lower to pass. All units bar one commander failed. Two infantry and a commander went shaken, everything else went pinned. As the one standing commander had a full advance order he charged off in to the distance only to realise no-one else was following. He was promptly cut down by the BA-6. This meant Ian had no one to rally his shaken troops apart from the Divisional commander about 3km away.

The Japanese disaster was compounded by the arrival of the rest of the 11th tank Brigade. the game had turned in the Soviet's favour.

SU-1-12 supports the 11th Tank Brigade (UM kit)

The HQ and 1st Battalion 11th Tank Brigade advance north towards the Japanese.

The HQ of the 3rd battalion 13th Artillery Regiment observe the approaching BT's. SHQ Type 38 gun

The Japanese form a gun line to guard their pontoon bridge (off table to the north). Fujimi Type 41 Regimental gun and Under the Bed Type 94 37mm

BT's approach. Some good shooting from the 37mm held them off for a while.

Chris continued to roll well on the aircraft chart. I-152 tries to strafe the Japanese commander but misses.

ICM I-152

A handful of Japanese make it to the far end of the table and hunker down in a gully. However they are hotly pursued by Soviet armour

1st Battalion 26th Infantry Regiment arrive in their trucks and hustle south. Fujimi Isuzu converted from their tanker truck and a SMA Praga masquerading as a Japanese truck.

The regimental guns of the 71st Infantry Regiment waiting for the Soviets

The Mongolians arrive and head straight for the Japanese gun line. Fortunately for them there is a covered approach behind a ridge-line stopping the formidable array of Japanese guns targeting them.

Mongolian armour. SHQ BA-6 and MR Modellbau BA-20

1st Bttn 11th tank Brigade resumes its advance towards the Japanese end zone

SB-2 (old Frog kit) bombs the trucks if the 26th, destroying one and pretty much putting paid to their chances of getting down the table before the end of the game

The SB-2 returns, this time escorted by an I-16 to bomb the Japanese gun line. This was spectacularly successful opening the way for the Mongolians and the BT's

Last Japanese in the south of the table about to die under a hail of MG fire

Japanese in the north are over-run by the BT's

Last act of the game. Chris just had to use the OT-26's (Ostmodels) flame thrower so he assaulted a poor shaken Japanese MG stand

The end was a clear victory for the Soviets. This is a hard scenario for the Japanese but Ian's awful mid game morale rolls pretty much put paid to any realistic chance of winning the Japanese had. The excellent Soviet air calling rolls didn't help much  either. Still Ian fought on like a trooper making the best of a bad job; he made the Russians fight for their victory

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