Battle of Lenino October 11, 1943Eastern Front

Lenino

MereyaRiver

Sosoyeowo

Historical BackgroundThe Polish 1st Tadeusz Kociuszko Infantry Division, commanded by the renegade general Zygmunt Berling, was the first Polish pro-communist unit in World War II, formed in the USSR in May 1943. After very short training, Soviet HQ decided to test its strength. The division was sent to the front and took part in the Spas-Demensk offensive operation.

Polish soldiers were ordered to attack German positions at the Mereya river, near the Lenino village. The German side of the front was manned by elements of the 113th and 337th Infantry Divisions. The German units were not large, but battle-hardened and, more importantly, entrenched. The morale of the Polish division was seriously undermined by the fact that most of its soldiers were former prisoners of the Soviet Gulag concentration camp system and joining the army for them was a way to escape the prisons rather than to fight for their homeland. While neighboring Soviet units promised their support, none of them helped. Polish soldiers had to fight alone. After two days of bloody and hard fights, Poles managed to drive through German positions, but suffered 25% casualties and had to be withdrawn, because the Soviet forces were too weak to widen the achieved breakthrough. The battle is prominent in Polish military history, as it was one of the first major engagements of Polish Armed Forces in the East.

The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history.

BriefingAxis Player:* Take 3 Command cards

Soviet Player:* Take 4 Command cards* You move first.

Conditions of Victory* 4 Medals.* Polish automatic victory if there are no German units in or adjacent to the 6 countryside hexes between Lenino and the Axis baseline.

Special Rules* The Polish infantry lacks training. These units have only 3 figures.* The German tank unit has 1 figure. * Russian Command rules are in effect for the Allied player (Nations 2 - Red Army).* Place a badge on the Polish engineer unit (Troops 4 - Combat Engineers).

Setup order

1 x5

2 x12

3 x4

4 x8

5 x2

6 x1

7 x4

8 x2

9 x4

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