Chapter 6 - Blindman: Tambov, August - November 1918
The last months of 1918 were almost peaceful. After the Battle of Simbirsk on September 19th, Siberian advances had virtually stopped. In the South, the Volunteers systematically conquered the Kuban and the Northern ranges of the Caucasus but met with little resistance since the Red forces had long since been evacuated. When Denikin finally approached Tzaritsyn, he obviously felt his forces were too weak to dare a frontal attack and kept a respectful distance from Stalin's army that was occupying positions outside the city.
As a consequence, between September and November only small skirmishes occurred. Cavalry scouts or small infantry detachment would clash but none of these fights was of greater consequence.
The biggest Red victory during those months was the result of a series of most embarrassing maneuvers. On August 1st, Savelev had left Saratov with a single division under Slatkov's command. This 5.500 men strong force consisted of 5 Cossack regiments, 2 artillery batteries and 2 supply trains.
11 days later this small corps occupied Balashov, the only major stop along the railroad that linked Tzaritsyn with Tambov. Control of this railway was crucial to the Red Army since it was the only lifeline linking Tzaritsyn with the rest of their territory.*
As soon as the news of Balashov's fall reached Tambov, Kamenev had his men board trains. Three Red corps** with a total of almost 35.000 men rushed south. When the Soviets finally had to abandon their trains and march the last miles of their journey, their scouting was so abmyssal that nobody noticed the Siberians headed in the opposite direction. Thus both forces passed each other peacefully within a few miles distance.***
When Kamenev conquered an empty city on August 21st, he was furious. Immediately his men reentered trains and rushed back north to catch up with Savelev. Yet Savelev's men noticed Kamenev just in time to make a hasty retreat. At this point Savelev prooved that he was just as lousy a commander as Kamenev; rather than retreat eastward towards safety, he headed back south.
By now Kamenev was utterly disentchanted with hunting Savelev. It had been embarrassing enough to explain to Moscow how Savelev had escaped twice already. Instead he sent Blucher and a single corps to continue the operation. Blucher succeeded where his superior had failed: On September 17th, he finally cornered Savelev's Siberians. However the following battle was less glorious. Inspite of a 3:1 superiority, Blucher's men failed to crush their opponents. 1.500 Red soldiers died as opposed to only 1.200 Siberians. Nevertheless, Kamenev quickly reported to Moscow that the Savelev incursion had been dealt with.
In order to make good on his embellished telegram, Kamenev sent Sorokin and Yakir east to cut off the most direct retreat route for the Siberians. And indeed Savelev tried to escape towards Penza.****
On October 19th, Yakir managed to catch up with Savelev's men.***** This time, the Siberians were seriously hurt. 2 cavalry regiments as well as one infantry were annihilated. Savelev's small corps was now down to half its original strength. In his report to Moscow Kamenev praised Yakir for his glorious victory over fresh Siberian "reinforcements".
Even better, the Siberians were forced to turn around and head back west. Now Kamenev unleashed all forced available to him. Blucher rushed north from Mikhailovka which he had conquered a week earlier from a small Cossack detachment, while Kamenev and Zhloba hurried east.
On November 8th, Savelev's men made their last stand, Outnumbered 20:1, they never had a chance. Most didn't even survive the initial Soviet artillery bombardment. Amongst the dead was Savelev's second-in-command, general Sladkov. The Red victory was completed by the capture of two supply trains, much needed by the infant logistics department of the Red Army.
Kamenev however was left with an awkward problem: After reporting the complete destruction of Savelev's corps twice already, he had serious trouble explaining whom his men had defeated ...
Next update: The defense of Aralsk.
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* In theory this was a good move on Durk's part. The problem was that he didn't exert pressure against Penza and Tambov at the same time, this left Kamenev free to hunt Savelev down.
** As a reminder: the units named corps on the Red side are actually divisions. In this screenshot two of them are even labelled armies. It's not entirely unjustified, though, since in the early days of a RUS campaign, White divisions usually are no stronger than 150 pw whereas Red divisions soon grow to over 300 pw. Later in the campaign, Red divisions sometimes have as much as 700 pw.
*** In assault or offensive posture one should usually be able to interrupt enemy movement (especially since it is highly likely that Savelev turned to offensive posture himself upon entering enemy territory). But Savelev's stack had a good evasion value and the commanders superior strategic rating probably helped as well.
**** That was Durk's second mistake, he should have tried to get away from the railways and head over land towards Saratov. As long as he stayed on railways, Red troops were always able to catch up with Savelev. He may have counted on being able to blow them up, though.
***** I had frequent trouble with inactive generals and thus switched around a lot. Often only a single one of my divisions would be active. That is why Blucher attacked on his own in the first battle and Yakir had to do the fighting alone in the second one.
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Author's notes:
I can't speak for Durk, but to me this whole charade felt more like an embarrassment than a victory. It took me 3 months to crush one badly outnumbered division. Unfortunately, this is not untypical when playing the Reds. The low strategic ratings of Red commanders seriously hamper their ability to force battle. Often the best one can do, is cut off likely escape routes and hope for another chance to defeat the enemy. To my great dismay, this was not to remain the only such episode during this game.
In the greater picture, the hunt for Savelev shows how the balance of power had already shifted. Kamenev's troops constituted my (only) reserve. It wasn't big enough yet to start a serious attack (especially since I would need a large part of these troops in the Ukraine when it opened up in December 1918) but I wasn't in serious trouble any longer. Otherwise I couldn't have spared three (later even four) divisions to hunt down a comparatively small enemy force. Nevertheless, I probably could have used them in more profitable ways. Retaking Saratov would have been an option, but keeping the railroad to Tzaritsyn open was important at the time and I would never have imagined that it would take me three months to get rid of Savelev.