By May 1921, the Red Army had significantly increased its forces, just as importantly it had been thoroughly reorganized. Its best commanders had been assigned to key sectors, its formations optimized*. It was time to take revenge for the humiliation Germany had inflicted upon Russia in January. Thus the Soviet declaration of war was delivered to the Kaiser on May 15th 1921.
The Soviet strategy was of simplistic elegance: Well aware that the Red Army was still heavily outnumbered by Germany and its allies, it was decided to wage a defensive war. Soviet forces had used the months of peace to prepare elaborate trench systems in easily defensible positions. Hopefully, Germany and its allies would bleed themselves dry in futile attempts to break through. Once Germany's shallow manpower reserves were exhausted, Soviet Russia would strike back and carry the torch of world revolution all the way to Berlin and Vienna.
Unfortunately, the most suitable defensive positions lay directly on the border. If these were to be lost, it would become very difficult to contain the German flood pourring through.
In the North, Petrograd could be defended against the Finns along a very short frontline. Lake Lagoda secured this position against flanking attempts. Further south, Lake Peipus greatly shortened the frontline against the Baltic nations. Between Pskov and Polotsk, the terrain was difficult with thick woods, lakes and swamps greatly restricting mobility. For the moment the three Baltic nations and Finland remained on the sidelines of the Great Eastern European War but this would soon change ...
The obvious corridor of attack was the Minsk area where stretches of open land allowed for a quick German breakthrough. Therefore this sector was given top priority: Tukhachevsky and Stalin were put in charge of 142.000 men to defend it at all costs.
South of Minsk, the Prypiat Marshes stretched for several hundred miles. This huge march area was deemed impassable for strong forces and thus left undefended.
The main worry for the Soviet leaders was the Ukraine. Its open countryside offered little natural defensive positions except for its rivers. Moreover, Russian forces had been forced to retreat beyond its borders by the ultimatum in January. With the railroads in German hands, it was feared that powerful enemy forces would push through the Ukraine and threaten Russia's heartland before the Red Army had time to react.
Luckily Red partisans had thoroughly disrupted Poland's railway network, the Soviet Army would thus have a few weeks to secure defensive positions before German and Austrian reinforcements could bolster the weak Ukrainian Army. It was therefore decided to risk a limited offensive. The overall objective was to reach the Dniepr and form a defensive line on its eastern bank.
While forces from Kursk and Rostov flooded into the Eastern Ukraine, Frunze was ordered to attack Kiev with his 56.000 men. This seemingly massive attack was nothing but a diversion. It was hoped that it would distract the Germans long enough to enable Soviet troops to secure the Dniepr Line before German forces could cross the river. If some damage could be inflicted upon the Ukrainian army, this would be an added bonus.
On May 22th, Frunze's attack on the Ukrainian capital began. The Ukrainians chose to retreat rather than fight. Two Ukrainian cavalry regiments sacrificed themselves to provide cover for Skoropadsky's flight. A small Ukrainian garrision remained behind inside the city.
The fighting in the sky was a lot more intense: Red fighter squadrons harrassed the small Ukrainian airforce mercilessly. On May 22nd, 23 Ukrainian airplanes went down; 5 days later another 9 planes were shot down. Kiev's sky now belonged to the Red Army. Total losses to the Red Airforce: 4 planes.
Kiev's garrison proved much more resilient than expected though. By mid June, they were still holding out.** Frunze who had been much strengthened by reinforcements*** was ordered to undertake another assault.
Despite being outnumbered by 10:1 the Ukrainians put up a brave fight. 7.500 of them died that day but they took more than 3.000 Reds with them. At the end of the day, only some river sailors and airforce ground personnel remained to defend the city.
In the meantime, Samoylo had been dispatched to take Poltava. Again Ukrainian resistance proved to be stubborn. 4.500 Ukrainians were killed but even after this crushing defeat, a single Ukrainian regiment still held out. It took Samoylo until June 24th before he had cleared the city. The 2nd Battle of Poltava was a massacre rather than a battle. 1.700 Ukrainian casualties were recorded, whereas the Red Army didn't lose a single man. Nevertheless, the Ukrainians would be remembered as heros; it was their sacrifice that slowed down the Red Army for two crucial weeks.
In July, German and Austrian reinforcements finally pourred into the Ukraine. Unexplicably, it had taken the Central Powers 2 months to get German troops onto the Ukranian battlefields but now they were arriving in stunning masses. Days earlier the Ukrainian countryside had been virtually undefended, but now a solid wall of German and Austrian armies stretched from the southern reaches of the Prypiat Marshes all the way to the shores of the Black Sea. Frunze and Samoylo were outnumbered by 3:1. It was estimated that Germany had approximately 350.000 men converging upon Kiev.
Frunze didn't wait for the German juggernaut to crush him but rather retreated across the Dniepr hastily. His army escaped none too early. Only days after he had abandoned the siege of Kiev, Austria-Hungary's 2nd and 5th Armies entered the city. Even more threatening, German troops under von Beseler and Brecht threatened to outflank Frunze in the South while von Bojna's 1st Austrian Army did the same in the North. Frunze's entire front was now threatened with encirclement.
Nevertheless, Frunze decided to hold his ground. If the vital Red Dniepr Redoubt was lost, the whole Dniepr Line would become obsolete before it had even been firmly established. To counteract the threat of an encirclement Ordzhonikidze was dispatched to Konotop.****
In August, the German-Austrian offensive started in earnest. Von Bojna advanced into Frunze's back cutting him off from Konotop. In the meantime, Brecht occupied the railway leading eastward while more German and Austrian troops streamed across the Dniepr. Frunze was now completely isolated.
However Frunze had little time to worry about his flanks and rear since he was fully occupied fighting off enemies attacking his front. On August 1st, von Beseler's and Frunze's forces clashed. Unfortunately, for the Germans the Austrians didn't send reinforcements in time. The Germans were thus left alone facing 125.000 Red soldiers under Frunze's able command. But even outnumbered 4:1 the Germans were a dangerous foe. Von Beseler's 2nd Army consisted of some of the best troops the Kaiserreich had to offer: its core was formed by 21 tank regiments supported by motorized infantry and artillery as well as 18 cavalry regiments. In command were two of Germany's most promising generals: Erwin Rommel and Heinz Guderian.
But the German's mobility proved to be of little use in a frontal assault on the Russian trenches. Heavily outgunned, German casualties were horrendous before the men got even close to the Red trenches. Almost half of von Beseler's tank were lost in the firestorm the Red artillery unleashed. When the survivors reached enemy trenches, they were already too battered to achieve a breakthrough. The battle turned into a horrific defeat: Rommel's and Guderian's divisions were almost entirely wiped out. Von Sieger's Reservekorps fared little better. Total German casualties in this futile attack amounted to 25.000 men as opposed to 3.800 men the Red Army had lost. Due to the lack of Austrian support the Germans had experienced a costly fiasco.*****
When Austrian reinforcements under von Pflanzer-Baltin finally arrived a day later, von Beseler had already retreated back across the Dniepr. Now it was the Austrians who had to face a superior Red force on their own. 122.000 Red soldier waited in their trenches for 87.000 Austrian and Hungarian troops to attack. Again Russian artillery decided the battle. The Austrian infantry was badly mauled and never reached the Russian trenches. Instead of pushing his men further, von Pflanzer-Baltin abandonned the attack. But by this time, he had already lost 37.000 men. Two of his corps, the 9th and the 10th, had been entirely annihilated. In contrast, the Russians had lost no more than 8.900 soldiers.
Inspite of these victories the Russian situation was dire on a strategic level. The Germans had won the race to the Dniepr and crossed it in force. Even more importantly, Frunze was now entirely surrounded by enemy forces. Both railway lines to the Red hinterland were cut-off. Moreover, even after the loss of more than 60.000 men within two days, the Central Powers still heavily outnumbered Frunze's army. Soon he would have no choice but to throw his men against German trenches in order to break out. It seemed certain that the Central Powers would get their revenge ...
------------------------------------------------------------
* One can improve combat performance greatly if attention is paid to details. Most division had been assigned either a tank or an armoured car detachment, some cheka units (for morale and discipline) and if possible some tachankas (heavy machine guns mounted on chariots which provide an initiative bonus).
** Highlandcharge had split it into four seperate stacks. While none of them was big enough to offer any meaningful resistance, this made sure that it would take me several assaults to take the city. I should have ordered an all-out assault this would have taken care of the problem in a single turn. But I didn't want to risk getting caught by German reinforcements in this highly aggressive posture.
*** He now had 117.000 men.
**** Ordzhonikidze's force had yet to be assembled. I had dispatched two corps (technically just divisions but in this scenario the naming convention is different) from stacks further east and ordered them to rendezvous with Ordzhonikidze and some freshly recruited units at Konotop. In their ununified state these units were not ready to engage the Germans which is why they were ordered to Konotop and not the region to its south which would have prevented Bojna from cutting Frunze of the next turn. The plan was to dislodge the Austrians with a counter-attack as soon as possible.
***** This was a miscalculation on Highlandcharge's part. The battle lasted only one round. Reinforcements from another region hardly ever participate in a battle during round 1. It usually takes them until round 2 or 3 to engage. In this case Red artillery (which outnumbered the Germans 7:1) dealt so much damage during the first round that the battle was over before the Austrians could arrive.