Afternoon all! This is the battle report for our first tabletop engagement, the Guards Brigade's raid on the Shi-Shihung Gap. You should shortly have a full email update for Week 2 with additional details and the week's slides. Enjoy!
The level of work required for the updates is a bit overwhelming, so I've streamlined some things as you'll see. I hope this is okay!
The Russians try to break through to the Japanese rear - skirting round the fortified town of Shi-Shihung. They are stopped by timely Japanese reenforcements pouring in from the surrounding areas, but manage to inflict heavy casualties. Of note was the courage of Colonel von Hartmann, who personally led the assault on a machine-gun bunker!
Artillery and machine gun fire was actually not very effective. The battle took place at night, and so most of the casualties came from close combat. The Russians were very good at assaulting defended positions, helped by the dispersed Japanese defenders. The Japanese struggled to bring their strength to bear at first but within five turns had enough men on the field to force a hasty retreat.
