This scenario links to the article on the historical battle.

Even if there were larger and more important cavalry battles fought in the Russian Civil War, the battle of Komarów is an interesting action and could form the basis for quite a good game.

There is a risk with such a famous battle that participants will know too much about the opposition, and that anachronistic knowledge will affect their battle plan, but the very vagueness (at least in English) of the histories works against that for Cześniki. The sides did at least know the basic outline of the other’s positions and strengths, so players can be given that at the start.

The morning attack of the Polish 7th Brigade, reinforced by the 6th Brigade some hours later, first against the Soviet 4th CD around Wolica-Śniatycka, reinforced later by the 11th CD and Special Brigade, offers plenty of scope but requires an awful lot of cavalry and tachanka figures and a very large table if more than a small section is to be fought. That said, Steve Turn has satisfactorily played the opening stages at a convention.

If an even larger game was desired – say adding in part of the 13th ID and allowing the Soviet to command the reinforcements as well as the 4th CD – then it would be quite reasonable to allow the Polish infantry to advance vigorously on Cześniki, particularly if the Soviet does not even demonstrate against them. If the Soviet player knows that the 13th ID will not advance, the risk is that he is free to concentrate against the Polish cavalry far too early. Likewise, the Soviet 6th Division might have appeared much earlier in the day if Budënniy had realised quite how much trouble his army was in. There may or may not have been Soviet infantry (or rather cavalry without horses) in Niewirków and Cześniki, but it would not have attacked the Poles in the open and should act merely defensively. Such a large battle would appear to require a kriegsspiel approach.

The attack of the Soviet 6th Division in the evening against the Polish 6th Brigade, with the 7th coming to its rescue, would appear to offer the best table-top opportunities, provided one can muster that many figures. The aim of the Soviets is to break through to the east (preferably without having to fight) while the Poles wish to make them retire to the west. The Soviet has to keep his units together though – the situation was not yet desperate enough that it was worth fracturing the division in order to let some escape at the expense of the others. The first portions of the Polish 13th ID should be scheduled to arrive fairly quickly, to ensure that the Soviet player has to attack vigorously rather than jockey for position.

However the game is played, tachankas and artillery played very important roles, especially in the earlier combats. The “boys’ own” versions of the battle might relegate them to subsidiary roles, but I feel gamers should be a bit harder headed.

Note also that if you disagree on low-ish morale and fighting factors for the Konnaya Armiya, then perhaps you should not game this battle – because otherwise one is left with having to face the fact that less than 2,000 Poles were able to defeat many times their number of the supposed élite of the Soviet army. Even halving the Red forces leaves the Poles badly outnumbered in the initial stages. Perhaps the Ulans had artillery and MG advantages, but the evidence of the fighting also points to the Poles having a decided edge in combat.

You are Colonel Juliusz Rómmel, in command of the Polish 1st Cavalry Division. It is southern Poland, 31 August 1920, shortly after the Battle of Warsaw.

Budënniy’s Konnaya Armiya have failed in their attack on Zamość and are becoming caught in a “U” of Polish forces, of which you form the eastern-most portion of the southern arm. Outnumbered, the enemy’s only hope of escape is to retire eastwards. The continual rain in the previous days has limited the number of available routes and the main one is the road east from Zamość that runs just north of Cześniki.

This part of Poland is gently rolling, with boggy areas in many of the valleys. The fields are not surrounded by hedges, fences or ditches except for a few around the towns and so is excellent for cavalry operations. There are several wooded areas, mostly along the top of the ridge, more or less passable to your troops in column. The day dawns very wet, which makes the boggy parts even more treacherous and tires the men and horses.

1st Cavalry Division:

The artillery has enough rounds for 40 minutes only (you have left your resupply column behind in order to move fast, intending to capture ammunition from the enemy). You have sufficient MG and small arms ammunition for a day’s battle.

The 7th Brigade has spent the night in Komarów and the 6th Brigade slightly further east in Wolica Brzozowa and Zubowice. It is now 0730 and your men have risen and are saddling their horses. They are rested and confident.

Your orders have just arrived from Army. They are:


The location and strength of the enemy, as best known is:
        4th Cavalry Division, approx 1,500 sabres [i.e. 36 cavalry bases]  – north of Cześniki ?
        6th Cavalry Division, approx 2,000 sabres [i.e. 48 cavalry bases]– outside Zamość
        11th Cavalry Division, approx 1,000 sabres [i.e. 24 cavalry bases] – Łabunki
        14th Cavalry Division, approx 1,000 sabres [i.e. 24 cavalry bases] – north of Miączyn
        Separate Cavalry Brigade, approx 500 sabres [i.e. 12 cavalry bases] – Antoniowka

Their supply situation seems poor and most of their train appears to be on the Zamość to Miączyn road.

HQ is obviously not quite up to date though, since quite apart from your orders arriving 90 minutes after the allocated start time, you are aware that the enemy in Antoniowka was forced to evacuate to the north overnight, thanks to an artillery bombardment from you.  

Game Notes:
1) A base represents about 40 men, a couple of guns or a handful of tachankas.
2) Your regiments have five sabre squadrons and a tachanka squadron. For game purposes the effectives are spread as evenly as possible (as  whole bases), with the lowest numbered the largest. (The 12th Regt. only has 3 squadrons.)
3) A Russian cavalry division has three cavalry brigades, each of two regiments, each of three (sometimes four) sabre squadrons and a tachanka squadron. There is also a horse-artillery divizion (3 batteries) and an unknown but smallish amount of integral cart-borne infantry support (actually unmounted cavalrymen) in each division.

You are KomDiv S.K. Timoshenko of the 4th Cavalry Division. It is southern Poland, 31 August 1920, shortly after the Battle of Warsaw.

The 1st Horse Army (Konnaya Armiya) have failed in their attack on Zamość and risk becoming caught in a “U” of Polish forces. Outnumbered, the only hope of escape is to retire eastwards. The continual rain in the previous days has limited the number of available routes and the main one is the road east from Zamość that runs just north of Cześniki, unfortunately clogged with supply carts at present.

This part of Poland is gently rolling, with boggy areas in many of the valleys. The fields are not surrounded by hedges, fences or ditches except for a few around the towns and so is excellent for cavalry operations. There are several wooded areas, mostly along the top of the ridge, more or less passable to your troops in column. The day dawns very wet, which makes the boggy parts even more treacherous and tires the men and horses.

4th Cavalry Division:

Your artillery has enough ammunition for 30 minutes each and your cavalry are rather short in small arms ammunition.

It is 0730 and you are in Cześniki with your 10th and 11th Brigades, while the 12th Brigade is between you and Stabrów where it is guarding the baggage and acting as general rear guard. The position of the rest of the Konnaya Armiya is:


Your orders from Budënniy are:


Game Notes:
1) A base represents about 40 men, a couple of guns or a handful of tachankas.
2) Your regiments have three sabre squadrons, with effectives spread as evenly as possible (as whole bases) with the lowest numbered the largest. The tachankas are technically integral with the regiments, but are used to being grouped at higher levels.
3) A Polish cavalry division has two brigades, each of three regiments, each of five sabre squadrons, but their effectives are not as evenly spread as yours, so some regiments can be as much as 500 men [12 bases], while others are only a few hundred strong. They have large tachanka support and a horse artillery battery per brigade. They never have integral infantry support.
4) A Polish infantry division has two rifle brigades, each of two regiments, each of three battalions and an MG company. The attached cavalry is between a squadron and a regiment. The artillery support varies greatly but you might expect a battery per regiment

The map given to the players is probably a lot better than anything the actual commanders ever had, but it simulates their actual knowledge from reconnaissance and questioning locals. One version of the failure of the Separate Brigade to intervene properly is that it ran into an unexpected boggy area.

The weather on 31 August continued to be really foul. The rain and mud wore the men out very quickly.

The game starts with the Poles entering from the bottom of the large map and the Soviets from Czesniki.  Whatever time delay is allowed for the arrival of the second Polish brigade should also be that between allowing the Soviet Separate Brigade and the brigade of the 11th Division to enter.

The Soviet player only commands the 2nd Division in my scenario, although he is welcome to send messages to his neighbouring units. Budënniy was in overall command but was riding around trying to sort out his difficult situation, so did not really know what was happening other than in very general terms, so it would not appear very rewarding to play his situation in any historical manner. In any event, the Soviet player has enough to be dealing with.

I have been unable to determine the exact positions of the Soviet 11th CD and Polish 13th ID, so I assume that there was only a Polish infantry regiment (though it definitely had artillery support) and only one Soviet brigade in the forests around Brudek, with the rest concentrating on the Zamość and Łabunki areas. Given the lack of crossings over the swamp that extends westwards from Brudek, whatever portions were involved in the Komarów battle were cut off from the rest of their divisions and so there is no need to worry about what might be happening just off-map.

The Polish infantry in the area seems to have been actively engaged with the Soviet cavalry facing them for a while and then gone largely quiet – Haller himself seems to have concentrated on the relief of Zamość and the local infantry commander seems to have been unwilling to act aggressively. Therefore, while the Polish player can co-operate with the infantry if he wants, he will not get much joy from it other than learning where he can anchor his left flank.

Still, even if not commanding the 13th ID and 11th CD, the real life commanders could see and hear the combats in the Brudek area and so the players should be given information about the fighting and movements that they can see. I don’t see any reason for an umpire to actually fight it though – just assume that the infantry will be basically static until late in the afternoon and that the brigade of the 11th will be able to disengage if required to outflank the enemy cavalry in the morning.

Map for the players, until they inspect an area in person.
Accurate map of the area as it was at the time.