[Raellus]

The roads leading through the forest to the village are mined- partisan guides lead Pole Position on a short detour around an anti-tank mine belt. At first glance, the partisan camp looks like a run-of-the-mill Polish hamlet. Closer inspection reveals cunningly camouflaged bunkers and fighting positions scattered throughout the settlement.

The partisans call their band the “Lisi” (Foxes). Its leader is an ex-Polish paratroop officer named Kacper Boduch. The Lisi’s cadre* of ex-Polish army soldiers (and Topper) slipped behind the advancing Soviet army shortly after Poznan fell back into communist hands, eventually making its way east to Ruda. During its trek, the cadre managed to recruit a little over a dozen new fighters. One of those local recruits explains that Soviet cavalry troopers swept through the forest about three weeks ago, just prior to the arrival of the partisans, at which time they took all of the village’s horses (except for one old nag). This embittered the villagers which ultimately helped the partisans win them over.

After sharing a meal in the common mess, Walker, Sarge, Deacon, and PR meet with the partisan officers in a farmhouse that serves as the Lisi’s HQ building.

The guerillas have only fought a few inconclusive skirmishes with horse-mounted patrols since arriving in Ruda. Instead of seeking out battle, the Lisi have spent the past two weeks or so trying to recruit and train new fighters, fortifying the hamlet, and gathering intelligence on Red Army operations in the region. They’ve had little success in the former endeavor, but the partisan’s de facto intelligence officer, Father Gregorz Marcin, has managed to learn quite a bit about local Soviet forces. The Soviet 89th Cavalry Division is responsible for operations in the region. This formation is a division in name only. Its current strength is estimated at 300 troopers, with a few trucks, no AFVs, and only one artillery piece larger than 82mm (a 120mm mortar, based in Konin). Father Marcin shares the following intel at the meeting:

Turek
30 troopers detached from the squadron in Kolo; Turek’s citizens aren’t particularly fond of their Red Army guests, but they don’t want the war coming back to their town.

Konin
120 troopers; one 120mm mortar. The cavalrymen are helping the townspeople repair the highway bridge over the Warta.

Kolo
110 troopers; the detachment in Turek is from this squadron.

Sompolno
The rest of the 89th Cavalry division, including its HQ and support units, is located here.

The most intriguing morsel of intelligence regards reports of a Soviet armored train spotted traveling between Kutno and Kolo. Father Marcin hasn’t seen the train himself, but he heard it once, and locals living close to the rail line between the two small cities have reported seeing it about twice a week (once moving westbound, then again, eastbound) since around mid-July.

“We’ve been trying to build our strength but recruitment is going much more slowly than we’d hoped. The local people are tired of war, and don’t want to risk what little they still have to fight the occupiers. With your help, we’re strong enough to do something… significant. We aim to liberate Turek. Even if we only hold the town for 24 hours, it will send a message to the Russians. ‘You are not welcome here. You are weak, and we are strong. Go home, before it’s too late for you.'”

Commander Boduch then lays out his plan.

“We’ve learned that the 30 Russians in Turek are running out of food. A resupply convoy is being sent from Kolo, the day after tomorrow.

“If we ambush the convoy here… (he points at a small patch of woods astride the road connecting Kolo to Turek, 18.5km south of former, 5.5km north of the latter) it should draw out the Turek garrison. A second partisan force, about 1500m to the south, will be set up to ambush the expected reaction force. Even if the Russians in Turek don’t take the bait, they won’t last much longer without food.

“Either way- sooner or later- we march into Turek, raise the flag of the Free Democratic Polish Republic and spread the word.

“Your force, and a couple of my men will make up the northern group. Once you’ve stopped the convoy, you will reinforce the southern group. Together, we will take control of Turek.”


NOTES:
I created several PC-level partisans using the archetypes (and Spartan’s house rule that each PC receives a second specialization at char-gen). The partisan leader succeeded at an opposed persuasion role, thereby convincing the Diamonds to help liberate Turek- I’m not sure what I would have done if he’d failed. The party’s job is basically to play out the random encounter, Outnumbered, which I’ve been sitting on for a couple of sessions. It now fits the regional situation that I’ve developed. The party successfully rolled to waylay the convoy. Spending a full shift to prep the ambush gave the party a +3 modifier (from one C to one B and one C); the enemy rolled to detect the ambush from a moving vehicle with a -2 modifier (from one C to one D). The firefight will be described in the next post.

*The Lisi Cadre
Kacper Boduch, ex-6th Pomeranian Parachute Division
Bill 'Topper' Hudnall, ex-BAOR Special Observation Post Troop
Father Gregorz Marcin, ex-Polish Army chaplain
Anton 'Osi' Schimanski, ex-NVA combat engineer
Vadym 'Kozak' Dovhan, Donbas Cossack, ex-Red Army machine gunner
Witold and Jadwiga Dabrowska, a husband-and-wife sniper team (she's the better shot)
Grzegorz ‘Niedzwiedz’ [Bear] Rusiecki, ex-Polish Army tank gunner
Narcyz Cywinksi, ex-ZOMO

The remaining partisans use the Civilian NPC stat block.

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