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Soviet Cavalry Regiment in Crossfire

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I’ve had a hankering to build a dismounted Cossack Cavalry Regiment for a while. For service on the Eastern Front of WW2. What has held me back was the lack of 15mm figures. Flames of War had a great set, but discontinued it. Luckily Peter Pig have brought a new Cossack range to market so now I have to figure out what I need for Crossfire.

Although there were Soviet Cavalry Divisions and Corps, the building block was the Cavalry Regiment. Zaloga and Ness (2003) describe the various TO&E for the Soviet Cavalry Regiments (p. 101-117). The regiment was about the size of an infantry battalion, so perfect for Crossfire. I’ve listed the Crossfire Orbat for the various Soviet Cavalry Regiments. Although Soviet cavalry could and did charge mounted, generally they fought dismounted and the order of battle acknowledges that.

The historical orders of battle

Zaloga and Ness (2003) mention several orders of battle for Soviet cavalry divisions and regiments:

Pre-war Cavalry Division

The Crossfire order of battle is as follows. All stands are cavalry unless otherwise noted. Cavalry can be deployed either mounted or dismounted, but typically they fought dismounted.

Pre-war Soviet Cavalry Regiment

  • 1 x RC (+1) [Regimental Commander]HQ1
  • 1 x Rifle Squad [HQ Section]HQ2
  • 1 x Pioneer Platoon: PC (+1/0), 2 x Engineer RiflesHQ3
  • 1 x Anti-aircraft Platoon: 1 x AA HMGHQ4
  • 1 x Machine Gun SquadronMG1
    • 5 x Machine Gun PlatoonsMG2
      • 1 x HMG [Maxim]MG3
      • 0 or 1 x Tachanka [Four horse Machine Gun Cart]MG4
  • 1 x Regimental BatteryA1
    • 1 x Horse Battery: 1 x FO for off table 76mm IG (12 FM) A2
    • 1 x Anti-tank platoon: 2 x 45mm ATG and tow [2 guns each] A3
  • 5 x Line SquadronsS1
    • 1 x CC (+1) [Squadron HQ]
    • 4 x (Rifle) Line PlatoonsS2
      • 1 x PC (+1/0)
      • 2 x Rifle Squad [Sabre Section]S4
      • 1 x Horse Holders SquadS5
WW2 Soviet Cavalry Charging
WW2 Soviet Cavalry Charging

Pre-war Mountain Cavalry Division

The pre-war mountain divisions were smaller than the normal cavalry division, but little is known about them and I assume the component regiments were identical. They were succeeded by the Light Cavalry Division in 1941 although these had a short life span.

6 July 1941 Cavalry Division (TO 07/4)

The Crossfire order of battle is as follows. All stands are cavalry unless otherwise noted. Cavalry can be deployed either mounted or dismounted, but typically they fought dismounted.

6 July 1941 Soviet Cavalry Regiment

  • 1 x RC (+1) [Regimental Commander]HQ1
  • 1 x Pioneer Platoon: PC (+1/0), 2 x Engineer RiflesHQ3
  • 1 x Anti-aircraft Platoon: 1 x AA HMGHQ4
  • 1 x Machine Gun SquadronMG1
    • 4 x Machine Gun PlatoonsMG2
      • 1 x HMG [Maxim]MG3
      • 0 or 1 x Tachanka [Four horse Machine Gun Cart]MG4
  • 1 x Regimental BatteryA1
    • 1 x Horse Battery: 1 x FO for off table 76mm IG (12 FM) A2
    • 1 x Anti-tank platoon: 2 x 45mm ATG and tow [2 guns each] A3
  • 4 x Line SquadronsS1
    • 1 x CC (+1) [Squadron HQ]
    • 0 or 1 x on-table 50mm Mortar (12 FM) [Mortar Platoon]MO3
    • 4 x (Rifle) Line PlatoonsS2
      • 1 x PC (+1/0)
      • 2 x Rifle Squad [Sabre Section]S4
      • 1 x Horse Holders SquadS5
WW2 Soviet Cavalry in Snow
WW2 Soviet Cavalry in Snow

1941 Light Cavalry Division

The Crossfire order of battle is as follows. All stands are cavalry unless otherwise noted. Cavalry can be deployed either mounted or dismounted, but typically they fought dismounted.

1941 Light Cavalry Division – Soviet Cavalry Regiment

  • 1 x RC (+1) [Regimental Commander]HQ1
  • 1 x Rifle Squad [HQ Section]
  • 1 x Reconnaissance Platoon: PC (+1/0), 2 x Rifle Squads
  • 1 x Pioneer Platoon: PC (+1/0), 2 x Engineer RiflesHQ3
  • 1 x Machine Gun SquadronMG1
    • 2 x Machine Gun PlatoonsMG2
      • 1 x HMG [Maxim]MG3
      • 0 or 1 x Tachanka [Four horse Machine Gun Cart]MG4
  • 1 x Mortar SquadronMO1
    • 1 x FO for off table 82mm Mortar (12 FM)MO2
  • 1 x Regimental BatteryA1
    • 1 x Horse Battery: 1 x FO for off table 76mm IG (12 FM) [4 guns]A2
    • 1 x Anti-tank platoon: 1 x 45mm ATG and tow [2 guns] A3
  • 2 x Anti-tank Rifle which can be attached to any Rifle or SMG Squad. [7 AT-Rifles total]
  • 4 x Line SquadronsS1
    • 1 x CC (+1) [Squadron HQ]
    • 3 x (Rifle) Line PlatoonsS2
      • 1 x PC (+1/0)
      • 2 x Rifle Squad [Sabre Section]S4
      • 1 x Horse Holders SquadS5
WW2 Soviet Cavalry with Tachanka
WW2 Soviet Cavalry with Tachanka

6 January 1942 Cavalry Regiment (TO 06/233)

The Crossfire order of battle is as follows. All stands are cavalry unless otherwise noted. Cavalry can be deployed either mounted or dismounted, but typically they fought dismounted.

6 January 1942 Soviet Cavalry Regiment

  • 1 x RC (+1) [Regimental Commander]HQ1
  • 1 x Pioneer Platoon: PC (+1/0), 2 x Engineer RiflesHQ3
  • 1 x Anti-aircraft Platoon: 1 x AA HMGHQ4
  • 1 x Machine Gun SquadronMG1
    • 4 x Machine Gun PlatoonsMG2
      • 1 x HMG [Maxim]MG3
      • 0 or 1 x Tachanka [Four horse Machine Gun Cart]MG4
  • 1 x Mortar SquadronMO1
    • 2 x FO for off table 82mm Mortar (12 FM)MO2
  • 1 x Regimental BatteryA1
    • 1 x Horse Battery: 1 x FO for off table 76mm IG (12 FM) [4 guns]A2
    • 1 x Anti-tank platoon: 1 x 45mm ATG and tow [4 guns] A3
  • 4 or 5 x Line SquadronsS1
    • 1 x CC (+1) [Squadron HQ]
    • 1 x on-table 50mm Mortar (12 FM) [Mortar Platoon with 4 tubes]MO3
    • 2 x Anti-tank Rifle which can be attached to any Rifle or SMG Squad. [3 AT-Rifles each]
    • 4 x (Rifle) Line PlatoonsS2
      • 1 x PC (+1/0)
      • 2 x Rifle Squad [Sabre Section]S4
      • 1 x Horse Holders SquadS5
WW2 Soviet Cossacks Charging
WW2 Soviet Cossacks Charging

8 February 1943 Cavalry Regiment (TO 06/313)

The Crossfire order of battle is as follows. All stands are cavalry unless otherwise noted. Cavalry can be deployed either mounted or dismounted, but typically they fought dismounted.

8 February 1943 Soviet Cavalry Regiment

  • 1 x RC (+1) [Regimental Commander]HQ1
  • 1 x Rifle Squad [HQ Section]HQ2
  • 1 x Pioneer Platoon: PC (+1/0), 2 x Engineer RiflesHQ3
  • 1 x Reconnaissance Platoon: PC (+1/0), 2 x Recon RiflesHQ5
  • 1 x Mortar SquadronMO1
    • 3 x FO for off table 82mm Mortar (12 FM) [4 tubes each]MO2
  • 1 x Regimental (Horse) Battery: 1 x FO for off table 76mm IG (12 FM) A1,A2
  • 1 x Anti-tank battery: 2 x 45mm ATG and tow [2 guns each] A1,A3
  • 4 x Line SquadronsS1
    • 1 x CC (+1) [Squadron HQ]
    • 1 x HMG [Machine Gun Platoon with 4 Maxims on Tachanka]MG3,MG4
    • 2 x Anti-tank Rifle which can be attached to any Rifle or SMG Squad. [3 AT-Rifles each]
    • 3 x (Rifle) Line PlatoonsS2
      • 1 x PC (+1/0)
      • 2 x Rifle Squad [Sabre Section]S4
      • 1 x Horse Holders SquadS5
    • 1 x (SMG) Line PlatoonS2,S3
      • 1 x PC (+1/0)
      • 2 x SMG Squad [Sabre Section]S4
      • 1 x Horse Holders SquadS5
WW2 Soviet Cossacks in Snow
WW2 Soviet Cossacks in Snow

Notes

I’ve collated the notes here.

Headquarters

(HQ1) The regimental commander commands the regiment. Treat like a Battalion Commander (BC) for all purposes in Crossfire

(HQ2) Some of the orders of battle have a “HQ Section” attached to the regimental commander.

(HQ3) All the orders of battle include a pioneer platoon. These were about 20-23 men with 20-26 riding and pack horses. In the Sabre Sections that would be two small squads, so that is what I’ve done for the pioneers. I could argue that they only get one engineer squad and a horse holder

(HQ4) The regiment has a anti-aircraft platoon. Now AA isn’t really a thing in Crossfire, but just in case you field aircraft in Crossfire, or use them in ground support role, I’ve included this platoon. These were the 12.7mm DShK 1938 heavy machine gun (War Department (USA) and Bolin, 1946); the 37mm guns were used at the level of the Cavalry Division.

(HQ5) A reconnaissance platoon was added to TO 06/313 in July 1943.

Machine Guns

(MG1) Early orders of battle included a Machine Gun Squadron in the regiment. However, the February 1943 (TO 06/313) orbat split up the Machine Gun Squadron and assigned the platoons to each Line Squadron.

(MG2) The Machine Gun Squadron in the pre-war orbat had 5 Machine Gun Platoons. In contrast the orbat of the Light Cavalry Division only had 2 Machine Gun Platoons with Maxims and another with LMGs. The LMGs were probably distributed to the Line Squadrons so I ignore them in Crossfire. By 6 January 1942 (TO 06/233) the Soviets had standardised on four Machine Gun Platoons.

(MG3) Each Machine Gun Platoon had two sections of two Maxim machine guns, so four guns per platoon. Crossfire gives the Soviets one HMG model for four guns in the orbat, on the assumption they have taken losses. So that is what I’ve done here.

(MG4) The Maxims were transported on a four horse Machine Gun Cart called a “Tachanka”. Although the guns could be fired from the carts, they more commonly dismounted to fight like the rest of the regiment.

Mortars

(MO1) The pre-war regiment relied on horse artillery so lacked a mortar squadron.

(MO2) The mortar squadron in the 6 January 1942 orbat (TO 06/233) had two platoons each with three 82mm tubes. I’ve given each platoon an FO in Crossfire. The 1941 Light Cavalry Division had two platoons, but with only two 82mm tubes each; with only four tubes in total I gave only one FO.

(MO3) A 50mm mortar was added to each Line Platoon in 1940, i.e. pre-war, and this continued through the 6 July 1941 revision (TO 07/4). In Crossfire these are aggregated at the squadron. By January 1942 (TO 06/233) the Soviets were aggregating the 50mm mortars at the Squadron level themselves. However, the 50mm mortars were dropped in the February 1943 orbat (TO 06/313)

Artillery and anti-tank guns

(A1) Zaloga and Ness (2003) is self contradictory about the regimental battery. It says the pre-war orbat had a combined regimental battery with both the horse battery and the Anti-tank battery, but that these were split in the late 1930s. In fact the majority of the orders of battle continue to have the combined regimental battery. The exception, with the infantry guns and anti-tank guns were split into separate batteries, is the 8 February 1943 (TO 06/313).

(A2) The pre-war regimental gun platoon had four 76mm regimental guns. They were moved to a separate battery in the late 1930s, when the anti-tank guns were split out. The battery might have been reduced to three guns at the same time, but this is unclear. Initially the guns would have been the standard 76 mm regimental gun M1927 although these might have been replaced by the 76-mm regimental gun M1943 (OB-25).

(A3) The pre-war regimental battery had two anti-tank platoons each with two 45mm anti-tank guns, four guns in total. In the late 1930s these four guns were moved to a separate anti-tank battery.

Sabre cavalry

(S1) The pre-war orbat had 5 Line Squadrons. From 6 July 1941 (with TO 07/4), and for the rest of the war, this was reduced to 4.

(S2) Most Cavalry Squadrons had a square formation of 4 Line Platoons. In contrast, the Light Cavalry Division had a triangular formation of 3 Line Platoons. From the February 1943 (TO 06/313) orbat, one rifle platoon was reequipped with SMGs, so although it was still a square formation with 4 Line Platoons, only three were rifle platoons.

(S3) Although SMG were increasingly used in the Cavalry Regiments, these were distributed amongst the riflemen. It took until the February 1943 (TO 06/313) orbat for one of the rifle platoons to trade in their rifles for SMGs. This formation had three Line Platoons with rifles and one with SMG.

(S4) Only two small sections fought when dismounted, each with about 8 men including an LMG.

(S5) When dismounted 11 of the 30 men in the pre-war cavalry platoon were horse holders. That means I’ve included a horse holder squad. They have no function in Crossfire but look cool.

Cavalry in Crossfire

Cavalry aren’t a thing in Standard Crossfire. But I have mused on Cavalry and Mounted Infantry in Crossfire. This categorises cavalry as either “Charging” or “Mounted Infantry”. When I wrote that post I thought the Soviet cavalry were more towards “Charging” but now I’m convinced they were almost always “Mounted Infantry”. In practice Soviet cavalry can be either and I suggest you chose one based on the demands of the scenario.

Dismounted cavalry are easy to base … do them exactly like infantry. But mounted cavalry are a different matter and I mused on Cavalry Base Sizes in Crossfire. So far I have opted for (C) Cavalry Basing – 30x30mm Square with two cavalry figures on a base.

References

War Department (USA) and Bolin, Robert L. (1946). Handbook on USSR Military Forces: Chapter III, Field Organization. DOD Military Intelligence, 23.

Zaloga, S. J., and Ness, L. S. (2003). Red Army Handbook 1939-1945. Sutton.
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6 thoughts on “Soviet Cavalry Regiment in Crossfire”

  2. I never really liked your musings on cavalry – most cavalry of WWII were equipped and trained to fight both mounted and dismounted, and would often mix the two in a single engagement (for example charging a position mounted, then dismounting to defend that position against any counterattack). I hope that your inclusion of horse-holder squads in these orbats means that you are musing some more.

    Reply

    • LOL. I never stop musing. Given I have never had WW2 cavalry, I have never had a chance to put my musings to the test. To experiment. Perhaps soon.

      Reply

    • WW2 Soviet Cavalry are fascinating. In other armies the cavalry morphed into armoured formations, often just before WW2, e.g. British and US. But the Soviets held onto them throughout WW2 and after. Cavalry served a different function to armour. Although both were used for mobile exploitation. They are worth a bit of research.

      Reply

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