SOTW: Killingfields Marsala... Spoiler Alert

[Shep]

Canadians arise! Your time has come at the Scenario of the week. A mixed Canadian force goes after... a winery! Man does life imitate art and vice versa, or what? I'm thinking the Germans don't stand a chance in this one. The Canadians must be fanatic, eh?

Post your AARs, your plans, your tactics, your favorite wine to go with this one.

[Moon]

Moving this to the Scenario Talk forum.

Martin

[Holien]

Just finishing this off AAR to follow...

Very good map and a highly recommended just to play on the map.

Some sticky bits but more on that later tonight.

H

[Holien]

Just finished this HTH Blind with a good player. I took the Canadians and managed to win a Tactical victory by taking the winery (nice Vino Tinto) and the main VP Flag across the river.

Lost a single Sherman and rather too many men for my liking.

The bridge was an absolute sod to cross and at one point very ready to throw the towel in as I had achieved a draw without having to lose shed loads of men on an exposed bridge.

Really missed not having any serious Arty and this would have reduced casulties (for me anyway).

I would think this would be damn hard to win if the Germans held the bridge and nobbled a few tanks.

Getting across the bridge and keeping the few tanks alive is the real key.

I really enjoyed the game on the whole (bar on spot of seeing all my men die on exposed bridge as the smoke lifted too soon.)

The Italians were a waste of time and soon broke. They were placed in defensive positions around the winery and soon broke and a lot ended up with their hands up back inside the cellars.

I absolutely loved the map and it looked the business. I would say the scenario favours the Germans and should be played HTH double blind to get some good PBEM moments out of it.

Many thanks for the design.

[Berlichtingen]

Originally posted by Holien:

The bridge was an absolute sod to cross and at one point very ready to throw the towel in as I had achieved a draw without having to lose shed loads of men on an exposed bridge.

That's to be expected given the caliber of the defenders on the other side

Really missed not having any serious Arty and this would have reduced casulties (for me anyway).

Fairly typical of initial encounter on Sicily. The Allies were having some serious issues with transport. If the Germans (or Italians) stuck around for any length of time, the weight of artillery went up drastically

The Italians were a waste of time and soon broke. They were placed in defensive positions around the winery and soon broke and a lot ended up with their hands up back inside the cellars.

The Italians were, man for man, decent soldier. They were screwed thoughout the war by bad leadership and crappy equipment. By the time of Sicily, they had had enough. What I really wanted to portay from the Axis side was the wild difference in army quality there. The Italians just wanted the war to be over, and the Germans were some of the toughest troops in their army

[Michael Emrys]

Nitpick: I noticed that the date for the battle as given on the first page of the briefing was August, 1944. Oh well, it does say that it is a fictional scenario...

Michael

[Falcon988]

I played this blind TCP/IP against my usual opponent and it was a long, grueling firefight for control of that sodding bridge.

First and foremost I advanced on the Winery with 1st & 2nd Platoons from the west and east. 1st Platoon soon took fire from a 75mm Gun and 81mm mortars on the other side of the river so I withdrew them to find cover. Meanwhile 2nd Platoon was lining up in the scattered trees & woods just to the west of the Winery. Italian conscripts had no idea they were there. I split the squads and sent 3 or 4 half squads into action whilst the rest provided covering fire. The squads made it to the wall and routed the Italian defenders. They soon began to cave, but suddenly we came under -intense- (and I mean intense) 81mm bombardment and the German AT gun started giving us hell. Several of the half squads withdrew back to the woods, but two made it into the house which was promptly blown up by a 75mm shell which killed all 4 men in one of the squads. There were still 3 men in the rubble though very much intact and still fighting. I withdrew 2nd Platoon in fear of another mortar bombardment, and sent 1st Platoon back into action. My lone half squad in the Winery held his ground alone, killing many of the enemy. 1st Platoon now went back into action and shot up the Italian defenders on the east side. They ran through another bombardment of 81mm, reached the Winery, and linked up with the 3 men from 2nd PLT. The Winery was captured but at a great price. The Italians hadn't done squat but their support fire from across the river was hell. I left one half squad at the Winery (the same 3 guys who held the line after 2nd PLT withdrew) and took the rest of the men into the woods in the west to prepare for the bridge attack.

While the Winery battle had been raging, A Company had arrived and I'd sent them to their form up points in the woods just south of the bridge. B Company showed up with a squadron of Shermans and I held them back in reserve. 1st and 2nd PLT's (who had assaulted the winery) were also held in reserve so they could get some much deserved rest.

While moving into their FUP's, A Company encountered an Italian platoon defending the road south of the bridge. The Italians got the jump on on 5th PLT and they took heavy casualties before they were able to assault and defeat the enemy. I sent 6th PLT to engage the Italians on the road, held the other A Company platoon in reserve, and sent two Shermans into action. They rounded the corner and were instantly destroyed by another 75mm gun across the river. This was definately a bad situation. I committed all of A Company into the battle now and slowly, yard by yard, they punched through the Italians and captured the southern edge of the bridge. But they were still under fire from the 75mm gun so I had mortars brought down on it.

It was at this point, as I was preparing a recon element to cross the bridge, we met the German Fallshirmjagers. They suddenly and very unexpectedly opened fire on A Company from their positions across the bridge. Lots and lots of infantry squads, MG42's, mortars, that 75mm gun... massive casualties. Many a brave Canadian boy was killed or wounded. And I couldn't bring in the remaining Shermans for fear of that ATG. Reluctantly I ordered A Company to hold its ground on their side of the bridge. Lots of squads broke and ran off but some held just fine and traded fire with the Germans across the river.

Meanwhile, having realized the 75mm gun wasn't dead, I fired more mortars on it. But my spotting kept getting obscured by German smoke. This was very frustrating. As a result I ordered the mortars to lay down our own smoke, and committed my last reserves. An entire company of Canadian infantry, B Company, and two Shermans now went into action under cover of the smoke. When it cleared my Sherman V's put two rounds into the bastard ATG and silenced it once and for all. Then they proceeded to bombard the Fallshirmjagers while B Company advanced to reinforce the remenants of Company A.

At this point the enemy's other 75mm gun had a line of sight at my Shermans and started firing. But according to my opponent it ran out of ammo and fired no more. Supported by the Shermans, B Company's platoons engaged and defeated the enemy on the other side of the river. It was a beautiful sight to bombard those cursed paratrooper foxholes. Then when all was clear I ran one of the platoons across. They, unfortunately, met strong resistance from paratroopers who just wouldn't give up. Lucky for us the Shermans still had their HE rounds and pummeled the remaining Germans into submission. It was now time to move on the farmhouse.

I ordered the remaining two platoons of B Company to cross the bridge. In addition to this I sent for 1st PLT, the very same that had aided in assaulting the winery at the start of the battle, to take up defensive positions at the bridge (reinforcing A Company who were scattered all over the place and pretty much combat ineffective). They were our reserve in case B Company bit off more than it could chew.

B Company arrived in its form up points and I ordered a general advance to the outer wall of the farmhouse. Almost immediately an entire platoon was cut to pieces by machine gun fire from a platoon of infantry occupying the farmhouse. The German infantry were hiding behind the wall and peppering us with lead. Having lost a platoon I now ordered 1st PLT to cross the bridge and support the assault. B Company's two platoons, supported by the Shermans, advanced to the outer wall. When 1st PLT reinforced them I decided to rush the German positions.

The two Shermans charged forward, up and over the wall blasting everything as they went. Right behind them came all 3 Canadian platoons and swarmed the German defenders. They broke very quickly being already low on ammo from the shooting up they'd given A Company earlier. One of the Shermans was hit by a grenade, but his attacker was quickly cut down by machine gun fire. The Canadians climbed up the hill and shot a retreating enemy platoon and company commander. We'd taken the farm.

At that point the timer ran out and the battle was declared a draw. High casualties on both sides though. Canadian losses are 157 casualties, 45 of which are KIA. They had 147 men still ready for action but had lost 3 Sherman tanks.

The Italians and Fallshirmjager units took 160 casualties, 32 of which were KIA's. Only 57 Germans, a platoon of paratroopers on the other side of the map, were left standing. In addition 6 Italians were taken prisoner.

My assessment? Great battle. It mostly revolved around that dang bridge though. Would've liked to have taken out that other enemy position at that other bridge. Oh well. I loved this scenario.

[30ot6]

I played as Allies versus the AI. Apparently a human opponent would have been a better choice, but it was an excellent fight nonetheless.

I left the recon platoons in the default positions. First platoon was tasked with reconning the winery, and second platoon moving was to scout along the road to the bridge.

First contact came at the intersection in front of the bridge, when 2nd platoon came under fire from what appeared to be about a company of Italian infantry. Expecting my poor Canadians to be slaughtered in the face of such odds, I was very surprised when they singelhandedly started supressing and routing the entire Italian force. All became clear when "Conscript" started showing up in the Italian's unit IDs.

While this was happening, 1st platoon had moved into somed scattered trees to the east(the right, looking across the river from the allied side) of the winery, and was exchanging fire with a couple of infantry units. I advanced one squad, leaving the other three to supress the enemy, and then advanced another squad in the same manner. Once I had two sqauds in the scattered trees that are directly next to the wall on the ast side of the winery, I advanced the other two together, leaving the two sqauds that were already in front to supress any Italians that were feeling brave. I was now seeing about five or six Italian units around the winery, and though they had inflicted some casualties when they initially popped up, they were now acting like they had a special interest in examining the dirt.

While 2nd platoon was still cleaning up the loose ends of the Italians in front of the bridge, A company started arriving. I had the regular infantry take over from 2nd platoon as soon as they arrived at the front, setting them to work routing the last bits of Italian resistance and then advancing them along the roads towards the riverbank.

When my Shermans arrived, I moved them up the road to support the forward elements of A company. A "Gun?" was spotted across the river, upon which one of my Shermans opened fire. Apparently the gun was also shooting at my Sherman. They both fired at the same time and knocked each other out. The only other trouble I would have with AT weapons for the rest of the game was an enemy gun on their far left flank, which repeatedly tried to shoot my tanks with no success. I actually suspected it to be an infantry gun, and was surprised to find put later that it was in fact an anti tank asset.

Somewhere around the time A company started pushing hard for the bridge itself, I moved 2nd recon platoon through the scattered trees that surround the intersection towards the winery, where 1st platoon was still spraying fire around at various Italian units. Upon 2nd platoons arrival at the edge of the trees, I ordered them to charge any remaining opposition in fron to them. They did, killing any remaining Italians in hand to hand combat or forcing them to surrender.

A Company had now engaged some German units on the far side of the river, and with help from the tanks, was forcing them to retreat. I advanced all three platoons of A Co one by one across the river. They took heavy casualties(over fifty percent) but managed to secure the opposite bank. They engaged in firefights with Germans on the farm itelf. The AI was doing it's typical stupid advances at this point, moving squads out of cover for no apparent reason straight into enemy fire zones, where they get cut to pieces. I suppose this is a relic of Beyond Overlord days, when such tactics might have worked, but now is very serious flaw in the AI. Anyway, enough ranting...

Now it was just a matter of forcing my way through any remaining enemy resistance and taking the hill. A Co was exhausted, so I moved B Co in to renew the attack. My tanks were now out of virtually out of HE, very hesitant to spend their last rounds, so it was mostly up to my infantry to finish out the assault. Resistance was by now quickly dying away as the remiaing German defenders were under very fire. Using available cover, I advanced B company up onto the farm, engaging remaining Germans in close range fire fights. One particuliar German Lieutenant gained my admiration, holding against intense gunfire and HE for 6 or 8 turns, until finally the men of B Co closed with his unit and finished them in hand to hand combat. They died heros...

The AI surrendered on turn 46. There wasn't much remaining in the way of usable axis soldiers; the 81mm mortars(which the AI hardly used) were still in good shape up on the hilltop, but that was about it. I had suffered about 35-40 percent casualties, most of which were in A Co and the recon platoons; B Co was still in good shape.

Overall, this was exactly the kind of scenario I go for. Great map, very intense infantry fighting, and a difficult advance in the fact of stiff opposition. Reminds me of several years ago, when I first downloaded the BO demo, and had loads of fun forcing my way through the German line in Valley of Defense. In fact, I think this would have been a good choice for the AK demo, but that's an irrelevant point. Anyway, great scenario.

[Melnibone]

Good scenario - played PBEM as Axis - My allied opponent got carried away with the routing of the Italians early on - all his Shermans came barrelling over the bridge at full speed! Bliss for my paratroops! All the tanks were shortly smoking and after that his infantry could not get across the bridge - Major Victory for the Axis. The Allies seem to have a tough job to get across that bridge!

[Panzerjaeger]

Played this as the Allied against AI.

First, my two recon platoons surrounded the winery and routed the italian defenders there. I left a single squad near the T-junction which leads to the winery. It soon discovered a counter attack by Italian Bersaglieri and German Fallschirmjäger. I moved the rest of the platoon to the direction of the counter attack and routed it.

Then came A company. It seized the road near the bridge and the vineyard hills to the west. Destroyed one 20mm Breda AA in the process. The Shermans came, and blew the gun covering the bridge into oblivion (it was pinned by infantry). Lost one tank to the 75mm PaK far in the hills to the east. I moved my recon platoons near bridge with A company behind them. They face heavy fire, so I decide to make a classic cavalry charge with the three Shermans to the other side of the bridge. The Combined fire from the recon platoons and Shermans rout the Fallschirm on the other side and left me free to use the other recce platoon to cover the eastern road as A company storms the Farm. B company was held in reserve near the T-junction.

That's it. The remaining Germans surrender. Major Victory. 81/19.

The terrain was superb and the mission was a lot of fun. The German/Italian forces could have done better, if they wouldn't have sent that counter attack, which cost them about 2 platoons (1 Italian, 1 German).

-Panzerjaeger-

[Falcon988]

The AI is a bit too aggressive sometimes and attacks when it should hunker down and defend. One of the reasons I dislike playing the AI. As I said in my own after action report a few weeks ago, my opponent had his Italians & Germans in their foxholes, waited for me to come to him, and made a -very- difficult fight indeed...