By April 1945 Germany had reached the bottom of the manpower barrel and started to dig. Eager to "help" the SS stepped forward and, at the recommendation of their resident cave specialist, (because every gang of militaristic right wing thugs needs a cave specialist) created the 24th Waffen-Gebirgs (Karstjager) Division der SS by recruiting everyone on the border between Italy and Slovenia with a vaguely German sounding name. It was commanded by officers from the SS Geological Corps (because every gang of militaristic right wing thugs needs etc etc). Having thrown together the most unpromising personnel they could find and backing them up with some dubiously effective Italian tanks (and I just described every Italian tank) the karstjager were unleashed on an unimpressed public. Part of the reason the public were unimpressed was the fact that the public in question were largely Italian and Slovenian.
Of course a desperately under strength anti partisan unit with a silly name doesn't maintain itself and to ensure an inadequate flow of replacements to the under manned field regiment (there was only one) a replacement company was established to train whoever happened to be walking by its offices and could be persuaded to put on a uniform. This "unit" was based in the Italian town of Cividale which by April 1945 was one of a dwindling number of urban centres in Italy still controlled by the Germans.
While the actual division (which in a concession to reality had recently been downgraded to a brigade) was off jagering across the karst the replacement company practiced dropping their rifles, buffed their nails and hoped that the war would come to an end before they were sent to the front. On the 28th of April the front was delivered to them.
This is ASL Scenario FT255 - Paper Tigers. I desperately wanted to play this one and Dave Wilson was kind enough to pander to my childish pleas. The reason I wanted to play it is that it is the only scenario I have encountered where one of the combatants fields the Italian designed (but German manned) P26/40 tank. In order to get the full P26/40 experience I took the Germans in the form of the Karstjager's understudies while Dave led a collection of partisans and Italian light armour.
The victory conditions are simple. If the partisans capture two of the three ground floor stairway hexes in building 45J3 they win. If they capture or eliminate both P26/40s they win. If they inflict 10 or more CVPs in personnel casualties they win. In fact it would be simpler to detail ways they can't win. Should none of these things come to pass the Germans win another day or two in Cividale before succumbing to the inevitable.
To ward off the unwashed masses I have nine squads of sturdy volksdeutsche who range from bad (six second line squads) to worse (three conscript squads). These deadbeats have a pair of light machine guns and are led by two of the Geological Corps finest. Supporting this barely human material are two of the finest products of Italian tank design (and that statement is sadly true) in the form of a pair of the P26/40s I was fangirling over. Dave's panzer partisan brigade consisted of eight 337 partisan squads, seven 227 partisan halfsquads, three leaders, two lmgs, an mmg, an atr and a bazooka. Driving them to the battlefield was a ramshackle collection of Italian armour who had been collaborating with the Germans a couple of days previously and had decided it might be a good idea to get some brownie points from the winning team. There are four trucks, five L3 light tanks (its 1945 for god's sake) and an AB41 armoured car. These vehicles all set up in one long column stretched out along the road with the partisans clinging to the outsides of the vehicles.
My plan was to try and defend a little forward of the victory buildings with the two tanks guarding the most direct approach roads. I didn't actually expect Dave to take this approach but you would look silly if you didn't guard them and your enemy simply drove up next to you. I would discover much more creative ways of looking silly as the game went on.
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| At start, I have to set up within one hex of the building while Dave looks like he's doing a remake of Convoy. |
Dave started his run when a truck sagging suspiciously low on its suspension drove up and deposited a load of partisans a couple of streets to the south of my sturdily defended building. three more trucks did much the same thing while my defenders discussed the weather and the dangers involved in hunting karst (its a fearsome beast when its cornered). With the trucks having delivered their cargoes they promptly went into reverse and fled the scene. At this point a kindly observer to our VASL game pointed out that Dave appeared to have placed three times as many squads into the first truck as its portage capacity would permit. Not the worst mistake we've ever made, last week I fucked up my set up so badly we literally couldn't play the game. After an anguished conversation we agreed that since the other trucks could collectively carry the surplus in addition to their own passengers we dumped the excess near where the other trucks had parked and pretended that was the plan all along.
While his truckers were stumbling around in confusion Dave's armoured punch (armoured swat would be a better term) lurched forward, driving due north across the gunsights of both my tanks to outflank me to the north. Technically I could have shot at them but double small targets, fleetingly glimpsed as they rattled forwards? I stood a better chance of breaking the gun or bringing down a random pigeon by mistake. So the first Allied turn ended with suspiciously eager partisans leaping from trucks, tanks and an armoured car athirst for victory.
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| End Allied turn 1 |
Although a little unnerved at how close the partisans had got in one turn I put my plan into action. I shuffled some troops forward, brave under their concealment counters, to put at least one stone building between Dave and his target. In the south I backed up my bold karstjager with a tank. Then I did something stupid. In fact if you're getting tired of these AARs you can pretty much read the previous sentence and leave it at that. With Dave's L3s (and armoured car) pretty much nose to tail along a road I gunned the dubious engine of my other P26 and sent it charging forward. My only excuse is that I really wanted to use the thing. The tank was pretty much immune to such fire as the L3s and the car could produce. I figured his infantry were going forward and for some reason it never occurred to me that they might turn around. I did manage to break a halfsquad and for a brief moment things looked good. A very brief moment.
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| A picture of a very brief moment |
Over in the south things Dave broke an lmg which I chose to view as a portent of things to come. It wasn't but straw grasping is a talent of mine. His other troops skirted such locations as could be hit by 75mm fire and cheerfully trotted around my forward defenders to plunge into CC with guys further to the rear. This is when I realised another issue with my defence. Dave charged into close combat every chance he got. Even if we traded squad for squad it wouldn't take me long to hit that ten CVP cap. I lost a half squad in the first melee and that was just a harbinger of things to come.
Back at the doomed P26 Dave demonstrated exactly how silly my tank move was by racing a squad with a bazooka up next to the tank. He also moved a half squad forward as well but the tanks mg managed to pin it. He missed with the bazooka in the advance phase and piled into close combat or rather he tried to. His squad was more than happy to fire a bazooka but actually closing with a tank was more than they were prepared to do. His 7-0 jumped in alone while the squad studied the sky and talked amongst themselves. Naturally I couldn't kill the officer in CC which left me without options next turn. Tank fire broke the officer and then the squad blew the thing up with its bazooka, sigh.
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Eager to build on their sudden tank killer reputation Dave sent his bazooka squad looping around to sneak up on my remaining tank. For support he sent a platoon of L3s to park right behind my tank as well. I should have ignored the damn things, even with a rear shot the chances of them taking out a P26 were minimal but the temptation was too great. The P26 blew one up and an lmg shot from the victory building destroyed the other. If nothing else my tank would have one armour kill to its name.
I say I should have ignored them because it was all about the infantry really. That 75mm would have been better used shooting at, or at least threatening, his advancing squads. Dave demonstrated this by sending a pair of squads into CC with another of my forward defenders. He also tried to dash him squad with the broken lmg across the road but this resulted in a casualty reduction and the surviving halfsquad going berserk. It charged at the one unoccupied squad in my front line but it turned out that 4-1 odds was something my guys could deal with.
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| L3s doing what they do best, attracting fire meant for better targets |
Close combat suddenly became my friend. I had a squad tying up two of his in melee and in the next CC phase I killed one of them. Dave reinforced with another squad and I killed another all without harm to myself. At this point things didn't seem too bad for me. Despite the loss of a tank and Italian armour swarming all over the battlefield his main thrust in the south had been slowed to a crawl my main defence in the victory building was solid and his casualties were mounting. I saw his bazooka squad coming and moved back my one unattended squad to provide some close protection for the tank. A good idea but imperfectly executed as you will see.
As you can see from the above I moved the squad back under the tank. I may have done better to move it into the building. Meanwhile the melee raged on soaking up an ocean of partisan blood. Dave then did something quite sensible, he ignored it and moved his remaining troops around it. Having decided the building was beyond him he was quite simply gunning for my tank. To keep me honest up in the north he sent a flock of halfsquads forward against the scanty defenders there.
But it all came down to the tank. Dave moved his bazooka unit forward shrugging off my defensive fire and moved more squads in from the buildings. One of those squads carried a pair of panzerfausts. Dave fired them both in the advancing fire phase without result but he didn't really need to. He advanced a squad and leader into CC with the tank and accompanying squad both. In CC he managed to immobilise the tank meaning it couldn't drive away and the next turn his bazooka team destroyed it. Automatic win to Dave. It was all my fault, I threw away what is actually quite a potent tank asset on a piece of quixotic stupidity. After that Dave was able to swarm the survivor. But I have played a scenario with the P26. Much thanks to Dave for the game.
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| Both tanks gone and game over. |
Two nervous looking karstjager slunk out from behind a building. The first looked around quickly and ducked back into cover.
"There are Italians everywhere," he whispered.
"Non parlo Tesdesco," replied his companion.
"Don't give me that bullshit," said the first. You grew up two houses down from me." He watched nervously as the other stripped off his SS insignia and picked up a rifle.
"You absolute bastard," he muttered raising his hands.
"If its a choice between you and me it is definitely going to be you," replied the other, "start running. If you're lucky I'll miss."
"I've seen you at rifle practice, you're more likely to miss if I stand still."
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