Somewhat typically the Germans were better prepared for the Italian surrender than the Italians were and as soon as the word was announced German units in Italy moved to disarm the Italian army and occupy important points throughout the country. Utterly confused and without any direction the Italian army for the most part accepted German demands for surrender and a good number of them simply went home. One major exception was the city of Rome itself where the Germans didn't have any troops conveniently to hand. The 2nd Paratroop division was based south of Rome and was ordered north to seize the Eternal City. Standing (or at least, slouching) in its way was the 21st Grenadiers of Sardinia division. Which is why on the 8th of September elements of the grenadiers chemical mortar battalion (strangely bereft of both chemicals and mortars) who were notionally guarding a fuel depot in the town of Mezzocamino southwest of Rome watched with polite interest as a large group of heavily armed, battle hungry fallschirmjager deployed in front of them in the gathering twilight. This is ASL Scenario AP26; Flea Circus. I shall command the Italians and Ivan Kent the vengeful Germans.
Note: I lost this one. I didn't just lose it, I was crushed without mercy. Outwitted, out manoeuvred and outfought. For those for whom this is enough you can stop reading now. Anybody who wants the entire tale of woe can continue.
The victory conditions were simple. At the end of the game the Italians had to have an unbroken MMC in the fuel depot in the north of the town. Thus the Germans had to seize the depot completely and stop any Italians sneaking back in. For the record the fuel depot is the large building towards the bottom of the map above. The Germans set up at the top of the board and have to make their way through, hopefully heroic, Italian resistance to the depot. The Italians are hampered by the fact that they cannot fire on the Germans without passing a special pin check until a German unit has fired, made smoke or moved next to an Italian one.
To take the depot Ivan had eleven squads of elite German paratroopers with a pair of light machine guns, a panzerschreck and a dismantled medium machine gun (which I don't think he even bothered assembling). These troops have good firepower, high morale and assault fire bonuses which would crush me in close fighting. To hold off the Germans I had one elite Italian squad, five normal squads plus a pair of light machine guns, a heavy machine gun and a 20mm anti aircraft gun. I also had eighteen factors of mines which would prove very useful. Halfway through the game I would get reinforcements in the form of two more elite squads, three bersaglieri squads and a pair of L6/40 light tanks if I could survive until then.
My plan was to set up the bulk of my force forward to cover Ivan's approaches and force him to move next to me thus freeing me up to open fire. I also set up to cover the village in the hopes of making Ivan move through the open ground you see on the right. My plan worked brilliantly, this is exactly what happened. Unfortunately there was a certain "stopping the Germans" component which was implied and that didn't go so well.
I had a squad with a light machine gun in each of the large stone buildings in the village. The rest of my scanty force was scattered across the board so that Ivan would find it difficult to move without becoming adjacent. There was a gap I couldn't cover amongst the brush and orchards on the right so I placed a minefield in the area in the hopes of doing some damage. The other two minefields I placed in trees near the fuel depot. The anti aircraft gun I placed on the road next to the depot which was silly as I should have put it on the hill across the river. A half squad with the heavy machine gun was placed in the rear covering the left hand road but conveniently placed to scuttle across to the fuel depot at need. I also had a stack of dummies trying to look menacingly.
The first turn went quite well. Ivan set up exclusively on the right as I had hoped and barrelled his troops towards the open ground. He encountered my troops on the first turn to I was free to shoot. He also sent a probing half squad straight into my minefield. The ensuing morale check caused him to battle harden into fanatics, not so good. However getting cocky with his newly increased morale he moved out of the minefield and the subsequent morale check promptly broke the half squad. Towards the centre he moved some troops to deal with the rest of my forward line.
From the (somewhat blurry) picture above you can see my problem. Ivan's troops are poised to pour through on my right while my guys are rather poorly placed to stop them. Ivan essentially encircled and destroyed the troops in the north while the bulk of his force charged across the open ground towards the fuel depot. I did get in some shots. I broke a squad and his best officer at one point but the flood went on. I couldn't muster enough firepower to inflict any serious damage and the speed of his advance made it difficult for me to pull my troops in the village back to defend the depot which was part of my original plan. By difficult I mean, impossible. The picture below shows Ivan tying down my village troops while others skirt the riverbank to approach the depot.
The minefields proved to be my best defence breaking another squad as it attempted to flank on my left and causing Ivan some nervousness as he probed for the remaining field.
By turn three when my reinforcements arrived Ivan was massing in the woods to the right of the depot and I gasped in relief as my little tanks trundled forwards. Sadly one of them promptly broke its main armament trying to shoot. Still now I had some protection. The infantry hopped into the gully and made its way towards the depot. Alas to no avail. A combination of good morale and relentless pressing meant that Ivan could shrug off most of my small firepower attacks and on those occasions when I did muster some decent firepower the results were unimpressive to say the least. Conversely my few successes came from ridiculously low odds attacks. Having weathered three consecutive shots from my AA gun Ivan then moved some troops through a one residual firepower in the woods and lost a squad. Deciding to sacrifice my broken tank I trundled it right next to the half squad with the panzerschreck (Ivan disdained to shoot at such a helpless target) and fired the machine gun for a 1+1 attack into the woods which broke everything in the hex. Ivan then attempted to fire his panzerschreck at my other tank from inside a building and promptly broke his own squad which then died for failure to rout.
Such faint gleams of hope couldn't conceal the fact that by turn four Ivan had swamped the factory (my heavy machinegun proving useless at keeping them out) and wiped out my remaining defenders while my reinforcing infantry were still trudging up the gully. I had one final chance as I saw it. It had five fresh squads and a tank adjacent to the depot. I would freeze Ivan's troops in the nearest depot hex with the tank in bypass and then assault in. Perhaps with luck at the end of the game I would still have a toehold. No sooner had the idea formed in my mind than Ivan moved one of his remaining squads across the road to reinforce the factory, I took a shot at it which resulted in the squad going berserk. Charging towards my remaining tank they tore it apart with their bare hands. Now I had a depot full of paratroops and nothing to cover and attack by a smaller number of less capable squads. At that point I surrendered. There were still two full turns to go but there was no way I was going to get in and if I did there was no way I was going to survive.
Ivan played with skill, I didn't. Which pretty much tells you all you need to know. Sigh, the cup of defeat is bitter indeed. Much thanks to Ivan for a lesson in tactics, hopefully I will crush you like a bug next time we meet. No offense.
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