At some point during the extended period of self harm that was the Italian war effort in World War 2 the high command demanded that the infantry be provided with a support vehicle that would add a little sorely needed firepower to their attacks. Thus the semovente L40 da 47/32 was born. Or rather thus the semovente L40 da 47/32 was hastily cobbled together in Ansaldo's version of Frankenstein's laboratory. Essentially Ansaldo plundered the graves of various Italian armoured vehicles and patched the semovente together from the pieces. The chassis was that of the L6/40 light tank. The gun was the 47mm that had been serving the Italian army with decreasing effectiveness since 1937. These two things were merged together by means of a rectangular metal box which was also (in a burst of misplaced optimism) intended to house the crew. Ansaldo thus managed to produce a vehicle which was simultaneously brand new and hopelessly out of date. Nevertheless the Italian high command, secure in the knowledge that they themselves wouldn't be called upon to operate it, declared themselves satisfied. A bottle of champagne was broken across the first vehicle to christen the series and as soon as the armour plate dislodged by the impact had been replaced the little semovente trundled off to war.
In trundling off to war the semovente was aided by the fact that the war was now significantly closer to its manufacturing facilities and it didn't have to trundle too far. With its cramped crew compartment which made loading the gun under fire an act of suicide, its absence of machine guns, its thin armour and open top the little semovente was, well probably as good as any other Italian AFV at the time. The 47mm was aging but its high explosive rounds could definitely support infantry and its HEAT round could at least notionally penetrate the frontal armour of a Sherman if said Sherman somehow failed to blow the semovente to scrap before reaching point blank range. In the upcoming scenario I command two of these magnificent beasts. A measure of my faith in them is the fact that I placed more reliance on the two armoured cars I was also equipped with.
For reasons I cannot begin to justify I have been eager to play this scenario for quite a while. This is scenario AP 16 - Danger Forward which depicts an Italian force attacking the town of Alimena in Sicily despite the fact that the Americans have just attacked it themselves. The locals of Alimena refer to this period as "the time of popularity".
To win I need to finish the game in possession of at least four stone buildings only one of which is within my set up area. Hampering me is the fact that the Americans set up and move first thus allowing them to plunge deep into the village before I can even move. I command what was probably officially called an "all arms force" but is perhaps more accurately defined as a random collection of detritus shoved together to form a combat unit. I have twenty two squads, six of bersaglieri and sixteen of increasingly reluctant first liners. These reluctant warriors are led by three officers of moderate competence and are equipped with precisely three machine guns, two light and one medium. The strongest man in the unit stumbles under the weight of a solothurn 20mm antitank rifle. Providing, well not so much support as vague encouragement, is my armour. Two of the little semoventes mentioned above and two AB41 armoured cars which whatever their other deficiencies have a rotating turret and machine guns.
Opposing me my opponent Dave commands sixteen first line American squads each with double the firepower of its Italian counterpart. These troops are led by three somewhat better officers and are equipped with a pair of medium machine guns and two bazookas. Rolling on in turn two is his tank support, a pair of M5A1 Stuart tanks which were apparently provided to demonstrate to the Italians what light armour was supposed to look like.
Below is the at start set up. Dave moves first, his troops poised to plunge deep into the town. My troops are gathered together in an incoherent mass. My sole consideration was to get my troops into such of the town as remained unoccupied without taking too many casualties enroute. I wasn't entirely successful on that score. I had my 7-0 and a couple of squads in the sole stone building within my set up area largely because it would simply be embarrassing to lose that one.
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| As start, Dave's forces are well spread out ready to move tactically. Mine are clumped together ready to move impractically |
Dave's Americans pushed forward pegging out claims although he didn't push quite as far forward as I expected. I felt a little surge of hope. That surge petered out when his pair of medium machines managed to stun one of my little semoventes and break both the squads lurking beneath its dubious protection.
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| End of American turn one. The Italians are eager to get into the town if only to protect themselves from the mmgs up on the hill |
With turn one upon me I hustled my remaining troops into the town. My plan, and I did have one, was to try and control the last two streets of the village. This would protect the ownership of more than sufficient stone buildings. An armoured car was sent to the bottom of the board to help the troops there ward off a flanking attack while the remaining three vehicles were supposed to lurk behind buildings and add their firepower to the defence. A fair bit of this plan actually worked which just goes to show it must have been a pretty rubbish plan.
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| End Italian turn 1 |
My troops surged through the buildings but nervously and with a definite "keep out of the Americans way" vibe about the whole process. Having recovered from being stunned one of my semovente snuggled in behind some convenient buildings. I had no illusions about taking out the Stuarts with these things (although theoretically it's possible) but I planned to use them to bolster my somewhat fragile infantry defenders. This they succeeded in doing, briefly.
Dave's Stuarts arrived making every other armoured vehicle feel shabby and inadequate. The Stuarts plunged deep into the town, one of them promptly stunning my other semovente. A powerful force swung around my left while his troops pressed my front line (it was more of a front blob). A close combat raged in one of the buildings I had hoped to hold for some time.
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| Turn 2 and already under pressure |
In my view close combat is an unnecessary risk for the Americans. An Italian squad can face down an American halfsquad in CC and if the odds are greater there is always the chance that the grey heroes will get lucky. My grey heroes did indeed get lucky. They killed a US halfsquad and accompanying leader and reestablished my front line. This was useful as my back line was rapidly filling up with broken Italian squads who had fled the front line. On my right a Stuart took a second shot at a semovente and made no mistake this time, the little vehicle going up in flames. My surviving semovente was stunned (again) I think collectively both vehicles managed to break one American squad. My armoured car in the street played a greater role, using its machine guns to help defend my front line buildings which was useful as my squads were folding like wet carboard.
In the east (bottom of the board) I decided I could waste a squad and an armoured car on an act of reckless foolishness. I sent both squad and car racing to the south end of the board where the squad leapt into a building taken but abandoned by the Americans as they swept for my flank. I had no hope that they would hold this position but intended to divert a little of the seething mass of American firepower and preserve my main position for a little longer.
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| One semovente is gone but my front line is reestablished (sort of) |
Distract they did although the armoured car didn't distract for too long. I had completely forgotten that the Americans had a couple of bazookas. In the next turn David reminded me of the fact and my flanking armoured car was duly destroyed. However he did have to send some guys back to chase my troops out of their newly acquired building. In the centre Dave pushed his luck with a Stuart too far and my atr team managed a deliberate immobilisation hit. Dave's tank crew declined to stay in the vehicle and were cheerfully shot to death by Italian infantry. I was delighted at this especially as my other semovente had managed to malf its main armament and fled the scene. The other however positioned itself where it could command the street I had hitherto been using to funnel reinforcements to the front line.
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| A Stuart is gone but so is most of my armour |
That was pretty much the end. I clung on for another couple of turns but stone buildings were not enough to protect my Italians from the staggering firepower the Americans could generate. Having learnt his close combat lesson Dave took no further chances and remorselessly squeezed me literally shooting the Italians out of the buildings. With my number of stone buildings shrinking and Dave's Americans pouring mineable quantities of metal into my hapless defenders I gave the surrender while I still had a stone building or two to my name.
I don't know why I wanted to play this scenario (hint: Italians) but now I've done it and I never had to do it again. Many thanks to Dave for the game and a MVAM to the squad with the atr who provided the Italians with their one brief moment of glory.
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