75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino and Northern Italy (Gaming The Battles)

Before we start, I’ve taken some shots of the defending Fallschirmjager in their trenches around Point 593 and the Allied units preparing the assault. Just to set the scene.

Some additional rules that I forgot to mention.

The ground is broken and it is not possible to move at Dash speed.

Apart from the first turn, all infantry units start the turn pinned due to the lack of cover between them and the guns on Point 593.

The German Infantry Guns are hidden and cannot be fired upon until the German guns open fire, exposing their positions.

For this battle, I’ve chosen not to include the tactical maps. It’s largely a straight push by the 4^th British Indian and 20^th Armoured toward point 593 so probably doesn’t need a tactical view.

Turn 1.

The allied forces need to get forward quickly and so all of the Infantry units advance straight forward. The armour also needs to get up the board from Albaneta Farm to support the assault but, as in the real battle, there is no coordination between the two forces and so the tanks have no infantry support during their advance. At the end of the movement, the few Allied infantry teams that can fire miss and the tanks have no targets.

The Germans, during their first turn clearly have no need to move and just return fire. The infantry guns are out of range of the tanks so stay quiet, not wanting to expose their positions. The HMG and MG2 nest are able to kill 1 team from BOP and pin the platoon in place.

Turn 2.

All but one of the British Indian Division platoons unpin and continue their advance. They’re now well within range of the German trenches. The tanks continue their advance up the road. The shooting is largely ineffective with only a couple of shots hitting home and easily saved by the German defenders in their trenches. The 2” mortar teams attached to each platoon do manage to lay down some smoke to provide at least some cover.

The lead tanks are now in range of the German LG40 guns and the Germans decide to open up, revealing their ambush. Despite the range, a shot ploughs through the front armour of the lead tank, destroying it. Meanwhile, with the 4^th BI in range of the German trenches, the bullets start to fly. With the volume of MG fire available, BOP loses 3 teams whilst the Gurkha’s of Blue Platoon lose 5 teams.

Turn 3.

The entire Allied army is able to unpin and move forward. The tanks, now under attack and able to see the guns advance and spread out to maximise their return fire. These extra shots from the tanks are able to destroy one of the gun teams. The infantry fair better this turn, destroying one German HMG team and a team from FRP. They also manage to get some more smoke down.

With the tanks spread out, there are now more targets for the LG40 guns and they put this to good use. One tank brews up and the crew from another bail out after taking a hit at relatively close range. This leaves one tank platoon with no operational tanks!

The 4^th BI fair no better with GBP losing 1 team, BOP losing 2 and BRP losing 4 teams. The infantry assault is being stopped quickly by the German MGs.