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

This is actually the 76th Anniversary of the fall of Monte Cassino. I had hoped to run this project keeping pace with the time line of 75 years ago, but real life happened. So, one year later than planned, I’ve finally gotten around to it.

In the previous battle, I looked at the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade as they successfully crossed the Garigliano river to the West of the town of Cassino to support the infantry that made the crossing during the night. Getting armour onto the Northern side of the river had not been achieved in the previous attempts and despite fierce resistance, the British XIII Corps were able to inch their way up the Liri valley and began to threaten to surround Monte Cassino and cut off the defenders line of retreat.

On the XIII Corp’s left flank, the US fifth army were also making progress up the West coast of Italy. Most notably, the North African troops in the French Expeditionary Corps had progressed quickly through the Aurunci mountains and were able to begin fanning out. On 12th May, the FEC were able to begin to start putting pressure on the German defenders in the Liri valley. This caused the German line to begin to get squeezed between the FEC on the West and the British XIII Corps to the South.

Above the town of Cassino, the Polish II Corps had been tasked with taking the monastery. They followed the same route that the three previous and unsuccessful attempts had taken and once again met the defending Fallschirmjager. The fighting was brutal and bloody as the Poles fought to take Point 593, a key defensive position along Snakeshead Pass. Several times they succeeded in pushing the Fallschirmjager from their defensive positions, only for the Fallschirmjager to counter attack and regain what they had lost. After three days of fighting, the Poles pulled back slightly to recover before trying again. They had lost nearly 3800 men in the three days of fighting.

As the fighting atop Monte Cassino subsided on the 15th May, in the valley, 78th Infantry Division of the XIII Corps was pushed forward from reserve and began to advance around the back of Cassino, threatening to surround the town itself. The rest of XIII Corps were slowly progressing up the Liri valley.

On the 17th May, the Polish II Corps launched their final assault. Once again they threw themselves at the defending Fallschirmjager. As night fell, with the threat of being surrounded now almost a certainty, the Fallschirmjager were ordered to withdraw and fall back to new defensive positions on the Hitler Line. In the early hours of 18th May, British troops from 78th Division met up with the Polish II Corps on the far side of Monte Cassino. As the sun rose, Polish troops covered the last few metres to the monastery to find around 30 Fallschirmjager who were too wounded to move. They duly raised the Polish flag above Monte Cassino and finally completed the task the Allies started some four months before.

In this battle, I will look at the final few hours as the Polish assault the defending Fallschirmjager. This battlefield has been used before, but here’s the layout, with the Polish deploying at the lower right corner needing to push to the top left and take the top of the hill.

The forces are as follows

Fallschirmjager:
HQ of 2 stands armed with SMGs
3 Fallschirmjager platoons of 6 stands plus a Cmd stand
2 MG stands
2 MG Nests up in the hill overlooking the board

All of the Fallschirmjager are in trenches and therefore dug in and concealed. There are two barbed wire obstacles deployed in front of the trenches.

Polish II Corps:
HQ of 2 stands
5 Platoons of Cmd Sqd, 6 Rifle/MG squads, 2″ Mortar squad and PIAT Squad
2 Platoons of 2 MG teams
Mortar Platoon of 4 teams

Game Rules:
– The Poles are rated Fearless for this encounter. They have been waiting to be allowed a chance to show their spirit and extract revenge for the loss of their homeland on the Germans and this is their first chance
– Due to the poor terrain and the fact that it is exposed to enemy fire, no team can move at the double

Victory Conditions:
The Fallschirmjager are hopelessly outnumbered but have been ordered to withdraw. They must hold the line until the end of the 5th turn. If the Polish have reached the path at the base of the hill on or before the 5th turn, the Poles win.