We continued our WW2 Sicily theme by playing the Battle of Ponte Dirillo. Historically, elements of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division held off elements of the Herman Goring Panzer Division, and thereby prevented the Germans from attacking the American amphibious landings at Gela.
The scenario that we used was originally designed for Advanced Squad Leader. Here is a link to the original scenario, which is based on the historical action:
Advanced Squad Leader – ASL AAR: Drillo HG Reconquest (BR9)
We slightly adapted the scenario’s Order of Battle to fit Flames of War organization. The forces in our game were:
U.S. (Fearless Veteran)
- Company HQS: 2 carbine-armed Parachute Command teams
- Platoon 1: 7 Parachute MG teams
- Platoon 2: 7 Parachute MG teams
- Support Weapons: 3 X .30 cal. MMG teams, 1 Bazooka team (to be attached to any platoons)
- Mortar Battery: 2 X 60mm mortars (may direct fire and may fire a maximum of one HE bombardment)
- AT Gun: 1 X 37mm antitank gun
- Captured Italian Gun: 1 X 75mm infantry gun (may only direct fire)
- Bunkers: 4 X bunkers with captured Italian LMGs (ROF 3, range 16″)
- Sniper
- Self-propelled Artillery: 1 X T-30 SP 75mm gun (in Reserve)
- Tank Platoon: 5 X Sherman 75mm tanks (in Delayed Reserve)
German: (Confident Veteran)
- Company HQS: 2 SMG command teams
- Platoon 1: 7 Panzergrenadier MG teams
- Platoon 2: 7 Panzergrenadier MG teams
- Platoon 3: 7 Panzergrenadier MG teams
- Platoon 4: 7 Panzergrenadier MG teams
- Support Weapon: 1 HMG (to be attached to any platoon)
- Gun Battery: 2 X 75mm Infantry Guns with SdKfz 11 transports
- Recon Platoon: 1 PSW 222 Armored Car
- Tiger Platoon: 2 X Pz.VI tanks
- Tiger Platoon: 2 X Pz.VI tanks
- Tiger Platoon: 1 X Pz.VI tank
Special Rules:
- U.S. teams may begin the game dug in on the high ground within 8″ of the bunkers. (These foxholes represent captured Italian entrenchments.) The foxholes are marked and will remain permanent features of the terrain.
- The ground is too hard for any teams to dig in during the game.
- Tall reeds are depicted on the table with pieces of coir doormats. Reeds require a cross-check for vehicles to enter, provide concealment, and block same-level line of sight to and from infantry and gun teams that are behind them. Reeds do not block LOS from tanks to other tanks.
- The U.S. 37mm AT gun, the bazooka team, and the sniper team may be set up in Ambush.
- Each bunker has an inherent U.S. crew to operate the Italian LMG in each bunker. These crews are not physically represented on the table, and may not leave the bunkers.
- Weapons and Vehicle platoons with only one team operate as independent teams.
- If a Tiger platoon fails a Last Stand test, the Tiger will not leave the table, but will instead retreat a full tactical move. Continue to test every turn.
Terrain: We used the northern two-thirds of the scenario map, which gave us a 6’X5′ table with the long axis running east-west. The southern and western sides of the table are flat. The remainder of the table is a very large hillside, with its summit in the NE corner of the table. A tributary stream of the Dirillo River runs just inside the German baseline in the south, and is crossed by a bridge at the center of the southern baseline. The stream is fordable, but any vehicles that attempt to cross it are subject to becoming bogged down. The banks of the stream are lined with reeds. The main road enters the table at the bridge in the south, runs north and goes over the SW tip of the hill, then angles to the NW and exits the NW corner of the table. The cutting where the road begins to climb the hill is impassible cliff terrain. A secondary road enters the table from the east and runs along the northern side of the stream until it intersects the main road near the bridge. The bunkers are located near the road on the lower slopes of the hill. The hillside and the flat ground are generally open, with have several areas of reeds, orchards, vineyards, and fields, plus a few isolated farmhouses.
Objectives:
The Germans may enter the table from the south via the main road and/or from the east via the secondary road, and must exit 45% of their force’s points value from the NW corner table via the main road. Using the V.3 FOW books, the Germans have about 1800 points in their force, thus 45% is 800 points (which equals the value of the five Tigers). (Note that the original scenario requires the Germans to exit 65% of their force, but we believed this was too difficult, so we toned it down for our game.)
The Americans (with about 1200 points in their force) must prevent the Germans from achieving their objective. The game has a maximum of 14 turns.
Deployment:
The American paratroops deployed 1st Platoon (with two MMG’s) in foxholes around the single bunker on the knoll at the SW corner of the hill, with the Company HQS in foxholes behind them. North of the road they placed the captured Italian gun, in a foxhole behind the three bunkers on that side of the road. 2nd Platoon (with one MMG) was deployed further up the hill in the rear, ready to move to counter whatever the Germans would do. The 60mm mortars were also set up in the rear, near the hilltop. The 37mm AT gun, the single bazooka, and the sniper were held off table in ambush. U.S. reserves would enter from the northwest corner of the table, via the main road.
After seeing the American deployment, the Germans decided to enter their entire force via the main road in the south, and then planned to maneuver most of their force around the hill to the west before turning north toward the exit point in the NW corner. The Tigers led the column, followed by the towed guns, followed by the armored car and the four infantry platoons on foot.
Moves:
The column of five Tigers took two turns to cross the bridge and turn to the west, firing as they moved at the dug-in and gone-to-ground paratroops. This fire had no effect. Behind the Tigers, the two 75mm Infantry Guns unlimbered near the bridge on the south side of the stream. Three Pz.Gd. platoons and the company HQS also moved behind the stream toward the west, using the cover of the tall reeds to screen themselves from any American fire. Rather inexplicably, the armored car and the fourth infantry platoon crossed the bridge and then turned east, moving in plain view across the front of three bunkers. We think German commander intended to use this platoon as a diversionary force (unfortunately he did not live to file a report), but all it diverted was a hail of machine gun bullets from the bunkers, and four teams were lost before the three surviving teams could move out of the bunkers’ field of fire.
The Americans reacted by moving 2nd Platoon down the western slope of the hill until it reached a blocking position next to the main road. Without any friendly armored support, this platoon had no hope of stopping the advancing Tigers, but that armored support was near at hand.
On Turn 3, the first American reserve arrived in the form of a single T-30 Self-Propelled 75mm howitzer. This halftrack sped along the main road toward the front lines.
By Turn 4, the Tigers had moved around the SW corner of the hill and were moving at top speed into the open fields on the western side of the table. Behind them, the main German infantry force began to ford the stream. A sizable gap was opening up between the Tigers and the infantry.
On Turn 5, the Sherman platoon arrived from reserve, and took cover behind an orchard near the main road. Meanwhile, the German 75mm guns were bombarding the dug in paratroops of 1st Platoon, without any effect. The U.S. mortars were shooting at the German guns near the bridge, also without any effect.
On Turn 6, the Tigers continued to rapidly advance into the open fields. The leading two Tigers outpaced the others as they neared the main road. One of these Tigers turned its turret to fire at the dug-in paratroops on the knoll. This gave the Americans a (very slim) chance of taking out a Tiger. Three Shermans broke cover and shot at the Tigers. One shot penetrated the rear of the Tiger’s turret, but all it did was stun the crew. At the same time, the paratroops deployed their bazooka team from ambush to fire at the flank of the other Tiger, but the shot had no effect. Then the paratroops of 2nd Platoon assaulted the Tigers. Defensive fire from the operational Tiger eliminated the bazooka team, and the close combat attacks of the other paratroops had no effect. But the Tigers then failed their morale check. The operational Tiger was forced to withdraw, and the stunned Tiger was destroyed!
The other Tigers swiftly took their revenge and destroyed two of the Shermans, but the loss of the one Tiger had an immense impact on the Germans, as they would now have to exit all four of their surviving Tigers plus one infantry platoon in order to reach their victory conditions. The situation had been looking grim for the Americans, but now they had a chance.
While this was happening, the paratroops of 1st platoon shifted from their positions on the knoll to occupy some orchards to the west. This move got them out from under the German bombardment, and it also placed some of their teams in a position to interdict the German infantry platoons that were emerging from the stream into the open ground. The T30 halftrack also moved forward to bring its .50cal. machine gun to bear. The American fire was accurate, and German saving throws were abysmal, and several German teams were lost. The German infantry force was pinned down in the open and needed help.
That help arrived when the four remaining Tigers regrouped and pivoted to the east, bringing their machine guns to bear on the paratroops in the orchards. At the same time, the German infantry unpinned and added their fire, plus the fire of their HMG. All of this fire was accurate, and the paratroops lost several teams, including one MMG team. The surviving paratroops then broke off and fell back into the foxholes on the knoll.
With the action flowing to the west, the U.S. mortar teams moved west from their initial position near the hilltop, and would eventually reach a new firing position inside a walled orchard on the western side of the hill. The German guns limbered up and also moved west, remaining south of the stream. The German armored car and the three teams of the fourth platoon climbed up the hill to attack the Americans from the east. The AC knocked out the team manning the captured Italian gun, then was knocked out itself by the T30, which had returned to the hill via the road cutting.
As the game neared the endgame, three Tigers resumed their movement toward the NW exit (the fourth Tiger was forced to retreat two moves after failed morale checks). The Tigers screened the advance of the closely-following German infantry, which had been reduced by the earlier firefight to two half-platoons and one full platoon, plus the company HQS. The U.S. 2nd Platoon moved into an orchard in the NW to try to block the exit of the German infantry, while the three surviving Shermans tried to stay out of sight behind another orchard. One Sherman did not succeed in getting completely out of sight, and was destroyed by a Tiger.
The relocated U.S. mortars decided to use their one fire-for-effect mission against the German infantry. The bombardment ranged in and caught two platoons and the HQS under the template, eliminating one team and pinning all of the Germans. At the same time, the few remaining teams from 1st platoon moved into the orchards and fields to the west, where they were joined by the sniper and the 37mm AT gun from ambush. All of these assets fired at the rear of the Germans infantry, claiming a team or two. The surviving Germans went to ground and tried to stay alive while the Tigers did their work.
Up on the hill, the three teams from the German fourth platoon snuck up on the U.S. mortars and eliminated them in close combat. The T30 then moved up the hill and fired on these Germans with its .50 cal., killing one team. The two remaining German teams then failed their morale check and departed the table — they had had a bad day. The T30 then moved to a position on the hill from where it could use its howitzer to bombard the Germans in the open fields as they tried to exit the table — it had had a very good day.
At the scene of the main action, the two surviving Shermans moved from behind cover to the front of the orchard and engaged the German infantry with their machine guns, along with the small arms fire from 1st Platoon and the sniper Over the course of two turns, a few more German teams were lost, leaving the Germans with six surviving teams in total — just enough to win if they all made it off the table.
One Sherman was knocked out by a Tiger, and the lone survivor failed its morale check and left the table. This cleared the way for the Tigers to move into position to assault the U.S. 2nd Platoon in the orchard. The six German infantry teams also got up and moved to the side of the orchard to add their weight to the attack. Advancing fire from the Germans eliminated all but two paratroop teams, and an assault by two Tigers knocked out one team. This left only the platoon leader and the two Company HQS teams between the Germans and the exit, which was one move away, with one turn left to play!
At the bottom of Turn 13, these three brave paratroop teams formed a line across the road, prepared to block the exit with their bodies. Their sacrifice proved unnecessary, as the bombardment by the T30, plus the small arms fire from 1st Platoon and the sniper wiped out the last German infantry teams, leaving the Germans with insufficient strength to win the game. The four Tigers turned away, giving the Americans victory on the last turn!
Conclusion: This was a terrific scenario to play, and all the players enjoyed it. It seemed that the Germans had an unstoppable force of Tigers, but time was against them. The loss of one Tiger would force the Germans to use their infantry to achieve victory, and the American force was well equipped to stop infantry. Throughout the game, both sides had to thoughtfully maneuver and counter-maneuver. The outcome was in doubt until the end, and the game could have gone either way. Games don’t get much better than this!
- TJ