The grand finale of our WW2 Sicily theme was this Flames of War scenario from the “wargamerabbit” web page:
https://wargamerabbit.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/breaking-the-san-fratello-line.pdf
The scenario provides the historical background, orders of battle, terrain, and objectives. In brief, this battle was part of Patton’s “Race to Messina” and featured a ground attack against the German-Italian positions along the San Fratello line, combined with an amphibious landing in the Axis rear. The Germans were in the process of pulling back to a new defensive line when this phase of the battle began.
Terrain: The 14’X5′ table was set up with the long axis running east-west. The sea was off-table to the north, with a landing beach on the NE edge of the table. The terrain adjacent to the sea was flat and was bisected by three dry rivers — a wide river on the western edge, a narrow river roughly in the middle, and another narrow river in the east. A few small towns were located along the coastal road. Four ridge lines entered the table from the south and extended toward the north for about 2/3 of the depth of the table. The most important of these was the ridge in the west, which was topped by the ruins of San Fratello. This ridge and the flatter ground to its north formed the main Axis defensive position. Overall, the ground was mostly open, and several areas of rocky ground provided bulletproof cover.
Forces:
The Italians were defending the San Fratello ridge line with a Fucilierii company that was supported to the rear by a battery of 100mm guns and a Semovente 47 platoon. The Germans fielded a motorized PanzerGrenadier company, with two batteries of artillery off-table to the east, and limited Stuka support. Most of the Germans were dug in between San Fratello and the sea, with a Pz.IV platoon, a self-propelled AA platoon, and one Pz.Gd. platoon along the main road heading east.
The Americans were attacking from the west with a reinforced Rifle company, supported by two off-table artillery batteries. On Turns 2, 3, and 4 the three waves of the amphibious attack would land in the German rear. The amphibious force consisted of a Boat Landing company along with combat engineers, a Sherman platoon, and a battery of Priests, plus naval gunfire support and limited P-40 air support. On Turn 4, an Armored Rifle company supported by two Sherman platoons would arrive in the west to reinforce the ground attack on the San Fratello line. Also on Turn 4, one rifle platoon would enter the table at the southern end of the San Fratello ridge.
Objectives: The objectives for both sides are rather complex, and are stated in full in the scenario. To make a long story short, the Americans have to clear the level ground of all Axis forces and link up the ground attack force with the beach landing force. If the link-up is achieved by Turn 10, it will be a major U.S. victory. If by Turn 16, it will be a minor U.S. victory.
Moves:
In the west, the action started slowly. The U.S. rifle company remained in its starting positions for three turns, waiting for artillery and mortars to soften up the German and Italian defenses. Despite the repeated bombardments, very few of the dug-in defenders were eliminated. The Germans used this time to recall their Pz.IV platoon and SPAA platoon to reinforce their defenses in the west, while sending a PaK40 AT platoon and one Pz.Gd. platoon back from the front to establish a new position near the middle of the table.
In the east, the first amphibious wave, consisting of two Boat Landing platoons, landed on Turn 2, and immediately assaulted a Pz.Gd. platoon that was still in its trucks. The Germans were fortunate to only lose two teams, and the survivors fell back and took cover in a nearby riverbed, where they were met by a Fucilieri platoon that had started on the easternmost ridge. An attempted Stuka attack on the landing craft was chased off by U.S. fighters (neither side had any success with its air power all game). On Turn 3, the Shermans and engineers arrived, and on Turn 4, two more Boat Landing platoons and a Priest battery landed. Meeting little opposition except for German artillery strikes, the infantry expanded the bridgehead and dug in, while the Shermans fired on the nearby German and Italian infantry.
The situation in the west heated up on Turn 4, when ten Shermans of the Armored Rifle company entered the table and brought their guns to bear on the Pz.IVs, knocking out two of them. The remaining two German tanks saw that they were overmatched, and turned away to the east, to try their luck against the amphibious landing.
The Rifle company took this opportunity to advance toward the Italian defenses on San Fratello ridge and the German defenses near the coast. This advance was met by a storm of small arms and machine gun fire from the defenders and U.S. losses were extremely heavy, with one platoon being wiped out entirely. The pinned down Rifle company was forced to take cover and regroup in some rocky ground.
The lone rifle platoon also arrived from the south and took cover in some rocky ground on the southern edge of the table, facing the rear of the Italian defenses. This platoon would spend most of the game pinned down and taking losses from Italian artillery fire, but at least it drew some fire away from the main attack.
Back in the east, the action at the beachhead bogged down as both sides employed their artillery. The German and Italian platoons in the eastern riverbed were reduced to remnants, as was the PaK40 platoon in the center of the table. The U.S. Priest battery was eliminated, and the dug-in boat landing platoons also lost several teams.
In contrast, the action in the west was reaching a crescendo. U.S. artillery and mortars had finally weakened the Axis defenses, making an assault feasible. The U.S. Rifle company launched a small assault on the extreme southern end of the Italian line, where the defensive fire was weakest. Two teams were lost to defensive fire, but the assault went in. Although no Italians were lost in the assault, they failed their morale check to counterassault, and were forced to abandon their positions on the southern end of the ridge. A second small assault on the middle of the ridge was similarly successful, leaving only the ruins of San Fratello still in Italian hands (and still under heavy bombardment).
More significantly, on the flat ground below San Fratello, the Shermans assaulted and overran the German forward defenses. The tanks were followed up by combat engineers, who removed barbed wire obstacles and opened the road for the Armored Rifle platoons. This combined arms force then continued to attack through the German positions, until it eliminated all of the defenders and made a clean breakthrough. (General Patton himself made an appearance at this point, to cheer on the troops — and pose for the cameras!)
The Luftwaffe made one final appearance over this target-rich formation, but the Stuka attack only bailed out a few vehicles.
The lone U.S. rifle platoon in the south finally unpinned and advanced down the ridge (taking additional casualties) to successfully assault and eliminate the remaining two guns in the Italian 100mm battery, thus taking their revenge for the grief this battery had given them.
The final dramatic act came in the east, when the two Pz.IVs arrived and assaulted the flank of the beachhead. One panzer was bailed out by the defensive fire of a bazooka team, but the assault went in. The Americans passed their motivation check to counterassault, and the same bazooka team then bailed out the second panzer, resulting in the destruction of both tanks! (I think a Silver Star might be in order for that bazooka team.)
At that point we called the game. We had played ten turns with no link-up with the beachhead, but there was a clear path for a link-up to occur by Turn 16, and, despite the heavy casualties to the Rifle company, the Americans had more than enough combat power to mop up the remnants of the German and Italian forces that were still on the table. So the result was an American minor victory!
- TJ