We continued our Salerno 1943 theme by playing another scenario by Wargamerabbit. This scenario focused on the fighting around Persano on 11 September 1943. This battle pitted the US 179th RCT of the 45th (“Thunderbird”) Division against elements of the German 29th PanzerGrenadier (“Falcon”) Division. So it would be the Thunderbird vs. the Falcon!
The historical background and the full scenario details can be found at these links:
Situation: The 179th RCT has pushed into the corridor formed by the Sele and Calore rivers, with the objectives of capturing the bridge on the Sele river and the town of Serre, both of which are located on the eastern end of the corridor (just off table to the east and NE). On their way into the corridor from the west, the Americans bypassed and did not occupy the hilltop palace of Persano (which was built in the 18th Century by Charles III of Bourbon, King of Naples (and later King of Spain) as a royal hunting lodge and stud farm). The Germans then occupied Persano themselves — cutting the US line of communications, and moved other forces toward both ends of the corridor to attack and eliminate the 179th RCT. Thus the Americans are now faced with the need to clear the Germans out of Persano in the west, while continuing to press toward their objectives in the east, while fending off the German attacks.
Terrain: The 13 X 5 foot table was set with the long axis running east-west. The Sele and Calore rivers are off table to the north and south. The terrain is mostly flat, except for a low hill in the NW part of the table on which Persano is located, and a low rise on the eastern end of the table. The ground is covered by numerous low crop fields, some hedges, a few brushy streams, a few small woods, and a few farms. The tree-lined main road runs along the east-west axis of the table.
“Transition Zone”: In real life, the corridor is several miles long, and doglegs to the northeast. To make the terrain fit the table, the author compressed and shifted the ground in the center of the corridor, and he called this area the “transition zone”. This concept worked rather well in the game, because the action was focused on both ends of the table, and the transition zone effectively linked both sectors. The special rules for the transition zone can be found in the scenario.
Objectives: Per the scenario, the center of Persano is the single objective in the west, and two objectives are on the high ground on the eastern end of the table, near the two road exits. In addition to holding the objectives, the Germans have an additional incentive to wipe out the American combat units. The scenario provides the detailed victory conditions. The scenario runs for 12 turns.
Forces: We added several more tanks to both sides and one more platoon of US infantry to the orders of battle in the original scenario so that we could accommodate nine players.
German Forces:
East:
At Start: Company command in Sd.Kfz 250 halftrack, 2 X PzGd (Auflklarungs) platoons (dismounted), 3 X Pak50 AT guns with transport, two recon patrols each with 1 X Sd.Kfz 250 and 2 X Sd.Kfz 250/9 (2.0 cm). Deployed and dug in on the high ground in the east.
Off-board artillery: 4 X 10.5cm howitzers
Turn 6 Reserves: 3 X StuG III F/G, PzGd platoon. Entering from the east.
Turn 8 Reserves: PzGd platoon. Entering from the north, near the eastern end of the table.
West:
At Start: Pioneer platoon, 4 X HMG, 2 X 8.0 cm mortars. Deployed in Persano.
Turn 1 Reserves: Panzer Company HQS with 2 X Pz.IV G (late), two panzer platoons each with 4 X Pz.IV G (late). Company HQS and 3 X PzGd. platoons (dismounted). 2 X 8.8 cm guns. All entering from the west.
Turn 6: Stuka air support.
American Forces:
East: Company command, 3 X rifle platoons, weapons platoon with 3 X 60mm mortars and 4 X LMGs, mortar platoon with 6 X 81mm mortars, light tank platoon with 5 X Stuarts. Deployed but not dug in facing the eastern end of the table.
West: Company command, 2 X rifle platoons, weapons platoon with 3 X 60mm mortars and 4 X LMGs, AT platoon with 4 X 57mm antitank guns. Deployed but not dug in facing Persano.
Transition Zone: Regimental HQS, combat engineer platoon, SP AT platoon with 4 X M3 (75mm), SP AA platoon, 4 X 105mm howitzers.
Turn 6 Reserves: Two tank platoons each with 5 X M4 Shermans, A&P Platoon. Off board 105mm battery. Entering from SW corner of the table.
Turn 7 Reserves: Two TD platoons each with 4 X M10 TDs, two rifle platoons. Entering from the south near western end of the table.
Deployment and Moves:
In the east, the Germans deployed with one Pz.Gd platoon dug in on each objective — one in the NE corner and one on the main road in the center. The AT guns were split between the two platoons. The wide gap between the objectives was screened by one patrol of Sd.Kfz 250 halftracks, while the second patrol and the company commander set up near the main road.
The US forces in the east set up very aggressively, with two rifle platoons with attached LMGs deploying as close to the Germans as possible while the third rifle platoon, the mortars, and the Stuarts set up to their immediate rear. The Americans started the game by calling artillery and mortar fire down on the German defenders while two platoons of US infantry and the Stuarts moved forward into the cover of the brushy stream that separated the two forces, The Germans responded with artillery and small arms fire.
In the west, the Germans set up the Pioneers and HMGs within the buildings on the eastern side of Persano, with excellent fields of fire to the east, while the two mortars dug in just behind the palace on the western side.
The scenario allowed the US starting forces to set up offensively, near the Germans, or defensively, away from the Germans. The US commander in the west split the difference, setting up across the middle of his deployment zone. His 60mm mortars then started to bombard Persano, and would continue doing so all game, while his infantry and antitank guns cautiously moved forward, coming under German mortar and machine gun fire.
In the center, the US regimental commander committed the combat engineers and SP AT platoon to the west. The artillery battery gave fire support to the east, and the SP AA platoon remained in the transition zone to protect the artillery.
The Germans reserves arrived from the west on Turn 1 and moved onto the table offensively, with the Pz.Gd. company advancing through the fields south of Persano while the Panzers sought firing positions near Persano. Their long range fire soon eliminated the American SP AT platoon. The two 88s moved to the western edge of Persano and took up firing positions on the hill, facing south.
In the east, the American attack was going well. The German AT gun and the recon halftracks in the NE were knocked out, giving the US infantry and Stuarts an opportunity to assault the PanzerGrenadiers and push them back from the crest. The surviving Germans fell back into a farm house, where they could continue to contest the NE objective.
The success in the east enabled the US regimental commander to shift his artillery fire to the west. The US artillery came down hard on the advancing PanzerGrenadiers, eliminating several teams and pinning the company. Meanwhile, US mortar fire continued to fire at Persano, and the Germans in Persano continued to fire back, with slight losses to both sides.
To add some impetus to their attack in the west, the Germans advanced the Panzer company, swinging all ten tanks around the southern side of Persano. This move put them squarely in the path of the US reserves, which arrived on Turn 6. The US entry zone in the SW corner enabled the Shermans to move to firing positions behind the Panzers. The Germans were fortunate to only lose two tanks to this fire.
The Germans responded by turning around their eight surviving tanks to face the Shermans. Their fire, plus the fire from the 88s, knocked out one platoon of Shermans. However, the Panzers were now presenting their flanks to the American M10 tank destroyers, which arrived from the south on Turn 7. US fire claimed two more Panzers, including the 2-i-C’s vehicle. The intense firefight continued, with German Stukas joining the action and bombing the M10s. The remaining Shermans were wiped out, and four M10s were lost to the nearly continuous air attacks. US return fire knocked out two more Panzers. The Germans then broke off the the fight and pulled their surviving four Panzers (including the company commander) into Persano, out of sight behind the crest of the hill.
While the tank battle was raging, the PanzerGrenadiers in the fields were taking heavy casualties from US artillery and small arms fire coming from the reserve US rifle platoons and the combat engineers, which killed the company commander. The remnants of one Pz.Gd. platoon pulled back into the cover of Persano, while the few survivors of another platoon dug in where they were in an effort to delay the US infantry from reaching the town. Fortunately for these Germans, their elimination was delayed because all of the US infantry facing them were pinned down by the Stuka and mortar attacks.
In the east, the situation changed radically with the arrival of the German reserves on Turns 6 and 8. Fire from the StuGs swiftly eliminated the last of the Stuarts, which gave the arriving German infantry the freedom to counterattack the US infantry, which by then had been weakened by casualties incurred in the earlier fighting. The German infantry counterattacked relentlessly, wiping out one rifle platoon and reducing another platoon to one team, recapturing the NE objective in the process. At game’s end in the east, the US company was left with that one team, plus one fresh rifle platoon, dug in and still deployed in the rear, and half of the 81mm mortar battery — i.e. one team away from being broken! The Germans had gained a victory in the east, but had not wiped out the American combat platoons. The game’s result would thus hinge upon what happened in the west.
In the west, the endgame was equally tense and dramatic. The German commander in Persano attempted to use “Blitz” and “Shoot and Scoot” orders to pop the Pz.IVs out to the crest line, shoot, and then pop back behind the crest to avoid return fire. The German company commander botched his skill test to Shoot and Scoot, which left his Panzer exposed on the crest. The US tank destroyers made short work of him.
Meanwhile, all of the German infantry in Persano (a small group of Pioneers and PzGrenadiers, with two attached HMGs) moved into the palace on the north side of town to expel some U.S. infantry that had snuck in through the woods, and eliminated the US platoon.
The Americans had some trouble unpinning their other infantry, but the combat engineers and the A&P platoon unpinned. The engineers moved into the unoccupied buildings on the SE side of Persano, while the A&P platoon assaulted and eliminated the 88s, and then moved into the buildings on the SW side of town.
Between them, those two US platoons had five bazookas, which shot at and bailed two of the remaining Pz.IVs. The combat engineers then assaulted the bailed out tanks, and knocked out both of them. The last Pz.IV then failed its morale check and left the table.
Meanwhile, the US artillery and mortars were bombarding the German infantry in the palace. Two tank destroyers moved into the town and added their .50 cals to the mix, and two 57mm AT guns were manhandled up to the crest to add their fire. All of this fire whittled down and pinned the defenders, and also eliminated the two German mortars on the backside of the hill. This gave the A&P platoon an opportunity to assault the palace on the last turn of the game. The assault went in and killed two German teams, leaving the Germans with two teams remaining. The Germans counter-assaulted and pushed back the Americans (who failed their motivation check to stay in the combat).
Going into the German half of the last turn of the game, the objective was contested, and all the Germans had to do was pass a “Last Man Standing” test and the result would be a draw. Unfortunately for the Germans, they failed the morale test, which removed their last two teams from the table. This gave the western objective to the Americans!
Combining the results at both ends, the game ended in a draw! This was a very fair result for a very good game. Kudos once again to Wargamerabbit for designing a great scenario.
- TJ