QUICK AND DEADLY
AN AAR OF SCENARIO #45---HG PANZER ATTACK IN SICILY 7/43
SPOILER ALERT
Greetings SPWW2 fans. This is one of CB Blackard’s creations, and as often happens with him it’s sharp and short. You have just 11 turns to complete the mission, an assault by a reinforced tank regiment (mostly IVGs, two each Tigers and IIIGS, and assorted ACs [armored cars] plus two infantry platoons mounted in HTs [halftracks]). They have no artillery, and only two tanks (a Tiger and IVG) have direct-fire smoke rounds, although all have one smoke discharger round apiece. Their opponents are expected to be a mostly inexperienced force of infantry, AT guns and tanks, probably Stuarts, along with some artillery (possibly naval support?).
There are 11 objectives scattered widely throughout the central and southern parts of the map, a 4-kilometer (north to south) by 3.5-kilometer (east to west) mix of hilly terrain, trees, some buildings, impassable hexes, level areas and rough. A road network consists of two running north to south about two kilometers apart and two running east to west separated by about the same distance at the center and southern part, the latter hugging the coast furthest south.
Conducting a successful assault will require speed and guile. Their commander orders an imbalanced advance south along the two roads. The smaller force, with one armored car, a SdkFz 10, both Tigers and the relatively heavily armored IIIG’s followed by an infantry squad will take the western road, moving carefully and deliberately forward with Tigers leading. Most of the rest will follow the eastern road, with an AC and two tanks detailed to go off-road in the center, gaining overwatch on the plain below.
All goes well at first. Both columns move along the roads without incident and the first objective along the eastern road is taken. Suddenly they come under extremely heavy bombardment and they are engulfed in smoke and a cacophony of explosions from huge shells. Fortunately neither column suffers serious damage; two HTs (one a cannon-firing SdkFz 251/10} are eventually immobilized but they suffer relatively minor losses from almost continuous but inaccurate naval gunfire, spiced with some from 60mm mortars.
On the western road the Tigers have overrun their first objective and slow down to allow infantry to come up. The lead tank comes under fire from a 57mm AT gun but simply shrugs them off, firing smoke shells to block its LoS. However a 37mm AT gun is also active and it manages to score a mobility kill on the beast, which now must cede the advance to its mate. Apparently rattled by the pea-shooter, this now expends its only smoke. a discharger round which blocks them both from seeing the enemy. Meanwhile the two IIILs and other vehicles peel off the road on either side to get a better view of the situation.
To the east the main force rolls on inexorably, some closing in on a building compound while others continue on along the road. Infantry is carefully driven in and dismounted to spot any defenders inside the compound. As they approach the objective there they trigger responses by a Ranger squad and two bazooka teams, which are quickly dispatched in a deluge of fire. Meanwhile cannon HTs, ACs and tanks overwatching in the center have spotted a platoon of Stuarts moving to contest the compound. These too are dispatched with ease.
As all forces begin to converge on the main central western crossroads a platoon of five Sherman tanks are spotted moving through a wooded area just south of the central road. An ambush force is assembled along the road’s southern slope in greeting, while other vehicles scramble for cover; Shermans are not to be trifled with. At the same time a scratch platoon of two HTs (one with infantry aboard) and two tanks move south offroad to flank the entire enemy position and gobble up two distant objectives to the extreme southwest.
Along the western road the lone mobile Tiger, both IIILs and an infantry platoon have dueled some Ranger squads and bazooka teams while dodging fire from that still-invisible 37mm AT gun. The immobilized Tiger can only fire its precious smoke rounds to block off the 57mm gun as it is at an elevation too high and too far back from the slope in front for LoS directly ahead along the road, on or along which that blasted pea-shooter must be.
The Shermans come out of the woods but seem to sense danger. They slow down and some tanks on the other side of the road lose patience and break cover to engage. They score no hits but are invariably hit in reply, some suffering severe damage from either head-on shots by Shermans or flank shots from AT guns. They expend their single SD rounds for emergency cover; in one case an infantry squad must come to the rescue of a smokeless immobilized tank with a smoke round of its own.
Finally the Shermans move forward again. Four are blasted immediately by ambushers but one bugger decides to nestle in a cleft just out of sight along the slope. Fortunately the mobile Tiger has a bead on it and finishes it off. It’s bum-rush time at last!
Infantry move forward to trigger and spot the AT guns while the lone IVG with smoke rounds fires down the road to block LoS from that direction. Other tanks move up and fire blind through the smoke, routing both AT guns, and armor pours through. An AC charges down the western road to secure an objective halfway to the southern road. The two detached HTs, now far ahead of their lumbering escorts, race forward without opposition to take the two distant ones. Victory is secured and fairly won.
Final score was 1561 to 132, easily enough for a decisive win. Two ACs and one (empty) HT were destroyed, while three tanks took 5 points of damage each. Had only two of them been destroyed it would’ve been just a marginal. As usual the AI comes out of its fortified positions to try and regain lost objectives which tends to result in their getting slaughtered for nothing. One wonders what would happen if they simply stayed put and waited until the human forces came much closer to put the shoe on the other foot as it were.
Anyway it was fun and challenging, even though this grizzled geezer has played it six or eight times before. AIR a failed strategy is to try and bull your way through to that critical west-central intersection without prudent pauses or dispersing off-road, especially in regard to that “flying column” which secured the two most distant objectives.
That’s about it folks. Thanks for your kind attention and happy gaming. Cheers!
Quick and Deadly
Linear Mode
