Hang 'Em High (BC-1)


Monte Casino, Italy, March 17, 1944: Point 435, a mere 250 yards below the 
Monte Casino Manastery, comprised a jutting platform of rock that could serve 
as an ideal jumping-off point for an assault. From the top of this platform 
rose a broken pylon that had originally anchored an aerial ropeway from the 
town beneath. To the soldiers in the valley below, this pylon resembled a 
gallows and Point 435 earned the nickname "Hangman's Hill". As the third 
battle for Casino began, Lt. Col. G.S. Nangle, commanding the 1/9 Gurkha 
Rifles, had been tasked with the capture of Point 435. The battle had opened 
with a series of fits and starts, and while two companies of Rajputana 
Rifles had secured Castle Hill, the intermidiate objectives between Castle 
Hill and Point 435 remained unsecured. Finding himself out of communication 
with Brigade Headquarters, Nangle was faced with an agonizing dilema: hold 
back his entire battalion, or proceed with his advance onto an uncharted and 
possibly enemy-held hillside. He decided to go forward with the original 
plan, and in the early morning hours of March 15th, Companies C and D stepped 
off into the darkness.

Game Length: 6.5 turns

For the Germans to win they must capture Point 435 and run the Gurkhas out
For the British to win they must defend the Point 435 and the surrounding hill tops

Germans: Squads, MMG, LMG's, mtr, DC's, PSK
Gurkhas: Squads, MMG, LMG's, mtr

Boards: #9

Aftermath: D Company went one direction and walked into a machinegun ambush. 
C Company worked its way around the town and disappeared into the night. As 
dawn was breaking, the surprised German defenders in the Abbey found the Gurkhas 
at their doorstep. With intense machinegun and small-arms fire the paratroopers 
drove the intruders back behind the protective outcropping of Point 435. The 
twenty year old commander of C Company, Captain Michael Drinkall, was wounded 
but continued to commmand his men from a stretcher. His radio transmitter had 
malfunctioned, and finding himself isolated and out of communication with his 
commander, Drinkall was on the verge of ordering a withdrawal. At the last 
moment, the radio began working and contact with Battalion HQ was established. 
C Company held on through the 16th, and at dawn of March 17th the paratroopers 
in the Monastery launched a sharp counterattack to dislodge the Gurkha defenders. 
Revolver in hand, Drnkall inspired his men to beat back the Germans until the 
timely arrival of D Company. The paratroopers were forced to retire to the Monastery 
with the knowledgethat a significant force of Gurkhas was now entrenched only a 
matter of yards from the outer walls of the building.

Source: Unknown
