Sicily 43

[John B.]

In the West, Truscott has moved his division up to the German main line of resistance. I only have two German battalions here and the question will be should I fall back towards Messina and just give up Palermo? I think it's too early for that. Near the coast the American armor spent the day cleaning up Italians in their rear but not really making much progress.

[John B.]

another turn into the record books. It was pretty much all quiet on the western front with the Italians being cheeking and running down to grab a town on the coast and the Americans pushing them out. Otherwise, the allies sat on their hands which is probably not a good thing for them to do.

[John B.]

But, there is more action at the "valley of death." It was too tempting so I launched an attack (and took units out of fortified positions to do so) and pushed the brits back to the river. But, they then counter attacked on me and retook the hex and disrupted my engineer battalion. Given that it's quiet in the center, I'm sending extra troops to take part in this battle.

[John B.]

On to turn 21. The British managed to extend their bridgehead in the valley of death a bit. Without a real reserve for attacking I'm consoled myself by bombarding his big stacks and causing some number of casualties. You'll see that in the center because of his pressure in the west I've decided that discretion is the better part of valor and pulled elements of the 29th division out to start defending the approaches to Messina.

[John B.]

In the West the Americans have broken through and now they are also pressuring near the coast. I may do the "run away" defense and try to set up new lines and to hold Palermo as long as possible.

[John B.]

Casualty wise, I don't think things are going too badly. Here are the infantry type losses here at the halfway point through the game. Not too much in the way of replacements.

[John B.]

Now we've made it to turn 23 and the allies have made enough progress to have to divide Sicily into three fronts. Here on the southern coast the Americans are grinding through the Italian river lines. And, the allies have also been causing significant casualties on Italian units. the loss modifier has flipped from favoring me to favoring the allies. But, it's still a marginal Axis victory.

[John B.]

The allies have also, finally, succeed in cutting Sicily in half. The Italians are tasked with defending Palermo while the Germans will fall back on Messina. I'm not sure if I can hold Palermo for two more weeks, but we're going to find out.

[John B.]

Finally, in what is not the German sector, I've been pulling the 29th PG division up to the northern coast to defend that approach to Messina and they are digging in. The Americans did attack the armor unit in the center that does not have any entrenchment counter and took heavy losses doing so. In the east, I shelled the British over stacked units a bit and left well enough along.

[John B.]

Hello all, I guess it's been awhile but the game goes on. Here it is on Turn 32 and, as you can see, no real progress for the allies in the West. I launched a little counter attack with the Germans along the coast and now I'm scuttling back east with them, but the allies have not been to aggressive.

[John B.]

On the southern coast there has been no movement at all. I've set up another fortified line behind the river and things have pretty much sat there.

[John B.]

No real action on the East Coast other than me tossing some random artillery shells into the large overstacks the allies are keeping there. But, the British and Americans have been willing to take heavy losses in the center and they have pushed me back a couple of hexes. The events say that an evacuation flotilla is forming at Messina but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to run away so I'm sticking around. The allies only have ten more turns to do something and I'm still in marginal victory territory.

[John B.]

On to turn 34 and the only real action continues to be in the center with the British and the 1st ID taking the brunt of the attacks. Losses have been heavy but the Germans continue cling to their line. With no pressure from the allies on other fronts, thing are unlikely to change much in the next 8 turns.

[John B.]

Well, it's all over and it ends in a German marginal victory. As you can see, the British were making slow progress in the center but at a heavy cost. On the coast there was almost no German attacks. Oddly, if you look closely, you can see that a number of British units near the coast are reorganizing. I'm not sure why since it has been at least 20 turns since they did anything, but that might explain the general failure to attack on that front.

[John B.]

Here are the German/Italian infantry losses. Pretty heavy but the units are still in the field.

[John B.]

German/Italian tank losses are not too bad.

[John B.]

Allied infantry shows that this was a tough infantry battle for them. The US divisions, in particular, appeared to be burnt out.

[John B.]

Allied tank losses seem to be a bit lighter than the German on a percentage basis.

On the whole, I'd say this is a good scenario that is probably best played against someone else or have the AI be the defender.

[StuccoFresco]

Truly an interesting AAR. Thanks John.

[John B.]

My pleasure!