Yet Another Sicily t BP Ian Allies me Axis

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looked like just before I ended my turn. I finished building the MLR's
and formed up a proper front line everywhere I could and moved some units in the west
but there wasn't a whole lot for me to do this turn.

[devoncop]

23rd July 1943

As Larry expected the US 7th Army finally gets its act together against the Italian Coastal Divisions it is facing and breaks through with the help of a newly arrived Free French Mountain Divn west of Licata. Another squadron of Stukas is destroyed in an airfield strike on the Italian mainland (hopefully the replacements for these will take a while).

In the East the British reach the Primasole Bridge defence line and continue to wear down the supporting artillery. I find artillery support to make a huge difference in attacks by none armoured formations (The British have relatively few armoured units on Sicily) so I do need to degrade Larry's capability in this area. The full FJ Regiment Larry has defending Primasole bridge itself gets some artillery love.

I have isolated the Panzer Grenadiers holding Piazza Amerina in the centre and 3rd US Division and Rangers supported by 1st Canadian Division are pushing through to the north.

I do need to struggle across to Palermo in the north east as some reinforcements are due to show up there and the western airfields are needed, but it is a fine balance as it reduces a lot the troops available to take Messina.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looked like as I ended my turn. There wasn't much for me to
do this turn.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

Those MLRs look very formidable.

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19

Larry,

Those MLRs look very formidable.

I was thinking the same !

[devoncop]

27th July 1943

The Tiger I's were all wiped out at Piazza Amerina as it was stormed by the US 3rd Division and a flanking movement surrounded and destroyed the artillery support of the Italian coastal Divisions in the west.

After preparatory bombardments the Royal tank Regiment captured Primasole Bridge seriously damaging the FJ Regiment that was forced to withdraw but the British 51st Division assault on entrenched engineers adjacent faltered thanks to a previously undiscovered Nebelwerfer battalion. This was then hit by air and more artillery but remains a threat.

The US 1st Division tanks are now racing unopposed along the coast road west to clear out the west of the island.

The US 3rd Div has now an open route in the centre and the 1st Canadian Div is joining it.

The line to the East of Etna is indeed fearsome.

[devoncop]

31st July 1943

Schedule now starting to slip a bit as supply problems hit the Americans. A number of failed attempts to repair rails hasn't helped but the Allies capture Enna on their way north.

More British units force their way onto Gerbini Airfield across the Primasole Bridge beachhead and forward elements of 51st Division are within sight of Catania.

Larry has put a lot of artillery assets behind the front here and each is having to be hit hard to avoid catastrophic attacking casualties. Having badly damaged the Nebelwerfer regiment the Divisional artillery of the Livorno Regiment with over a hundred heavy guns is now repeatedly attacked but damage is not what was hoped and it remains powerful.

Another Italian air squadron of Saetta's is destroyed on its airfield at Reggia.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like just after the playback. Ian is pressing hard to
finish the mop up and move my MLR's.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Messina area currently. I'm posting this for Ian so he can plan.
I'm not very optimistic about the MLR's being able to hold for very long.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looked like just before I ended my turn.

[devoncop]

3rd August 1943

I just logged in after my turn and see Larry helpfully posted his defensive deployments . Next time maybe I should check the forum BEFORE my turn [:D]

In all seriousness I am happy not knowing as it adds some challenging guesswork to proceedings so will continue to do my turn first I think !

As it happens I wouldnt have changed much.

The British Royal Tank Regiment and 51st Division, noticing the thinning of German ranks ahead of them stormed through two weak Italian battalions and then overran the Marine garrison in Catania. This has the effect of releasing Larry's naval capability. As I thought Messina would be a pretty popular tourist destination right now for Axis potential evacuees I decided to unsportingly shell and bomb the port to see what we could damage and achieved some reasonable results.

The British having reached MT. Etna's east side are now confronted with strong dug in regiments of Panzer Grenadiers from what I expect is 15th Division so that is time for some consolidation.

In the north, elements of the US 1st armoured have occupied Nicosia and in the west the airfields have almost been reached by 7th Army's tanks.

An intensive bridge and rail maintainance programme was ordered but the engineers don't seem still to have got the memo.

[larryfulkerson]

I was all set to sail some people to the Italian mainland but I discovered
that I don't have any sea cap yet. Maybe next turn.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looked like just before I ended my turn.

[MikeJ19]

So, do Allied ships affect your transporting of soldiers across the straits?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
So, do Allied ships affect your transporting of soldiers across the straits?

It's been my experience that surface combat ships can sink exposed ( unescorted ) troops floating from one spot to another. If the stack is moving and it comes across an enemy ship and gets withing range of the enemy ship it's usually sunk. And aircraft strikes can be devestating. I'm thinking it might not be a good idea to try to float somebody to the mainland while those ships are stationed there. Every hex between Messina and the mainland is covered by the ships and floaters would be killed. It's a fine idea that Ian had to park his ships there.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

Do you have warships? If not, how about any air transport? This may be an early turning point if you can not get those units out of Sicily.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Larry,

Do you have warships? If not, how about any air transport? This may be an early turning point if you can not get those units out of Sicily.

The Axis side doesn't have any warships and my air cap is zero and that means that all the Axis units on the island are gonners. Eventually all of them will die. It's fate.

[MikeJ19]

Damn, that is going to be hard for you...

[MikeJ19]

Are you going to be more aggressive on Sicily then. You might as well make the Allies work really hard to take you out.

[devoncop]

7th August 1943

The decision about the semi blockade of Messina is not an easy one. I am gambling on the short term gain of a long slog into Messina v much more numerous German forces being offset by facing much less on the mainland but it may all go horribly wrong [:)]....the danger is the Allies get seriously bogged down in capturing Messina and burn up too many turns. As an experiment it is useful though as it may define my approach as Axis in the future. If the fortification and maximum defence of the areas around Mt Etna really can stall the Allied advance then the whole strategy of evacuating Sicily may be wrong.....

This turn the remaining pockets of German troops south and west of the MLR each side of Etna were pretty much overrun and US armour has reached the west coast and also is a turn away in the north from cutting the island in half.

The Panzer Grenadiers manning the front are starting to be whittled down by British artillery and air attack and further attacks are made on supporting artillery I can see, including the infernal nebelwerfers....