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Turn 13 - July 22, 1943

Cerda was taken by the Allies.

The two missing regiments of the Br 50 ID and the infantry of the Canadian 1 ID have appeared along the Adrano Sector.

There were several Allied attacks on the line...

Catania - once again, easily repulsed the attack

North End of Catania Sector - an attack was repulsed with company-size casualties, mostly German; the Italian 230 SP Group (1 dozen Semoventes) lost 2 SPGs and retreated

Middle of Catania Sector - Somehow, my superb German Panzer regiment was routed, losing 22 tanks (of 160), as was the Italian regiment in the hex; they were pushed out, forcing me to attack the British regiment occupying the hex

The Attack - 1 platoon and 34 planes for 1 battalion and 23 planes (fighters)

One Italian arty battalion received garbled orders and fired at a British tank brigade several kilometers southeast. The hex was reoccupied by the 3 Fallschirmjaeger Reg, which subsequently dug in. Hopefully it will repel any further assaults while the tanks are reorganizing.

Northeast Sicily...

Nothing until Turn 16, unfortunately.
 
The last line of Combat Round 1 seems to have been cut off, by the way.

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Turn 16 - July 25, 1943
 
So far, my line hasn't budged at all, but the Allies have displayed a remarkable ability to replace almost all their casualties within two days.
 
He's moved up the rest of his air force (or at least most of it) into Sicilian airfields. Both air forces were overtaxed and took this day to recuperate from the crushing losses they'd suffered the last two weeks.

My air force is at about 600-650 planes now (many units have evaporated entirely), with about 400 planes destroyed. 20 German tanks have been
destroyed, as have 9 Semovente SP guns.
 
My tank regiment has fully recovered and is now serving as a reserve.
 
An American airborne unit has been spotted in one of the Gerbini airfields.
 
There was one British attack this turn.
 
NW of Catania - only one of the Semoventes was destroyed, but the infantry seem to have suffered heavily
 
The rest were bombardments. He's really hitting me hard. He's also pulled out the entire armored force near Santo Stefano. He must be planning to move it somewhere more vulnerable. I've got to stay on my toes. I'm very short on light rifle squads right now, and all the casualties the Italian units are taking isn't helping. Most of the squads went towards reconstituting several divisions worth of Italians.

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Turn 17 - July 26, 1943
 
He attacked me in two places:

NW of Catania - the Italians here held once again; the hundred or so Semoventes can take most of the credit

S of Santo Stefano - the guys here are being bombed to shreds, but all he has to attack with is infantry and very light armor, so the Tigers have been enough to hold the line...so far

I'm very concerned about where he might be going with that Armored Division. Is it going to strike deep in the Troina Sector? Is it going to concentrate in the Catania Sector and force its way through with sheer numbers? I'm being bombarded continuously in certain locations...maybe I should pay very careful attention to them...

In replacements, enough of the 146 Coastal Regiment has reconstituted for it to be sent into combat. It's composed of veterans from other shattered units. Due to the shortage of AT rifles and 47mm AT guns, it is only at 1/3 strength in them.

Desert went away for a while, but he said he'd be back... so stay tuned...

Ok, after Desert went away, I went away... but now we're both back and ready to continue. Miss us?

I miss you

I'm interested...as I tried this scenario and it became a stalemate in pretty much the same positions...with the Axis being able to launch a counter-attack that almost broke the Allies. Didn't seem like a well planned scenario to me...

This scenario certainly seems like it was left unfinished.

The battle slogs on...

Turn 18 - July 27, 1943
 
He bombed the usual spot S of Santo Stefano and killed a lot of infantry. This also happened SE of San Fratello.

The bulge SW of Adrano was attacked. Casualties were fairly high, but I hurt the attacking British and Canadians enough to give the Allies another Loss Penalty point.

A British airborne unit has been spotted in a Gerbini airfield.

The line was broken NW of Catania. The Napoli ID HQ lost most of its combat elements and the command infrasructure was shattered. The 4 Piemonte Reg barely exists at the moment - it has been reduced to a platoon with a large amount of equipment. I brought up the Italian regiment that I'd reassembled last turn and the tank reserve.

The Attack - 25 planes, 8 Semoventes, 3 German tanks for 11 planes, 2 Shermans; equal infantry losses (platoon)

Attack 2 - 39 planes, 11 German tanks for 2 planes, all infantry and equipment, 1/3 of tanks, 1/4 to 1/3 of all other vehicles (great success!)

I took the hex, but the tank unit is a bit exhausted and didn't have time to entrench. I'm gonna have to pull out a German regiment from SOMEWHERE if I intend to hold the line there. The fact that I lost 64 planes to his 13 is also something that needs to be considered.

Something has to break soon for the Allies, right???

Turn 19 - July 28, 1943
 
There were three attacks this turn. The American armor is back.

Northern end of Catania sector - on second thought, this was just a bombardment; the Italian regiment is doing poorly, and the 2 Hermann Goering Reg is missing a sizeable amount of equipment and 200 men; the Italian 230 SP Group (12 Semoventes) was untouched, which is how I know it was a bombardment

SE of San Fratello - most of the American armored division, some heavy mortars, some British engineers, and two recon battalions attacked here; I repelled them, but the HQ ran off somewhere to the North

I reinforced the hex with the antitank guns in Santo Stefano and the 29 Pioneer Btn, recently railed in from the Catania Sector.

E of San Fratello - I did not expect him to attack here - the front is too short and the Etna Line is on the flanks; he attacked with all three infantry regiments of the US 1 ID and its heavy mortars, and the
45 ID's Wolverines

The Wolverines broke through. I attacked them from all sides with one of the Italian regiments that had routed from the area, the 1 Fallsch Reg,
and the Italian 19th Brigade (the latter two having been part of my reserve previously).

The Attack - 46 planes and 60 men for 22 planes, 30 men, a Greyhound, and a Wolverine. The absence of German tanks seems to be hurting me badly here.

Attack Part Two - I swapped the routed Italian regiment for the German Reggio PzGren Btn, which has some light armored vehicles and self-propelled AT guns; I lost 160 men, some transport elements, and 24 planes for 11 planes, 1 Wolverine, 2 M20 Armored Cars, and 4 Jeeps

This is a catastrophe. Oh...well, it turns out the German paratroopers pushed the Wolverines out. But no one had time to dig in, and the Reggio PzGren Btn is now out of its trenches and fortifications.

And let's not forget my encroaching defeat in the air war. For the second battle, I was only able to send in 1/5 of the planes the Allies did for support, and most of them got slaughtered. I cannot afford losses like these. He is consistently losing less than half the planes I am.

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Turn 20 - July 29, 1943

An attack on the tanks NW of Catania failed.

The rest...well, see the screenshot for details.

This is very daring and risky...let's see if it works.

Attacks numbered in red:

1 - 250 men, 1 Semovente, 1 Tiger for 38 out of 75 Shermans and 14 out of 28 Stuarts

2 - 5 Pz4 H, 4 bombers; scouts took some casualties, were driven back (my losses due to their air superiority)

3 - 400 men, two Semoventes, 14 bombers for 1 battalion, heavy equipment losses; it was driven back

4 - Scouts driven back with no casualties

5 - 1 company for 300 men, some equipment; several retreated American units were here as well, contributing to my high losses; enemy driven back

Pocket attempt failed due to poor timing in the attacks. The battle took so long that the units in San Fratello did not have time to evacuate the town and fall back to the new fortificatons, so they dug in with orders to retreat as soon as the opportunity arises. This will either throw the entire Allied plan into disarray, or give them a huge opening to exploit.