Sicily to Brenner Pass - Mike1984 v. Desert

[mike1984]

I'm starting this AAR now, but will not be posting any post-turn reports for a few days, so as not to completely give away what I'm doing. So figure on this AAR to be about 3-4 turns delayed from real-time.

I look forward to this one...

[mike1984]

Ok, so I lied. But not completely. I agreed with Desert (who will contribute to this AAR thread also), not to post any turn sequences or slides until Turn 6. So, I'm going to honor that, except for Turn 1, which I will post below, just to get this thing rolling. I hope the images come out alright. But we'll see.

[mike1984]

Ok, I'll be back on Turn 6...

[mike1984]

The axis forces decide against attacking me on the beaches, allowing me to organize and plan my advance, unmolested...

[desert]

Turn 2 - July 12, 1943

There are two objectives for the Allies in Sicily: Trapani in the east and Messina in the west. My guess is that there are four American divisions, 2 British divisions, and a Canadian division present in Sicily right now. The British and Canadians are pointed toward Messina. The American plan is indeterminable - one is definitely going to follow the coastal road west toTrapani, but the second could either follow it or cut down the center of the island and isolate the west. The third seems to be supporting the British and Canadians. The fourth is likely some kind of airborne force, and my worst fear
is of paratroopers deploying behind the Etna line, and together with the regular infantry engulfing my entire army.

I'm leaving a sizeable amount of men in strategic cities or locations to slow the Allied advance. Alright, after I made some mistakes in Turn 1 regarding unit deployments, I decided that Kesselring was correct in choosing to abandon Trapani and create a line fixed on Mt. Etna. That's what I'm doing, although there are some weak points that need to be reinforced posthaste, and a giant gap in the north. I don't have any troops to spare for the north other than 2 Coastal Divisions and the Aosta (regular) Division, as I'd like to keep the German grenadiers close to the mountain.

In Turn 2, I have, in Sicily, 4 Italian regular divisions, several low-quality Coastal Divisions, the Hermann Goering Pz Division, and the 15 and 29 PzGren Divisions.

I'm generally spreading the Germans equally throughout the Etna line, except for areas of extreme importance, such as Adrano (i'll get to it) and Catania. Using the term loosely, I have 500 tanks. My airforce is 500 to 600 aircraft (mostly Me-109s and Junkers divebombers). I will get a Fallschirmjaeger division tomorrow, but other than a few jastas I am completely on my own after that.

[mike1984]

Allied Turn 3. July 12, 1943...

[desert]

Turn 3 - July 12, 1943

The recently arrived 1 Fallschirmjager Div is going to reinforce the line south of Mt. Etna. A few of its units will begin to form a nascent second line that my troops can fall back to.

The current strength of my Emergency Delaying Force is 7-8 infantry regiments, 3 naval battalions, and 2 engineer battalions. In the confusion of the withdrawal to Etna, many regular infantry regiments were left as roadblocks instead of the lower quality and more expendable Coastal units.

The Allies really seem to be concentrating on the Messina Peninsula. Only a single US division isn't pointed directly at Messina, and it seems to have the northern coastal railroad in mind. The entire point of the Emergency Delaying Force is to tie up Allied combat units in western Sicily and give me more time to build the Etna Line. If they're just going to ignore them for now then their presence is no longer necessary. They could be put to better use digging a second line behind Etna rather than just sitting and waiting to die. I'll to see how that situation develops.

[mike1984]

Allied Theater Briefing
Turn 4, July 13, 1943
As this scenario develops, I will periodically give a theater briefing. In it, I will discuss some of my general observations, and what I think will happen the next few turns.

[mike1984]

Allied Turn 4, July 13, 1943...

[mike1984]

Turn 5, Sicily West...

[mike1984]

Turn 5, Sicily East

[mike1984]

try that again...

[mike1984]

Desert should be back after I post Turn 6...

[desert]

Turn 6 - July 15, 1943

The Allies are at least 1 week ahead of schedule, the British maybe even two weeks ahead - my opponent is no Montgomery, that's for sure. All in all, the Allied advance has been much faster than expected.

The British 51 ID was withdrawn a couple of days ago and replaced by the equivalent of an American division, which is now about to cut the island in half. The US 1 and 45 ID are advancing through the hills towards the central and northern Etna Line, which can be seen in the screenshot below. The US 3 ID is heading towards Trapani at a fast pace. The Canadian division is lagging somewhere east of Piazza Armerina because of a successful delaying maneuver by a now-dead Italian regiment. The British have gotten some 8th Army tanks and assorted other units recently, and they, along with the British 5 and 50 ID, have already made it to the Catania sector of the Etna Line. They were slowed some by the 76 Napoli Reg in Gerbini, which successfully repulsed an attack by dozens of veteran British tanks.

At this rate, Trapani will be lost by July 20, 2 or 3 days ahead of schedule.

However, I have had time to fortify Mt. Etna and its surroundings heavily, and in some areas I even have fully complete fallback lines which were constructed during the wait. The bulge in my line around Troina might be very useful - if the two American divisions enter it I can surround them immediately with Italians on the left flank and Panzergrenadiers on the right, destroy them, and then run back to my fortifications before reinforcements arrive. The loss of two divisions (including the famous Fighting First!) will be a terrible blow to the Allies and the possibility of holding onto Sicily will become realistic. I might even be able to launch a massive counterattack and swallow up the British too, and eventually retake the whole island! But I'm being too optimistic, aren't I...

Oh yeah, and I withdrew about half of the Emergency Delaying Force to the Etna Line.

Note: Certain details were omitted from the screencap.

[mike1984]

Sicily west

[mike1984]

Sicily East (t6)

[mike1984]

Sicily West (t7)

[mike1984]

Sicily East (t7)

[mike1984]

Don't worry, this double screen shot stuff won't last past turn 13.

[desert]

Turn 7 - July 16, 1943

Nothing but a couple of attacks on US recon elements by EDF units.

Engineer Battalion in Corleone - 2 Ju-88, 2 squads; Americans successfully disengaged but lost 3 Jeeps and a plane

Two Battalions of the 139 Coastal Reg in Cerda - Americans badly routed, 2 Italian platoons lost; Axis 33 planes, Allies 28 planes

Final air losses reported to be 29 planes destroyed vs 61-102 Allied planes destroyed

Some of the units in the Etna Line lost their fortified status and some men and equipment. He might have made spoiling attacks with his scouts, which I doubt because they would have been utterly destroyed in the attack, and they all have green or yellow green health. More likely, my steadily declining air force has allowed the Allied Air Forces to do more efficient interdiction missions. The US 45 ID is concentrating on the Aderno Sector. The 1 ID seems to be resting a bit, as its location is unknown.