Matrix Games Forums

SAN PIETRO, December 15-17, 1943
Size of Battle: Small
Type of Battle: American Attack
Axis: German
Allies: American
Location: Italy

Description: San Pietro and its nearby mountains dominated the main approach route of the U.S. 5th Army on its way to Cassino. The Allied commanders believed this area to be only lightly defended. The Germans had, however, determined to hold San Pietro and this decision resulted in one of the most bitter fights in southern Italy.

The first U.S. attack, beginning on the 7th failed with heavy losses, particularly amount the 1st Italian Motorized Group. After this failure, a second attack was planned for the 15th. This time the Americans would employ armor despite the unfavourable conditions. The three main objectives of this effort were San Pietro, Monte Lungo, and San Vittore.

The attack on Monte Sammucro toward San Vittore quicly stalled in the rugged terrain and an infantry-armor attack on San Pietro from the east was easily repulsed. (Of 16 Sherman tanks used in this attack, only 4 returned.) The attack from the west by the 143rd infantry on Mt. Lungo, however, took the defenders by surprise and ousted the reconnaissance battalion of the 29th Panzergrenadier Division from their foxholes. The Italian Motorized Group mopped up.

With Mt. Lungo lost, the San Pietro defenders were now in danger of being cut off. The Germans ordered a withdrawal and by the morning of the 17th, San Pietro was in American hands.

Scenario Map

Field Commander’s Log
06:00 (Day), 15 Dec 1943


 
We commenced attack at sunrise, with the advantage of initiative.  We were hesitant to move our companies too close to the enemy awaiting, but with little more than 48 hours to gain our objectives, it was decided that loss of troops were expendable here, particularly since we have reason to believe we have an advantage in numbers.  However, with all the rough and mountainous terrain, this can be expected to be difficult.  

We we hampered also by the poor quality of our troops, and some bad leadership matters.  Even our Divisional HQ has an -2 leadership malus, and that’s not the only HQ which does so.  Our American troops seem to have an average quality rating of 50% here, with our allied minor at an even weaker 40%.  

I find myself also staring down Murphy’s Law in this scenario.  As a commander in control of American companies, I should be expected to combine up to 6 artillery companies in any single attack.  This is a special rule that only the British can also take advantage of.  However, we do not have enough U.S. artillery on the field to use such an advantage.  Furthuremore, our allied minor, which has more than 3 artillery companies, can only combine the regular maximum of 3 in any single attack, abiding by the standards.  

With only 1 division HQ, the organization on the battlefield should not be too hard.  However, we have 5 separate regiment HQs under the same division, which do posses some juggling around.  I will have to do some thought on reassignments of units here.  As I feel I am becoming limited to the versatility of the troops due to altering HQ penalties, etc.  

During our two hours of battle, much of which tended to be probes to gauge the enemy, we attacked 3 locations.  One was carried out with an assault from a mixture of American infantry and machineguns, with 1 artillery support.  This seems to have been a failure, however luckily we did take no losses here, despite some disruption.  

The other two locations were simply bombarded by our artillery in an attempt to soften up the enemy and gain some lucky hits.  This did indeed work, as we were able to spot an assault gun in one of the key cities disintegrate during the bombardment.  My only sad regret is that before-hand, we did lose a company of 2 platoons worth of rifles during a probe that met with drastic results.  It had lost half of its 2-platoons by opportunity fire, only to lose the other platoon during the Axis phase.  I so do hate working with only 2 platoons per company.  They are not only weaker, but taking hits can be so much more disastrous to the strength as a whole. In the future, I will continue to use our allied minor to suck up opportunity fire when I can, in order to move our own troops into battle with the benefit of being fresh.  This may not seem ethical to some, but it is war God Damnit.      

08:00 (Day), 15 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



We were rewarded with initiative at 8am and pushed on for another two hours.  During our movement phase we shuffled some more units into positions, and re-attached some artilleries.  Sad to say, we did lose one of our tank counters due to an AT hiding away in one of the target towns.  

However, I will not fear the loss too much here.  With all this mountainous terrain in Italy, I feel that tanks really don’t add much benefit.  

Toward the West/North we did butcher up an armored recon unit.  I almost find it amazing that it’s still present atop a hill.  This should easily be eliminated before the afternoon.  We also destroyed the infantry company which was defending Hill-343.  This currently brings us 25 victory points for controlling that target.  Soon we will march toward Mt. Lungo to gain another 25 victory points.

There was not that much action elsewhere to report, as I decided to take a conservative route in the far north and stack many counters before carrying out a brute force attack in the near future.

10:00 (Day), 15 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



The weather is still bad.  It hampers my ability to gauge correctly the expected results of my battles, and I do hate uncertain outcomes.

The two hours that followed our 10 am turn did not go well at all as expected.  It was not a good sign when the axis were able to win the initiative, but then we ended up taking many withdraws and hits, despite not being able to make progress or take any new ground.  It does indeed seem that these Italian high-grounds will be harder to crack than originally expected.

We did have more than our fair share of bad rolls, so I am optimistic to see where we stand after lunch.

12:00 (Day), 15 Dec 1943
Precipitating

Field Commander’s Log



The weather has turned worse, and is now precipitating, the irony continues.

Up in the north a dangerous stack of axis units brushed up beside us.  I decided to take the conservative route again and ordered our units to dig in and go defensive, taking advantage of the terrain.  

We did go on the offensive elsewhere, and were able to paralyze a very strong German company blockading our allied minor.  It had originally started by us disrupting them earlier, and then we were able to eventually split that down right into forcing them into withdraw mode.  

However, we had our losses elsewhere.  Our last tank company has disintegrated.  Who ever was in charge of that Towed-AT company in the vicinity has been credited with knocking out three entire (though under-strengthen) armored companies now.

The irony here, is that after the Axis initiative those two hours, we were able to destroy that AT group, as well as another AT company to the west.  Unfortunately, if only we had been able to do this beforehand, I would not have had to write off a letter to High-Command informing them of the 100% destruction of our armored forces on this battlefield.

In the meantime, we will continue to try and press forward.  There is at least one artillery unit we can see near the north that I’ve been wanting to shatter for a few hours now.  I estimate in 4 hours we may be able to do so.

14:00 (Day), 15 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



The person commanding that armored recon most likely has an Iron Cross, or should be awarded one.  I am not going to be stalled any longer here trying to get an easy mop-up against it.  So here, you can see I’m not allowing any exit route, and I’m maximizing over-whelming force.  If this guy manages to survive again, then I think I know where the Desert Fox is hiding (luckily we destroyed it this turn).

Elsewhere I tried to take advantage of bypassing badly disrupted units by ignoring their EZoC.  I followed up with a couple high gambit assaults, and I paid the price for it with little to gain.  I am planning for the artillery to save the day by connecting well eventually.  Unfortunately, the day is already half run out.

16:00 (Day), 15 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



We stumbled upon a new artillery unit we had not seen before.  Quickly, we moved other units in place to concentrate firepower on it before she could get away.  Things were to go well for us in this battle and we destroyed it completely.

Not much progress was made elsewhere, and we spent most of our time trying to dig in and hoping to soften up our opponents with direct fire and bombardments.  I fear we may have to wait until next sun-rise before going on the advance again in most of the hilly terrain.  And unfortunately that would leave us with around only 24 hours to gain enough points for victory.  Right now we need at least another 3 key objectives just to gain a marginal vic.  However, the capture of San Pietro will give a whopping 100, so I am not too worried about the case just yet.  But definitely San Pietro will be given a priority very soon.  

Note: In the recon photo we have disruption levels indicated by the famous green-boxes.

18:00 (Day), 15 Dec 1943
Precipitating

Field Commander’s Log



The weather has turned worse again.  This has hampered our attacks even more.  We simply were unable to make any progress over the next two hours.  We also found ourselves trying to pry out an infantry company defending in the town of San Vittore, but we couldn’t even deliver a scratch.  Even more depressing, is that this town isn’t even an objective.

If this weather simply does not let up, then I don’t see any easy method of getting a decisive victory.

20:00 (Day), 15 Dec 1943
Precipitating

Field Commander’s Log



Two hours left of daylight. It seems almost all of our minor allied units are out of command at the moment.  This even includes some of the artillery that are far to the back of the field.  I blame poor leadership as the majority of the problem

There were three separate hexes of minor success where we were able to score some hits, despite we took one ourselves.  I still question if we can pull off a decisive victory at this point.  Next turn it will become even harder to execute a successful assault.

Note: GreenBox-X = Out Of Command

22:00 (Night), 15 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log




It was about time.  We finally eliminated one of those immensely beat up units wedged between the U.S. and Allied counters.  May that unit R.I.P. as it also seems to deserve an Iron Cross. 

We also had some of our allied units get forced into a withdraw.  To be honest, I was rather happy with this event, since those pieces were so badly mangled, that I was relieved to get them out of enemy ZoC and give them a chance to reorganize.

02:00 (Night), 15 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



I decided to do a risky gambit, and assault the hex of San Pietro, since I knew I had at least nicked the defender earlier.  I know night assaults are very risky, and should have perhaps postponed it until sunrise.  However, I did not want to lose any more precious hours so I pressed on.  Only to run into expected results with the defenders still in control of the objective.

At least we did eliminate one defender off to the far west, but I fear it is best to just dig in for the rest of the night.

Note: Green-F = Full Supply; Red-N = No Command Contact

06:00 (Day), 16 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



It is so nice to see daylight hours again.  But we are in no position now to press on any assaults.  So instead we held back for a couple hours while trying to soften up with enemy with some bombards.  However, despite being optimistic, we had very little to show for.

With little more than 24 hours left in this scenario, I feel myself being pessimistic very soon.

08:00 (Day), 16 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



This cursed limited visibility still hampers me from making optimal decisions during my battles.  Again, we had an uneventful two hours go by.  I had tried to smash through a couple infantry companies, and hopefully do something about an artillery unit. But our results were less than spectacular.

10:00 (Day), 16 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



Note: Recon photo taken during Withdraw Phase.

At 10 am we attempted to assault two key hexes.  To the north our attempt failed to dislodge our target.  We also were forced with withdraw one of our machinegun units.

However, we finally hit some major success at the city of San Pietro. We assaulted with the support of artillery and were able to crush the last 2 squads worth of infantry that were dug in there.  What a tuff nut that was to crack.  Now, assuming we don’t lose it, we should have a marginal victory locked up.  

What I wouldn’t do for a decent engineer unit to crack some of these tuff fortified units…

12:00 (Day), 16 Dec 1943
Precipitating

Field Commander’s Log



Weather turns worse on us again.  That doesn’t stop us from trying though.  We hit another target, Mt. Sammucro with everything we got.  This enabled us to knock out one of three squads worth.  

While I can not observe detailed stats on our enemy with these weather conditions, I feel positive that Jerry is having some major disruption problems at the moment, since we do not seem to be under effects of EZoC at the moment.

14:00 (Day), 16 Dec 1943
Precipitating

Field Commander’s Log



Note: Recon photo taken during Movement Phase.

It seems that the defenders at Mt. Lungo took on some damage between turns. In order to capitalize off this, I shifted units around to attack from all directions for flanking bonuses.  I made sure that every allied minor unit which was in command could get a piece of the action.

Unfortunately, we did not dig out those defenders after all.  But we did score two more hits elsewhere on the board, so I’m still happy with the results thus far.

16:00 (Day), 16 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



Note: Recon photo taken during Withdraw Phase.

Very good results happened to us during these past two hours.  The unit defending Mt. Lungo evaporated during the withdraw phase.  We were also forced to withdraw one of our parachute companies to the rear, but no major losses.  

However, the action didn’t stop there.  Aside from scoring a couple hits during skirmishes, we were also able to force Mt. Sammucro into a vacated status.

Summing up our objects thus far, it would appear we only need one more in order to bring home a decisive victory. The clock is ticking…

18:00 (Day), 16 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



Night soon approaches. I start to press on numerous attacks before they become more difficult. Our results were satisfactory (for now).  That unknown Fog unit defending in the mountainous terrain ended up disintegrating during our assault.  This puts us a little step closer to gaining a final objective.

As a bonus, we also were able to complete destroy the last artillery piece by Jerry.

20:00 (Day), 16 Dec 1943
Weather is clear

Field Commander’s Log



Note: Combat results taken from the outcome of the allied minor assault.

Well can you believe that.  After 2 days of fighting, the last 2 hours of daytime and we finally get some clear weather.  Deciding to make the best of it, I launched numerous attack waves again.  This time we scored hits all over the place.  

All over the place that is, except for one battle where I threw some of the allied minor units upon an entrenched position.  However, I was only hoping to get lucky and soften up those defenders, so I’m not upset at one singe failure.

The most excellent news, is that we’ve disintegrated the final key objective I had been aiming for.  If the AI wishes to counter-attack during the night-time hours, then so be it.

22:00 (Night), 16 Dec 1943
Limited Visibility

Field Commander’s Log



Attacks during these night hours seem to be in vain.  I cant even (for example) seem to knock out even the 3/I/15 German Armored Infantry, despite for all intense & purposes, it’s no longer even considered a fighting unit.