Trboule taking Messina

[runinmonkey]

Having trouble taking messina. Battleground Italy 1943 to 1945. Bottle up the Axis nice and tidy inside of Messina. Then sit outside with an entire British Army group and take thousands of casualties having attacked for 4 weeks straight. Tried bombing even at very low levels (1000 ft) and despite losing hundreds of planes does not seem to have the desired affect.

I am clearly missing something, would love suggestions.

[carlkay58]

Use your naval patrol to isolate the port. However Messina has the straits so they can grab supply from the Italian toe. You have to cut off the toe of Italy before you can realistically expect to do well vs Messina.

[Belphegor]

Lots of engineers attached to the combat units? Arty? 2nd line on reserve and in same corps?
If you've been hammering at it for a while you should check your fatigue. Especially if you're fighting in poor weather.

[Q-Ball]

When it comes to rough, urban, or mountain terrain that is heavily defended, the first answer is always to go around it, not through it.

In your case, it looks like you are close to isolating it. Close that off, THEN attack. They will surrender at that point.

[LiquidSky]

If you want to attack a fixed location with the maximum amount of oomph you need to do a bit of preparing.

First...make sure all the units belong to the same corp..or if that is more then one corp can handle, the same army. ANd that they are all 'rested' and supplied.

Make sure your attacking units all have full support units. Start with combat engineers (not construction engineers!). I find using the SP arty directly attached to my armour divs to be very useful.

Put as many units behind the attacking line on RESERVE.

Look at the commanders in your Corps and Army. Are they decent?

Even after all this, you will probably fail the first attack. But you probably destroyed a lot of his fortifications. Make sure you look at the combat report to get a feel for his defence. Attack again if your odds in the failed attack were better then 1-1. (say 1.5-1 ish)

Oh....and do make sure you have Ground Support for the attacking army. You can try and 'soften' the target with Ground strikes, but in the case of Messina, it is packed with a lot of FlaK. You can also try a triple whammy of Interdiction in the hex, Striking the unit directly and Ground support.

[mavraamides]

Thanks for tips all!

I was able to finally do this by stacking all heavy Brit Inf from each corp in border hexes and putting the rest behind them in reserve.
Attached as much engineer and arty as I could and left the inf in refit mode for a turn.
Used US to sweep west side of island.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mpjkql0rrujv3 ... 1.png?dl=0

[CreamyGoodness]

What worked for me was parking an amphibious HQ in a sea hex next to Messina (155,283). The enemy can't trace supply through a hex adjacent to an amphibious HQ so the HQ effectively blockaded the port and caused the port hex to become isolated. With the defenders out of supply the port falls relatively easily.

When I tried this I already controlled the toe of Italy. It would be interesting to know whether this strategy works on Messina when the east coast of the strait is still Axis controlled and in supply. Possibly it would take an amphibious HQ at each end of the strait to create a blockade.

[mavraamides]

Interesting use of amphibious HQ! Kind of gamey but until they add naval proper to the game it's the best we can do.

[HMSWarspite]

Not gamey at all. They are not only amphib lift. They represent a collection of capabilities, ranging from lift, port repair and naval gunfire support. Coastal supply interdiction is entirely legitimate. Of course whilst they are doing that they aren't supplying or preparing for the next invasion... Pay you money and take your pick...

[mavraamides]

ORIGINAL: HMSWarspite

Not gamey at all. They are not only amphib lift. They represent a collection of capabilities, ranging from lift, port repair and naval gunfire support. Coastal supply interdiction is entirely legitimate. Of course whilst they are doing that they aren't supplying or preparing for the next invasion... Pay you money and take your pick...

Well I used it in my last game to great effect. Using a combination of that and techniques described above I took Messina on turn 4 on first attack in the battle of Italy scenario. I'm also using it on every port city that I need. Great tip, thanks!