Essex Regiment Campaign - Sant Ambrogio, January 9, 1944

[brucha]

5th Battalion, Essex Regiment
Col Ainsworth

Sant Ambrogio, Italy
0500 Hours
January 9, 1944

The battalion is given only a short respite to refit the companies with new recruits (bringing the battalion back to full strength) before being sent back to the front. In the 3 weeks since the engagement at Minturno, the British Eighth Army had come under the command of Lieutenant-General Oliver Reese and is preparing for the continued advance towards Rome.

The Germans have retreated north to a series of defensive lines named the Gustav Line - the battalion is moved from the rear to cover an area in front of a series of ridges west of Cassino. The ridge is reported to be defended by dug-in German troops and, in preparation for the assault on Cassino to the east, we were ordered to capture the ridge and force out the entrenched German troops.

This time we are given proper support from Divisional, including Scouts, artillery and three troops of armour support. A Company will advance west of the road to capture the ridge in front of their position , with B Company advancing along the road to capture the center of the ridge. C Company will advance east of the road to take and hold the eastern end of the ridge, with D Company protecting the battalion’s right flank. With the scout patrols in front and the supporting armour forming a screen in front of the lead platoons, everything is ready by early morning.



Within 15 minutes of beginning the advance, the scout patrols begin reporting of coming under heavy defensive fire - in fact the fire becomes so intense from several machine guns emplacements that 3 patrols are completely wiped out. Fearing another situation as at Minturno, I order the tank support to overtake the scout patrols to provide covering fire. 1 LT Reid’s Churchill troop tops the first ridge to begin shelling and raking the German entrenchments with suppressing fire while A and B Companies move slowly up. Thankfully, the scout patrols are able to coordinate accurate spotting of the artillery as rounds begin falling around the dug-in German positions west of the road. Unfortunately, one of the tanks gets bogged down crossing one of the many streams south of the ridge and another drives into a minefield in front of B Company and is lost.



Reports from lead units of A and B Companies report that the Germans are aligned just behind the north ridge in entrenched positions. It seems that the German defenders are an ad-hoc group made up of elements of various units - reports of not only German infantry, but also ski troops and even some SS come into battalion HQ. With Cochrane and Reid’s Chruchill tanks cresting the ridge and providing covering fire, a and B Companies continue their slow, methodical advance.

C Company’s scouts also come under increasing rifle fire and are forced to pull back. 1 LT Thompson’s Humber scout cars move up to the ridge to begin laying down suppressing fire on the German positions. Unfortunately, one scout patrol stumbles into a minefield between C and D Company, though they survive and manage to clear some of the mines.



D Company is meeting no enemy resistance so far and have their objective within sight.

[brucha]

0530 Hours
Cleverly, the Germans have dug in behind the ridge allowing for murderous defensive fire on anyone topping the ridge. My men soon discover this the hard way and are forced to scramble down gullies and along stream beds for cover while continuing their advance.

A Company resumed their advance north, but as soon as they reached the first stream, they began facing toughening resistance from the German entrenchments. Waiting for them in the well-prepared defensive positions are German ski and Waffen SS infantry. The lead platoon pressed forward but the Germans - the SS troops especially - are fighting with such determination that the attack on the left flank is falling behind schedule. A single section of SS infantry are amazingly defending a 150 meter stretch of trenches in the center with no support and managing to hold back any attempts to advance on the position. There is one hope, however - several Churchill tanks have aggressively attacked the far left flank of the German line. Along with supporting mortar fire, the tanks have been able to force several German units to retreat from the very end of the trenches leaving a couple of ski troops occupying the extrem flank. Lt Doyle, the scout platoon leader, has massed his men to flank the end of the line while A Company attacks the main line in a diversionary assault. If successful, the scouts should be able to turn the German line and occupy the extreme flank of trenches soon.

B Company has crossed the northern stream with their supporting Churchill’s in front and advanced to the ridge in force. Initially, the company made good strides in advancing on the German trenches, but then they ran straight into SS units occupying the defenses fully prepared for the attack. The tenacious SS defense and accurate enemy mortar fire soon forced the company back some distance. Creeping round the hilltops and along the stream, the men have advanced back up to within 150 meters of the German positions and begun to lay down a good amount of suppressing fire onto the German defenders while the mortar teams are shelling the trenches heavily.

C Company has fought their way painfully through a morass of mines, rocky hills and heavy enemy mortar fire northwards. With no option of flanking the German positions, the company has been forced to advance forward under heavy mortar fire to within 150 meters of the German trenches. They soon had the German trenches in sight but found themselves stopped cold. Perhaps a platoon of German infantry, determined to hold the position no matter what the cost, defends the position. The supporting Humbers have been knocked out by the minefield in front of the trenches, forcing the company to take the position in an unsupported frontal assault. All attempts to advance have been halted, giving the artillery time to soften up the enemy before the advance continues.

D Company first stumbled into a minefield on the battalion’s right flank and then collided into the German’s entrenched end of their line to the east. Eschewing an advance across the ridge top, the lead platoon worked its way around the ridge to the east and assaulted the trenches in force. Held by recon troops, the men launched a swift attack, tossing grenades at close range and drove the Germans out of the trenches and managed to occupy the very end of the trenches. From here, the company will begin moving down the trench line to link up with C Company and hopefully get their advance moving again.

[vahauser]

brucha,

Some comments.

A.  Where is your smoke to cover the advance?  You are advancing without cover right into the enemy fire.
B.  What version of the game are you playing?  It looks like you are playing an old version of the game.  You might want to get a more recnt version of the game.
C.  Your force looks too light to be assaulting in the situation I see on the map.  If I was going to assault that German position, I would want some combat engineers and some flamethrowers.
D.  Your force looks too spread out.  By spreading your force out, you cannot mass enough firepower to punch through the enemy defenses.  Your losses are going to be very heavy.
E.  What settings are you using?  Can you post a screenshot of your Preferences Screen?

[brucha]

A.  Where is your smoke to cover the advance?  You are advancing without cover right into the enemy fire.

I cleared smoke to taker the screenshots, but I do use smoke when advancing [:D]

B.  What version of the game are you playing?  It looks like you are playing an old version of the game.  You might want to get a more recnt version of the game.

I believe its version 7.1 - what is the newest version?

C.  Your force looks too light to be assaulting in the situation I see on the map.  If I was going to assault that German position, I would want some combat engineers and some flamethrowers.

Yes I was kicking myself for not purchasing engineers and not so much armour. I should have forgone the armour and scouts and purchased engineers, flamethrowers and tons of artillery.[/quote]

D.  Your force looks too spread out.  By spreading your force out, you cannot mass enough firepower to punch through the enemy defenses.  Your losses are going to be very heavy.

Yes, this is something I tend to do alot. I should have massed the entire battalion in punching through the German line in the center instead of trying to attack the entire German line.

E.  What settings are you using?  Can you post a screenshot of your Preferences Screen?

[Orzel Bialy]

Brucha,

While advice from others can definitely be of value learning the particulars of the game...be sure to remember to also take that advice with a grain of salt. Tactics will vary depending on the battlefield situation and (more importantly) who you are playing.

What you can do against the rather stupid AI will not work very well against a human player in a Pbem game. [:)]

Mass your infantry units too tightly together as is being suggested here can, against a human player, get your units into a world of hurt. A human player will drop whatever arty assets he has on the areas he senses or spots your units in...and suppress them badly if he catches them dead on. That would possibly grind your attack to a halt(nations with poor exp and morale values) and leave you open to further arty barrages and most likely a swift counterattack.

Just something to keep in mind while you "learn the ropes".[;)]

[vahauser]

brucha,
 
What Orzal is saying is true.  What works against the computer will often not work against a human.  But let's concentrate on defeating the computer for now, okay?
 
Once you can defeat the computer most of the time, then we can move to a higher level of playing against humans.  But let's stick to defeating the computer for now.

[Poopyhead]

I play double Hard with AI +200 and this always works for me. I usually have four mixed companies with one of the companies in reserve and a HQ company with the on map artillery. In an assault, I take a company of engineers and as much artillery as I can get. Mobility is a force multiplier, so I mount the four line companies into trucks or halftracks. Do a terrain analysis of the enemy position. I always attack on a narrow breach of about 4-5 hexes. Try and pick the least likely place to attack. The plan is to breach the line at one point and then exploit quickly into the enemy rear area.

Set up the artillery to lay down a quick barrage from one end of the entire enemy line to the other. You want to suppress his troops first, not destroy them. A unit that has taken fire will move at half speed for several turns, which slows his leg infantry to practically nothing. Then mass your heavy artillery at the point where you will breach. Artillery of 100+ mm can expose mines, thus showing you where the engineers must go to work. Lay smoke at this point to cover your advance from flanking fire, as well as to the front.

Slowly move recon forward with their weapons off. Recon units spot the enemy, they do not fight. If the smoke and shrapnel was effective, you shouldn’t take fire. Now you want to move the supporting force of engineers forward to the minefield. Use transport from the reserve company and follow on companies to aid in doing this quickly. Stack about a platoon of engineers in each hex so that they can clear about one hex worth of mines in one turn. You want to get through before any enemy artillery can start falling. Use the scouts from the reserve company to create a diversion. Have them pop up along the front of the enemy position away from the breach to keep them guessing and draw artillery fire away from the engineers. As Sun Tzu wrote, “All war is deception.”

Once the engineers are through the minefield, have one company assault. Time a barrage by mortars to land on the hexes opposite the breach at the end of the enemy’s turn to a depth of several hexes. This way their infantry will still be suppressed. Now inch the recon patrols forward from the breach. Move each one hex and then start over until they are out of moves or you find the enemy. You should be able to do this without taking a lot of losses. Move the engineers up and flame any resistance. Move deliberately. Recon patrols move one hex at a time until they can go no further. Then infantry move mounted in trucks or halftracks up to their position followed by ATG’s. Move the armor up to the rear of this position where they can repulse any counterattack. If you keep moving, you can stay ahead of the enemy artillery.

After you are through the entrenchments, I have the breaching company dig in and secure the breach. The next company exploits through and goes deep followed by the third company closer to the breach. These two then turn and attack across the enemy’s exposed flank in unison, with the reserve company in support. Use smoke to cover your route of advance and use a rolling artillery barrage to support the attack. You can take more risks with the recon now. Once they have finished dismounted movement, load them in scout vehicles and continue to move them one hex at a time, dismounting to sight as needed. The recon patrols create a safe zone within which your mobile forces can move. Thus you can attack the remaining enemy entrenchments from the rear.