DAR: Sant' Angelo, Italy

[RERomine]

Germany vs US Army

Mission: Assault, Sant' Angelo, Italy, 10/1943 - grouped objectives.

Enemy: Reinforced Battalion - 1-2 Armor Co., 2-3 Infantry Co., 4-6 Artillery Btry, plus ATG, AAA, field fortifications and obstacles. Average force experience, ~65.

Terrain: Map = 100x100; hilly, wooded terrain with elevations ranging form -2 to 50. One large hill is located forward in the enemy deployment area near the South edge of the map. There is a town tucked in the Northwest corner of the map. Two objective groups are positioned on the South edge of the town along an East-West line; one objective group is located in the Southeast corner of the town and another about 600m West of it. The third objective group is about 1500m North of the first two and pretty much in the center of the town. There are three paved roads that enter the town from my side of the map and a one dirt road that passes the town to the South by about 600m. A stream enters the map roughly in the center of the top of the map angling Southwest. About a third of the way down, the stream branches. One branch meanders South and the other branch meanders off to the Southwest. There is approximately 100m of rough on either side of the stream. The roads that cross the streams have bridges and are very close to the enemy deployment line. There is limited rough elsewhere. Some hills and ridges near the stream have impassible terrain. Visibility = 32.

Troops: 1 Armor Co. (PzKw IVh), 2 Infantry Co. (SS w/tracks), 13 Artillery Btry (On board, 32 tubes towed w/o transport, 4 track mounted 81mm mortars, 18 Off board tubes), 2 Heavy Tank Pltn (PzKw VIe), 2 ATG btry. (75mm PAK 40 w/tracks)), 2 MG Pltn (MG42(2) w/tracks), 2 Eng. Cos (w/tracks). 2 SS PzGren cos. (w/tracks), plus recon, AAA and ammo supply. Average force experience, ~90.

Time: 51 Turns

Analysis

This assault is going to be a bear. Having to assault a town is bad enough, but the placement of the stream just complicates it more. Getting to the FEBA will be easy enough. Unfortunately, easy ends there.

There are lots of roads, but on the defend, the enemy loves to mine roads. Look at the picture below if you need proof. The two bridges on the Northern part of the stream are on or behind the enemy deployment line meaning those might be mined or have mines around them. On the other hand, the two bridges that cross the East branch of the stream are 100-150m East of the enemy deployment line. At least I could get across these bridges before having to deal with the mines.

Of those two bridges, the Southern bridge is screen more by the terrain. Just West of this bridge, there is a small ridge, some houses and trees. There are some small hills that might be able to observe activity on this bridge, but it's difficult to say. There could also be enemy units on the small ridge, but there wouldn't be many. The ridge isn't that big. One major concern is this bridge is wooden. The big guns used by the Americans are very likely to drop it into the river.

The Northern bridge of the East branch is concrete. This bridge is more exposed, however. There is a small hill 500m West of the bridge and another one about 1000m to the Northwest. To the Southwest of the bridge, there is are some woods. That might allow units getting across the bridge to duck into the woods and clear mines in relative concealment. The concrete bridge can still be destroyed by large artillery, but should be more durable than the wooden one.

A problem associated with a route involving both of bridges across the East branch, is West branch. More bridges to cross. The West branch has seven bridges across it. There are lots of options here and lots of choke points and lots of places for mines.

About the two Northern bridges before the branch in the stream, aside from the potential mine problem, they are both at the foot of a large hill on the Eastern side of the town. These bridges are 300m apart and within 100m of the foot of the hill. It's not impossible I would have to fight just to get to the bridges and have to clear mines under fire.

Once I clear the bridges, I would have to move through streets in the town to get to all the objectives. Either the tanks move slowly behind engineers clearing streets or I leave them behind. Tanks might be able to zip around between buildings to avoid the roads, but would still have to be escorted by infantry and mines would still be a risk. The route across the Southern bridges allow my forces to reach two objective groups without having to deal with many roads. They can be approached to within 200m without having to enter the town. Either way I go about it, I will have to fight through at least a click and a half of town to get to the objectives in the middle.

The hill on the Southeast corner of town seems to be a key feature. After crossing the East branch bridges, I could take that and position my tanks as overwatch for capturing the objectives on the South side of town. Infantry could do the dirty work here. They can cross streams without risk of bogging down, so the second set of bridges might not be a factor. Six leg companies should be able to do that, then four more could push forward and take the last group of objectives.

I'm starting to picture a plan, but I'll put that in another post. Below are two screen prints. One shows how the AI loves to mine roads. It shows roughly 24 East-West road hexes and 16 of them are mined!! Roads on assaults are bad!!! The only reason I am even considering them is I need the bridges or have to plan on leaving 10-20% of my armored force bogged down in the stream and the rough. The other screen print is a zoomed out view of what I have to deal with. I'll flesh out the plan soon.

[RERomine]

Plan

I'm going to work with a two phased assault to capture the objective groups. The first phase will be to secure an assault position close to the objectives. The second phase will be the actual assault.

Organizationally, I'm going to break my forces up into four groups to accomplish specific task necessary to achieve victory:

Group 1: One Engineer platoon, two SS Panzer Grenadier platoons.
Group 2: One Engineer platoon, two SS Panzer Grenadier platoons, one Tiger platoon.
Group 3: One Engineer platoon, two SS Panzer Grenadier platoons.
Group 4: One Engineer company, two SS Infantry companies, one Panzer company, one Tiger platoon.

Phase 1

Group 1 will secure the South bridge across the East branch of the stream. They are to cross the bridge and push forward about 400-500m, clearing mines along the way. Once they have pushed out, the will secure the area to protect groups following from attack. This advance will take place dismounted.

Group 2 will push Southwest and capture the hill, designated as hill 1, 700-800m away from the bridge. Any mines encountered will be cleared along the way. They are primarily interested in the Western most peak as it will be used as an overwatch position and to cover the left flank of the group 4. One platoon of Tigers will assume overwatch from hill 1. Leg units will dismount once they are West of bridge and river and proceed on foot.

Group 3 will push to the Northwest about 700-800m from the bridge and secure the woods in this area. Any mines encountered will be cleared along the way. Once the woods are secure, they will protest the right flank of group 4. Leg units will dismount once they are West of bridge and river and proceed on foot.

Group 4 will move to the hill at the Southeast corner of the town, designated as hill 2. After the cross the South bridge and ridge, they will take a route 150m North of the dirt road. This will put them behind these houses. Infantry and scouts will have to ensure they are clear before armored units proceed through. Artillery will pound them into splinters before group 4 gets there. Hill 2 needs to be secured as an overwatch position for phase 2 of the operation. Leg units will dismount once they are West of bridge and river and proceed on foot.

Phase 2

Group 1 will advance forward along or adjacent to the road and link up with elements of group 2 between hills 2 and 3. From there, both groups will Northwest approximately 500m and secure objective group designated as G2.

Group 2 will advance to point between hills 2 and 3 on foot and link up with group 1. Tigers and one platoon of grenadiers will be detached and remain in position on hill 2. Detached elements are subject to being recalled if need arises in capturing objective group G2.

Group 3 will advance approximately 750m Northwest on foot and secure a pair of road intersections, detaching one platoon of grenadiers holding position in the woods they occupy at the time. Once the intersections are secured, they are to deny their use by the enemy.

Group 4 armor units will remain on hill 2, while engineers and infantry pushes forward on foot and captures objective group G3. From that point, one platoon of engineers will protect G3, while remaining engineers and infantry push to objective group G1 between the houses and not along the road. Mines will be cleared as time permits to allow tank support to move up if needed. Engineers protecting G3 will clear mines as well.

This plan is on the complex side, but is necessary due to the complexity of the terrain and mission. If the enemy manages to destroy the bridge, the plan will continue as ordered as force disposition does not easily allow for alterations. Screen prints of both plan phases are attached below.

[RERomine]

Turn 0 (Prep Fire)

Enemy prep fire artillery hit several troop concentrations. Three tracks were destroyed and four damaged, but not immobilized. I learned something from the last battle. All tracks were empty. Their troops were entrenched in the hex with them, so at least I didn't lose them too. Time to bug out of the impact zones and "Charlie Mike".

Casualties

Friendly: Three SdKfz 251/1 tracks destroyed.

Enemy: Zero.

I've attached my save before starting if anyone is interested.

[RERomine]

Turn 1

Enemy prep fire continued. A total of eight batteries were involved. Of those, seven hit roads or next to roads. The last one hit a hill. This time, everyone had moved elsewhere.

Scouts are advancing to recon area and Group 1 is also moving out.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 2

Enemy artillery fire stopped.

Engineers from Group 1 advanced by track to position 500m up the road from the South bridge and dismounted. Group panzer grenadiers advancing by track to join them and will dismount at the same location.

Scouts report dragon's teeth on bridges North of stream branch and bridges between objective group G3 and Hill 2.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 3

Scouts 200m East of South bridge. No enemy sighted on the other side. They can also see Hill 2 from their position.

Group 1 engineers are starting to move down the road. Grenadiers have dismounted and are forming up behind them.

Since Group 1 doesn't need it's tracks anymore, they are pulling back. Formations that lost tracks during the prep fire will receive temporary replacement tracks from Group 1.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 4

One scout 50m from South bridge. Other scouts taking positions on high ground East of stream.

Group 1 slowly moving down road as it's continuing to form up.

Group 2 is starting to form up so they can move across the bridge as soon as the area is secure. No units can loiter at the bridge or it will attract enemy artillery.

Artillery plotted on rows of houses West of East bridge. I want them taken apart before Group 1 gets there.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 5

Two scout teams are across South bridge. No activity.

Lead elements of Group 2 200m from South bridge.

Artillery starting to hit houses West of South bridge.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 6

Scouts now on ridge West of South bridge. Still no activity.

Lead elements of Group 2 crossing South bridge.

Artillery fire hit houses again. They are in need of repair

Other scout teams are crossing East branch of stream South of the South bridge. No activity reported.

Casualties

Friendly: Zero

Enemy: Zero.

[RERomine]

Turn 7

Scouts starting to move through damaged houses.

Group 1 engineers are starting to form up behind ridge West of South bridge. Grenadiers still moving up.

Group 2 has formed up and is waiting for orders to move out.

Loaded engineer track from Group 3 destroyed by random enemy artillery.

Scouts continuing to cross stream and head towards Hill 1. Enemy infantry reported East of stream up North of the branch.

Casualties

Friendly: One SdKfz 250/1 track destroyed and estimated 12 casualties.

Enemy: Zero.