DAR: Sicily

[RERomine]

Germany vs US Army

Mission: Assault, Sicily, 9/1943 - grouped objectives.

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

Terrain: Map = 100x100; hilly, wooded terrain with elevations ranging form zero to 50. The largest hills are in the enemy deployment area. The objectives are located around one central hill, with one to the North, one to the South and one to the East(behind the hill). There are also two large flat areas as well. One is located in the Southern region of the enemy deployment area, while the other starts in the Northern end of the friendly deployment area and extends West across the LD. Limited rough. visibility = 83. There are two roads, one running generally North-South between both deployment areas. The other road starts from the East side angling generally Northwest before turning West in the North central part of the map.

Troops: 1 Armor Co. (PzKw IVh), 2 Infantry Co. (SS w/tracks), 14 Artillery Btry (On board, 8 tubes SPA, 24 tubes towed w/o transport, 6 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/o tracks). 2 SS PzGren cos. (w/tracks), plus recon, AAA and ammo supply. Average force experience, ~90.

Time: 41 Turns

Analysis

This is the first time in this campaign against the Americans. A review of their capabilities isn't very impressive. The AT guns available to the enemy are 37mm and 57mm, with the 57mm guns not having HE or SABOT ammo. Their best towed tank killer is the 105mm howitzer firing HEAT rounds. Field fortifications don't have any better tank killing capability than those with 57mm guns. They are suitable for infantry defense, however. Their tanks aren't able to deal with my Tigers except for at point blank range and then it's only a maybe. The Americans have only four things to be concerned about:

--M10 Tank Destroyers
--Bazookas
--Air Strikes (everyone's air planes are dangerous)
--Artillery (everyone's artillery is dangerous)

I figure the enemy to employ standard defensive protocols. There should be a minefield belt, scattered mines behind the main line, possible wire and field fortifications. Large numbers of infantry positions are expected, but if they do happen to go with a larger number of armored units than typical for the defense, it will be to their disadvantage. Visibility is high and positioning my tigers on key heights should easily dispatch them.

Defensive strategies of the enemy are to generally hold positions, with an occasional spoiling attack by armor in platoon strength. Well placed spoiling attacks can disrupt the timing of assault operations and plans need to be in place to deal with them.

Time is a factor in this assault. Quite simply, the less time you have, the more casualties that will be sustained. Typically, I like to take the select the most covered and concealed point to breach the enemy line. Those lines of approach usually take time because it they are less direct and can be through wooded areas. I like to do this so I can keep the battle "small". That basically means limiting the number of enemy units that can see and engage my forces. It can be done artificially by means of smoke or naturally using woods, building and hills as screens. It also means not trying to tackle hills unless absolutely necessary. Smoking and suppressing enemy on hills is usually the best option.

As a rule of thumb, I like to have 20 turns available after I breach the main enemy defenses. In this case, that leaves me 21 turns from the point I cross the LD available for the breach. Now, since the 20 hexes separate the LD and the FEBA and terrain has rough, hills and woods, it could take a walking unit up to 10 turns to cover that distance. Add 2-4 turns to breach the minefield once I find it. That leaves only 7-9 turns to fight through the heart of the enemy defenses at the line. That's not a lot. I have to find a way to make more efficient use of my time.

Since all of the objective groups are around one large central hill, designated as hill 2, that seems to be the key to the enemy position. Taking that hill and placing support units on it should allow my troops to advance down the slopes to the objectives. I'm sure it sounds easier than it will be. East of hill 2 are two smaller hills designated at 4 and 5. Those hills can be used as over-watch positions in taking hill 2.

Plan

Time doesn't permit me to risk an exotic flanking maneuver so I will take a more direct approach.

Since my support engineers have to get to the FEBA quickly, they will use the half-tracks from my two core infantry companies. Their initial objectives will be to clear hill 4 and the region approximately 500m South of the peak of obstacles. Smoke will be used to screen the move by the tracks up and dropping them off. Once the drop is complete, the tracks will return to their respective core companies and pick up their own troops. Two Tiger platoons and two SS panzer grenadier companies will provide fire support for the engineers.

Once hill 4 and the region South is cleared, the engineers and grenadiers will push West toward hill 2. The Tigers will remain on hill 4 as over-watch for this push. Joining them on the hill will be my two MG-42 platoons. This should provide good over-watch for enemy tanks and infantry. Four companies of leg units (two engineers and two panzer grenadiers) will clear hill 2. Once it is clear, they will split into two groups consisting of one engineer and one panzer grenadier company. One group will push North from hill 2 and seize the Northern objective group, designated as G1. The other group will push West and seize the Western most objective group, designated as G2.

In the region South of hill 4 cleared by the engineers, my two core SS infantry companies advance through toward the Southern victory hex group, designated as G3. They will be supported by my core armor company. It may be necessary to smoke the Southern most hill in the enemy defensive area, designated as hill 3. That hill will have a good view of my approach around hill 4, but I'm hoping it will be too far back to have many defensive positions present. This force will push into the woods East of objective G3 where the infantry will unload and capture the objective on foot. Once the objective is captured, two platoons of tanks and the headquarters section will move North to support activity on and around hill 2. One tank platoon will ream in the vicinity of objective group G3 as support against counter attacks. This group is likely to be the first captured and will be the object of the earliest enemy counter strikes.

My mobile AAA units will take up positions around my Tiger tanks as they will be most visible to the enemy and likely the object of any air strikes. As for my ATG units, they aren't much use in an assault so I'll post one battery on each flank to guard against spoiling attacks. I'm pretty sure my Tigers can handle the middle just fine.

I've attached a map with my basic plan outlined on it in gray. If I had the time to assault the way I would like to, I would advance along the South edge and swing around the bottom side of hill 3 and take objectives G2 and G3 from the Southwest. From there, they would push on to objective G1. This approach is on the map in red.