Italian Campaign 43-45 Marc Custer vs Wyatt "Veers" Courtney

[Veers]

Turn 1:
Allies:

The British 46 and 56 IDs landed at and secured Salerno, securing supply for the Allied beachhead.
The US 36th ID landed south of Salerno and drove east, pushing back the 16th PzGrD, and ensuring any Axis counter-acttacks woudl be pointless.

26th PzD was pushed around by CND 1 ID and UK 5 ID as they advanced north.

British Commandos and Marines landed at Bari, securing the port and advancing north, towards the 1st FJ Division.

The majority of the UK 1 AirD, with support of Canadian tanks, landed at and secured Taranto, advancing north from there as far as Altamura.

As per the above image I moved my divisions into their defensive positions, with 64 PzGrRgt16 PzD and 26 PzRgt-26 PzD joining HG PzD.

Two things of note:
The first would be the gap between 29 PzGrD and 1 FJD. This will have to be filled with whatever I can scrape together as 29 PzGrD, being along neither the main advance route of the Salerno landings of the Taranto/Bari landing,s is already stretched out and I do not wish to stretch out 1 FJD.

The second would be the few stranglers of 26 PzD scrambling to retreat north. They, along with maybe some flak guns, could end up holding 'the gap.'

An attack was lined up with the entire Luftwaffe in Italy set to descend on the Allied fleet. About 10 enemy ships were damaged or destroyed and Luftwaffe casualties were relatively light.

 

[Sker]

Thanks for posting this one Veers! I'm surely gonna follow this game

 

[Veers]

Thanks for posting this one Veers! I'm surely gonna follow this game

Yep. It'll be pretty basic, but always have screenies of the situation.
i was gonna go all out like I started to with my DAR of my game v Silvain, but just don't have the extra time.

 

[Veers]

Turn 2 9/12/43

Turn 2 9/12/43
Allies:
Britsh 46 and 56 ID troops made about 10km of progress along the coast towards Napoli, pushing forward throuh the battered 64pzGrRgt section of the line.
The HQ and artillery of 16 PzD, caught in the mountains east of Eboli, surrendered.
US 36 and 45 IDs have arrived at, but not attacked, the line at and east of Arelino.
Straglers of 26 PzD in the Potenza area have been mostly cut off by Us recon elements and UK 1 AirD.
British commandoes have arrived at 1 FJD's positions on the Ofanto.

Axis:
HG PzD shuffled a bit, with 1 HG Rgt falling back 10km to prevent being pushed back into and cut of in the penninsula west of its old positions.
26 PzRgt-26 PzD joined HG PzD in the line 20km north of Salerno.
3 pzGrD has arrived to occupy 'the gap.'
Straglers from 26 PzD attempted to move towards friendly lines with mixed results. Only the artillery and Tank destroyers have any chance of escaping.
Reports indicate that efforts to reform 26 PzD could see the division fighting as a unit again as early as early October.

XIV PzK has been assigned responsibility for fluid situation on the west coast, while I FJK has been assigned responsibility for the quieter centre and east coast.

For the second time a large airstricke was brought down on Allied shipping in and around Salerno. Unlike the last raid, however, this time no Allied ships were hit and heavy losses were taken when large numbers of Allied planes arrived to defend to area.

UK 46 and 56 IDs are both looking a little worn after the initial heavy fighting they have endured.

 

[Veers]

Turn 3 9/16/43

Turn 3 9/16/43
XIV PzC:
Normally I'd call out specific formations, but seems Marc has no intention of keeping his formations together, so the attacker's descriptions will be a little more vague than usual.
Allied troops continued to attack north towards Naples, taking 10km along the coast and due north of Salerno, slowly pushing the HG PzD back.
US troops hit the east side of 15 PzGrD's line, forcing back 129 PzGrR and creating a salient between 15 PzGrD and 29 PzgrD.
I FJC:
US troops arrived at and put in light attacks against 29 PzGrD's line, but made no progress.
26 PzD fared poorly over the last few days, with its Recce Batt surrendering and its arty, engineers, and HQ all being cut off from friendly lines, sure to surrender over the next few days.
The Allies landed UK 7 AD, 3 brigades of British Artillery and two independent infantry brigades of UK XIII Corps at Bari. This bodes very ill for 1 FJD.
Fortunately, the British were only able to dislodge 4 FJR, and advance 10km.

Armee and Heersgruppe artillery continued to arrive at the line, being divided out between the different formations.
Doehla Brigade arrived via rail at the front, and will join 1 FJD's front line soon.
Dozens of Flak guns from the Foggia area were requestioned by 1 FJD and started to dig in along 1 FJD's front line.

 

[Veers]

Re: Turn 4 9/19/43

Turn 4:
Allies:
US 3 ID lands at Salerno and arrives opposite HG PzD.
CND 1 ARmBgd arrives opposite 3 PzGrD
UK XIII Corps, CND 1 ID and UK 5 ID relocate via sea to Bari, then arrives opposite 1 FJD.
The last of 26 PzD trapped behind Allied lines was destroyed by Allied forces.

Axis:
All units dug into their posistions as the Allies failed to make any progress.
Doehla Bgd joined 1 FJD in the centre of their line, shoring up the worn down 3 FJRgt.
76 ID has arrived in the theatre, stopping in their trains south of Foggia, where they can detrain to support anywhere on the front that the Allies decided to pressure.
Interesting point, according to feldgrau (http://www.feldgrau.com/InfDiv.php?ID=66), 76 ID was in the East the whole war. Does anyone know of any info that says 76 ID was in Italy?

 

[Veers]

Re: Turn 9/23/43

Turn 5
Allies: Allied fighters were finally able to use some repaired airfields on the mainland of Italy, bringing more Allied firepower to bear on the front line.
Despite this the Allies only gained 1 hex southeast of Avelino, pushing back 115 PzGrRgt-15 PzGrD.
IND 8 ID reached the front line opposite 1 FJD.

The newly arrived 76 ID started to fortify a line between Avelino and Benevento, behind HG PzD and 15 PzGrD positions, as this seems to be where the Allies are pushing the hardest.

Pure bombardments against the Allied front line had minimal effect except in two areas.
Opposite 1 FJD, where both UK 5 ID and IND 8 ID were stacked together, approximately 170+ infantry squads, 110+ guns mortars, and 90+ trucks were destroyed or damaged.
Opposite 1 FJD, where elements of CND 1 ID, UK 7 AD, and INF 8 ID were stacked together, approximately 10+ infantry squads, 40+ guns and mortars, and 20+ trucks were destroyed or damaged. 8 German guns were destroyed by counter-battery fire here.
North of Salerno, where elements of UK 46 and 56 IDs and US 36 ID were stacked together, 120+ infantry squads, 80+ guns and mortars, and 90+ trucks were destroyed or damaged.
Northwest of Salerno, where elements of UK 46, 56, and 78 IDs were stacked together, 60+ infantry squads, 80+ guns and mortars, and 40+ trucks were destroyed or damaged.

Altogether 360+ infantry squads, 310+ guns and mortars, and 240+ trucks were destroyed for our efforts. Unfortunately, my turn ended slightly early and none of my artillery ended the turn in supporting deployments. :OHNO:

 

[Telumar]

76.ID was in Italy from August until November 43. But it never saw action at the front. Feldgrau - the site you mentioned - lists it as being in reserve and part of LXXXVII Korps in Northern Italy (Oberitalien) as part of Army Group B / OB Süd.
According to Lexikon der Wehrmacht (http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Infanteriedivisionen/76ID.htm) it took part in disarming the Italian Army around Savona before being transferred to the Ostfront in Dec. 1943.

 

[Sker]

It's correct. Northern Italy was often use by the Germans to refit and retrain their frontline units retired from more active fronts. Those divisions were mostly used in antipartisan actions and were sent wherever needed a few month after. So be careful because 76.ID may be withdrawn sooner or later.
Historically the unit was probably under 14th Army but since Germans used to rotate wery often their units in the Italian theatre I think that it may be used in the frontline in case of need

Anyway nice aggressive defence tactic. You can slow down a lot your enemy even before reaching the Gustav line, but if he can manage to get somehow behind your line it would be very dangerous

 

[Veers]

Wow, Oberitalien, I gotta brush up on my German, and my ability to just pay attention, even from an English speaking standpoint, the italien bit is a pretty big clue.
I'll have to check and see if it is scheduled to be withdrawn.

Yeah, I'm hoping to just make him pay for every hex. Unfortunately, as mentioned, I failed to get my arty back into supporting deployments this turn, so that could be disastrous, as well.
Yeah, if he was to get behind my line, it would be disastrous, much like can be seen from my AARs when 'm the Allies. Currently I can see he has several special forces units stationed at airfields in southern Italy that could easily be used to airdrop behind my lines and cause a mess.

 

[Polynike]

Veers the Lexikon is a must for any German OOB