Mission #5 - A Coy/RCR Campaign, Sicily to Ortona, Italy, 1943

[ChappyNS]

TURN 5



Capt Liddell was shaken by the news of the deaths in 3 Pl, so much so that he froze for a minute. The dead soldiers had been with A Coy since they had staged to England a couple years ago. All of that training, drinking, and fighting together and now they were gone. His boys were gone. And the rain had started again....

Meanwhile Sgt Chapman continued his flanking manoeuvre along the northern section of the Motta. His troops ascended the hill and into some rubble. They noticed that the stone building directly in front of them was vacant. (dummies in L4 and M4) The area was lit up by the dancing flames that continued to spread through several buildings in this area.

Capt Dillon and 2 Pl, who had finally sorted out their bearings, moved along the street beside the buildings and occupied a building at the centre of town, albeit on the northern edge. So far the buildings were clear of enemy. (dummy in P3). There was one building left in block #2 that had to be cleared in order to declare Phase 3 complete...

 

[ChappyNS]

TURN 6+



Sgt Chapman ordered the scouts forward into the stone building. Immediately they were met with inaccurate fire from approximately five or so enemy soldiers. The scouts discovered a side entrance and crept silently to it. Suddenly the scouts flung the door open, and engaged the surprised Germans in hand to hand combat, eliminated the enemy without loss. "Clear!" yelled the scouts, who began to pick over the dead bodies for maps, orders or other intelligence.

The remainder of A Coy eventually made their way along the northern edge of Motta. Capt Liddell made his way forward and encountered Sgt Chapman. "Gee sir, it looks like the paras have buggered off," said Chapman with some relief, "they only left behind a couple of OPs and booby traps. I suggest we get the engineers in here sir and clear the booby traps pronto." Liddell nodded his head in agreement. Motta was cleared. Unfortunately five Canadians would make Motta their final resting place...


And so ends mission #5. This is the second night mission in a row. I understand the limitations of night missions for both sides, I am just not a big fan of night scenarios. For the FRIENDLY side, not only are you battling command and control with a reduced LOS, you also have to roll for straying, and this greatly hampered the advance on several occasions. For most of the S?, the activation roll was a "1" so obviously not many happened. On the other hand, with so many S? on the board, if the activation had just been one number higher it could have been a ton of Germans at night in stone buildings which would have been a disaster, so balance is key with these type of scenarios. The two S? that were activated were mere HS, but with the booby trap, it promoted the story that the paras simply buggered off to fight again another day. Which they did!

Post battle: Both Liddell and Bowman were up for promotion; Liddell succeeded - about time that a true Major is now leading the company as it should be (9-1). Additionally, 2 x MMC were hardened to elite, leaving only one section in A Coy as first line (and that is 3 section, 3 platoon who were caught in the booby trap. They were successful in receiving replacements however, and are back at full strength). Sgt Chapman gained one elan point towards his next promotion.

Mission 6 happens two days later, at San Marco, in the southern boot of Italy, as the Allies continue their initial speedy advance northwards.

Thanks for watching!