Our Saturday Game - ASL Scenario 180 - The T-Patchers

Back again to our regular Saturday game, Dan Best and I elected to journey to the rugged terrain of Italy in December 1943. Our selected scenario would be ASL Scenario 180 - The  T-Patchers.  This scenario covers the bloody fighting between the US 36th "Texas" Division and the Grenadiers of the German 29th Panzergrenadier Division as they fought for control of San Pietro, Italy at the end of 1943. 

Having grown up watching the TV Series - The Gallant Men, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gallant_Men) I became very interested in the Italian Campaign of World War II. All my early Marx soldiers battle of the 1970's involved Lincoln Log bunkers filled with Germans, set up on night stands that my US soldiers had to assault. For many years, my impressions of World War II were focused on the fighting in Italy. 

A great day back in 1970's Bristol, Tennessee would include watching an episode of the Gallent Men followed by a backyard reenactment with my WW2 canvas belt, canteen, Great-Uncle's WW2 helmet liner and my wooden Springfield rifle. After a couple hours of leading my boys in assaults on the backyard hill...I would take the action to the bedroom for a large scale battle of Marx Germans and Americans on the hardwood floor. These would last many days...which drove my mother crazy.

The Battle of San Pietro would be heavily covered by the news media of the day and included a documentary by John Huston. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OLJZvgIx5w ). As a result of the media coverage and the high losses sustained by US forces in repeated assaults, San Pietro remains a painful memory like Anzio or Tarawa. The Rapido River would be a name associated with severe loss of life and would memorialize the courage and sacrifices of the Gallant Men of the 36th T-Patchers Division.

Like much of Italy, San Pietro is located in a beautiful valley with high mountains on the horizons. Having traveled through this area in 2007, I can attest to both its natural beauty and height of the surrounding mountains. Driving past Monte Cassino on the way to and from Naples remains a highlight. Unfortunately, as I was working, I didn't have the time to make a proper visit to any of the battlefields.

My only shot of Monte Cassino as I headed back to Rome to catch my flight home.

Scenario 180 The T-Patchers was designed by Bill Sisler and is a great representation of the battle for San Pietro.

There is a tremendous amount of good source material for in depth study of the Battle of San Pietro. Let Google be your guide!

After rolling for sides, Dan Best would luck out and get to command the men of the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division. Dan would get to field the boys of the T-Patchers Division.

Yeah, I was a little jealous. I'm a big fan of this division along with the 45th. So it would have been a kick to lead them in this scenario. Surprisingly, Dan was a little less excited. He expressed a history of missed morale checks when commanding US troops and having a hard time facing their firepower when defending against them. I have to concur wholeheartedly with Dan's assessment. I too have experienced the same issues, but ya gotta love US troops when it comes time to rally and any time you get adjacent or in CC with the enemy. Good times then as the American Player. 

Dan force would be the scenario attacker and field the following force of 14 x 6-6-7's, 2 x 3-4-7's, led by a 9-2, 9-1, and 2 x 8-0's with a 50 CAL, 2 x MMG's, 2 x BAZ 43's and 2 x 60 MTR's. ON Turn 1, he would also receive 4 x Sherman M4's. The only real weakness in Dan's force would be the lack of smoke making capability. But he would not miss this!

As the scenario defender, I would command the Grenadiers of the 29th Panzergrenadier Division. The boys of the Falcon Division were formed in1943 from the decimated 29th Motorized Division. 

The grenadiers of the Falcon Division would find themselves trying to fend off relentless US assaults with a limited amount of manpower, artillery and tanks. Unlike the American units, the Germans would not be able to replace their losses. But the terrain and German defensive tactics would make these men are formidable opponent.

My force would consist of 9 x 4-6-7's, 2 x 2-4-7's, led by 9-1, 8-1, and 8-0 with an HMG, MMG, 3 x LMG's and a 50 MTR with 12 Mine Factors and a Roadblock for good measure. My heavy support would be a Stug III and a 50L AT Gun. On Turn 3, I would also receive an additional Stug III.

The ROAR balance in the ASL Scenario Archive shows 18 American to 13 German wins. So it's a well put together scenario with ample opportunities for either side to gain the win.

I left this one setup all week and each night tweeked my defense a bit here and there. The stream is dry and I fixated on it a bit too much in my set up. It seemed like a ready made avenue of approach and I would place too many of high value assets in that sector as opposed to the east flank. This would prove to my undoing in the scenario.

As Sun Zu states "every battle is won before it is fought..." or lost as the case may be...eh?

As always, the Grumble Jones staff photographers would be on the ground to capture all the cardboard action.

 The victory conditions required Dan's Americans to have more VP north of the white line than the Germans did by game end and not have lost more than 39 CVP to the Germans. I went with an upfront defense with my HMG and MMG covering the center and the dry streambed. My 50L AT Gun was also watching this sector. My 8-1 anchored the far east edge in a double fortified building location. The 50 MTR and Stug III provided support on that flank.

I was confident that my 9-1 had put together a solid defense....yeah...I might be throwing an imaginary cardboard SMC under the bus for what's about to go down...

But...I'll also give Dan's 9-2 some credit for executing a great example of Schwerpunkting!!!

 Dan's Schwerpunkt set up with the Armor prepping to enter the game. I had guessed wrong. Dan was going to boot and scoot down the east board edge. 

Ok...I  had a 50/50 chance of covering the correct flank...

 Dan opened the game with his mortars showering some love on my 50 MTR. Fortunately, they would not have any impact (pun not intended!!!).

 Dan's first tank would draw a shot long-range shot from my 50L AT. A clean miss and I would not get another target the remainder of the game. But in other news, Dan's second Sherman would try to ESB and a boxcars immobilized it.

Fellas...I think we threw a tread...

 Dan's Schwerpunkt moved in and I fired what I could at him. I broke some squads, but nothing too serious.

 Dan's immobilized Sherman would quickly target my Stug III. I focused the Stug on hammering the oncoming infantry.

I should have focused on the Shermans due to their higher CVP value, but I went for the infantry instead.

 In my first Prep Fire, my Stug III would successfully place smoke in front of Dan's 9-2 KILL Stack. In the wind change DR I had rolled snakes, so we had a mild breeze. Suddenly my smoke would be drifting back on top of me...just great... oh and Dan's immobilized Sherman would get a lucky hit and knock out my Stug III. My primary asset on the east flank was gone.

My Stug life was not going to have a happy ending.

 I tried to readjust my forces to reposition myself in front of Dan's onrushing Schwerpunkt. I also sent two half-squads to come in behind the Sherman tank in the center road.

 The smoke would save my 8-1 I the fortified location from the devastating 31 factors coming from Dan's 9-2...oh good grief...a freakin' death star on the map.

"Ja...das stimmt!!!"

 Ok...my buddy Dan is a wily fox of a player. I myself am a bit of a chimp. But Dan also knows how to open up the book of ASL sleaze and use them to good effect. He would use one Sherman to put my 8-1 stack into VBM freeze (ground floor 4-6-7 only as he was buttoned up). I would fire my inherent to create some residual fire as the tank went into bypass. 

Dan's next successful use of sleaze tactics would be used to save the Sherman on the center road. I had a 2-4-7 adjacent...locked and loaded to fire a panzerfaust. I only had a range of 1 hex. So Dan pivoted the tank. I held my fire because of the hedge. I was waiting for his move into the next open road hex. But Dan decides to bypass the road...which put his Sherman on the imaginary hex spine...which apparently is greater than one hex away and out of range of my panzerfaust...drats!!!  This was the second time I had experienced this maneuver. I had an opponent utilize it against me at the 2016 March Madness Tournament. So take notes as it is a clever maneuver...even if I can't stand it...which I teasingly told Dan.

Yeah...but it was a legit move that faked me out of my panzerfaust decorated jock strap!!!

 On the east edge...apocalypse now was taking full effect. My D-Fire was completely useless. My 8-1 had managed to get a panzerfaust but missed the Sherman by 1. And before you knew it...I was completely surrounded.

"Hans...?" "Ja Uwe..." "I think we are in deep trouble..." 

 Dan blitzed through my defenses on the east flank. I was rushing grenadiers over there...but it would not be enough.

 Yes...I positioned two groups behind the building. This was to prevent VBM freeze and to allow me open shots with my panzerfausts.

 Dan swooped in for the kill. I would fail to get panzerfausts and miss with all but one. I finally got a hit and destroyed a Sherman (woohoo...my one and only kill of the day).

As the US phase of Turn 3 wrapped up...things were looking pretty bleak for my team. We were barely half-way through the scenario and I was already feeling some deep butt hurt.

 Dan would go into close combat with one of my pinned 4-6-7's (pinned when they rolled a 6 looking for a panzerfaust).

 Going into the bottom of the third, I was being relentlessly pushed back. I just could not stand up to the tanks and infantry fire power. 

I would also lose a 4-6-7 squad to captivity.

 But I refused to concede. I was still living the Stug life and sent my last Stug III on a death ride to glory.

This is how it looked like in my head!!!

 I was of course SHOCKED by the reality....as my Stug got hit by a Bazooka fired by the 9-2 stack.

 My shocked Stug would go on to unconfirmed kill and then at the end of turn 4...it would be dead.

 On Turn 4, Dan would get his boys set up to repel any last ditch German efforts. He had all the VP he needed across the line. It was the 2:00 minute warning and I was down 38 to 7. I could try for the onside kick maybe...

or...maybe not...probably better to just concede and pick out next week's scenario!!

A final look at the battle. Dan's Schwerpunkt had done its job. There was just no stopping it once it got rolling. So congrats to Dan on a great win! 

Yes it was!

My thanks to Dan for another great Saturday of ASL!!

Dan and I will be back next Saturday for ASL Scenario 126 Commando Schenke!

Until then...good night!