Italy, 1944

[ochoin]

Game is set to go on Monday One pal & I are both on holidays, so a relaxing 4-5 hours of gaming on a lovely Brisbane winter's day).

I've got 2,500 points for the British (+airpower but you dice for availability) & 1,900 points for the Germans.
As the British commander, I'm expecting it to be quite like the real thing: slow & cautious advance, dogged defence, high casualties & slow progress.

The one thing I'd change if I could is that I *know* what the Germans have, even if I won't know where it is.....ie they have one Tiger 1. This makes it easier for me but I don't think there's a way around this.

donald

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

As the British commander, I'm expecting it to be quite like the real thing: slow & cautious advance, dogged defence, high casualties & slow progress.

Last Thursday, Holland and Murray had Professor Gary Sheffield on their "We have ways....." podcast and they were talking about the differences between WW1 and WW2. One sub-discussion that stood out was how many WW2 veterans wrote letters home containing remarks such as "but at least it's not as bad as father had it in WW1" when in fact, the casualties - and even the weather - were far, FAR worse in the 1943-45 period, but were spread across far fewer units as a much smaller percentage of the Army was infantry in WW2 (typically 14%, with 7-8% armour and 20% gunners, the rest being service types).

[ochoin]

Table's set & I'm waiting for my pal. He'll bring his Germans though I've supplied some armour.


The British are at the start point.



donald

[Vintage Wargaming]

Were there Cromwells in Italy?

[ochoin]

Were there Cromwells in Italy?

I believe not. However, as my British WW2 army is late war, Western Europe & my pal's Germans are Afrika Korps, we thought Italy a compromise.

If it makes any difference, the Cromwells did not fair well, and niether did the British as a whole.



donald

[FreddBloggs]

I was not sure on sextons either, but would need to look it up.

[ochoin]

I was not sure on sextons either, but would need to look it up.

Sure they did. Their first use in combat by the 8th Army.
They actually didn't fire a shot in the game. In Turn 2 my FAO was killed. In Turn 3, my FAC was killed. This put a spanner in my cunning plan. Two Cromwells, two Churchills and my Achilles, knocked out and a Tiger looking very happy with itself.



donald

[Vintage Wargaming]

I think Churchills are the archetypal British tank for Italy, because of its hill climbing activity.

I’m never sure whether the Cromwell was a really good tank or a really poor tank. It didn’t do to well in the bocage but what would have done. Then there is that really scary story of the Cromwell crew which went all the way through the Normandy campaign before discovering they had been issued with a mild steel tank intended for training.

[FreddBloggs]

And kept it because it was 10mph faster than the rest.

Cromwells were decent tanks, certainly the equal of shermans and pzIVs. And other than 1 day at villers bocage, German armour was hardly better in normandy than the allied armour.

I always thought that on churchills as well until this thread exposed that they did not get to italy until mid 44!

[Etranger]

I was not sure on sextons either, but would need to look it up.

Sure they did. Their first use in combat by the 8th Army.
...
donald

You're getting your clerics a bit mixed up! Priests were 8th Army issue, with 105mm guns & used in North Africa. The later Sexton used the 25 pounder, & supplanted or replaced the Priest in 8th Army & elsewhere. Harold Skarrup, who knows his stuff, has Sextons with the Canadians (& British) in Italy in September 1943, although I'd always thought that it was later than that. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Lc ... ly&f=false I'm struggling to find a picture of one in Italy though.