On the morning of 29 November, the 530 strong battalion boarded 44 transport aircraft and took off, bound for Oudna. Because there had been insufficient time to conduct an aerial reconnaissance of the airfield, Lieutenant Colonel Frost was forced to choose a landing zone for the battalion from his position in the lead aircraft, fortunately locating a clear, open space near the airfield. By 11:00 on 30 November the battalion had reached a position that allowed it to overlook the Oudna airfield, and at 14:30 it began to advance and reached the airfield, only to find that it, too, had been abandoned. The battalion was then counter attacked by a number of German tanks supported by fighters and Stuka divebombers. The Germans were repelled, but at dusk Frost pulled the battalion back westwards to a more defensible position, hoping to await the arrival of advance units from British First Army. The battalion managed to withdraw to higher ground, but suffered a number of casualties from the German armor as it did so. Now positioned on the high ground, which consisted of a ridge crowned by two small hills, the paratroopers were attacked by tanks and infantry supported by heavy mortar fire.
Attacker: German / Italian (Italian Superga Division, Fallschirmjaeger-Regiment 5 and 10th Panzer Division)
Defender: British (2nd Parachute Battalion, 1st Airborne Division)
7 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:17.0 D:14.0
AFVs: A:7
PzKpfw IIIJ x 2 PzKpfw IVF2 PSW 222 PSW 231(8 rad) SPW 251/sMG SPW 251/1
AFVs: D:0
Guns: A:0 D:1
OML 3-in. Mortar Boys ATR x 2 OML 2-in. Mortar Airborne x 2
In Turn 1 the British went out with the mass of their force and leave only the MMG, the Mortars and 1 1/2 squads to stop the italian force, The Italians moves outside the LOS triing to flank at South and using the Woods to avoid be shooted.
At Turn 2 the majority of British forces were in the village, and splitted to the Nort and Center, the germans covered both exits, and tried to make progress slower.
At Turn 3 the germans took Height 610 with their armoured cars an tried to push the British to the North, and from this point start to punish every advance of the Red Devils.
From that point with some lucky the germans, they managed to slow their advance speed by creating a buffer to the north of the hill until the tanks arrived and overcame the Street Fighting of the forces that remained in the village. On turn 6 the british granted the game beeing bagged between forces.
2023-06-10
(A) fabrizio da pra
vs
Maurizio Grassi
German / Italian win
2021-03-08
(A) Ulric Schwela
vs
Erik Grande
German / Italian win
The British made a strong bid for exit, with both the 10-2 and the 9-2 leaders each going for it together with 3 squads, and covered by a rear guard around the airfield. (so the same start as the earlier report, plus a further three squads with the 8-0!) Four squads, MMG and 8-1 remained as a protective screen for the mortar providing long range support.
Italians came in from southeast as the safer option, looking to put someone in a 1st floor position to help enforce FtR on the hill later; through the game the Italian commander (me!) was very confused and kept changing orders, one turn pushing at the British, then running west to join the hill fight, then pushing back to the airfield again, it tore the Italian force in two which turned out fine; the Italians were relatively lucky, one LMG squad getting KIAd in an olive grove, the rest never breaking despite cautiously pushing into the face of a Para HS skirmish line. In hindsight should have run all the MG units straight to the hills, looking to help interdict Para movement.
The big mortar managed to drop a well placed smoke round on the hill, but HE rounds could never find their mark. The 10-2 stack started well, vapourising the first 548 squad on the hilltop they came across, shooting Sten guns from the hips while running and still hitting every German between the eyes (1KIA), very cinematic. The 9-2 was less brave, apparently disgruntled with the quality of the tea that morning, and ran back to a house with his men to have a good moan. German 9-1 had his own problems trying to lead a 548+LMG squad who preferred to regroup in woods behind the crest line.
By turn 3 it looked dire on the hill for the Axis, with five strung out squads attempting to hold a line against the bulk of the bloodthirsty Red Devils: two in Crest positions in the northern gully, three in reverse slope positions on the hilltop, so as not to get slotted by Frost; the two AC put pedal to the metal up the hills and parked in enfilading positions out of sight of the mortar, the SPW getting troops as fast as possible to bolster the thin green FSJ line. Then it all fell apart for the British, they couldn't make headway. The two AC managed to get in 2MC and 1MC shots on the paras' progress, and with awful MC rolls the result was a Pinned Frost and four broken squads across several hexes, all past the enfilading line of PSW in the south and LMG in the far north. One squad was able to rout away, another eliminated for FtR, two had to rout forwards into the woods next to concealed Germans, which the German was able to surround and capture the next turn despite intensive fire from the mortar. With only seven Para squads left to punch through and over the hill, against six German squads and several vehicles, and with no safe rout paths, it was no longer a viable proposition and Frost folded, with only 2 CVP having been scored. A tough result, but it could easily have swung the other way during that pivotal turn, leaving the German to attempt a mad scramble to stop the exit. Definitely replayable with different exit and combat strategies.
2021-03-01
(D) Øyvind Jacobsen Bjørkås
vs
Eivind
German / Italian win
The British made a strong bid for exit, with both the 10-2 and the 9-2 leaders each going for it together with 3 squads, and covered by a rear guard around the airfield. The rearguard easily held the Italians at bay. The big mortar however got killed by a sniper and never fired a shot. The 10-2 stack lost one squad on its way across the valley in the middle but picked up a hero, performed a heroic infantry OVR against Sgt Fritz (8-1) who tossed a DC on them while they approached, surviving and managing to be ready for exit, while the 9-2 together with two squads tried to move around to the north, but had to take a 17-2 shot which only one squad survived. So only 9 possible exit points after round 5 and a concession. Great game!
2021-02-19
(A) Andy Bagley
vs
Neil Brunger
German / Italian win
Talk about close! The Brits failed to exit, but could have won had they achieved 30 CVPs. They managed 29! I probably made a mistake in over-committing the Italians, who had little effect on slowing the British movement west, and simply gave them some easy CVPs. I also lost a halftrack to a freak shot, but otherwise was able to defend the hill successfully to prevent a British escape.
Great scenario with lots of movement and decisions for both sides. My only reservation is that I can think of a British strategy that I reckon would be very hard for the Germans to stop. I'll have to try it sometime.
