Hard Sarge
Posts: 22741
Joined: 10/1/2000 From: garfield hts ohio usa Status: offline
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Well, look at the map, Messina is just a stone throw away from the Boot of Italy, Palarmo, is a lot farther away, which the Allies had command of the sea, and also of the air without the port of Messina, and the shipping/ferries in that area (ships that could cross the short opening, but not the long trip) no the Axis could not of pulled out (while not as big a feat as Dunkirk, it ranked as a pretty close deal) there are some very good books on the battle,, which was a major shock to the Allies, they had all cards in the deck, and played there hand very poorly, had total air control, but as the Germen pilots joked, you could tell when the mess hall was serveing lunch, as there were never any Allied planes in the air at noontime (which is when most of the Paras made it to Silcy, and the little air transport was able to be done) (but as was the case in most battles, the Yanks and Brits improved as they went along, and were clicking on all tracks by the end of the battle and were not making many mistakes any more) I am playing another round, and doing much better this time around, got a better airdrop, and my landings went off much better also (lost a dang GB arty !!!!) I'll have to check the time line of the battle, if Messina fell on day 30 or later, then any capture of the city before then, should have a major effect on the score HARD_Sarge
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