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Christophe Jaureguiberry -> (8/26/2001 4:35:00 PM)
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1st Scenario - ASSAULT ON KALIBAKI
As the Italian army lunges forward into Greece from the Albanian border, I am tasked of advancing into the Mitsova Valley in direction of Konitsa and Kalibaki. The terrain is extremely rough, and after reviewing it I decide to purchase ammo mules for my guns and transport for my troops. As I have a few points left, I decide to spend them on 3 platoons of 75mm SPAA.
(The maps are oriented differently but for ease of description I will use the right-most side as being East). The upper part of the map is separated by a river, which flows in a WSW-ENE axis. This river is crossed at only one point by a bridge, at a village called Perati. The VP are distributed in 4 groups spaced along the main road which starts in the North, crosses the river at Perati, and continues in a SE direction by passing two hills and finishing at Kalibaki.
I decide to put one task group north of the river, which will assault Perati by the north. The second TG will be just south of the river and will support the first by assaulting the hill that overlooks the bridge on the southern bank. The third group is the most southerly and is tasked of striking due east, sweeping the few scattered villages of enemies and eventually, if there is still time, to outflank the enemy by the south and attack Kalibaki from the south.
The scenario lasted 30 turns and comprised 3 broad phases, each comprising (coincidentally) about 10 turns.
First Phase
The three TG advanced steadily, sweeping reconnaissance and other Greek units from their path, and preceded by a neat rolling barrage of artillery. I discovered that the enemy was quite well equipped with artillery, mainly 81mm mortars, but as we advanced steadily, the shots were always falling behind us.
Around turn 7-8, First Company reached the outskirts of Perati. Increased resistance in that sector led to a slowing down of momentum and this caused the opposition mortar fire to become more accurate.
To make matters worse, Second company had drifted southwards on their advance towards the east, meaning only the northernmost of its platoon was available to offer support on the hill south of the bridge. The rest of the company became embroiled in a vicious firefight in a central village, thereby delaying even more its help to First Company. The enemy, which had been assumed to possess no armor, showed up with a few armoured cars which proved to be more powerful than the Italian ones, and we had to use the 75mm SPAA that I had bought nearly as an afterthought, in an AT role.
Third company (hugging the southern edge of the map) continued its progress eastwards without encountering any serious opposition, but slowed down by the unevenness of the terrain. By the end of the first phase, it was still quite far from its objectives.
Second Phase
The difficulties encountered at the end of phase one continued to increase. Due to the rarity factor, I was not able to purchase APCs for all my platoons. In fact I only got enough to equip First Company with, the other had to make do with an assortment of trucks. This resulted in different speeds per formation, a problem that was compounded by the difficulty of the trucks to negotiate rough terrain.
Increasingly frustrated by the growing disorder and starting to be under time pressure, I launched premature assaults on well-defended positions instead of waiting for my other troops to show up. This led to higher casualty counts and even more frustration. The whole battlefield dissolved in small-scale actions deep in forested and rough terrain, where I had to pile up squads to dislodge stubborn Greek troops holed-up in their defensive position.
First Company managed to work its way through Perati by attacking it from the West and the North. By turn 12, the town had been taken but the troops were progressing only slowly atop the bridge and on the southern hill due to suppressive fire, which was not diverted due to the delayed assault of Second Company. The whole southern hill sector was not completely cleared until turn 18, and witnessed some of the most desperate hand to hand combat of the whole battle as the Alpinis had to get medieval and clear mortar nests with bayonet charges.
To compound the problem, I had left after clearing Perati an Infantry platoon to guard against an eventual Greek surprise attack from the NE. That counter-attack duly came (never underestimate the sneakiness of scenario designers), but instead of the platoon attack that I expected later in the battle, I got a company assault on turn 15, which forced me to pull yet more troops from the southern hill battle to avoid the Perati defenders from being overrun. The attack was only beaten off definitively on turn 22, after a seesaw struggle through the streets, the battle line fluctuating as both sides poured reinforcements in the conflict.
After working its way through the hill and the village just to its south, Second Company arrived on the northern tip of the Greek defensive line that followed a ridgeline in a NW-SE axis, protected by barbwire. Earlier on, the southernmost platoon of 2nd Co. had been beaten off after attempting a frontal assault on the ridge (yes, stupid I know but indicative of my growing frustration. Besides, the one that has never attempted an ill-advised assault to grab those tantalising VPs just 3 little hexes away, please raise your hand). After that bloody repulse, I attempted to flank the ridge with the rest of 2nd Co. with better success, but still slow going.
3rd Co had been continuing its progress eastward, but split in two at one point, the northern elements joining 2nd Co on the ill-fated attack on the ridge line. The southern platoon, along with the armoured car element managed to flank the ridge on the south, where the defenses were much weaker and by the end of the second phase, was poised to attack Kalibaki from the South.
Third Phase
While half of 1st Co was still fending off the Greek sneak attack on Perati, 2nd Co. along with elements of 1st and 3rd finally cleared the central hill, the anchor of the ridgeline, and started advancing in the small valley leading to Kalibaki.
At that point, I should say that I had already lost half (6) of my armoured cars to ambushes by enemy AT teams, and nearly all my 75mm SPAA. However, despite having some weakened squads, I had not lost any infantry so my main concern in entering the third phase was not strength, but time.
3rd Co South group initially made good progress through the southern approaches of Kalibaki and through the town itself. However, about 3 hexes away from the VPs, the resistance stiffened considerably, helped considerably by an AA battery perched on a hill across the lake, which disabled 2 of my armoured cars, and 2 halftracks sporting 37mm guns. There, my lack of AT weaponry became acute. I managed to knock one out with direct fire from my Brixia mortar before it was eliminated, but the other one virtually stopped my progress just by being there.
The flanking AA fire had been solved by a curtain of smoke that I had fired across the lake, but my progress had been halted within sight of the VPs by the remaining halftrack and important reinforcements from the north, so I was stalemated in Kalibaki.
However, my southern attack on Kalibaki had drawn the defenders from the valley to the north to reinforce the town. Therefore, my progress in the valley was easier than expected, since the infantry had deserted the guns and MG posted in ambush on the hills framing it. Despite my best efforts, 2nd Co was not able to reach Kalibaki, and a last push by 3rd Co yielded only one of the Kalibaki VP. As often happens in SPWAW, total victory was only two more turns away, but I had to settle for less.
Result: Marginal Victory
Post combat analysis.
Despite having a marginal victory, it did not feel like it. I was unhappy with my performance; having fouled up many assaults through lack of coordination and lost more armoured cars than I reasonably should have, due to precipitation (I ignored the 1 hex by 1 hex rule more than once and paid for it). In the end, my victory was due to: 1-good choice of core force units (despite a lack of AT weaponry), 2-numerical advantage (although that is a requirement in all offensive operations) and 3-good use of my artillery, which saved some pretty desperate situations, such as the defense of Perati and safeguarding of 3rd Co in Kalibaki.
Nevertheless, High command was pleased with my performance and we were ordered onwards, to seize Metsovo Pass posthaste.
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TomT
