Salerno

This game was played at my house Sunday 14th Sept 2008. I played the US forces, Chris played KG Klein Limburg and Ian had 71 Panzer Grenadier Regiment. Most of the kit on display is mine but Ian helped out with the T30 and a few German bits

Easy Company, North East of Persano, await the Germans in the sun

T30 GMC in support of 2nd Battalion 143rd Infantry Regiment. Ian mastered this for Grubby Tanks. However its unclear if Mr Gubb ever released it to the public.

37mm M3A1 (Fujimi) of the 2nd Battalion 143rd Infantry Regiment lurks in the trees by the side of the Calore River

F Company on the banks of the Sele River

The defenders of Persano

A Coy 157th Infantry Regiment defend the Tobacco Factory

L4 Spotter Plane (Kopro) calls 155mm's down on the lead elements of I Abt 71 Panzer Grenadier Regiment

L4 with the Sele River in the background

I Abt 71 Panzer Grenadier Regiment starts its advance and bumps in to the lead elements of E Company.

Ian bunched his infantry which made a fine clustered target for the massed US artillery. PzKfw-IVJ by Fujimi

KG Klein Limburg advances on to the table. Airfix PzKfw-IVF2

KG Klein Limburg was supported by a FlaK-38 (MMS). SMA Truck by Minimi with the base removed

I Abt 71 Pz Gren Regt pushes forward

The Aufklärungs Truppe accompanying the 71 PzG Regt approaches the hidden 37mm of the 143rd Regt. This move would prove to be fatal for the SdKfz-222

SdKfz-222 by SHQ

The 191st tank Battalion arrives and manoeuvres against KG Klein Limburg. The Sherman is a slightly modified Airfix. the M10 is a Britannia hull with a HAT turret and an SHQ gun.

A Coy 191st Tank Battalion - Corgi Shermans

German Pioneer supported by the Flamm Panzer (Matchbox hull and Vac-u-Cast turret (both OOP)) burn a US outpost

II Abt 71 PzG Regt arrives on table and hurries after I Abt

71 Panzergrenadier Regt pushes along the ridge to Persano. Although there are a smattering of US stand still on this part of the battlefield they have all failed their morale and are combat ineffective

KG Klien Limburg pushes south to meet the 191st Tank Battalion. Closest tank is a tarted-up Arii PzKfw-IVG

The BHQ of the 191st ordered a counter attack, but A company went pinned at an inopportune moment leaving the commander to advance on his own. Lucky for him he got away with it, German shooting was poor on this occasion.

Hero gun. After slaying the scout car it then shot the onrushing PzKfw-IV. After this picture was taken it shrugged off an infantry assault, only succumbing to the second attack.

After some god shooting the 191st kills a pair of panzers. Their Sherman's commander then decides to press forward and counter attack.

After losing the panzers KG Klein Limburg's remaining tanks went shaken and ran off. This left a single PaK-40 to fend off five Shermans. The PaK-40 was soon to succumb to massed 75mm fire. Things were looking grim for the Germans in the north.

Mid game to the east of Persano. The US are down to the hero 37mm; an 81mm Mortar and the T30 track. However 71 PzG Regiment is slow pushing forward and time is ticking away

The 191st pushes forwards to mop up the remains of KG Klein Limburg. This was a mistake, the pioneer flame thrower and the Flamm Panzer are lethal at close range. The Yanks were lucky to lose but a single Sherman and decided discretion was the better part of valour; they pulled back the next turn giving the KG commander time to finish rallying the remaining Panzers.

The last PzKfw-IV supporting 71 Panzergrenadiers went shaken. The T30 commander decided to make a local counter attack to finish it off. Unfortunately the HEAT round for the T30 isn't all that good and it failed to make an impact. The accuracy of a shaken panzer isn't great, but at point blank range it was good enough; this was the last move the T30 made.

With a handful of turns to go the lead companies of 71 Panzergrenadier regiment approach Persano. However it is garrisoned by a fresh company. Their fire with the support of the artillery brought the initial German thrust to its knees

After finishing off the T30, the PzKfw-IV rallied and hastily moved down the road to Persano to reinforce the attack

The defenders of Persano wait for the renewed onslaught. 191st Tank battalion dispatched a Sherman across the Sele river to support the defence

The final German push. 71 Panzer Grenadier attacked with all remaining stands and managed to eject all bar one of the defenders by the end of the game. They would have been able to remove the last stand too but tardiness in their advance meant that they had run out of time

In the end it was a clear US victory, the Germans made none of their objectives. In hindsight its a hard game for the Germans to win. However Ian spent too many turns cautious advancing towards Persano when he should have been full advancing. The Germans need to bring 71 Panzergrenadier's panzers on to the flank of 191st otherwise 191st is free to manoeuvre against KG Limburg. Having said that, even if Ian had done so, the US artillery makes life very hard for the Germans, in all cases a decisive German victory looks to be out of the question

Historically the Germans made a break through and pushed to the US artillery lines where the guns saved the day and stopped the panzers getting to the beach. Persano fell but the US troops at the Tobacco factory held on.

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