10th of September 1943- after Allied forces land to limited resistance at Paestum on the Italian mainland in the early hours of the 9th, they quickly seek to establish a secure beachhead. The tower in the foreground was the primary defensive zone with 88mm guns, and supporting machinegun nests.
Paestum Landing zone
0400
At start force dispositions:
German HQ IV relays instructions to reinforce the Western flank of the German defence near the Sele River. 1/3 Para and Alpha Company advance to comply in the early AM.
Arty strikes by the Germans ring thru the early morning dew laden air. They hit 191st Tank Battalion [TB].
The US Navy ships, Ludlow, Benson, Edison pound at German forces on the Eastern flank, under cover of artillery the 1791st Regiment of the 36th Infantry Division lands.
The USN Savannah, Boise and Philly hit the west flank. Their strikes are effective.
The German 274th AA formation is severely disrupted, as are the 16th Panzer engineering platoon attempting to dig in near by.
Squadrons A & B from 645th TD take an overwatch [OW] position, as 36th Engineering Regiment elements advance toward the wire and minefields. The prepare to dig in for other units.
751st TD take an OW stance also.
Elements from 3/B from II/2nd Pzr conduct fire at advancing Allied Shermans
On the Western flanks of the allied position Allies fire at a variety of targets. Interestingly the 751st TB has a 50% effectiveness at long range, based upon the CRT.
END OF 0400 TURN
0500
1A Pzr is assigned to 1/3 Para, they and other units advance to reinforce the line. In the US turn they check fires, and conduct selected fires against German units in Line of Sight, adding suppressions to them [note: 5 suppressions = a kill].
This hour Arty fires are all over the place results wise, as the ships struggle to zero in on some targets and blast away effectively on others. Using the barrages on the Western side the Yanks edge closer. On the eastern side the companies A&C from 1431st Regiment advance to contact. Their support elements all are suppressed, by accurate German arty and tank/AA/AT opportunity fire. Men hug the ground, and inch forward. A & C companies get close enough to begin work on the wire, while 751st supports their efforts.
In the center near the main bridge, several engineering companies and platoons are bogged down under heavy fire, trying to advance upon and up to the rows of barbed wire and mines that need clearing.
The end of US movement and fire actions at 0500 –
END 0500 TURN
Well it seems that I have miss read the setup. I’m a bit disappointed that I’ve not been able to decipher the setup instructions and deployment instructions. These are apparently written in a style that is well suited to former military, and deeply experienced grognards, which it seems I’ve failed to muster to. The designer Chris has been very helpful, but it would appear that inorder to setup any scneario I am going to either play a guessing game or be asking questions .
So the scenario ends here or at the 0600 turn which I will post shortly, and we will either reset [ we are missing an entire German Bn, and were unaware that a further Bn would be forth coming. ] or pack up and move onto out next title. We will see.