Scenario

Germans attack against semi entrenched British, French and Indians. Somewhere in Italy in late 43.

The Forces

Allies

British battalion with ; 6 pdr, 1 Boyes AT rifle,
Indian battalion with ; 1 Piat, 6pdr.
French battalion with ; no mortar, but with an Italian 65mm infantry gun.
Independent engineer company (no flame-thrower).
2 25pdr artillery support, 2 75mm French/US artillery, 1 40mm Bofors AA and an M7 Priest, 2 M8 Greyhound, a Humber and Daimler armoured car, 1 repair truck, 2 churchill IV, 1 crusader, 1 A10, 1 Firefly, 1 Sherman 75mm. (The Greyhounds, the Sherman and Priest were independent to support the free French)

Germans

Hanomag panzer grenadier battalion with supporting light and heavy armoured car companies.
Regular infantry battalion with 2x100mm Skoda artillery support, 1 88mm AA gun.
SS battalion without transport.
Independent engineer company (no flame-thrower).
10 man cavalry recce squadron.
1 Brumbar, 4 MKIII, 4 MKIV, Panther and a Tiger.

The Table

8ft by 6ft table. Wooded hills and rough ground which divided the battlefield into 4 allied areas and 2 German areas that later that funnelled into the allied areas. The Germans had to break off the Allied side of the table with at least a company.

The Game

The French in two distinct areas separated by a ridge line were arrayed on the left and faced the Panzer Grenadier armoured car companies and then the regular infantry battalion. The Greyhounds went forward and were taken out first followed by a 37mm antitank gun and the Priest that was overrun.

Damage inflicted on the Germans was minimal. The Germans were concentrating on knocking out anything that moved on the battlefield and only towards the end started making for the French infantry who could probably have held the advance.

Some Panzer Grenadiers attempted to overrun the 75mm guns, but this infantry was cleared by a supporting British company with the Indian engineers coming up in support. The guns could then concentrate on the vehicles.

The British battalion held the centre and the Indians the Right, with the mishmash of armour in reserve.

The German advance in the centre was made by the MKIIIs, the Brumbar and a few Panzer Grenadiers. A few SS rode in on the tanks. The cavalry also moved up sheltered behind tanks. The disposition of the battlefield sheltered much of the German advance behind wooded hills which the British only just managed to occupy the turn before the Germans arrived.

A MKIII towing a 37mm gun? with SS infantry support rode into the woods and mowed down the first British MG and the 7 man cavalry (less 2 horseholders) assaulted the second MG. The SS and a few cavalry were killed but the whole of the MG company was lost. The supporting British infantry were too far back in the woods to help due to bad movement dice.

A lucky shot heavy damaged the Brumbar and put it out of action for a turn but there was nothing to follow it up with, as the MKIII'S kept on coming. The two Churchill's crested the back hill line and headed into the gap, into which the MKIII's and Brumbar were heading. One Churchill was heavy damaged and in the subsequent turn destroyed before the repair truck could get to it.

The re-crewed Indian 6pdr from the right took out 1 MarkIII and the British 6pdr the other. Both MKIII companies made good enough morale rolls and the following turn good dice rolls by the Germans killed the crews of both 6pdrs. For the desperate British one of the 25pdrs was firing direct over open sights. The FOO units failing to spot anything throughout the game.

The A10 was also moving into the fray to knock out supporting German infantry. The German attack in the centre was effectively stalled.

On the right the Indians armed only with a 6pdr and a Piat faced the Panther, Tiger, and 4 MKIVS plus SS supporting infantry. A bad call made in desperation using the 6pdr saw most of its crew killed and it pulled back to recrew. SS infantry baling off a tank were mown down but attracted heavy retaliatory fire most of which missed.

British tanks in a spirit reminiscent of early western desert battles charged the German armour. The Firefly at point blank range only inflicting a light damage on the Panther. The following turn it was lost to a PzIV. I would call my tank charge a major tactical blunder, but the situation was really hopeless and the best that would have happened would have been one extra shot by the Firefly before it was picked off. Somehow the Crusader and A10 both survived the retaliatory fire by 3 PzIVs, the Tiger, and the Panther, though the Crusader was heavy damaged. Its crew baled and the A10 pulled back.

With the unsupported German tanks making their morale rolls to approach infantry there was little that could be done by the Indians though the Panther was eventually heavy damaged by a Piat armed Sikh.

By this point of the battle the other 25pdr was also trying to hit the German armour over open sights. The surviving German armour would have been able to break off the table the following turn even if the Panther/Tiger company had failed its morale.

The battle was called to a halt. To the allies it was obvious that we had lost, and it was just seeing how much damage we could inflict on the Germans. The game was decided on the right because the Panther and Tiger's armour made most anti-tank shots in the game ineffectual.

The German player attacked everywhere along the line from the first turn and there was little that the allies could do in return. The final armour dispositions were that the Germans had a Tiger, two MKIIIs, 3 PzIVs, a heavy damaged Brumbar and Panther(the latter probably would have been attacked with grenades as stationary close to infantry) and all their armoured cars.

The Germans tanks all had 2-3 shots left. The Britsh had a Churchill, the A10 and the armoured cars.

To fight it again and even it it up for the allies I would go for one of the following options, add two to three Shermans, 2 17pdrs or remove the Panther and Tiger from the germans. The battle was fought with the items brought down on the day and I had forgoten to bring a pair of 17pdrs.