Italian Long Campaign

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We had the choice of a special mission for a quick Advance.

The map is still quite similar to our last battle, alot of craggy rocky ground.

Fortunately, we have a E-W road running almost in the centre of the map, so this will be very important for us to move across the map speedily.

We bought a number of transports. Some heavy and light trucks. Air recon was also available, so that will come in handy.

Instead of tanks, I decided to buy some Armoured Cars. These have 20mm Autocannons, which have limited AT capability (PEN 4).

Here's the rough plan.

The black line is the midpoint of the map, this is as far as the EN can deploy their units. So I usually plan with this line as the edge of my safe area.

2nd and 3rd Coy will advance along the E-W axis, with 2nd Coy leading.

1st Coy will take the rough terrain for the objectives along the north of the map.

Blue lines are approx. company boundaries. The boundary between 2nd and 3rd Company is the road itself.

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1st Company's initial plan

I had bought a platoon of heavy trucks, and managed to fit the entire company into it, less 1 platoon.

1 of my HMG platoons are also mounted on pack mules and they will initially set-up a firebase to overwatch the trucks as they move to their de-bus point.

Note the smoke bombardment. This is to aid concealment of my trucks in the initial movement.



2nd Company

2nd Company is leading the Bn. The point elements are 1 platoon riding on light trucks, 1 scout team riding on motorcycles and a pair of armoured cars. As before, I drop smoke to obscure the initial movement phase.

With the use of the road, I expect to reach the de-bus point by the end of Turn 2.

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Turn 4

We contacted an EN platoon while moving along the road.

- Plotted indirect fires
- Established a firebase with HMGs and direct fire mortars
- Moved our armoured cars for closer suppression.
- Fanned out our scouts (F0-F1) for flank observation
- Once our mortar fires hit, we'll push N platoon up closer.



Turn 5

Our Air recon spotted some light MkIVc tanks. These are of relatively low threat as they only have MGs. Nonetheless we will have to clear them, to ensure follow on forces are not spotted so easily.



Turn 6

Our direct and indirect fires have routed the EN infantry and we push on with the rest of the Bn.

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A quick discussion on offensive type of missions.

When moving to contact, the usual problem is weighing off momentum vs dispersal.

You want to keep your forces upfront moving, and with support coming along, but at the same time, you'll have to watch against clumping too close together. If the EN had effective artillery or HMGs, the units clustered together will incur alot of casualties.

I tend to bring motor transports for this purpose, it allows me to concentrate faster than leg movement. Of course, it would be better to have armoured half-tracks but the Italian HTs have a carry capacity of 9, while my infantry sections are 11men each.

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Turn 5

1st Company

I hadn't expect the trucks to take so long to move to their de-bus point. It seems I probably only saved 2 turns transporting my troops by the

We spread the company in 1 up formation, and site our HMGs to support our comb of the area.

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Turn 8

Back to 2nd Company.

Our point platoon (N Platoon) moves off the road and will comb the left flank, providing cover from the high ground. L platoon takes the lead and will continue to fillet down the road.



Turn 9

Our Air recon spotted more EN infantry guarding the road, and an ATG with A13 overwatching from a further high point. Excellent vantage points overall.

Our next plan will require our arty to switch over to these higher value targets.



Turn 12

We spotted the entire platoon of A13s guarding the ground. The MkIVs are almost destroyed by my arty, and I send K3, my company AT rifle team to deal with the remaining MkIV.

Our arty is now landing squarely on both EN positions. We hope to knock out both the EN tank and ATG, if possible.

Our Armoured Cars wait by the side of the road for now. There's not much they can do, until we clear the EN AT assets.

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Turn 9

3rd Company

We send 1 platoon to secure the objectives in this sector. If there are signs of at least 1 EN platoon, we will have to provide additional support to ensure quick success. We only spot 1 section so far, it may be an isolated section, or more likely, it's part of 1 platoon.



Turn 15

Our advance sections get contacted and it looks to be at least an EN platoon guarding these objectives. We'll move up our company HMGs and mortars to provide better support. A straight-up platoon to platoon fight may take too long, and incur additional casualties. When possible, tilt the combat power with use of direct or indirect fires.

As my Bn arty is concentrating on 2nd Company's sector, I only have the Coy support weapons, which should be sufficient.

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Turn 13

2nd Company

Our arty is suppressing the EN infantry very well. They are routing. I take the opportunity to push the lead platoon forward. Also note N platoon coming up on our left flank, using the rough ground as cover.



Turn 15

We smoke the area, and pushed forward the entire company.

L Platoon will now go off-road and directly towards the EN positions. M platoon will go down the road, to clear the EN, before breaking sharp left and up towards the EN positions.

The main idea is for these 2 platoons to distract the EN, while N platoon makes its way forward to close assault the tanks.



Turn 19

N platoon is now in position to assault the EN tanks. EN infantry is routing, so the EN is unable to spot my infantry coming forward



Turn 22

This is taken after destroying 2 EN tanks. They've been stationary for far too long, which is a well-known weakness of the game.

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Turn 15

1st Company

We found the EN infantry in position here at the forward slope. It was approx. 2 platoons in size. We can only guess that the remaining platoon is probably deployed on the reverse slop.

Our support weapons have already been deployed. It's going to be quite straightforward for us to dislodge them. Most of the EN fire is heading towards H and I platoons. J platoon is probably hidden from direct EN observation.



Turn 19

The EN is routing, and we pack up our HMGs, to redeploy them forward again to cover the infantry advance.



Turn 22

As we approach the other side, we found the remaining of the EN infantry deployed nearer to the other cluster of objectives. Our HMGs are too distant to provide support and they will take upwards of 6-8 turns before they'll reach us. I quickly plot for Bn arty, while continuing my movement forward.



Turn 25

The fight here is over. I platoon will move forward to secure the objectives.

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Turn 22

3rd Company

There was a local counterattack by a platoon of MkIVs. They bumped into R platoon of 3rd Company and were destroyed.



Here's the battle report.

Our losses are minimal, even though this was a special battle. The road was very useful as it allowed speedy access to many of the key terrain in both 2nd and 3rd Company sector.



Strategic battle