The third mission of an on-going Final Combat character campaign featuring a fictitious half-platoon (one jump stick) of the US 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) during the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 was played on Saturday, 14 September 2013. Five players controlled each of their two character paratroopers as well as the 16 non-player character paratroopers that filled out the force charged with defending a trail intersection. Their mission was to prevent enemy forces from flanking A/505's position astride the Niscemi Road less than two miles to the east on the morning of the invasion – 10 July 1943. Failure could allow the Germans and Italians to push the US 1st Infantry Division back into the sea. The GM controlled the Axis forces. Although this mission is fictitious, it is historically plausible and is representative of the types of action that occurred during the opening days of Operation Husky.
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The paratroopers did not have long to wait after establishing their positions. The sound of vehicle engines was heard and a dust cloud was seen approaching from the northeast along the track leading directly toward Niscemi.
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The mortar team fired a five-round barrage when the lead German element came into clear view, which killed the commander of the second vehicle – an armored car – and immobilized the third vehicle, a kubelwagen in which two occupants were wounded.
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The lead German element called in a smoke mission on the farm complex on the hill in an attempt to conceal the rapid advance of a flanking element. US small arms and machinegun fire from the main farm complex buildings immobilized the lead kubelwagen killing the vehicle's machine-gunner and driver and knocking out the radio used to call for artillery support.
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As the German flanking element rapidly advanced behind the cover of a hill, a team of paratroopers in the hilltop farm complex used the German smoke screen to dash down the hill to the stone walls nearest the intersection. A couple of paratroopers at the forward small-farm position used stone walls to conceal their movement to get close to the road and readied a satchel charge and Gammon grenade.
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The two lead German armored cars went into line abreast as they cleared the cover of the hill and advanced toward the intersection and trail in front of the hilltop farm complex. A bazooka rocket greeted the right-hand vehicle as it neared the trail, immobilizing it. The satchel charge and Gammon grenade missed the left-hand armored car, but caused it to slow and turn its attention to the small farm.
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A motorized panzer-grenadier squad trailing the armored cars halted, dismounted, and began deploying to suppress the US infantry. The paratrooper machinegun team in the small farm opened fire on the panzer-grenadier team on the right, killing two and wounding a third. When the turret of the armored car nearest the small farm started rotating toward their attic position, the machinegun team hurriedly dismantled their gun and hauled it down to the house's first floor and then out a rear window just as 20mm HE rounds exploded in the rooms above.
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The paratrooper machine-gun team in the loft of one of the hilltop farm complex's barns commenced fire on the left-hand German panzer-grenadier team and killed two. Unfortunately for this team, the immobilized armored car spotted the tracer fire immediately and opened up on their position – both team members were killed by the 20mm HE fire.
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When the bazooka round immobilized the right-hand armored car, a third armored car bringing up the rear turned further right and roared up the hill. The crew spotted a paratrooper running across the road below them and killed him. The recon unit commander in this vehicle assessed the situation and ordered an immediate withdrawal.
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The final excitement for the paratroopers occurred when the sounds of vehicles was heard coming down the northwest trail. Paratroopers along the stone wall in the olive grove flanking the trail waited until the lead vehicle came abreast of them and popped up to engage. A bazooka rocket fired at less than 50 yards made quick work of the Italian armored car, which convinced the trailing vehicles to withdraw immediately back up the trail.
Round One went to the paratroopers who immobilized or destroyed two armored cars, two kubelwagens, and a truck and who killed or wounded 20 enemy soldiers. The paratroopers lost a squad leader in the road and the two-man machinegun team in the barn KIA. The 23 survivors knew the enemy likely would return, and with greater force.
Thanks to Ben, Stan, Rich, Bob and Peter for playing the Mission, and special thanks to Ben and Peter for the photos.
covers the basics for this WWII theater of war.
