Introduction

A very solid scenario, displaying the desperate defence of Bir el Gubi by Italian Fascists of Gruppo Battaglioni and the equally stubborn attacks by British and Indian Imperialists. As so often happens in war, the initial importance of the geographic objective lessened, even as the psychological value---or Morale Value, if you like---of the ground grew. The fight began to take on the character of a grudge match, but one which could only favour the Axis in the prevailing conditions; thus the severe Victory Conditions for the Commonwealth Forces compared with the easier conditions obtaining for the GGFF.

Note

By mutual agreement, the red- and grey-shaded hex at 2106 is defined to be less than 25% L2 Hill hex, and therefore not an L2 Hill hex. Therefore, units in hexes 2107 and 2007 may site and fire through hex 2106 as if it were an L1 Hill hex. The hex does not count as an L2 Hill hex for Victory Point purposes.

The Plans

As in the earlier sister-scenario, Desert Rates Scenario Thirty-One, "Young Fascists: The Morning Phase", the objectives are the hilltop positions of Bir el Gubi. The Italian Young Fascists of the Gruppo Battaglioni GGFF have incredible Morale, superb defensive positions, decent Anti-Tank and heavy weapon support, and nowhere near enough infantry. As always, the quality of Italian leadership is suspect, at best, even though Gruppo Battaglioni has a full command echelon. The Commonwealth forces have superior numbers, solid heavy weapons support, tanks, and two 13-Strength Off-Board Artillery Factors. Ostensibly on the attack, their Initiative is actually lower than that of the Italians. Commonwealth leadership is generally superior to that of the Italians, and the two Commonwealth forces have ample leaders and a solid command echelon.

The Italians

For the Italians, there are very few options open in deployment. The Commonwealth Forces have them in a vise, forcing them to defend the entire perimeter of the hills at 2005-2007. The Italian player digs in one Bersaglieri (BERS) platoon on each of the L2 Hill hexes (1807, 2007, 2008, 2107, 2108), reinforced by two Bersaglieri Machinegun (BERS MG) platoons in 1807 and 2106, and an additional BERS platoon in the remaining hexes (2007, 2008, 2107). The 47mm A/T gun battery is dug-in at 1907, while the 81mm Mortar platoon is dug-in at 2207. The 102mm potrée A/T battery is dug-in at 1807. The truck is deployed in 2204. The plan is to shoot up the Valentines with the 47mm and especially the 102mm portée A/T guns, then move off once the British tanks start returning fire, or the British OBA begins to arrive. The 102mm portée battery will then manoeuver to take up a new position and resume the attack against any remaining Valentines. As long as the portée remains active, it will be employed as mobile A/T gun against the Valentines, attempting to "shoot and scoot". Otherwise, the platoons dug-in on the hills will wait until the Commonwealth Forces are close before opening up, so as to limit the effectiveness of the British OBA.

The Commonwealth

The Commonwealth Forces are divided into two forces: the Indian Forces of 2nd Battalion 5th Mahrattas (2/5 MAH), who attack from the North-East around hex 0701, and are supported by three troops of British Valentines, and the British Forces of 2nd Battalion, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (2QCH), who attack from the West, being initially deployed in an area South of the E-W road around hex 1520. The divided forces do at least force the Italian Player to cover both the Western and Northern approaches to the hill at 2005-2007, but that is little value for making each force roughly equal to the Italian defenders, thereby wasting what little superiority the Commonwealth has. The general plan will be for the Mahrattas and 2QCH to move up quickly into a position threatening the North and East (Mahrattas), and West (2QCH) faces of the hill at 2005-2007. The Mahrattas will hold in place while the 2QCH manoeuver to assault the hill, with the Valentines firing on anything that gives itself away, especially that noisome portée battery. This probably means the Valentines will need to close up a bit, making a hit from the portée much more likely, but the damn thing has to be found anyway. Once 2QCH have got up on the Italian positions, the Mahrattas will surge foreward to hit the Italians from the North and the East. This should overwhelm the Italian position and clear the hill.

The Battle

Even without the extra shift in assault which their superior Morale should have given them, the men of Gruppo Battaglioni continue to show what tough, motivated, troops can do on defence when given clear, simple orders. Italian leadership proved no better, on average, than in the Morning battle, but the Young Fascists were simply too hard to care. Although a number of Italian Army officers fled the field, and several others proved very unsteady under fire, the GGFF were rock-steady. The lack of effective leadership really only hurt their ability to coordinate their fires and launch counter-attacks. The portée A/T battery wiped out all three Valentine platoons in fairly short order. Although hit by British OBA, the Italian player had assigned one of his few decent officers---a Capitano with a Morale Modifier (and maybe a Fire Modifier as well, my notes are unclear)---to command the battery, and it survived several blows which would have shaken lesser units. The assault on the hill complex by 2QCH easily put the Commonwealth Forces over the eight Step Loss limit. This reduced the Battle to a desperate fight for control of the hill "at all costs". Fighting in Assault over five contiguous hexes, against a dug-in enemy with superior Morale, is ugly, and Commonwealth losses were frightening. As it turned out, they were very close to the actual losses suffered, with the 2QCH reduced to four single-step Rifle platoons, and the Mahrattas to two full-strength of three single-step Rifle platoons, as well as their two HMG platoons. The 2-Pdrs played no part, and the inability to move the heavy weapons by truck also hurt the Commonwealth's ability to deploy the Mahrattas' 3-Inch Mortars in a timely manner.

By the end of the fight, 1907, 2107, and 2108 had been cleared, the Italian 47mm A/T battery and 81mm Mortar platoons wiped out, and hill hexes 2007, 2008 under Assault. It was not enough, and 11 Brigade HQ ordered a Withdrawl to the Start Line preparatory to an all-out effort to take the Italian positions on the morrow. A bloody and hard-fought action.