The Italians "should" have no chance in this one. Despite the fact that they are in entrenchments and don't have to run away when they fail recovery, the Polish have a morale advantage and sappers. This means that most of the time when they assault, even the entrenchments, they will have positive column shifts. Since they already have a firepower advantage, this really shouldn't be much of a game.

Unfortunately for the Polish, this wasn't how it turned out. This ended up being a grusome, grinding battle where each entrenchment was assaulted turn after turn seemingly ad infinitum. The Italians had plenty of steps (As of turn 17 when I called it, they had lost 38 steps and only had scratch forces in two entrenchments left) and made the Polish fight for every victory point. As of turn 15 (of 24) the Polish had finally developed a 2 point lead but the losses on the Poles were of concern (14 steps). The only chance the Italians had was a counterassault on turn 18 which failed to net any step losses. After that attempt the Italians threw in the towel.

My Italians fought quite well in their box. I set them up in a mutually supporting, somewhat rectangular entrenchment. They didn't have as many options to reinforce assault hexes but with the entrenchment that is less of an issue than normal as no units will end up fleeing the assault hex. The Poles peeled off and hit the Italians on the north end of the box which was slightly less powerful than the southern end. I had hoped to have very light losses and force the Itlaians into a counterattacking proposition but my losses were just too high. I had to push on and take more entrenchments.

All in all, a pretty enjoyable evening. I give it a "4" as the Italians are able to put up a pretty strong fight before they tip over.