Author	goosebrown (Britain, Maori, New Zealand)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany, Italy
Participants	treadasaurusrex (AAR)
Play Date	2022-01-18
Language	English
Scenario	DeRa023

The 28th Maori Battalion with their attached section of Valentines from the 8th RTR moved west past Sollum into the wind as the lowering sand cloud on the horizon moved east to meet them. The day would obviously be a race between the wind and the Maoris. If the weather held and the wind stayed down, it would take an hour and a half for them to the jumping off line on the ridge to the south of the position west of the town. Although spirits were high, the German and Italian defenders had taken a defensive position on a small hill with good views of the town and the highway to the south. It wouldn't be easy to crack their interlocking fields of fire and it would be worse if the Khamsin blew in, reducing the visibility to the bare minimum.

The first action of the Maori in Libya was not going to be a hāngī with the Whānau.

The garrison of two threadbare companies of the 4th Libyan Labor Battalion and a company of the DAK had dug in on the hill and was praying for the hot desert wind as they watched the Maori advance to contact in road order along the coast highway.

Would the Maori or the sand get there first.

The tanks of the 8th RTR led the column with the task of bypassing the hillock along the main road then, once west of oasis position, to turn north toward the coast and gain an enfilade position on the enemy's right. The 28th battalion would move along the road and deploy around the south and east sides of the hillock then use their machine guns and mortars to prep for a general infantry assault that would force defenders to retreat into the arms of the RTR.

At first the sand held on the eastern horizon, a hanging cloud of darkness in a swirling wall, but by turn six, the sand rushed like a freight train toward the battlefield and instantly plunged it into a murk of dust and grime that scoured the world down to absolutely point blank range.

The 28th instantly adapted to the worsening conditions to deploy early into line of battle for assault as there would not be time to move and set up the mortars and machine guns to cover the assault. It was going to be cold steel and guts.

As the Maori deployed and moved to contact, the khamsin lifted for a couple turns and the DAK and their labor saw the 28th battalion, a wall of dark muscle and bayonet points coming for them.

On the Maori left flank the Valentines advanced to fire at the dug in colonial troops on the Italian right and succeeded in demoralizing a platoon creating a crack to exploit the next movement. On the Maori right, the mortars deployed at maximum range of the dug in DAK Oasis company ready to start supporting the infantry moving to contact. Two companies of the Maori advanced to contact on the east side of the hill in preparation for an assault. In the centre the Maori advanced to the foot of the hill and began to engage the Colonial troops on their left.

The DAK started to inflict damage on the Maori on the valley floor as they advanced on the hilltop position but the sand crashed back down and the world became the point of the bayonet and the dirt and grit of the desert. As the sand closed in the Valentines on the left forced an entire company of Italians to surrender to be hustled back to disappear into the sand in the direction of the east-west road. On the right, a two platoon detachment assaulted the colonial troops on the Axis far left. In the center, against the Oasis company, the Maori stalled while taking casualties.

In the next turn the Valentines moved into assault on two more platoons of the colonial labor battalion and remained engaged there. On the right, the eastern edge of the hill, the 28th succeeded in assaulting and forcing the Italians to surrender. More prisoners back to the road and captivity in Australia. The DAK though held firm and received the Maori assault as the entire battle turned into a hairball on all the sides. Maori on all the sides and the Axis hunkered down in the center of the hill.

Over the last two turns the Maori made progress and received the surrender of more and more Italian troops and some of the DAK but in the end, the platoon there on the corner of the DAK line, held on though totally surrounded.

20 steps of Axis units were destroyed and 10 Maori steps went to their ancestors, but the victory conditions are the victory conditions and the Maori made their way back to the start line with their heads bowed and carrying all the automatic weapons they could possibly carry.