January 3, 1941 - Our Australian troops of the 16th Brigade, 6th Australian Division are advancing on Bardia. In advance of the main force is the 2/1st Battalion. They are expected to face weak resistance from elements of the Italian 157th Infantry Regiment of the 63rd “Cirene” Division.

The primary worry for our boys is the Italian Regimental artillery. Intelligence reports a large number of heavy artillery batteries in the area.

Our objective is to fill-in some of the Anti-Tank Ditch (to allow our armour through) and to eliminate all Italian entrenchments in the area. This will allow a safe and quick passage for our advance against Bardia. Minimal losses are expected.

Austalian Casualties will be presented by (#).

The Battle (brought to you by Victoria Bitter)

Under the cover of night, the 1st Battalion advanced towards Bardia. At 5:30am our boys from D Company reached the Anti-Tank Ditch.

The Sun began to rise at 5:45am and the shells began to fly! Our artillery targeted the Italian Maggiore with his AA guns and HMG platoon. A successful barrage cleared the way for our boys from D Company to charge. Unwilling to face our fearless boys, the Maggiore and his men surrendered! The first entrenchment is neutralised.

Leaving our engineers to fill in the anti-tank ditches, D company moved left and faced heavy Italian artillery with no cover at all! Half of D Company’s HMG platoon was wounded, and was forced to withdraw (1).

The visibility at 6:00am increased to about 1 mile. (Aside: Australia became a signatory to the Metre Convention in 1947)

C Company moves right (south) to assist D company who continue to come under heavy fire of the Italian artillery. (2)

A and B Company continue to advance facing little resistance. After our artillery has a platoon of Italian infantry fleeing from their entrenchment, Lt. Down Under fearlessly charges the suppressed Italian HMG. The Italians surrender and a second entrenchment is captured!

Our Boys in D Company receive a flogging from the Italian Guns (3&4) as their brothers in C Company come to their aid.

Lt. DownUnder begins to assault the Italian Infantry in the centre entrenchment as Lt. Colonel Wattle moves left and Captain Kangaroo takes a few platoons north toward the Italian guns.

The first of the Anti-Tank ditches is removed.

For the past half hour, our British allies with their 25-pdrs have been completely off-target. Lt Col Wattle has requested a change in duty. (last 4 rolls for Australian Off-board artillery have been 7,7,7,7!)

Captain Kangaroo and Lt Col Wattle take A Company to the northwestern entrenchment.

By 6:38am, two more Anti-Tank ditches are neutralised. There is enough of a whole in the Italian line for our armour to quickly advance through.

Back on target, our 25-pdrs demoralize the entrenched Italians who surrender to Captain Kangaroo.

Lt Down Under is still unable to force the centre entrenched Italian infantry to lay down their arms, as they continue to hold out against our boys.

At 7:00am, Lt Col Wattle leads A Company east toward the Italian artillery and AT guns.

Covered by artillery, Two platoons of C Company head SE towards the entrenched Italians.

Our guns hit the Italians hard, and after breaking under rifle fire from C Company the Italians surrender.

Italian artillery hits our engineers and half a platoon is forced to withdraw. (5)

It is now 7:30am and we only have 1 hour to achieve our objectives. We’ve already lost the equivalent of two platoons and cannot take any more casualties. There are six more entrenchments to capture. This mission appears to be getting down to the wire…

Lt Col Wattle assaults the rear AT Gun and Artillery post.

Australian Focus is now on the few Italian entrenchments in the southwest.

The closest entrenchment is overrun and surrenders when they are hit by our 25-pdrs and they see our engineers advancing.

Far to the northest, Lt Col Wattle is successful in eliminating the Italian AT & Artillery outpost.

The Italian infantry in the centre finally surrender to Lt Down Under of B Company. This Italian platoon displayed incredible bravery and managed to hold off our boys for over an hour, and therefore wasting some precious time. The Italian command should decorate these unknown Italian soldiers, for the part they played in the Bardia Breakin was critical.

It is now 7:00am and we still need to neutralise the last three Italian entrenchments. The boys from B Company are having difficulties against the Italian Tenente in the east. C & D Company are moving south to the Italian AT Gun entrenchment and the Capitano in the southwest with his infantry and HMG platoons.

Lt Col Wattle, Captain Kangaroo and Lt Down Under are too far away to assist.

The clock continues to countdown.

We order an artillery strike against the Capitano, but it has little effect.

Major Matilda and Captain Billy from B Company move in for a close assault against the Italian Tenente. It is a dangerous and risky move, but the clock dictates it must be done.

Italian artillery busts around our engineers, but to no effect!

We are now down to the final 15 minutes. Neither side has yet completed their victory objective! It is now truly down to the wire!

The Capitano’s men are hit by our 25-pdrs and are demoralised, but they refuse to surrender! Our engineers move in for close assault… the Italians lose half a platoon and flee the entrenchment! Two more to go.

Our second barrage of 25-pdrs hits the AT Guns eliminating about half of them. Our boys advance, but are unable to dislodge them.

Meanwhile Major Matilda and Captain Billy continue their assault, but they also fail to break the Italian Tenente.

Two Italian entrenchments hold on by the skin of their teeth!

In a final gesture, the Italian Capitano orders an artillery strike against some of our demoralised boys. The shells land accurately and our platoon is shattered! (6)

At 8:30am, our boys were ordered to withdraw, as the rest of the 2nd Regiment of the 16th Brigade would take over in the push to Bardia. Our 1st Battalion took too many casualties and failed to eliminate all the Italian entrenchments. I’m fairly certain that another 15 mins is all that would be needed, but we were too late.

The battle is lost.

Aftermath

This was a very enjoyable and nail-biting scenario. An absolute Ripper!

I knew the Italian off-board artillery would be a major issue, so it was important to keep my mortar out of sight of the Italian officers. Even with average rolling and no infantry support, I was expecting 3-4 steps lost to the Italian Guns. This left little room for tactical error on the field.

Can the Australians win this scenario? I think so!

In hindsight I sent too much infantry north with Lt Col Wattle, as half the force could have taken the objective. They finished with about 45 mins to spare, but were too far northeast to get back to assist in the rest of the fight.

A fantastic mission indeed!