Introduction

Another solid scenario in Afrika Korps. The key to victory for the Commonwealth forces here is patience. Historically, Giarabub was a classic set-piece battle, a kind of fight at which the Australian Army was without par, but two principal factors complicated the situation for the Commonwealth commanders. Firstly, the Italian Army was also in its element---a prepared defensive position in the North African desert. Secondly, the Australians were needed in Greece, which was deemed a more important theatre of operations than the Giarabub Oasis.

Tactically, the reinforced 2/20/9 (9th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Australian Imperial Force, more commonly 2/9), trained for exactly this sort of fight, gave the Commonwealth forces an advantage over the Italians, whose excellent defensive position was undermined by leadership ranking somewhere between mediocre (best case) and appalling (worst case), and materiél shortages. Strategically, the fight for Giarabub should have benefited the Axis, and this is reflected in the Victory Conditions---thus the severe restriction on Australian losses. In reality, the Axis was not much of an alliance, and it's doubtful that the Italian Army consoled itself over the defeat by noting its forces had held up and weakened important Australian units for the benefit of their German Ally in Greece.

The Plans

The two forces could not have more divergent aims in this fight. The Australians need to take the fortress and its supporting Oasis without taking moderate losses. The Italians need to hold the fortress and its Oasis against a force with the time and the materiél to overwhelm them. Realistically, operational conditions like these make this sort of battle a losing proposition for both sides. For the Commonwealth, the decision to hasten the assault and take the Oasis was informed by the worsening situation in the Balkans; for the Italians, holding the ground had become pointless, as their forces there could no longer operate effectively. By this point, however, both sides had passed the point where reasonable Staff assessments could retrieve the situation.

The Commonwealth Plan

The Commonwealth forces have a resources problem---the Germans in the Balkans are a much more important foe than the Italians in Giarabub Oasis. This means that the Commonwealth commander has conflicting orders; take Fort Giarabub while suffering only light casualties, and do so in under three days' time. The choice is therefore between rushing the Italian positions, or advancing by stages using fire and manoeuver to attrit the Italians until a final push can be made. Given the casualty restrictions, the slow-but-steady approach is the only one having hope of victory for the Commonwealth forces. The problem is that the Australians have a very limited mobility. The British 25-Pdrs must be got into position, as must the HMGs and 3-Inch Mortars. Only then can the Australians tell off a mobile reserve to exploit their superiority in numbers.

The Italian Plan

For the Italians, planning comes down to deployment decisions, as they need to both hold the fort and tear up the attacking Australians. The Australians have better morale, better Leaders, more troops, and better supporting weapons. But the Italians have a few key strengths. Their troops have Entrenchments, which confer fairly significant advantages to the defender, the Italians have a mobile armoured unit and three trucks, the Australians start out divided, movement during night Turns is extremely foolish, and the Italians have plenty of Leaders to provide for a solid defence; and above all, they are on the defensive. Admittedly, these are fairly slender reeds to hang a hope of victory on, given the huge amount of time and the very powerful Australian force.

The Battle

This is a long, long, long battle. Despite a willingness to concede, the players agreed to move the game to a side table and continue slogging it out to the end. The Italians could do little to interfere with the Commonwealth forces as they disposed to attack the fort, and the availability of Night Turns allowed the Australians to dig in while within range of the Italians without receiving fire. The 25-Pdrs gave the Commonwealth 14 Turns of dominance, and the Commonwealth player used them wisely; the fort proper was taken under a hail of 25-Pdr fire. The Italians were effectively pinned by two powerful groups of Australian Rifle platoons, while the small mobile force, mounted in the four Bren Carriers, kept the Italians off-balance. An attempt by the Italians to use their three trucks and the L3/35 to knock out the 3-Inch Mortars was quite successful, but led to recklessness; an attempt to push on against the 25-Pdrs came to grief on the guns of the 2-Pdr battery and an HMG platoon.

Conclusion

In the end, the Italians were eliminated and the Australians tactically victorious. Operationally, their losses---8 Steps---were too severe to call Giarabub a victory. This seems the most likely outcome, and is the historical one.