The Soviets were at a disadvantage,traversing open terrain with the Italians entrenched. The Soviets massed their forces on their left and assaulted the far right Italian entrenchment. The Italians put their entrenchment in line as close as they could and their mortars hit several units as the Soviets advanced. This didn’t stopped the Soviets though, as they pushed to and over the right hand Italian entrenchments. The German assault guns and Soviet T-34s traded shots and the German infantry dug in. At the end the Italians still held 2 entrenchments, suffering heavy losses. Draw.

Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Germany, Italy
Play Date	2022-03-03
Language	English
Scenario	TaBa001

This scenario uniquely gives the Soviet player the ability to choose a daylight or nightime assault against a line of Italian entrenchments. They get a morale bonus at night, or some tank support in the day. The Italians get some German help if they choose the day. I picked night, as this was going to be a quick close combat scenario, and the consistent +1 assault shift for higher morale was going to be the key. Plus the Soviets dont have to get hammered with fire on approach.

That being said, it really is going to be tough, and I can't imagine the Soviets clearing 4 trenches in the 12 turns allotted unless the dice decide it unilaterally. That didnt happen for me, and the rushing Soviets got wiped out nearly completely with little effect on the Italian defenders. Soviets get absolutely no time to set up the assaults with the time limit, so they basically just had to cross the field and jump right in. It worked as well as you can imagine.

The Italians have a little bit of flexibility to be cute in this one. They win if they hold one entrenchment, and the Soviets need all 4. Italians set up their entrenchments in a line on starting on the West edge,and spaced out per scenario instructions from there. This way they cant be flanked on the left (not that it matters here). They also completely abandoned the two eastern entrenchments on turn one, shifting into an even deeper defense on the 2 Western ones. As this was a night attack, the Soviets couldnt support anything from those firing positions anyway. This left them with 2 deep stacks in entrenchments that had to be assaulted head on by INF. The left over mortar and INF Italian units dug in between the trenches to support as well.

Lots of different ways to say it was a massacre I guess. Aside from the abandoned entrenchments claimed by the Soviets (I guess the Italians could have taken them back, but the VCs didnt care) they ended up with nothing for the cost. Italian clear victory.

Special circumstances made this one a little interesting at the start, but there isnt much to play out either way. Not enough turns to do the job.