Oh Canada!
and "Now I Know Why There Aren’t Any Veteran
British Tankers"
Pittsfield, August 20, 2007
It was a big grand game in the desert, circa 1943.
Looking at if from the Axis side, there was the coast
road and coastal railroad winding their way from the
bottom right to the top left, with a walled village
in the lower right, an oasis with buildings in the
center and a rail depot off to the top left. Some
dunes here and there, enough to break it up a little
bit….but otherwise very open.
The scenario was 4500 points a side. On one side,
British Motor Rifle Company, British Heavy Armored
Squadron (with supporting infantry), British Armored
Car Squadron and a Canadian company. On the other,
1,000 points of Bersaglieri infantry, supported by
3,500 points of an Afrika Korps Panzer Company, with
Stukas overhead. The Italians and Canadians started
on the table, everything else came rolling in – each
side could bring three platoons on a turn. Any three,
anywhere on their start lines (although the Germans
could not come on directly behind the Italians, the
Bersaglieri having some pride)
Young Eric, at special request, took command of a weak
company of some 600+ points of Canadians (confidant
trained, like their neighbors in the lower 48). His
two platoons of infantry were in the village, with a
mortar platoon behind for support. Up against that
from the start, on the wrong side of the tracks, was
an Italian Bersaglieri company -1,000 points of
infantry, with mortars, at-rifles, at-guns and HMGs –
and a couple of trucks with 20mm AA.. Bob was in
command, with Dave the Dealer as his partner.
These three guys started the ball rolling. The
Italians went with a turn one meatballs-to-the-wall
mad rush onto the Canadians…and got creamed. They
regrouped, and went in again. Dave broke into the
town, got thrown out, broke back in, and clung on with
just officers. His at-guns and at-rifles were wiped
off the map by barrages first from the Canadian
mortars and then from a battery of Priests Ed brought
up with his armored car squadron. Bob lost one
platoon, but the other of his Bersaglieri broke into
the town, kept pushing forward and, finally, with the
help of a platoon of German Panzers, broke the
Canadians. Dave, down to an Italian hero officer,
sent him him to help finish the job.
The Canadians died almost to a man. Its only
survivors were the company commander and one platoon
leader. Young Eric fought them very well.
While the battle for the town raged, the Afrika Korps
surged forward. Eric the elder put a pair of 88s on
a dune. They picked the Canadian mortars, and wiped
them out. That was their only shot, though, as a
barrage from Ed’s Priests knocked out both 88s. In
the center, the German 105s under Joe Lotano dueled
with Dave “Santa” Macrae’s 25-pounder RHA battery in
barrage-counter-barrage dance that went on for the
next five turns, with the Germans getting slightly the
worse of it. While this duel went on, Joe Tomosulu
took a platoon of Panzergrenadiers, with another of
mortars and a 50mm-AT unit to secure the Oasis. Dave
sent his Bren gun carrier platoon to try and whittle
the Germans down…but Joe scoured the earth of the
carriers.
On the German left, Joe Lotano rolled two platoons of
panzers, with one of panzer grenadiers coming up
behind, to head for the rail station in what was his
top left corner…the farthest objective for any Axis to
reach. Ed gave me the British Armored Squadron. I
chose to lead with my infantry, dismounted, and got to
the station before the Germans…but at a price. Joe’s
Panzers killed nearly half of the men in those three
platoons…but the other half got to the station and the
railroad, and DUG IN. (No fools these boys, they are
veterans after all).
This lead in with the infantry was intentional. It
drew Joe in close….and, like Wellington said to his
guards at waterloo when the old guard came up the
hill, I said “now, maitland, now’s your time” and up
and on into the fray roared my three tank platoons –
Shermans, Grants and Crusaders….and at short range.
I got off a dozen shots….and they all hit….
…and then joe rolled 11 fives or sixes in his armor
checks. 11 of my 12 shots bounced. And the one that
got through? A bail.
I guess it wasn’t quite Maitland’s time.
Joe remounted the one bailed out tank, and ten Panzer
IIIs and IVs replied, with double and in some cases
triple shots. All three Grants brewed up, as did a
Sherman. Another Sherman and a Crusader bailed.
But we stayed. We fired back. We set three Nazi
Panzers on fire….but that still left seven of their
kameradan to our five…and that was enough. After only
two turns of tank combat, the score was British 3,
Germans 9…with not a single British tank left. Now I
know why there are no British veteran tankers….and why
they are all merely confidant trained.
This did not give Joe the rail station, but with his
panzer grenadiers coming up, my three half-strength
platoons, even dug in and with their two Boyz
anti-tank rifles, were not likely to hold on
forever….but we did not have to test their mettle
anyway….
Ed’s counterattack on the village did not go well.
His light armor was no match for Joe Tomosulu’s 50mm
at guns let alone Eric the elder’s Panzers. Dave
valiantly sent forward his motor rifle infantry….but
they had a long open and flat stretch of ground to
cover, all of it under fire from Italian mortars, HMGs
and Bersaglieri….decimation is too weak a word for
what was happening to them.
By now we had completed seven turns, and it was 930.
The Italians held the town, the Panzer Grenadiers held
the oasis, and the Panzers were about to rain a lot of
firepower down on the Boyz in the rail station. Ed
figured we’d done about all we could do. Our
artillery was still in good shape, but without a
single tank, and only a few armored cars, there was
little we could do to push a counterattack, and our
infantry, veterans though they be, were being steadily
cut down. Ed decided it was over. He got no
argument from Dave or I, and Young Eric was already
out the door…Victory to the Italians, and their Afrika
Korps support!.