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Black Monday: the Sele-Calore Corridor 13/9/1943

 

Convinced that the Allies were about to evacuate the Salerno beachhead General von Vietinghoff ordered XVI Panzer Corps to attack in order to at least disrupt the orderly withdrawal and at best even destroy the Allied forces on the beach.

 

At about 1600 hours the Kleine Limberg Kampfgruppe (commanded by Mr H and ably assisted by Terry) made up of a btn of 71st PzGrenadiers, a company of 26th Panzer (Pz III and IVs), an armoured car coy from 26th Recon, 16th Engineer Btn plus supporting artillery, struck the isolated 3rd Btn of the 143rd US Infantry defending the Sele-Calore Corridor (Roy and Paul) leading to the crowded beachhead.

 

The Yanks dug-in on the open flood plain centring their position on the farm and outbuildings of the Dolmio olive plantation and waited for the Nazi onslaught.

 

CRISIS!! 105 shells started to rain down on the dug-in defenders in and around the farm complex. NO COTTON WOOL MARKERS!! Shock horror! Forgotten! H was apoplectic!! ‘No cotton wool markers!? We might as well pack up and go home’, he wailed. Terry attempted mouth to mouth but to no avail. The end of life as we know it. H was inconsolable until with a flash of inspiration he leapt from the floor and rushed into the loo returning with bits of torn up loo paper! We were saved!!.

 

Meanwhile the Panzers rolled purposefully forward, the infantry in close support. American MMGs and 57mm a/tank guns responded suppressing and pinning some of the attackers but still the juggernaut ploughed forward. It was soon evident that the main schwerepunkt was directed at the heavily defended farm and the weakly held right flank of the doughboys.

 

Soon the engineers were getting to grips with the defenders with grenades, satchel charges, and flamethrowers. Amazing dice rolling from Panzer Paul saw off the first wave (9-2) but soon the defenders had to give ground. Terry captured the foxholes in front of the farm but deadly MMG fire from the farm and the olive grove stopped further progress (Roy actually rolling incredibly high for once!!). But on the right the engineers had cleared another Yank platoon from their foxholes and it looked as if the road to the beachhead was open.

 

But luck was on the American side. In the nick of time a platoon of Shermans from 751st Tank Battalion arrived on table and roared up the road. Roy ordered the platoons defending the left flank, unengaged up to this point, to re-deploy to the right. Paul organized a counter attack with two platoons of infantry supported by the M4s and although forced to ground it was enough to halt the Hun. Another close assault by the Jerry engineers supported by tanks and just about everything else went horribly wrong as H rolled yet another 2 and Panzer another 9! Kleine Limberg had had enough! The beachhead was saved! Hooray!!

 

German loses: 8 x Rifle +engineer stands, 1 x 222 a/c

Yanks: 3 x Rifle stands

 

A complete turn around of the historical outcome. In the real battle the Yanks failed to dig-in until scouts revealed they were soon to be attacked! Giving them the full protection of properly prepared foxholes/entrenchments was probably a bit kind. Also their morale of some of the battalion was shite - the a/tank platoon and heavy weapons platoons fled without firing a shot in the actual battle! I didn’t allow for this in my scenario mainly because I wanted a battle that would last two hours 20 not five minutes. Another thing I overlooked was Jones ordering an artillery strike onto his own position when it looked as if it were going to be overrun. The defenders huddled in the bottom of their foxholes and waited, and nothing happened. No artillery was available and the attackers just walked up to the defenders and shot them or took them prisoner!  Not particularly inspiring wargaming unless you’re a Nazi of course!

 

The Yanks defended well shifting their defenders from the left flank to right and counter-attacking when the opportunity presented itself. In hindsight the Huns needed to hit the weakest part of the Yank line (their right) with more force. That is where the artillery should have been directed. Perhaps the a/c coy and some infantry could have been used to pin the left flank defenders. Going against the defences around the olive plantation where the Americans had strength in depth was again with hindsight probably a mistake. But we’re all wise after the event. Anyway, whatever, the end result turned out to be an extremely close and exciting affair.

 

Sele River