Tactics in 'South Africa's War'
Scenario 12: 'Driven by Germans'
Part II: 0830 – 0930 Hours
By Doug McNair
April 2007

The outer South African defensive lines are put to the test in today’s episode of my replay of the “Driven by Germans” scenario from South Africa’s War.

During the first hour of battle, the roadblock at the center of the outer South African defenses had held out against gathering Italian infantry and armor, while South African artillery had broken up the flanking maneuver of the Italian motorcycle units. Four Italian tank steps had been eliminated, demoralized or disrupted, but one of the two British tank steps on the board had been eliminated as well, and the remaining one was forced to retreat toward the inner South African perimeter to avoid long-range Italian tank fire it couldn’t answer.

This weakened the right flank of the roadblock just as Italian tanks and HMG platoons were forming three-high stacks within firing range. If the South Africans don’t get initiative next turn, their artillery won’t be able to keep the Italians from pouring enough fire into the roadblock to break the morale of the units there in advance of an infantry assault.

The battle continues.

Turn 5 — 0830 Hours

The Italians just barely get initiative, and their tenente with a +1 combat bonus starts by combining the fire of his stack (which has a BERS HMG and two M13/40 tank units) with a neighboring BERS HMG's into a fire team with a combined direct fire strength of 33. They hit the central hex of the roadblock and roll a 5, scoring an M2 result on the disrupted AA unit there and an M1 on the leader and the disrupted HMG. Unfortunately for the Italians, everyone holds morale. The other units activated by the tenente advance toward the roadblock, and most of the roadblock units hold their fire because there’s a capitano who can activate a whole bunch of BERS and move them right adjacent to the roadblock later this turn.

South African artillery on the hilltop responds by hitting the capitano’s hex, while the mortars concentrate on the Italian motorcycle units that made it closest to the hilltop. A 25-pounder shot disrupts the capitano and demoralizes the tenente with him (the two BERS units with them are just fine), and a mortar shot again demoralizes a demoralized MTC unit near the hilltop, thus inflicting a step loss on it.

The Italians reply with more tank fire on the central roadblock hex (this time from the Sem. 75/18s that killed a step of British Crusaders earlier), and the M1 result demoralizes both units in the hex (their leader is OK). That doubles the urgency of keeping the BERS away from the roadblock, so South African offboard artillery hits the capitano’s hex again, and rolls a 3, demoralizing the capitano. His units are still fine, but with nothing but two demoralized leaders in their hex they’re not going anywhere near the roadblock this turn!

This does not sit well with the Italians, who order an offboard artillery barrage on the hex at the right flank of the roadblock. The fire is ineffective, but so are the subsequent recovery attempts of the two South African units in the central roadblock hex! The 40mm AA gun platoon abandons their weapons and the unit is eliminated, and the HMG unit flees south on the road, along with the major commanding it. That leaves a gaping hole in the roadblock, which the Italian maggiore exploits by sending a motorcycle unit down the road toward the gap while three BERS units advance toward the left flank of the roadblock.

The remaining roadblock units pour opportunity fire into the MTC unit, and the first shot disrupts it while it’s still two hexes away, so the roadblock holds! The South Africans respond by sending two reserve INF units from the inner perimeter up the road to plug the breach in the roadblock.

Then two M13/40 tank platoons split left and right to move into hexes from which they can get a crossfire bonus on the British Crusader tanks next turn — if, that is, the Crusaders stay in place. The 2-pounder AT gun on the right flank of the roadblock responds by firing on the closer of the two tank units, but misses.

The Italians move six more tank platoons to within firing range of the Crusaders, and that makes staying put a very risky proposition for the British tankers. Still, if they give much more ground the Italians tanks will soon get within range of the inner perimeter, so they wait while the AT gun on the left flank of the roadblock takes a shot at the M13/40 that moved into the crossfire position. It misses, and the Italians try to draw fire from the tanks (and thus make them stay put) by moving a tenente and his MTC unit up to join the MTCs nearest the hilltop.

Only the HMG with the tanks takes the bait, and it rolls an 11 on the 7 column, scoring an M1 result on the Italians. The MTC unit is disrupted and doesn’t make it to its destination.

The British tankers can’t put off the fight or flight decision any longer, and they decide to fight since the hill terrain they’re in gives any AT shots against them from lower ground a –1 dieroll penalty. They shoot at the Italian tanks that took up the crossfire position, and just barely miss.

The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll after some Italian recoveries and a missed long-range shot from the AT gun on the wide left flank of the roadblock.

Turn 6 — 0845 Hours

The Italians get initiative again, and four of the seven M13/40 tank platoons clustered just north of the hill open fire on the Crusaders, while the other three move adjacent to the British tanks. Two of the four tank shots roll modified 9s and just barely miss, but the three Italian platoons that move into the hills with the Crusaders will hit on a 9 next turn if the Brits stay where they are. So will the tank unit in the eastern crossfire position that can fire next impulse, so the Crusaders withdraw into the hills once again to get outside that unit’s sighting range, and to get inside the AT fire range of the artillery units on the hilltop. Any Italian tank that tries to get adjacent to the Crusaders will now be in peril of annihilation from powerful South African artillery.

The Italians would like to respond by hitting some of that artillery with their own offboard artillery, but they’ve got to hit the reserve units that are busy reforming the center of the roadblock before they can dig in. The M result the offboard artillery scores fails to break anybody’s morale at the roadblock, and South African artillery replies by hammering the Italians north of the roadblock while the mortars keep hitting the closest motorcycle units. The leader with the closest motorcycle unit becomes demoralized, the tenente who helped form fire teams on the roadblock earlier becomes disrupted, and the demoralized tenente with the capitano north of the roadblock is again demoralized and thus eliminated. All units with those leaders are fine, but their commanders are rapidly losing resolve.

The Sem. 75/18 tanks fire again on the INF units that plugged the breach in the roadblock, and once again the South Africans all pass the morale check. But the neighboring M13/40s move down the road and then southwest, ending up adjacent to the left flank of the roadblock.

South African offboard artillery fires at the Italian good-order leader who’s in the best position to bring the most BERS units up to support the tanks, and it rolls an 11, disrupting him! That leaves just three good-order Italian leaders on the whole board, and one of them orders a BERS unit and an HMG to rush the hex to which the tanks ended up adjacent.

Opportunity fire from the roadblock is ineffective against him and the HMG unit, but it disrupts the BERS unit. Still, that leaves 24 points worth of direct fire value and a leader next to the right-flank roadblock hex, and if they can activate first next turn they’ll be able to assault the roadblock on the 30+ column.

Even with First Fire for being dug in, that won’t be pretty for the South Africans. So, the roadblock AT guns start going to work on the adjacent tanks. Both 2-pounder AT guns at the roadblock roll modified 9s and just barely fail to kill tanks, and a capitano moves down from the north to take-over command of the numerous BERS units on the road whose leaders are ducking and covering.

Another long-range AT shot from the 2-pounder on the wide left flank of the roadblock just barely fails to kill an Italian tank, and the leader and HMG unit with that AT gun abandon the position to move-in and reinforce the roadblock. The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll after many successful and failed recoveries (the latter includes the HMG platoon that fled from the roadblock — it keeps fleeing south).

Turn 7 — 0900 Hours

The South Africans win initiative, and the roadblock units fire point-blank on the adjacent Italian tanks and infantry while an INF unit piles into the about-to-be-assaulted right flank roadblock hex. All fire from the roadblock is ineffective, and the Italian assault goes in while another tank unit cuts behind and adjacent to the roadblock. The one dug-in South African unit in the assault hex gets First Fire, and rolls a 6 on the 5 column, scoring an M2 result. The sergente leading the assault becomes demoralized, and the HMG in the assault becomes disrupted.

But the M13/40 tanks are just fine, and since they have higher morale than the South Africans they still roll on the 24 column even with a demoralized leader. They only roll a 2, but that’s enough to disrupt one of the INF units in the hex and demoralize another (the AT gun is OK). Still, it’s a very strong performance from the South Africans.

The South Africans counter by bombarding the Italian infantry on the road before it can advance on the roadblock, and by continuing to hit the hapless motorcycle units. One BERS unit each becomes disrupted and demoralized, and a motorcycle leader becomes disrupted, but the majority of targets come through the bombardment fine.

The capitano that moved in to take over command of the BERS on the road then activates in the same hex as a stack of tanks, and the tanks and infantry surge forward toward the roadblock before South African offboard artillery can score more lucky shots on leaders. One incoming BERS unit is demoralized, and when the tanks move up to the roadblock the South African INF unit in the central hex rolls a 2 on the 16 column, scoring a 2X result and killing a tank step! The capitano comes through it OK, but one surviving tank unit becomes disrupted and the other becomes demoralized! Somehow, a single INF unit has killed a reduced tank unit, stopped another two cold, and left the capitano with nobody to press the assault next turn.

The Churchills have retreated as far as they can, so they open fire on the M13/40s entering the hills. They miss, and the Italians return fire and destroy the last Churchill step on their second shot. The third shot rolls a 12 against the HMG unit that was with the Churchills, but the HMG unit comes through it fine while its leader becomes disrupted.

The 2-pounder AT gun on the far left flank of the roadblock takes a shot at the Italian tanks in the assault hex right of the roadblock, and hits on a 10! It kills one step of a unit that includes a tank leader, and that tank platoon becomes demoralized. The Italians counter by pouring all their offboard artillery into the roadblock to try and wipe out another AT gun there plus an INF unit that could counter-assault the recently-demoralized tanks next turn. The artillery disrupts the AT gun but not the infantry.

The HMG unit from west of the roadblock takes up a point-blank firing position on a demoralized BERS unit at the roadblock, and the Italians do the only other useful thing they can by moving more tanks into the hills near the inner South African perimeter. The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll, leaving several units on both sides unable to recover.

Turn 8 — 0915 Hours

The Italians win initiative, and they try to finish off the assault on the left flank of the roadblock before their tanks take any more damage from AT fire. The South Africans make a surrender roll and succeed, so the Italian assault goes in and scores an M2 result, disrupting the leader in the hex, demoralizing both disrupted units there and doing a step loss to the demoralized unit through compound demoralization. The Italians take no damage in return, and their demoralized sergeant and tank unit in the hex both recover morale.

The South Africans respond by counter-assaulting the Italian tanks clustered around the roadblock, before the tanks can fire point-blank. Preparatory point-blank fire from a disrupted AT gun just barely fails to kill a Sem. 75/18 step, and while the assault on the lone tank behind the roadblock meets with disaster (the assauting INF becomes demoralized), the assault on the two tank units that got stopped by the 2X result last turn scores an M1 result, disrupting the capitano with them and destroying a demoralized Sem 75/18 step by demoralizing it again. The attacking South African infantry becomes disrupted, but it did an outstanding job.

With the roadblock assault falling into disarray, the Italians have to take the pressure off their units there by hitting the South African inner perimeter. So, they send all their offboard artillery onto the hilltop to try and take out a 25-pounder artillery unit. They score an M1 result, which disrupts both a 25-pounder and the mortar unit in the same hex with it.

The South Africans respond by trying to recover those units while the rest of their artillery shells the Italians just north of the roadblock. One shot from an 18-pounder and a mortar unit rolls a 12 on the 21 column (with a +1 column shift for self-spotting) scoring an X result and killing a motorcycle step (the other step becomes disrupted). Another shot from a 25-pounder and a mortar rolls a 4 on the 30 column (same +1 column shift) and scores an M2 result, demoralizing a BERS unit. The last shot is ineffective, and the disrupted mortar recovers but the 25-pounder doesn’t.

That leaves the Italian tanks an opening, and some of them advance toward the hilltop while others fire at the HMG unit that was with the destroyed Churchills. The firing tanks roll a 2 on the 16 column, wiping out the HMGs and demoralizing their leader. The advancing tanks move up to within firing range of the inner South African perimeter.

The 2-pounder AT gun on the far left of the roadblock fires at the Italian tank platoon behind the roadblock which demoralized the South African INF unit assaulting it. It misses, and the Italian tanks activate and demand the surrender of the infantry that became demoralized when it assaulted them. The infantry surrenders, and the tanks fire at the inner South African perimeter but do no damage.

The HMG that came to reinforce the roadblock then fires point-blank at the demoralized BERS just north of the roadblock, and its roll of 4 scores an M2 result which again demoralizes the unit and causes a step loss. The Italians move another tank unit to within firing range of the inner South African perimeter on the hill, but the demoralized South African units in the assault hex on the right of the roadblock all fail to recover morale. The AT gun unit’s crew abandons its weapons, and the two INF units exit the hex and get shot at as they leave. The fire is on the 30+ column, and it rolls a 4, scoring two step losses and wiping out all but one INF step and its leader.

The demoralized South African HMG that fled from the roadblock fails again to recover and keeps fleeing, and the Sem. 75/18 tanks which the roadblock units counterassaulted recover morale. With the right flank of the roadblock all-but crushed, the South Africans start repositioning units on their inner perimeter to receive the Italian attack coming down the road. BERS units start pouring into the breach, and opportunity fire from the perimeter disrupts the lead BERS. The turn ends on a Fog of War roll after most Italian units get to recover morale.

So, at the end of the second hour of battle, the roadblock has been all but breached at a very high cost to both sides. The Italians have lost 13 steps (counting tank steps double), enough to give the South Africans a victory if they can hold the road. But the South Africans have also lost 13 steps, which is more than half what the Italians need to win if they clear the Springboks away from the road.

Italian tanks are lined up in the hills outside the full-strength fire range of the South African artillery, but close enough to pour massive fire into the South African inner perimeter. Italian infantry aren’t far behind, and if they can make it to the perimeter their superior morale plus support from the massed tanks will make it hard to hold them back. Will the inner perimeter hold? Tune in next time and find out!

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