Fort Floriet 06/12/05

Fort Floriet 06/12/05

Chris' Crusader horde v. Jim's Bersaliglieri
Hold the line on 6x4 table, Ities chose to defend.

The table was pretty crowded terrain wise & both objectives were on difficult ground hills.
The Ities defended the forward objective with FV Bersaglieri, the rear one with 75mm artillery and with 88s & Pak40 allies in ambush.
Chris charged forward towards the rear objective with a vast column of armour skillfully using the Carriers to keep the ambush's at bay.
The 88s were squeezed into the left flank & zapped the Grants before being buried in smoke from the Crusader HQ.
The Pak 40's had to be put down near the forward objective aimed accross the table. They shot poorly getting just 1 Crusader before the horde ducked for cover en route for the rear objective.
The Brits then assaulted the rear obective with waves of armour as the Ities desperately tried to prop it up with their reserves.
The tanks overran the Bersaglieri, the 88's & the anti-tank guns.
All looked lost for Italy, but help was on the way.
The last reserve - the Itie mortar platoon miraculously wiped a platoon of Crusaders on their own (with the help of bad bogging rolls).
And the Bersaglieri from the right flank had been moved over and arrived just in time to counterattack the tanks on the objective.
The fight was out of range of the Pak 40's & the L6's just wouldn't kill anything, but the Fearless Vet Bersaglieri with Passaglia bombs on rough ground took the objective back.
The Brit command made one last charge to try & win the batle before failing coy morale, but the Bersaglieri did for them too.
The Brits had the honour of losing the battle due to total annihilation (has anyone else done that?)
The Ities on the other hand had their Pak 40's & L6's intact, but had 1 plat with 2 teams & 2 plats with 1 team left - a costly win.
Another exciting battle of wildly fluctuating fortunes.