Background
“Operation Fustian was an airborne forces operation undertaken during the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 in the Second World War. The operation was carried out by Brigadier Gerald Lathbury’s 1st Parachute Brigade, part of the British 1st Airborne Division. Their objective was the Primosole Bridge across the Simeto River. The intention was for the brigade, with glider-borne forces in support, to land on both sides of the river. They would then capture the bridge and secure the surrounding area until relieved by the advance of British XIII Corps, which had landed on the south eastern coast three days previously. Because the bridge was the only crossing on the river and would give the British Eighth Army access to the Catania plain, its capture was expected to speed the advance and lead to the defeat of the Axis forces in Sicily…
…It was decided that the brigade’s paratroops would land on four separate drop zones and that the gliders would land at two landing zones. The paratroops of the 1st Parachute Battalion were divided into two groups, one of which would land at ‘Drop zone One’ to the north of the river, and the second at ‘Drop zone Two’ to the south of it. Once they had landed the two groups would head for their assembly points, before conducting an assault on the bridge from both sides simultaneously. The 2nd Parachute Battalion were to be landed south of the bridge on ‘Drop zone Three’, in the area between the Gornalunga Canal and the main highway. The 2nd Battalion then had to assault and occupy three small hills, which had been given the codenames ‘Johnny I’, ‘Johnny II’ and ‘Johnny III’. The hills were believed to be occupied by an Italian force of around platoon strength. Once the battalion had secured the three hills, they were to dig in and prepare to defend the hills against an attack from the south. The 3rd Parachute Battalion would land at ‘Drop zone Four’, 1,000 yards (910 m) north of the bridge. Their objective was to secure the ground in this area, defending against any counterattack from the direction of Catania. The brigade’s glider force had two landing areas, ‘Landing zone Seven’ north of the river and ‘Landing zone Eight’ south of the river. Owing to the complexity of the landing plan and the short time between inception and execution, the pathfinders belonging to the 21st Independent Parachute Company, Army Air Corps, would be deployed to mark the correct drop zones. This was the first occasion this had been done in British airborne operations. The pathfinder company had special marker lights and Rebecca and Eureka beacons that the transport aircraft and gliders would be able to identify and home in on…
…The Italian Army force in the area of Primosole Bridge came from the 213 Coastal Division commanded by General Carlo Gotti. Coastal divisions were second line divisions, usually formed from men in their forties and fifties, and were intended to perform labor or other second line duties. Recruited from the local population, their officers were mostly men who had retired but had then been called up again. Their morale was low, not least because of their second rate equipment and weapons. It had been intended to improve their armaments with equipment seized from the recently disbanded Vichy French army, but when the arms arrived in Sicily, many of them had been made unusable, and some had the wrong type of ammunition or no ammunition at all…
The Italians were supported by German paratroopers of the 1st Parachute Division, who were ordered to move to Sicily from France, and if necessary were to parachute in on 9 July. The 1st Fallschirmjäger Machine Gun Battalion commanded by Major Werner Schmidt had landed at Catania during an Allied air raid early on 13 July. Their aircraft and anti-tank guns were destroyed during the raid, so the battalion left on foot for Primosole Bridge. When Schmidt informed the divisional commander of his intentions, he was warned to expect a sea or airborne landing that night. If the Allies landed to the rear of the division, Schmidt’s battalion had to hold Primosole Bridge so that the division could escape. Forewarned in this way, the machine gun battalion started to dig in and prepare a defense around 2,000 yards (1,800 m) to the south of the bridge once they arrived, well located to deal with any parachute or glider landing in that area.
…The recapture of Primosole Bridge did not result in the rapid advance over the Catania plain envisioned by Montgomery. The by now exhausted 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division was holding a position based on the bridge. The 5th Infantry Division took over the lead, but after a number of attacks could not make any further progress. Its 13th Infantry Brigade had to establish another bridgehead across the Simeto,[49] but the Germans had brought in more troops and prepared defensive positions, and after hard fighting it was not until 5 August 1943 that the Eighth Army entered the city of Catania itself. Further hard fighting followed, and they entered Messina just after the United States Seventh Army on 17 August 1943…”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fustian)
The Game:
Situation:
British Paratroops and Air Landing forces attempt to seize and hold critical areas around a critical bridge near the British landing beaches. Victory Objective: Hold majority of Domination Style Points on and around the Primosole Bridge: 3 for the Bridge; 2 for a hill north of the bridge and one each for the Johnny Hills (I, II and III).
Terrain:
The Primosole Bridge is built from steel girders. It has a span of 400 feet (120 m), and is raised 8 feet (2.4 m) above the Simeto River. The land to the north of the bridge is mainly olive and almond groves in tree-lined fields. Immediately to the south of the bridge is the Gornalunga canal, and beyond that three prominent hills. The road crossing the bridge is Highway 114, running from Lentini 10 miles (16 km) to the south to Cantini 7 miles (11 km) to the north. To assist the Italians defending the bridge, four pillbox bunkers had been constructed, two on the north bank and two on the south bank.
Scenario Special Rules:
- Play was lengthwise (North – South) on the table.
- The Brit Airborne players each received 1,600 points, while the relieving force received 1,200. The Axis Players received 1,200 points. All units were built out of the North Africa Book.
- The Axis Fallschirmjager and one Italian infantry platoon started on the table, the remainder of the Italians came on the board on Turn Three and the German Reserves came on the board on Turn 6, but could not enter until the last Italian unit had entered the board. All reserves had to enter on the board in road column.
- The Brit Paras landed on Turn One, the Air Landing Company on Turn Three and the Relief Force arrived on Turn 10.
- The Game started at Night.
- Due to losses, all units were restricted to what equipment they could purchase.
- All German forces on the table were disordered and could not move or remove disorder until turn three (to represent the surprise and give the paras time to get into position)
- The Brits received the first move.
Forces:
Axis: Fallschirmjager MG Company with MG, HMGs and medium 8 cm Stummelwerfer Mortars on the south side of the bridge. An Italian Infantry Company supported by R-35s, Semovente da 47/32, Semovente 90/53s arriving as reserves from the north. This was followed by a mixed Fallschirmjager Company with two 88mm guns and one STuG III. The deployed FJ company was rated as Fearless Veteran, the Italians were a mixture of Confident/Reluctant Trained and the reserve FJ company was rated as Confident Trained (as the unit was made up of admin and other troops).
British: The (northern assault) Para Company had three platoons and was supported by three 6 pdrs AT guns, 3” mortars and a Vickers HMGs. The Air Landing Company was in gliders and consisted of four platoons (infantry only). The 8th Army relief force consisted of an Infantry Motor Infantry Company (three platoons) , a Sherman Platoon and a full Universal Recce Platoon (all with 50 cal HMGs). The British had limited Hurricane air support. The British Airborne troops were rated Fearless Veteran and the relief force was Confident Veteran.
Narrative:
The British strategy was to land the Paras to the north of the bridge and leave the “Johnny” hills near the southern edge for the relief force to take. The Airlanding Company was targeted to land in the riverbed area on both sides of the bridge.
As with all early war Parachute Operations, the sudden landing is what kills you. The wind was out of the Southwest. Based on his initial drop zones, the Paras scattered over a number of orchards and built up areas. The resulting casualties were almost 25%!
It took two turns to consolidate the surviving troops and to position an assault on one of the pillboxes.
On Turn Three, the Airlanding troops landed without loss and took up positions along the river bed edge (cover and concealment). The Axis failed to roll for day break. The Paras established a blocking force facing along the expected Axis reserve entry road. The first Italian reserves arrived and engaged the Paras forward line. The resulting exchange woke up most of the onboard FJ, who started attempting to remove their pinned results and began their movement towards the bridge.
On Turns Four and Five, the Paras finally managed to destroy one of the Pillboxes and moved towards the remaining north facing Pillbox. The Sun finally rose, allowing the FJ to lay down suppressive fire while maneuvering for an assault. Unfortunately, the Airlanding toops were now in good a position to receive the attack.
Over the next few turns, The Italians continued to enter the board and blast away at the Para front line, causing casualties and pushing them back. The FJ attempted to launch an assault, but were repulsed with heavy losses. The FJ then fell back and dug to await the British relief column. The Italian garrison on the Johnnies consolidated on Johnny I for better defensive positions. A “lost platoon” of Para entered the board from the east and reinforced the exiting para company. On the next turn another para platoon entered from the west. The Para company began an organized withdrawl back to the bridge in face of the growing Italian threat.
On Turn 7 the reserve FJ were finally able to start entering the board (with the last unit arriving on turn ten). As the British Relief force moved onto the field they began to pepper the Germans and Italian positions in hope of achieving a breakthrough. Ray returned the favor by mortaring the Brits, killing several infantry stands and bailing a Sherman! Jorge’s Germans swung around the Italians and took the 2 Point Objective Hill.
As the Mixed Italian and German attack to the North ground ahead, the hard pressed Paras continued to retrograde (as opposed to retreat), taking casualties all the way. The Para 6 pdrs continued to keep the Italians from rushing the road until the guns were eventually silenced. The Brit Hurricanes attempted a number of strikes on the Italian armor and German units, but consistently fell to the combined fire of the Italian 20mm AA guns.
On turn 10, the British relief force started to arrive and began laying suppressive fire on the Italians holding Johny I. With little threat from the FJ, the Airlanding Company began shifting units to the other side of the river the reinforce the faltering Para Company (which was on the verge of company morale. On Turns 12 and 13, began assaulting the Johnnies, seizing all three after taking noticeable losses. The FJ hndered down to await the eventual assault from the British armor and continued to pepper the British armor and managed to double bail the one Sherman, resulting in the destruction of the Sherman after a morale failure! A once in a thousand chance!
The game was called due to time with the British holding six of the nine objective points. Historically, the Para’s held for a day and finally withdrew, with the bridge falling to the 8th Army three days later.
– Mantueffel