Background:
The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October–11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. With the Allies victorious, it marked the watershed of the Western Desert Campaign. The First Battle of El Alamein, had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt.
(Operation Supercharge) began at 01:00 on 2 November, with the objective of destroying enemy armor, forcing the enemy to fight in the open, reducing the Axis stock of petrol, attacking and occupying enemy supply routes, and causing the disintegration of the enemy army. The intensity and the destruction in Supercharge were greater than anything witnessed so far during this battle. The objective of this operation was Tel el Aqqaqir, the base of the Axis defense roughly 3 mi (4.8 km) north-west of the Kidney feature and situated on the Rahman lateral track.
X Corps had failed in its attempt to break out, it had succeeded in its objective of finding and destroying enemy tanks. Although tank losses were approximately equal, this represented only a portion of the total British armor, but most of Rommel’s tanks; the Afrika Korps strength of tanks fit for battle fell by 70 while in addition to the losses of the 9th Armoured Brigade, the 2nd and 8th Armoured Brigades lost 14 tanks in the fighting, with another 40 damaged or broken down. The fighting was later termed the “Hammering of the Panzers”.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein#Phase_four:_Operation_Supercharge)
The Game:
Situation
After ten days of fighting with the aim of attriting the Panzerarmee Afrika, the British Commonwealth forces are on the verge of breaking the Axis line. With the Devil’s Gardens (the German minefields) having been penetrated and laying to the rear of the British forces, one more push is needed to finally crush the Panzers and open the way to total victory.
- Axis Objective: Hold the line while preserving both German and Italian armor.
- British Objective: Destroy the Axis armor while cracking the Axis defensive line wide open.
Terrain
None, nada, nichts… This portion of the desert was perfectly flat, making for the perfect tank battle. The Axis defensive line consisted of dug in positions.
Scenario Special Rules
- Play was cross the long end of the table.
- Each player received 2,000 points, with all lists being build from the North Africa Book.
- Half the Axis units began on the table, the remainder were Delayed Reserves.
- The initial Turn Three Axis roll for reserves required a six instead of the normal five or six as the Axis were constrained by the lack of fuel.
- All of the British units started off board and could move on the table on Turn One.
- The Game began as a Night Attack.
- No Company Morale Checks for either side.
- The British received the first move.
Forces
The Axis consisted of a German mixed infantry and armor force (3 x 88mm, reinforced PzGrenadier Platoon, 3 x Marder, 4 x PzIIIj (reserve) and 4 x PzIVf (reserve) on their right flank, an Italian Bersiglari Company (2 x Bers Platoon, AT Platoon, 100mm Battery, 2 x 88mm, MG platoon, Mortar Platoon, SPAA (reserve) and 2 x M14-41 Platoon (reserve) corseted in the center and a Panzer Company (PzGren. Platoon, 105mm Battery, 2 x 88mm, 4 x PzIVf (reserve) and 4 x PzIIIj (reserve) on the axis left. All told, there were seven 88mm positions along with numerous 47mm and 50mm positions and Axis armor in reserve. All the Germans were dug in and rated as Confident Veteran. The Italians were a mixture of Veteran and Trained.
The Brits consisted of Armour Company (Shermans with Crusader support) on the right, Armour Company (Crusaders, Priest Battery (off table) and Universals) and another Armoured Company (Grants, Universals and Crusader support) on the left. All the British tanks were rated as Confident Trained, with supporting elements rated as Veteran.
Narrative
During the first two turns, the British tanks rolled forward with the scouts out front. The Crusader Squadron chose to start the fray by shelling and assaulting the Italian front positions. Defensive fire was heavy and effective, slowing down the center attack. The Axis response on the flanks was light as most of the units failed to sight-in on the attacking tanks.
On Turn Three, the British continued to close on the Axis front line. The Shermans began to tuck with the Crusader Squadron in order to try to take advantage gap created by the losses in the Italian line. The dawn was delayed due to low rolling die. British Crusaders on the left tried to break into the German positions, but were repulsed with losses. No Axis reserves arrived.
On Turn Four, the British started attacking axis postions accross the line. All of the Crusaders surged forward to attack the dug in Axis troops, with very mixed results. The Axis defenses lit up a number of Brit tanks as casualties. The Royal Horse Artillery began to hit and pin the Italians. The German left flank reserves both arrived (Panzer PZ IIIJ and PZ IVF2 Platoons) right in front of the Shermans. The showdown had begun!
On Turns Five and Six, the Grant Squadron wiped out all the guns and infantry to their front and began to turn onto the Italian positions, while the Crusader Squadron continued to fight into the Italian positions. The success met with heavy casualties. The Shermans and German reserves fought out an epic duel, with the Shermans prevailing (Semi-indirect fire is the British tankers best friend). Although several of the 88’s had been killed, the remainder took a steadily increasing count of the Brit armor every turn. The game now hung in the balance, as the Axis armored reinforcements flowed onto the field.
By Turns Seven and Eight, The Brit armor had been attrited down. The Crusader Squadron had been killed to the tank, while the Shermans were only slightly better off. The Grant Platoon could do no more in the face of the massed Axis armor but go on the defensive and widdle down the German reserves. The Axis line was cracked but not broken, while the Axis armor was severely hammered.
With the British now stalled and the Axis heavily attrited, resulting in an incomplete but marginal victory.
– Manteuffel