A Qualified Success Battle Report 5

​My buddy Greg and I have started to play through A Qualified Success, a "Pint Sized Campaign" written for the WWII game Chain of Command. The campaign focuses on Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, specifically the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry pushing north toward Syracuse while the Italian Coastal defenders and Napoli Infantry Regiment try to slow them down.

"The British have fallen back, we must continue to push! At all costs we must stall them just a little longer!" Tenente Bortolo Saracco's radio crackles. The Italian Napoli Regiment have gained momentum after their counterattack and pushed the British back to the village of Cassibile. If they can push the Kings Own Light Infantry back just a bit further, it will have secured invaluable time for the island of Sicily to be evacuated (and I would win the campaign!). 

With great determination, a section of the Italians takes up a fire position at a bombed out farmhouse. They are supported by a Fiat light tank with dual machine guns.

An Italian scout team moves forward and finds themselves in the crosshairs of a strongly held British position. Before they know it, hand grenades and deadly machine gun fire are raining down on them. They soon flee with heavy casualties.

Meanwhile an Italian rifle team advances across open ground on the British left and meets only token resistance.

The British are now at an impasse. Flanked on their left they have no choice but to shift their momentum and adapt. A section bravely charges a larger Italian squad and due to the firepower from their Bren and Sten guns, as well as their pluck in the face of danger, the Italians are driven back. While the British have sustained significant losses, the Italians have completely exhausted their manpower attempting to break through the British lines. With extremely heavy casualties they find themselves falling back without having achieved their goal.

The heroic British squad that advanced across open ground under heavy fire and broke the Italian advance.