On 28 October, Mussolini ordered his ill-prepared army to invade Greece, hoping to impress Hitler with a Blitzkrieg-style Italian victory. At first, the main enemy was the weather: incessant rain transformed the countryside to mud, through which the Italian soldiers trudged forward. The elite "Julia" Division was at the northern tip of the advance. Its officers soon realized how precarious its advance was, as it was simultaneously engaged in a pincer movement around a huge mountain, gaining a great deal of ground, and guarding its flanks and rear lines of communication. On 1 November, the Greeks launched their counteroffensive against the Duce's Army. The whole front turned on its axis, pushed northwest by the Greeks advancing into Albania and southeast by the Italians in Epirus. The "Julia" Division quickly became isolated from its neighboring units. On November 2, when its vanguard reached the swollen Vojussa river, the first Greek attacks on its rear of the Division took place. Cut off, it was now in serious trouble.
Attacker: Greek (2nd Infantry Division with Mountain Cavalry)
Defender: Italian (Cividale Battalion, 8th Alpini Regiment, 3rd Alpine Division "Julia" with Battalion HQ)
Greeks came on heavy in the northwest/west, with only a token force trying to take the building in the east. Horses were just used to enter, and soon abandoned. turn 2 saw the Greeks lose a bit more than I would've liked (1.5 squads plus a DC), but the trade-off was all but securing the first two buildings and eliminating/capturing 2.5 Italian squads. The battle in the east was going poorly, and would end up being a lost cause, but it tie up the Italians there for the remainder of the game. Italian tanks had a terrible time trying to move, with one tank failing its TC five straight turns. It was looking like it'd all come down to the R3/Q4 building. The Greek approach was made a whole lot easier when the sole tank guarding the building was flamed by a LMG, and they slowly creeped up in a wide net to apply some major pressure with their large FGs. Not being able to skulk out of the building without forfeiting control, the Italians would have to sit and weather a storm of bullets. The squad broke, with the 9-1 shrugging initial shots off, only to succumb in the end.
2022-05-06
(A) Andy Bagley
vs
Gordon Jupp
Italian win
My third playing of this scenario, and exactly the opposite of the previous one in terms of dice luck. Similar strategy, with cavalry coming on from both sides whilst the main force attacked the village. But this time, my heavy(-ish) firepower from the Greeks achieved nothing, as the Italians, far from breaking, rarely suffered the inconvenience of a MC, whilst any of my units that tried to cross the road were mown down. VASL stats at the end showed that I had 43 IFT DRs, with an average >8 !
I did manage to take building I2, as my opponent chose to defend it only with a HIP squad and a couple of dummies. This may not be a bad strategy for the Italians, as the Mud makes it really hard for any Greek units that take that building to then get into the action elsewhere, whilst the Italians can defend the village with virtually their whole force.
2022-03-18
(A) Dave Mareske
vs
Mike Bistodeau
Greek win
What a hoot to play. The Italians had three berserk squads throughout the game. The Greek Cavalry overwhelmed the left flank churning up mud as they went. The Greeks were able to capture four buildings on Turn 5 and the Italians only had a chance to capture one building back, giving the win to the Greeks.
2022-03-05
(A) Andy Bagley
vs
Steve Cook
Greek win
The Italians got the scenario balance this time, although not the balance of the luck! To be fair, my strategy here was sound, with the cavalry coming on both the West and (delayed a couple of turns) East edges, whilst the main force made a direct frontal attack on the village. I was soon threatening to surround the Italian positions; the Italians that set up in building Z4-5 quickly found themselves cut off and were eventually captured.
It was then a question of driving the Italians back through the village to take R3-Q4, which was always going to be my third victory building. They tried hard to defend here, supported by their two tankettes (which I’m sure is the right approach), and might have been successful had the dice luck not gone strongly my way. As it was, too many Italians fell to my many low DRs and they had insufficient left to hold the building at the end.
