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This document is intentionally laid out in a manner similar to the TooFatLardies (toofatlardies.co.ok)
Pint Sized Campaign books in an effort to maintain a measure of consistency. There is no challenge
made or intended to any of their (or anyone else’s) works or copyrights.
Cover photo
Men of the 1st Battalion, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry climbing a hill in 1943
Photographs taken, or artworks created, by a member of the forces during their active service duties are
covered by Crown Copyright provisions. Faithful reproductions may be reused under that licence, which is
considered expired 50 years after their creation.
The Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 is an Setting up the Campaign
underrepresented theatre of operations on the
“A qualified success” focuses on 4 units. For the
wargaming table but features a number of
Allies this is the 1st Battalion, Kings Own
fascinating opportunities for us to play. It was the
Yorkshire Light Infantry landing near the town of
first amphibious assault by Allied forces and
Cassibule, and the 1st Battalion, Parachute
introduced them to the difficulties of defeating an
Regiment, dropped into enemy territory ahead of
enemy retreating in good order over familiar
the 8th army to aid the speedy capture of Siracusa.
terrain. The real challenge for the Allies in this
For the Axis forces they are the 146th Coastal
campaign was for 2 nations to work together in
Infantry Regiment, defending the coast, and the
breaking out from their beachheads as fast as
54th “Napoli” Infantry Regiment sent to stiffen
possible to prevent the escape of the Italian and
the defence.
German forces on the island. For the Axis
commanders the aim was to delay the Allies long The Italians have 1 platoon from each of their
enough in order to extract themselves over the regiments. The British have 2 platoons from the
strait of Messina into the Italian mainland. Kings Own Light Infantry and 1 from the
Parachute Regiment, which will only be usable to
The following campaign has been designed to run
voluntarily after scenario five.
with At the Sharp End, the campaign supplement
for Chain of Command. As such, not all the Only one platoon may be committed to attack in
campaign rules are duplicated here. Instead all each campaign turn. No platoon may attack in
the rules within At the Sharp End apply unless consecutive turns; however, a platoon may
otherwise stated. defend in any number of consecutive turns.
“A qualified success” is an Abbreviated Full Neither player will receive reinforcements nor
Map Campaign which uses six rungs. The Allied replacements during the campaign. The Allied
forces must clear the road towards Siracusa. The player may elect to combine the two Kings Own
Axis forces must delay this by holding the line Light Infantry platoons at the end of any Game in
and launching their own localized counterattacks. the campaign. However, this amalgamated unit
may never be larger or better equipped than a full-
The Campaign Ladder
strength platoon as listed in the Army List,
Name Scenario however a composite platoon may not be
Surprise at Villa del 2 committed in the next campaign turn if it was
Marchese used in the previous turn – this may result in a
st
1 train to Cassibile 5 “wasted” turn in which no combat takes place but
Resistance at Cassibile 4 the turn counter ticks on regardless.
Counterattack at Cassa della 3
Vigne After two platoons are combined, any "spare"
Relief at Marchese 6 men over and above a full-strength platoon may
Road to Siracusa 5 be kept at Company HQ to be used as
replacements in subsequent turns or may be
attached to another under-strength platoon.
Initiative The Army Lists & Briefings
The campaign will give the Allied player the The following briefings should be handed to the
initiative for the duration of the campaign. Allied and Axis players, along with the lists used
for the forces in this campaign. They are both
While this campaign focuses on the Allied attack
based on the standard organization for the period,
against Axis-held territory, some of the scenarios
but with support options specific to this campaign
attempt to recreate the local counterattacks the
and based on what equipment was known to be in
defending forces made. Therefore, in the Pre-
the area at the time.
Game Scenario and in Scenario Three, while the
Allied player may retain initiative the Axis player
is the “attacker” for setup purposes.
Optional lists providing the option for using US
Defeat by the Allied player in scenarios 1, 2, 4 paratroopers in place of the British Paratroopers
and 5 will simply result in them switching and/or German Panzergrenadiers instead of the
platoons and attacking again – NOT a movement Italian Regulars are provided at the end of this
down the chain. campaign pack.
Defeat of the Allies in Scenario 3 will allow the
Axis player to move back down the chain as the
attacker instead of the defender, but they may not
use their Coastal Platoon to attack under any
circumstances. Pushing the Allies back to
scenario 1 and defeating them there should be
considered an immediate decisive victory for the
Axis forces.
Consolidating & Strengthening Defences
Neither side may consolidate their defences
during the campaign. However, both sides may
strengthen their defences as covered in At the
Sharp End.
Casualties, Replacements & Reinforcements
Reinforcements
For both players, casualties are treated
according to the rules in At the Sharp End. Due
to this both players will need to track the
strength of their platoons as they are committed
to action.
Wild Card Options
This campaign has no Wild Card options.
Campaign Notes
All rules for Chain of Command remain the same
for this campaign and take place during daylight.
The success of Allied operations in Tunisia had Put simply the Allied forces were to reduce the
resulted in the total removal from North Africa of Axis forces on the island and prevent as many
Axis forces. Pressure mounted, from Stalin’s escaping to mainland Italy as possible.
Soviet Union, on the Western Allies to open a
“second front” to draw forces away from the East The lack of concrete objectives would manifest
and bring about an end to the cataclysmic war. in an uncoordinated pursuit of Axis forces which
was unable to prevent them creating defensive
There was much debate about the location of this lines able to hold out long enough for a very well
second front, enthusiastic support from the organised evacuation into the toe of Italy.
British for an invasion of Sicily & Italy was not
met with similar enthusiasm from the United Axis Reaction to the Landings
States. Eventually the Combined Chiefs of Staff At the 8th army beaches the main focus of the
appointed Eisenhower as the CiC of an Allied Italian troops was to prevent the rapid fall of
invasion of Sicily, convinced by the promise of Siracusa, with soldiers from the nearby regiments
shipping saved by the removal of Axis airpower sent to join up with a battlegroup just west of the
in the Mediterranean and the promise of an easy city. In this sector there was minor German
march into the “soft underbelly” of Europe. support in the form of Kampfgrppe Schmalz from
The plan was to land the US 7th Army and British the Herman Goering Panzer-Division. This
8th Army on the south and east coasts of the Kampfgruppe was tasked with a counterattack in
island, the areas possible to be covered at the order to help defend the port of Siracusa.
extreme range of fighters based on Malta. The chaos of the parachute drops resulted in 160
The First Phase British and American paratroopers being
captured in the area west of Siracusa, these
After landing the first phase of the Allied attack Americans indeed being a long way from their
was focused around the movements of the British intended drop in front of the US 7th Army.
8th army whose job it was to quickly advance to Despite this the Axis forces were delayed, and in
capture nearby airfields and the ports of Siracusa, many cases prevented, from demolishing key
Augusta, and Catania with the US 7th army given bridges on the line of attack by the airborne
charge of guarding the western flank of this troops sent for just that reason.
advance and with confusion over their specific
goals beyond this. This decision aggravated Despite these attempts to protect Siracusa many
Patton and Bradley who were disappointed by the of the shaky Coastal Batteries and Coastal
lack of major objective for their forces but neither Divisions began to retreat, often before there was
made a serious protest, although Bradley any sign of the British arriving in their vicinity.
complained of the “indecision, confusion” and Initial attempts at defence in this sector were
“conflicting” nature of the plans. disastrous and disjointed – terrible
communication plagued the counterattacks which
The Second Phase led to the German belief that the Italians had in
fact made no such attempt to defend the city,
After the initial objectives were completed Allied
which of course they had.
combined command had provided very little in
the way of direction for their forces and almost
no concrete objectives.
The Etna Line
After a short time defending on the plains south
and west of Catania Axis forces fell back further
into Sicily and set up their main defensive line,
the Etna Line. This line greatly shortened their
frontline and was in terrain which greatly
frustrated the attacking Allies.
Even by this point Axis command had decided on
an evacuation and the Etna Line provided the
opportunity to get this evacuation under way,
even providing the Axis forces with opportunity
for over 20 notable counter attacks and numerous
localised counterattacks.
Evacuation
By the 17th of August the Axis troops had
succeeded in evacuating a large number of their
troops from the island, disappointing the Allied
commanders who had hoped the trap them on
Sicily. Despite this losses for the Axis were
severe, this was another sharp blow for an Italy
already wavering in its support for the war and
the loss of armoured vehicles was almost total.
Kesselring claimed that his evacuated divisions
were immediately ready for combat, but this was
a boast which he would not have been able to
follow through with.
Overall Operation Husky had eased pressure on
the Red Army and had removed Axis airpower
from the airbases of Sicily, although there has
been much speculation on whether a more
organised and ambitiously planned invasion
could have done more to prevent the successful
evacuation of the Axis forces
GBR Briefing
The British player has no support points available during this scenario.
Italian Briefing
The Italian player must use the Regular Infantry Platoon in this scenario and has 12 support points available.
Please see scenario specific notes. (Italian player may choose to save up to 6 support points and transfer
them to scenario 4, first time it is played only)
Scenario One
1st train to Cassibile
Background
The British have arrived in Sicily – the soft underbelly of “Fortress Europa”. After only limited defence of
the coastline the Kings own Light Infantry pushed north to capture the railway station allowing movement
along the coast towards Siracusa.
GBR Briefing
The GBR player has 4 support points available whenever this scenario is played.
Italian Briefing
The Italian player must use the Coastal Regiment Platoon in this scenario. The Italian player has 8 support
points whenever this scenario is played.
Scenario Two
Resistance at Cassibile
Background
Remaining members of the 146th Coastal Regiment defend at the outskirts of Cassibile whilst a defensive
line can be prepared further inland.
GBR Briefing
The British player has 9 support points available whenever this scenario is played.
Italian Briefing
The Italian player must use the Coastal Regiment Platoon and has 10 support points available whenever this
scenario is played.
Scenario Three
Counterattack at Cassa delle Vigne
Background
Members of the Italian 54th Infantry Division are heading towards the beach in an attempt to counterattack
the 8th Army lines. Or they are moving around in the confusion of having paratroopers behind their lines.
Either way an opportunity to take the Kings own Light Infantry by surprise in the vineyards presents itself.
GBR Briefing
The British player has 5 support points available whenever the scenario is played.
Italian Briefing
The Italian player must use his Regular Infantry Platoon during this scenario and has 5 support points
available whenever this scenario is played. Please see scenario specific notes. (additional support may be
available on first play.
Scenario Four
Relief at the Villa del Marchese
Background
The Italians have captured the Villa. Remaining paratroopers have taken refuge in the hills to the north but
are running low on supplies. The Kings own Light Infantry must try to break this pocket of Italian resistance
and free the trapped Paratroopers.
GBR Briefing
The British player has 11 support points. If the British Paratroopers were not defeated during scenario 2 the
British may take 1 elite squad of Paratroopers as a support choice from list six the first time this scenario is
played.
Italian Briefing
The Italian player must use his Regular Infantry Platoon has 6 support points available whenever this
scenario is played.
Scenario Five
The Road to Siracusa
Background
The Italians are falling back away from the beachhead and need time to set up a defensive line in more
favourable terrain. They stop here along a small creek to buy time. The creek should be considered a major
obstacle.
GBR Briefing
The British may use their Airborne Platoon instead of the Kings own Light Infantry.
The Kings own Light Infantry have 10 support points available, the Parachute Regiment have only 3.
Italian Briefing
The Italians may use their Regular or Coastal platoons in this scenario.
The Regulars have access to 7 support points, whilst the Coastal platoon has 12.
UMPIRE’S NOTES
Pre-Game Scenario
Surprise at Villa del Marchese
In the event of an Allied victory the airborne may only return a maximum of 2 soldiers to immediate duty –
rather than the total of their excess force morale, if it is higher. The airborne troops are in no position to deal
with injured soldiers despite tenuous “control of the battlefield”.
The Axis player may transfer up to 6 support points from this map to scenario Three.
Scenario Three
Counterattack at Cassa delle Vigne
The Axis player may have transferred up to 6 support points to this map. They may only use them the
FIRST time this map is played.
Furthermore, every time this scenario is played the Axis player will start the game with 1 full Chain of
Command die.
Scenario Five
The Road to Siracusa
The Allied player may choose to use the Airborne platoon on this map, with fewer support points, if they
decide to.
Before Scenario Five is to be played the first time the Axis player may choose to merge the Italian Regular
platoon with the Coastal Platoon at this point (and not before). If they do so the resulting platoon will be
considered a Coastal Platoon NOT a Regular platoon. This process is not reversible and any excess men
from the merge are lost.
After the Battle Historical Note
Tracking your Campaign The Allies defeated the Axis forces on Sicily
soundly, however they entirely failed in
This campaign tracks the attack of the 8th Army
preventing the well organised evacuation of the
on Italian held positions on Sicily during
island. Operation Husky had been a qualified,
Operation Husky.
although not total, success.
Track the opinions of the men and the
commander as though it was one platoon in At
the Sharp End for both the Allied and Axis
forces.
Both sides should track the losses of each
individual platoon, but there will likely be a
time when the decision to merge platoons due
to losses is necessary.