Pushing ahead on the Italian mainland ...

Italy, 1943, and the Italian army is still fighting. British forces are pushing slowly inland, looking for advantage amidst the broken Italian countryside. A piece of high round that dominates a round junction must be taken and a company of infantry have been tasked with pushing forward to take the position. The advance begins late in the afternoon.

The ground as the English major saw it, his objective upper left.

 The English push forward probing the position. An Italian machine gun opens up.

The English advance at the bottom, the Italian machine gun revealing itself from the objective upper left

The English infantry open up fire from their covered positions

The Italian machine gun is suppressed by return fire

 As the English continue to push forward more Italian infantry, and another machine gun, reveal themselves from positions covering the objective.

Italian infantry, supported by a machine gun, reveal themselves from the woods covering the objective

An English Vickers MMG crew have pushed forward to provide covering fire for the infantry that are taking a lot of fire from the Italians

More Italian infantry reveal themselves as they open reactive fire from positions on the objective. However no fire results provide the opportunity for the English to push their advance.

The left wing platoon is hung up amidst Italian suppressive fire.

So now the forces appear to have squared off.

Italian mortar fire falls on the English left wing platoon

An English section from the centre right is eliminated by the mortar fire

The English company commander commits a part of his reserve platoon to a striking advance down his right flank.

The English right flanking move can be seen top right of the photo, the troops pinned by Italian fire from the centre

 With movement temporarily stopped the English engage in a vigorous fire fight in their attempts to suppress the Italian defenders.

Fire on the Italian centre covering the objective from the woods begins to have an effect, the machine gun crew suppressed taking cover.

Suppressed Italian machine gun

The English infantry right flanking manage to make it to cover and their fire, combined with that from the Italian front and supporting mortar fire, begins to have an effect as the Italians take casualties. However the last light is falling and while there is no longer any fire coming from the objective, the Italian forces have the position well covered. The attack will need to be renewed in the morning.

The game was played using Art Conliffe's Crossfire rules. The Italians were Andy's newly completed first platoon in their first outing on the table. As always with Crossfire games, the action accelerates with frequent changes of initiative as the forces close, making for an exciting encounter. There will be more as the English work to push the defenders on the Italian mainland back from the beaches.