Battle of Ragogna Coc WW1 Campaign

Battle of Ragogna Campaign

Part one

A brief Intro

The Battle of Ragogna was a heroic stand by the Italian army during the the much larger battle of Caporetto which took place place from October 24^th to the 19^th of November. The battle of Caporetto is an amazing and interesting battle. Like most battles on the Italian front it took place among mountains and trenches craved out of solid rock. In brief the Germans helped the Austrians by launching a joint attack in late 1917 using well trained units and the most advanced assault tactics of the time. The attack was extremely successful, the Italian 2^nd army cease to be a fighting force and the German and Austrians pushed back the Italians over 60 miles to the river Piave. Causalities where high on both sides: 70,000 german/Austrian dead or wounded and with Italy suffering 10,000 dead 30,000 wounded and more than 250,000 captured. There are many excellent books on the subject including “Rommel & Caporetto” by John and Eileen Wilks and “Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign” by John Macdonald and Zeljiko Cimprie.

The Battle of Ragogna itself was the the attempt of the German 12th Division (General Von Lequis), supported by artillery batteries and a regiment of the 13th Schützen(austro-hungarian) to capture the Pinzano Bridge  over the Tagliamento river.  They pushed hard on Nov. 1st getting to within 300 meters of the Bridge before being drove back by a counter attack launched by the Bologna Brigade who were stationed on the near by Mt. Ragogna.  The Germans consolidated their forces and renewed these attack fighting back through the village of San Petro and some sources claim getting troops on to the bridge before it was destroyed by the Italians.
And here is a link to the PDF version of my Campaign:
Battle of Ragogna Campaign pdf

The Campaign

I wrote this Campaign using Two Fat Lardies At the Sharp End Campaign rules. It is the Germans attempt to drive back to the Bridge before it is destroyed, while an Austrian player tries to hold off the Bologna Brigade on Mount Ragogna.

If enough players were available, the Austrians(which we lacked), would drive up the hill and if they lost the Italians would counter attack down the hill again thus delaying the Germans.

Our version, because it  is just Kati and I, is to just play the Germans drive towards the Pinzano Bridge.

The First battle

The first battle pitted Kati and her elite storm troopers 1^st Platoon 2./OSR62 (2^nd kompanie 62^nd Ober Silesian Regiment) of the 12th Division against my weary Italian rifle platoon  D company 2^nd Platoon 151^st Regiment, of the 33^rd Division, Sassari Brigade

 

 

The table was set up for Scenario 2 out of the ww1 supplement to represent clashing with the Italians outer defenses.

Somehow I forgot to take pics of the armies but here is a brief breakdown of each force and its support for the round:

German storm troopers

2 assault sections of an NCO 6 bombers and 2 rifles both with 2 trench brooms in each

2 mg support sections NCO LMG with loader and 6 rifles

flamethrower team

sniper team

off table Minenwerfer

Per game Gas attack

Italian Platoon

3 rifle squads each with NCO, 7 rifles and 2 bombers

1 VIllar Perosa SMG squad NOC, Villar Perosa SMG, loader, 5 rifles, 2 bombers

2 mmgs

off able Stokes mortar

4 sections of barbed wire

The Villar Perosa was a very unique SMG, short range, a high rate of fire and grip triggers it was originally meant for air planes.  The Italians ended up putting straps on it and firing them from the chest.

As far as the Villar in game it has a rof of 4 a 9" range and treated as a trench broom in close combat.
Here is a Link to the Italian army rules I wrote for Chain of Command:
Phil's WW1 Italy platoon

The first phase saw the Italians popping out of their trenches despite the Gas attack(which in game terms lowers the defenders command dice for the first TURN of the game) two rifle squads and a MMG.

The Germans roll 6,6,6,5,5,3 for their first phase(ending the turn and Gas attack) they use this to bring on a MG section and score 7 hits on my MMG and killing one man.

The first phase of the second turn sees the arrival of the second MG section and a Sniper team(look at those sweet jaegers) the off table mortar and Mg section shoot at my MMG but nothing sticks.

I bring on more troops and start laying down some pretty uneventful fire.

Kati starts moving her Bomber squads into the field while laying down support fire with her Mg sections.

My men start to realize things are not looking good as the storm units edge ever closer....

The first unit to break and Run is the MMG 

The bombers then begin to work on my rifle squad, beating them up with grenades. 

As sudden an end as this may seem, I look at what's about to happen and realize that I am about to take some huge casualties, and if I want my platoon to fight another day(casualties stick in the campaign) its time for a tactical withdrawal.

So the first game ends with the Italians withdrawing in good order before the Germans remind them what grenades are truly capable of.   I lost 7 men, 3 of which will never see the sun rise again, 2 that are wounded and will skip the next fight and 2 that were convinced to get back in the fray.  Kati lost only 3 guys 1 killed and 2 wounded(skipping the next battle).

The Italians withdraw to the Main defensive line just south of the village and dig in for a tough fight.