HomeNewsCombat Mission: Fortress Italy
Colonel Croesus: Turn 13
Last turn the Comment Commanders flushed out a Tiger with a Sherman-tipped pitchfork. This turn they transform that pitchfork into a trident in an effort to finish the ferrous feline.
While the central tine of the trident, theAchilles tank destroyer, is advancing, the right-hand tine, Crabmeat 1, is temporarily retracting. Before backpedalling, Crosbie’s Sherman broadcasts a fan of smoke grenades and spits a second AP round at Steiner’s mount. The shell passes close enough to the turret of the target to remove the haughty Hauptmann’s cap with its slipstream. No other damage is caused.
It’s possible I was inadvertently responsible for Sergeant Nemchik’s (Charles Bronson) demise (in my defence, CMFI’s hatch controls are horrid). Then again, his premature unbuttoning may have been the deliberate act of a fearless TC keen to keep track of a barely visible quarry.
Uninterested in Nemchik’s precise motivation, the MG 34 marksman in the pillbox plugs Crosbie’s pal almost as soon as he appears. The last thing Crabmeat 2’s craggy leader sees is his tank score a hit on the Panzer VI’s right flank. The hit causes needles of red-hot spall to ricochet around the Tiger’s interior.
…and BRONZE (the Wasp incinerates a knot of aspiring ambushers)…
…but it’s the events in GOLD during this hectic twenty-second passage of play that alter the balance of battle irrevocably.
As Crabmeat 1 reappears at S3 after her tricksy faux withdrawal, she draws fire from three German units almost simultaneously. The LMG and deck gun fusillades, she shrugs off with ease.
Flames licking at their heels, four of the Sherman’s five crewmen manage to bail. The one casualty is a man with no name. In the credits he’s listed simply as ‘Sleepy Texan’.
Any smugness Steiner might be feeling after pedestrianising Crosbie, vanishes five seconds later when Crabmeat 2, third time lucky, partially penetrates the Panzer VI with another flank shot.
The 75mm diameter hole is still glowing, when the driver of the Achilles applies his brakes, and Lieutenant Ashbridge (Roger Moore) requests “One into the turret ring, if you please, Mr. Matthews”.
The resulting explosion is instantaneous and titanic, a fact that the writers of Colonel Croesus II chose to ignore (Wolf Kahler reprised his role in the disappointing sequel).
The situation at T+60:
Surviving enemy units include the pillbox at j16, the AC on the slipway, and, amazingly, the U-boat deck gun.
These two diehards seem to be making for the walls at o/p14.
3rd Squad’s taxi is passing the Achilles when the clock stops.
Moffat’s mate has yet to pick up the PIAT. 1st Squad and Rocca look to have recovered their composure. They may be willing to execute orders in Turn 14.
