ABLE AT CESARO*
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DATE: 8 August 1943*
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BATTLE TYPE: USA advance vs. Italy delay*
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Two-Player PBEM Game*
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CESARO, SICILY:  After having been in bivouac south of Palermo for several days, the men of the U.S. 9th Infantry Division were chaffing for action. Their chance came when Bradley ordered the division to enter the line and take part in an offensive designed to overwhelm the final Italian defenses west of Messina. Just before dawn on 7 August, the 47th Infantry Regiment moved forward, attacking astride the Tronina-Randazzo road with elements of the 9th Mechanized Reconnaissance Troop leading the way. Despite some annoying mortar fire, Company K managed to occupy the regimental objective by night fall. Colonel Smythe, now regimental CO, ordered the 2nd Battalion to pass through this position that night and, at dawn, to seize the next group of hills, and, if possible, the village of Cesaro itself. At first light, the battalion stepped off. Pushing through the scrub that linked the village with the coastal highway. Unopposed to this point, scouts from "Able" ran back with news that Italian troops had taken up positions on a commanding rise just east of the roadway.*
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AFTERMATH: The Italian troops, in point of fact, were Carabinieri (military police) busily entrenching on the slopes and preparing to interdict the coastal roadway. However, upon sighting the Americans, the fiery Italian officers led their men down from the heights to engage the GIs. It was a disastrous tactical error. The immensely superior firepower of the Americans broke the back of the enemy charge within minutes. Despite two American squads blundering into a minefield, and the loss of the company jeep and mascot (a mongrel bull terrier very popular with the men for his habit of biting prisoners), American casualties were minimal. As American squad hunted down the enemy mortar spotters that had been troubling them, ten teams from the 19th Engineering Regiment began clear the heavily mined road. Meanwhile, the other companies passed through Company A and reached Cesaro much quicker then expected. That afternoon, patrols contacted troops of the 78th British Infantry Division advancing on Messina from the south.*
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NOTES: This scenario is based off of Avalon Hill's Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) annual '90 scenario A13 with some minor modifications.*
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Sources:  ASL Scenario A13*
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Design by:  Don Lazov*