Web Extra! Until recently, ACG readers had to wait two issues to find out the solution to our popular You Command Combat Decision Games. Now we are posting the historical outcome and analysis at ArmchairGeneral.com shortly after the respective due date for submissions of Reader Solutions. Here is the outcome for You Command CDG #35, “10th Mountain Division in Italy, 1945" November 2009 issue.

The November 2009 issue of ArmchairGeneral® presented the Combat Decision Game “10th Mountain Division in Italy, 1945.” This CDG placed readers in the role of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Hampton, commander of the 1st Battalion, 86th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. Hampton’s assignment was to attack and seize Riva Ridge, a series of five rugged peaks in Italy’s central Apennine Mountains. Capturing the ridge, part of the reconstituted “Gothic Line” defenses that German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring hoped would prevent the Allied advance from breaking into the broad plain of the Po River Valley, was the most challenging mission the 10th Mountain Division had received since its arrival in Italy.

Kesselring, perhaps the best German defensive tactician the Allies faced in World War II, skillfully used Italy’s difficult terrain to delay the advance of the 5th U.S. Army and the 8th British Army as they moved in tandem up the peninsula. He turned the Allies’ hoped for “short cut to southern Germany” into a drawn-out, bloody slugfest. By February 1945, however, Kesselring was running out of room as the Allies threatened to break out of the mountainous terrain and onto the plains of the Po River Valley that dominated northern Italy. Once free of Italy’s mountains, the Allies could restore maneuver warfare and capitalize on their overwhelming advantages in manpower and mobility.

HISTORICAL OUTCOME

The 1st Battalion’s assault against Riva Ridge was part of a larger operation conducted by the 10th Mountain Division and other Allied units, including the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, to seize commanding terrain in the central Apennines. In addition to the five peaks of Riva Ridge, the division attacked nearby Mount Belvedere and Mount Gorgolesco. However, the ridge was the 10th Division’s first objective since its capture would prevent the Germans from massing flanking fire against the units attacking Belvedere and Gorgolesco.

Lieutenant Colonel Hampton chose to launch the entire battalion in a frontal assault targeting all five peaks simultaneously (CDG Course of Action Two). He organized the attack by assigning a peak to each of the three companies in his battalion; one to F Company, 2d Battalion (attached to 1st Battalion for the mission); and one to a platoon he detached from his A Company. From north to south, the units and their assigned objectives were A Company platoon, Pizzo di Campiano; B Company, Cappel Buso; C Company, Serrasiccia; A Company (minus a platoon), Mancinello; and F Company, Le Piagge.

The attack commenced at 7:30 p.m. on February 18, 1945. Except for the arduous climb over the rugged terrain, the units experienced few difficulties and encountered surprisingly little German opposition. At 1 a.m. on February 19, B Company reported receiving machine-gun and mortar fire; however, adhering to its training, the unit did not return fire and give away its position. Exercising tactical initiative, B Company’s commander adjusted his unit’s route of advance to move around the defenders. At 1:17 a.m. he reported Cappel Buso secured. By 4 a.m. four of Riva Ridge’s peaks were in American hands, and just before daybreak the detached platoon reported it had seized Pizzo di Campiano. Thus by 6 a.m. all five objectives had been captured.

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