[France 1940] French fort "La Redoute ruinée" - June 21, 1940

Battle of the Little Saint Bernard Pass.
Western Front By: jdrommel - Last update: 06/05/2015
Axis Player: Allied Player:
x6 x6 x5 x6
first You play first    


Historical Background:
On the 21st of June 1940, the 2nd Italian Alpine Corps crossed the border at the Little Saint Bernard pass and attacked the French defenses near Bourg Saint Maurice. Italian "Alpini" of the division "Taurinense" went down from the Mount Valesan and advanced to the Traversette pass. The French advanced post was an old fort of the XIX century called "la Redoute ruinée". This fort was near the Traversette pass and overhanged the road from the Little Saint Bernard pass. The crew was composed by 47 soldiers of the 70th Alpin Fortress Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Desserteaux. The Italian motorized troops of the division "Trieste", supported by some L3/35 light tanks of the division "Littorio", were stopped by a bridge destroyed by the French. Italian engineer troops succeeded to repair the bridge in spite of the continuous French machine-gun fire. But then the first light tank was destroyed after entering into a minefield and the advance was stopped. Finally, Italian troops couldn't succeeded to advance farther because of the machine-gun fire from "la Redoute ruinée" and the artillery fire from heavy batteries placed around Bourg-Saint-Maurice. On the 3rd of July 1940, one week after the armistice was signed, the 47 soldiers of Lieutenant Desserteaux, left the fort "la Redoute ruinée" in front of Italian troops paying honour to them.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn and you are in command. The rest is history.

Briefing:
Axis Player [Italy] : 6 command cards, you move first.
Allied Player [France] : 5 command cards.

Conditions of Victory:
6 medals.
- The repair of the bridge is a permanent medal objective for the Axis player.
- The church of "les Eucherts" is a temporary medal objective for the Axis player.
- For the Axis player again, exit marker is in effect on the road hexagon marked "vers Séez" (Action 23).

Special Rules:
- Use "Royal Italian Army" rules (Nations 6). Badges are not required.
- Use "French Army" rules (Nations 7) to all French infantry units.
- Special Weapon Asset Rules (SWAs 1) are in effect for the French unit equipped with a machine-gun (SWAs 8).
- Use "Big Guns" rules (Troops 3) for the French artillery unit. This represents the heavy artillery fire from Bourg Saint Maurice batteries.
- Use "Combat Engineer" rules (Troops 4) for the two Italian units with engineer badges. The destroyed bridge can be repaired by an adjacent engineer unit at the beginning of the turn. Throw three dices, only one battle-star is needed to repair the bridge.
- The Allied player lays out the minefields (Terrain 29).
- The "Air Power" card is not allowed to the Allied player, discard it and take another from the pile.

Scenario Bibliography:
- Album mémorial "Batailles des Alpes" - Ed. Heimdal.

Remember, see the fort "la Redoute ruinée" on the top of the ski station of la Rosière.

Warning:
Please note that this scenario was not approved by Richard Borg or Days of Wonder, so you have to check yourself about playability, potential gaming issues, etc.

Set-up Order
15
1
1
1
15
1
1
2
9
2
6
1
4
2
6
2
1
3