Montgomery's Error - The Matrix Games version of West Front

[Teamgame] : Location : Sicily, 15 km south of Catania. The allied landings on Sicily had been successful. In a matter of hours British, American and Free French forces were moving inland. While Patton's army was taking on the middle of the island, Montgomery's troops were advancing along the eastern side of the island. So far resistance had been fierce at some points, but nearly symbolic in others. Allied high command wanted to seize the island as soon as possible and to do that, the straits of Messina had to be closed as soon as possible. Montgomery's troops were in a good position to reach the straits first as they had less ground to cover. But Monty wanted to be sure that nothing would stand in his way and devised an elaborate plan to ensure a swift advance to his first objective, Catania. For this he ordered the first parachute brigade to secure the bridge over the Simeto river, Ponte di Primasole. Further south, the reinforced N°3 commando would seize and hold the bridge over the Lentini river near Malati (Ponte di Malati). With those bridges secure, the 50th Infantry Division would advance to Catania. He had all reason to believe that his plan would work, but just like at Arnhem, he didn't take in account the German resourcefullness. 50th Infantry was facing a battlegroup of 15th Panzergrenadier division, Kampfgruppe "Schmalz", this was a veteran formation and was awaiting the British behind well prepared positions. Their rear area was covered by some Italian garrison units. Initially the first phase of the operation went went only partially as planned : first parachute secured the Primasole, bridge but N°3 Commando's landing was delayed because of worsening weather. When news of the airborne landings reached Hauptmann Schimdt in Catania he formed a kampfgruppe and immediatly set out to recapture the bridge. Schmidt's force was the vanguard of more German reinforcements in the form of 3rd and 4th Fallschrmjäger regiments. They had been called up from southern France when the the first allied landigns began. Soon the British paratroopers were reeling under the pressure and put up and all-round defence of the bridge. Every hour their situation became more and more tenuous as more German paratroopers were trying to retake the bridge.