Point of the Spear - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Persano, 30km SE of Salerno, Italy: [Best played as Axis] On 9 September, following the surrender of the Italian government, the US Fifth Army with the British X and American VI Corps began landing on the beaches south of Salerno. With narrow exits from the landing zones the Salerno site was far from ideal and Allied soldiers made slow progress inland against growing German resistance. One of the most critical areas was a gap created by the Sele and Calore Rivers between the British beaches in the north and the American landing zone in the south. To plug this corridor, elements of the US 45th and 36th Infantry Divisions moved into positions northeast of Persano and north of the Sele River, covering the crossings. But the LXXVI Panzer Korps was aware of the gap also, which pointed like a spear toward the center of the American beachhead. On the afternoon of September 13th, two kampfgruppen from the 16th Panzer and 29th PzG Divisions launched independent attacks south from Eboli and Ponte Sele against portions of the 157th and 143rd Infantry Regiments. If the German spear point could break through the inexperienced Americans the following units would turn the Allied landings into a disaster!