New Zealand Division:
Scenario Preview, Part Two
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
August 2023

An Army at Dawn has been one of our more popular Panzer Grenadier titles: after all, it features the U.S. Army in its first major campaign, against the German Africa Corps, with Patton and Rommel and plenty of tank battles.

The Second New Zealand Division – at this time, essentially the Dominion’s entire field army – fought in Tunisia, but isn’t included in the game (which is focused on the American experience, thus the title). We bring them to the party in Panzer Grenadier: New Zealand Division, in eleven new scenarios. You also get 88 die-cut pieces, which is pretty cool.

Let’s have a look at the six scenarios of Chapter Two:

Scenario Six
The Sacred Band
8 April 1943
Pursuing the retreating Axis divisions after the breakthrough at Wadi Akarit, the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry rounded up thousands of prisoners and a large quantity of weapons and food – much of the latter in the form of American rations. They took the hill of Kat Zbara on the 8th, when the German mounted an unexpected response.

Conclusion
The New Zealand cavalry had been augmented by a small unit of jeep-mounted Free Greeks, the Sacred Band. At least according to the New Zealanders, they had sworn to die in battle with the Germans, and when they spotted a platoon of Tiger tanks leading off the German counter-attack, they sped off to attack them. Someone knocked out one of the Tigers – every unit present claimed credit, including the Greeks, who insisted that it burst into flame when struck by machine-gun fire. At that point the German attack crumbled, and the advance resumed.

Notes
This is a very odd scenario, featuring crazy Greeks who must die in order to win, and a Tiger tank. I’m going to put it in the top ten of weird Panzer Grenadier scenarios.

Scenario Seven
Gun Line
9 April 1943
The New Zealanders had pushed into the gap between the Italian First Army and the German Fifth Panzer Army, provoking a German response. The panzers slipped past the Maoris, apparently unnoticed, and then came upon the New Zealand artillery just unlimbering on a rise known as Djebel el Telil.

Conclusion
The New Zealanders had also onloaded a battery of anti-tank guns, and they opened fire on the approaching tanks along with the 25-pounders firing over open sights. The Germans seem to have lost much of their will to fight and did not press their advantage, when they had the opportunity to ravage the unprotected New Zealand guns.

Notes
This is just a small scenario, German tanks against New Zealand guns. The Germans have to achieve a lot in order to win, because even with low morale they should have done more damage to the Kiwis than they achieved.

Scenario Eight
Night Action at Takrouna
19 April 1943
The New Zealanders’ sector for Operation Oration, the attack on Enfidaville, was dominated by a series of hills overlooking the flat desert plain on which the Kiwis assembled. Five of the division’s six infantry battalions, with the platoons of its machine-gun battalion distributed among them, would make the attack following an artillery barrage.

Conclusion
The Kiwi infantry first encountered minefields, and then heavy fire from feisty Italians who had not gotten the memo about their failed morale. The Trieste Division had somewhere acquired Nebelwerfer rocket launchers, and for the first time the New Zealanders encountered the characteristic scream. Finally, more than six hours after the first advance, battalion commander Lt. Col. R.W. Harding admitted the obvious and called off the attack.

Notes
It’s a set-piece attack, uphill against well-defended positions behind wire and minefields. The defenders are Italians, who are pretty salty and have good artillery support for once. This is a tough one for the Kiwis.

Scenario Nine
Return to Takrouna
21 April 1943
Eighth Army had declared the hilltop village of Takrouna, the major objective of Operation Oration, secure. But once again, the Italian Trieste Division ignored them and set out to take it back. Under the cover of heavy nighttime shelling, the Italians infiltrated the Kiwi lines and ejected them from the village. The New Zealand division commander, Bernard Freyberg, sent the Maoris to take it back.

Conclusion
The New Zealanders at first could make little progress, even with the aid of a small group of Maoris, until they brought up a battery of 17-pounders and started engaging the Italian strongpoints with direct fire. That distracted the defenders long enough to allow the New Zealanders to outflank them and take the village.

Notes
This is not a very large scenario, but it once again features salty Italians against tiring Kiwis. The 17-pounders are awesome against the German tanks of 1943, but not a battle-winning weapon against infantry.

Scenario Ten
Neither Young nor Fascist
24 April 1943
The Italian 136th “Young Fascist” Armored Division had no tanks (it had only owned two of them in its entire brief existence) and now had so few surviving Young Fascist youth activists left that it has been renamed the Bersaglieri d’Africa Division. The Bersaglieri had dug in on the Djebel el Srafi, directly in the path of the planned Allied advance. The New Zealanders went forward to dig them out.

Conclusion
A heavy “stonking” by mortar fire did little damage to the defenders, forcing the Kiwis to try to clear the Italian positions one-by-one with bayonet and grenade. The already-depleted New Zealanders suffered heavy casualties as companies melted away to just 25 to 30 men. They drove the Italians out of their forward positions at several places, but could not take the crest.

Notes
The New Zealanders are up against Bersaglieri, and it’s the Italians this time with most of the advantages in morale, firepower and position. That’s not been the case before, but the Kiwis are wearing down and beyond ready for relief.

Scenario Eleven
Medaglie d’Oro
25 April 1943
Not content with having balked the New Zealand advance, Gen. Guido Boselli of the Bersaglieri d’Africa Division ordered an attack on ANZAC Day to re-capture Point 141, what the Italians called the crest of the Djebel el Srafi. With strong artillery support provided by their own formation and German batteries, the few remaining Young Fascists engaged the Kiwis with fixed bayonets.

Conclusion
Intense fighting raged all around the hilltop, and it soon became hand-to-hand with neither side willing to give up the otherwise worthless piece of ground. Young Fascist Private Stefano David had been wounded and captured by the New Zealanders, who prodded him forward at bayonet point to mislead the defenders. When Italian soldiers left their dugouts to help him, he shouted, “Second Company, fire! These are enemies!” Machine-gun fire killed David and at least a dozen of his captors, earning him Italy’s highest award for military bravery. The New Zealanders handed over their positions to British troops soon afterwards; the Italian division would hold Point 141 until the Axis surrender on 13 May, and it would be the last point where resistance ceased in Tunisia.

Notes
It’s a small scenario, with the Italians on the attack and the New Zealanders getting some reinforcements to re-take what they lose – if they can. It’s a tough infantry fight, with the Italians eager for battle.

And that’s all for New Zealand Division.

You can order New Zealand Division right here.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published an unknowable number of books, games and articles on historical subjects. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children and his new puppy. He will never forget his dog, Leopold, Leopold knew the number.

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