Against the Odds 60 – Cities of the Damned: Aachen and Cassino (Inglés)

Cities of the Damned (published in ATO #60 magazine) features two challenging solitaire games in which the player must lead his Allied forces to victory in two of the WWII’s most intense battles.

Cassino by Paul Rohrbaugh: In early 1944 the western half of the German “Winter Line” in Italy was anchored by the town of Cassino high up on Monte Cassino, which also featured a centuries old Benedictine Abbey atop the peak. The position utterly dominated the surrounding valleys, so much so Allied troops HAD to take it to continue advancing on Rome. Facing some of Germany’s best soldiers, the area was only captured 5 months later after four separate assaults, with the vast majority of the city was destroyed by aerial bombardment and vicious street to street fighting. Taking the town and heights resulted in 55,000 Allied casualties, with German losses being far fewer, estimated at around 20,000 killed and wounded. The stubborn defense of Cassino would reveal flaws in Allied tactics and bolster the confidence of the Third Reich to keep fighting.