The battle for Santa Maria Infante was important in the opening of the Allied offensive toward Rome on May 11, 1944. SANTA MARIA INFANTE: THE ROAD TO ROME tells the nitty-gritty story of the American 351st Infantry - assigned the objective of capturing Santa Maria Infante.
The 351st would have to attack over difficult terrain. From east-west Cemetery Ridge, rising above Minturno and forming the base of the 'Bracchi Triangle', a connecting ridge extends 1,950 yards (39 hexes in game terms) north to Santa Maria. This connecting ridge, running through the whole hill mass parallel to its western edge, was to be the axis of attack for the 351st.
The sides of the north-south ridges are cut by draws into small spurs, which, stubbornly held by determined Wehrmacht veterans, turned out to be the most troublesome obstacles to the 351st's advance. Six hundred and fifty yards beyond the cemetery, small knolls known as the Right and Left Tits jut out on either side of the road. They would be the Americans' first objectives.
SANTA MARIA INFANTE: THE ROAD TO ROME tells the nitty-gritty story of the mud-caked grunt, slogging forward one patch of beat up ground at a time. One German machine-gun nest at a time. And a new one always seems to come on line after your buddies got it taking the last. The 22" x 34" map is simply un-precedented in tactical-level games - a ridgeline runs down the middle of the length of the map - with spurs off to sides and a small Italian village perched on the ridge at the 'top' (toward Rome) of the map.
Will your dogfaces ever get there...
