As the 2nd New Zealand Div pushed west towards Orsogna in December 1943, a battlegroup of the 18th Armoured Regiment, 22nd Motorised Battalion and some armored cars of the Divisional Cavalry made a feint along the Melone - Guardigrele road.

The board was mostly open muddy fields dropping off from the twin track. Vehicular off road movement had a good chance of bogging.

Jon had 2nd Company of Halftrack borne infantry (with 5 Big Men total) from the 22nd NZ Motorised Battalion. Eleven M4 Shermans from B Squadron, 4th NZ Armoured Brigade and two Staghound armored cars.

He came in on the eastern edge of the table centered on the road. The infantry had debused from their M5 halftracks No sense in getting them bogged!

The Germans didn't have a real chance but certainly could've caused more damage if the artillery had arrived and the PzIVs were more effective.

Overall casualties for the New Zealanders were 22 and the company CO killed. One Staghound immobilized and one bogged. Only one M4 damaged and three were bogged One infantry platoon and one troop were still on Blinds at the end.

The Germans had both PzIVs knocked out and lost 16 men out of 40.

From the official history:

The German engineers had prepared four demolitions along the northern road, but it was not until they were half-way to Melone that the tanks, though under frequent shellfire, were delayed by cratering.

It was by then nightfall, and the Germans who had held the line of the road during the day were falling back. Our own infantry followed hard on the heels of the German rearguards, who stalled off pursuit by a second demolition, by small-arms fire from the cover of village buildings along the way, and by blowing up in the middle of the road a lame tank which had been towed back from the main road junction.

Near the village of Salarola three Germans tarried too long and fell prisoner. One of them, coolly directing the retreat of his rearguard, was the 27-year-old commander of I Battalion 9 Panzer Grenadier Regiment, by reputation ‘the most capable and bravest’ battalion commander of 26 Panzer Division.

Still the men of 2 Motor Company pressed on in the darkness and they were nearing the junction of the two lateral roads when a third demolition was blown in their faces, making a hole about forty feet across. This in turn they skirted, only to find the enemy covering the road from posts sited in the prearranged delaying line before the Melone–Orsogna road. Not until next morning, the 3rd, did the company confirm the enemy's withdrawal from this position – a hurried withdrawal, it appeared, from the amount of abandoned equipment left scattered about.

Mark Luther