Our Campaign of Market Garden

Started by MartinKnight1333, 10 December 2019, 03:35:58 PM

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MartinKnight1333

We here is brief run down.
D-Day
1st Airborne,
Some drop zones changed all 1st Arirborne dropped in two drops on first day this is key ( we disregarded the Amercian General in charge and did what the R.A.F wanted to do, so we take the ferry and the two bridge, the one that blew was west of Arnhem we will have to repair that one. A few counter attacks put in but beaten off by the paras, the 1st airborne artillery dropped on the island where we have a new Supply zone.
82nd Airborne raced for Nijmegen bridge but part blew, two counter atttacks put in by the Germans (this game played in the USA by military guys) one at Wyler and one at Mook.
101st Airborne
Not much change in the drop zones, and also beat off a counter attack by two battalions of infantry.
XXX Corps
Breakout earlier than history as we had two drops as mentioned, their attack delayed by two hours due to fog in England, the 07:00hrs drop was late at 09:30hrs
D+1
Stronger attacks put in on all airborne all beaten back, XXX corps reach Nijmegen at 18:30hrs, rest and maintain the armour over night.
D+2
Heavy German counter attack by 107th Pz brigade, this was beaten back near Mook, but caused a lot of concern to the 82nd paras.
D+3
Two heavy attacks going in this week, both east of Nijmegen, XXX Corps repairing the bridge, estimate to do so 15-20 hours
One attack on the island aimed at the airborne arty and supply dumps.
German artillery moved forward to put the Hells Highway under interdiction fire.
That is for now guys :)

Steve J

Sounds good and any pics you can share?

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fred.

Sounds interesting - looks like your Day 1 changes would deal with a lot of the issues with the original plan.

But Nijmegen bridge being blown might just put everything back to the original schedule...

Does your campaign offer attacks from the east of Nijmegen (i.e. from Germany) as the US 82nd deployed a lot of troops to screen against this eventuality. And while during MG there were some attacks from here they were fairly light, I do wonder if these hadn't been repelled then more forces would have been funnelled to here.
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MartinKnight1333

Quote from: fred. on 10 December 2019, 06:57:14 PM
Sounds interesting - looks like your Day 1 changes would deal with a lot of the issues with the original plan.

But Nijmegen bridge being blown might just put everything back to the original schedule... only one span the railway bridge blew fully

Does your campaign offer attacks from the east of Nijmegen (i.e. from Germany) as the US 82nd deployed a lot of troops to screen against this eventuality. And while during MG there were some attacks from here they were fairly light, I do wonder if these hadn't been repelled then more forces would have been funnelled to here.
........... the germans are using heavier attacks against 82nd Airborne each day more arty is arriving

But it is interesting, we allow planes to take off in fog but land elsewhere if needs be on return, an Air Commodors nightmare. the key was two drops on day 1.

toxicpixie

Sounds cracking! Love to see some pics :)
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MartinKnight1333

id love to but the error says file too big for upload?

toxicpixie

Ah, the site only takes tiny images - otherwise you need to host them somewhere else and then link to them!
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MartinKnight1333

ttps://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=wargaming%3A%20operation%20market%20garden&epa=SEARCH_BOX

see if this works

MartinKnight1333

Result of 107th pz bde and infantry assaulting 82nd airborne and guards at Wyler East of Nijmegen.
Martin -- Here is the report from Friday's game.
According to the brief, the Allies had two parachute rifle battalions of the 82nd Airborne Division defending the open polder land north of the town of Wyler, supported by a Guards armored battalion from XXX Corps and off-board artillery. Attacking them, the Germans had three mixed battalions of infantry (the remnants of the forces previously engaged near Wyler), reinforced by the Panzer battalion and the Panzergrenadier battalion of 107. PanzerBrigade, both of which had been weakened in the previous fighting at Mook, and supported by off-board artillery.
Objectives: The Germans were ordered to drive through the Allies and keep going toward the Waal Bridge at Nijmegen (about four miles away, through similar terrain). Thus in the game, the Germans would win a major victory if they could capture and control a route to the Allied baseline. A German tactical victory would be capturing the brickworks in the north and a key road intersection in the south; a draw would be capturing only one of these objectives. The Allies want to hold their ground. Both sides also want to cause enemy casualties while limiting their own.
Allied Deployment: A Company, with two para rifle platoons, was deployed dug into the polder fields in front of the brickworks. One platoon of British tanks deployed behind them, using the cover of an orchard and a hedge. B company, with only one para rifle platoon, dug in behind a dike in the southwest corner of the table, in position to cover the objective at the intersection. This platoon was backed up by the British motor infantry platoon dug in behind it. The other British tanks were held off table as reserves -- they would enter via the roads from the Allied baseline during Turns 2-4. The Allied artillery forward observer was off table to the south, on top of the Duivelsberg Hill -- the highest point in Holland -- which was captured in a previous action. This superior vantage point enabled the Allied FO to see anywhere on the table, as well as off the table to the German rear.
Action Report: On the northern end of the table, the FJ crossed the dike and took cover in the polder ditches. A battery of 15.0 cm artillery ranged in on the ground in front of the brickworks, and the barrage knocked out a Firefly. The Allies pulled their targeted platoon back into the brickworks to get out of the bombardment zone and responded with artillery barrages of their own, which killed a few Germans and pinned them down. This exchange of artillery fire continued with little effect. On Turn 3 the Panthers arrived and lined up along the dike. The surviving Firefly hit two Panthers but they made their armor saves and were only bailed out. The two Sherman 75s shot smoke at the other Panthers to block their return fire. In the German turn, the bailed Panthers remounted and the other Panthers moved from behind the smoke. Their return fire knocked out the Firefly, and the remainder of the British tank platoon, despite being Guards, failed their morale check and withdrew. Fortunately for the Allies, a reserve tank platoon, followed by the two HQS tanks, arrived over the next two turns to give the Allies some ability to counter the Panthers, which were still on top of the dike on the German baseline.
On the southern end, the Heer company moved forward and occupied the crossable portion of the stream that ran between the two dikes, where it began to be harassed by one battery of Allied artillery. The column of recon halftracks and PzIV/70s advanced along the road on top of a dike. While the Germans were advancing, the Allies were able to bring forward another reserve tank platoon, which took up positions behind the hedges near Wercheren. Immediately after the leading German vehicles reached the objective intersection, they were brewed up by the British tanks, losing a PzIV/70 and three halftracks. This blocked the road, although the next PzIV/70 in the column was able to push the wreck off the road and engage the British tanks. At the same time, two more PzIV/70s turned off the road onto the dike that overlooked the US and British infantry position, using their machine guns to help pin the US paratrooper platoon. At the same time, the Heer company "went over the top" of the dike separating them from the Americans, and assaulted. Carnage ensued. The US and British defensive fire shredded the assaulting Germans and forced them back onto the dike, where they had no cover. On the subsequent turn, British tank fire claimed two more PzIV/70s, and US and British small arms fire caused further heavy losses to the Heer infantry, breaking two of the platoons. The final German turn saw the last two PzIV/70s pushing forward, and one of them claimed a Firefly. On the next Allied turn, the other Firefly knocked out two more PzIV/70s while the US paratroopers assaulted and mopped up the remnants of the Heer company. As the final act, two bazooka teams assaulted through an orchard to knock out the last PzIV/70. One lone halftrack at the rear of the column was the sole survivor of this German force.
While the action in the south was raging, the German commander in the north tried to invigorate his attack by committing the PanzerGrenadier company to the battle. However, rather than use their halftracks, they dismounted and entered the table on foot, moving into the polder behind the FJ company. At the same time a Panther platoon moved off the dike along a secondary road toward the brickworks. This platoon was met by concentrated British artillery fire and long range tank fire, and was swiftly eliminated. The German commander then tried to shift his remaining five Panthers along the top of the dike to the south, a move which presented the flanks of the Panthers to the enemy. The British commander seized this opportunity and surged all of his tanks forward to engage the Panthers, while the US paratroops unveiled their ambush of two 57mm antitank guns. The combined fire of the British tanks and US guns wiped out a Panther platoon, and the remaining two Panthers of the HQS platoon were forced to leave the table. With the loss of his last tanks, the German commander sensibly broke off the action and withdrew the FJ and PanzerGrenadier companies.
Result: An overwhelming Allied victory! Against the loss of one squad in each paratroop company, three Fireflies, and one Sherman 75, the Allies completely destroyed a Panzer company and a Heer infantry company, along with a recon patrol and one FJ platoon. In the campaign those lost companies represent entire battalions. The surviving Germans were driven back behind their start line, and would have to continue retreating for another 1200 yards, under continued artillery fire, until reaching the cover of the village of Leuth. We halted the game after nine turns, which represented three hours of campaign time.
In the final analysis, the German armored force was superior in equipment, but was less well trained than the British armored force. The Germans never massed all their panzers into a single effort, and the restricted routes through the polder led to the Germans advancing only their spearheads against the combined units of British armor. This made the leading German tanks easy targets for the few powerful Fireflies in the British force. Once the German tanks were lost, there was no way for the Germans to stop the British tanks from directly reinforcing the defensive positions of the Allied infantry, making them virtually impregnable.

Steve J

Sounds an excellent battle but sadly I can't get the Facebook link to work :(.

toxicpixie

Well chaps, keep it up and we'll be eating Xmas dinner in Berlin!
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MartinKnight1333

Next Game;

XXX Corps forcing the Nijmegen bridge, orders to link up with 1st Airborne HQ at Elst.  8)