Our Campaign of Market Garden

[toxicpixie]

Dear those dastardly Germans and their loaded saving roll dice! Will it have just bought them enough time?!

[Poggle]

Excellent AAR!  Looking forward to more.

[MartinKnight1333]

Martin -- Four of us played the scenario on Friday.  Here is the report.
The XXX Corps reach Elst.

Objectives:  The brief called for XXX Corps' spearhead to form up and push north from its bridgehead across the Waal River at Nijmegen.  The objective was to link up as quickly as possible with the 1st Airborne Division at the town of Elst, on "The Island" (the flat polder land between the Waal and the Neder Rijn Rivers).  Opposing XXX Corps was a motorized force of panzer grenadiers from the 10th SS Division.  Thus in the game, the British were tasked with capturing at least one north-south road that would lead to Elst.  The Germans were ordered to hold all the roads to halt or delay the British advance.  H-Hour was set for 1000, and the British line of departure was the south edge of the table.

Forces:

Having taken about 40% casualties crossing the Waal, and down to 30% ammunition levels for its artillery, the XXX Corps force for the game was a Guards armored squadron with 14 Sherman tanks, and four infantry companies from the Wessex Division with a total of eleven infantry platoons, supported by carrier patrols, WASPs, HMGs, 3" and 4.2" mortars, one 6-pdr AT platoon and one 25-pdr battery.  All rated Confident Veteran.

Defending were three companies of SS panzer grenadiers with nine platoons, supported by ten HMGs, three Pak40 AT guns, one French 75 gun, two 8-rad ACs that had survived the last game, three StuG III assault guns, one 8.0 cm. mortar battery, and one 10.5 cm artillery battery.  All the German infantry platoons had limited panzerfausts and each company had one panzerschreck.  All rated Fearless Veteran.

Given the shortage of players for the game, we shortened the planned table by three feet, and deleted one platoon of SS infantry, which was assumed to be defending the deleted portion of the table.  We also limited the British to three possible routes of advance vice the four that were planned.

Terrain:  The table as played was 11 X 5 feet, with the long axis running east-west.  The terrain was determined by the G.S.G.S. map of the area, and informed by accounts of the historical battle on this ground.  The table was covered by flat polder fields and many orchards, which were bounded and crossed by numerous wet ditches (not depicted on the table).  In the southwestern corner of the table were the outskirts of the town of Oosterhout (the remainder of this town was the part of the table that was deleted).  In the center of the table was the small village of Ressen.  On the eastern side of the table was the town of Bemmel.  All three built-up areas had large churches, the towers of which were the only good observation points.  A rail line running north-south ran past the western side of Ressen.  The main north-south road from Nijmegen to Elst ran to the west of the rail line, and was designed Rte. 1 in the game.  Rte. 2 was a north-south secondary road running through Ressen.  Rte. 3 was two north-south roads that ran past and through Bemmel.  (Rte. 4 would have run through Oosterhout but was not in play.)  One east-west road linked these roads and the three towns.  The rail line and all of the roads were on 6-10 foot high embankments.  These embankments were not modeled on the table, but their effect was to block ground-level lines of sight across the rail line and the roads.  Due to the boggy ground and ditches, vehicles could only move via the roads.  Infantry that moved half or less of its movement allowance were assumed to be using the ditches as hard cover.

German Deployment:  The German main line of defense ran in an arc along the west-east road from Ooosterhout, though Ressen, to Bemmel, taking advantage of the cover provided by the orchards, ditches, embankments and buildings.  The Germans deployed one company with two platoons and two HMGs to hold the area from Oosterhout to the main road (Rte 1), with a FO in the church tower and a mortar battery to the rear.  The second company deployed one platoon and two 8-rad ACs between the main road and the railway, and two platoons in Ressen, with four HMGs attached to the platoons.  The church tower in Ressen held a second FO.  The third company had one somewhat isolated platoon in the wide space between Ressen and Bemmel, and two platoons in Bemmel, with four HMGs attached to the platoons.  Hidden in ambush were two PaK40s covering Rte. 1, one PaK40 and the French 75 in Ressen covering Rte. 2, and three StuG IIIs behind the church in Ressen. 

British Deployment and Plan:  Before seeing the German set up, the British commanders had to commit their forces to the three possible routes of advance.  This was because of the lack of east-west roads in the British forming up area.  The British decided to commit A Company with two platoons and a HMG platoon, supported by a Sherman platoon to Rte. 1.  As the role of this force was to pin the German defenders on this side of the table, the British delayed its entry until such time as the German defenders were observed to be moving away.  The main British efforts would be along Rtes. 2 and 3.  B Company with three platoons, HMG platoon, carrier patrol and 3" mortar battery would advance along Rte. 2 to capture Ressen and the road beyond.  One Sherman platoon, the two HQS Shermans, and the three WASPs were committed to Rte. 2 to support this attack.  C Company would push two platoons, an HMG platoon and a carrier patrol between Ressen and Bemmel to maneuver as required, and its third platoon with another carrier patrol and supported by a 3" mortar battery would advance on Bemmel and initially contain the German forces there.  D Company with three platoons, HMG carrier platoon, and ATG platoon would be held in reserve to enter behind C Company and complete the capture of Rte. 3.  One Sherman platoon was also commited to Rte. 3.  All tanks would be held off table until the German antitank assets were located.  The 4.2" mortar battery and 25-pdr battery were in general support.

Battle Report:

At H-Hour, the British put their plan into motion, with the infantry of B and C companies entering the table.  The three carrier patrols moved at full speed -- two patrols along the two roads that converged at Ressen, and one patrol toward Bemmel.  Their task was to try to unmask any hidden German AT guns and StuGs along those routes.  The Germans responded with an artillery barrage that knocked out one carrier and pinned a platoon in C Company.  Otherwise, the Germans stayed gone to ground in their positions.

The advance of the British infantry continued a bit more slowly as they neared the German positions, taking advantage of the ditches for hard cover.  The carriers pushed deeper into the German lines, which provoked a major reaction.  The German StuG commander moved his three StuGs from their hidden position behind the Ressen church to the intersection in order to fire down the road at a carrier patrol.  The carriers were swiftly eliminated, but this left the StuGs in an exposed position.  The British in their turn brought on a tank platoon led by two Fireflies.  Their fire down the road killed one StuG and bailed another.  Very unfortunately for the StuG commander, the bailed StuG failed to remount (rolled a 1), which left him stuck at the intersection.  The operational StuG fired on the British and bailed a Firefly.  British return fire was ineffective, but the two Sherman 75s successfully laid smoke to block the next German shots.  The bailed StuG failed to remount again!  The operational StuG moved forward through the smoke to take one shot that missed.  The smoke then lifted and the fire of the Fireflies killed the two StuGs.  The only mobile German AT unit had been destroyed!

About this same time, the PaK40 and the French 75 in Ressen were located.  The PaK40 was brought under indirect fire.

Meanwhile, the isolated German platoon between Ressen and Bemmel pulled back behind the embankment of the east-west road to avoid British fire.  This opened a gap in the German line that the British infantry raced to exploit.  One platoon of C Company angled toward Ressen and overran the French 75.  This platoon then joined the fight for Ressen.  The second platoon of C Company and the HMG platoon continued to put pressure on the withdrawing German platoon, which continued to slowly fall back through the open fields to the German baseline, using the ditches for cover. 

On Rte. 3, the carrier patrol had bypassed Bemmel and reached the far end of the table without revealing any AT guns, so the British Shermans on Rte. 3 were given orders to advance on Bemmel.  British mortar fire ranged in on the two German platoons in Bemmel, who decided to vacate the forward part of the town.  This rearward movement slowly continued until both platoons reached the German baseline near where Rte. 3 exited the table.  The third platoon of C Company, followed by the Shermans and D Company, pressed after the Germans as they fell back.

In Ressen, the PaK40 finally succumbed, which gave the green light to the Shermans and the WASPs to advance in close support of the infantry.  The Germans defending Ressen church held out a long while, with artillery and mortar fire having little effect on them, and they even killed a Sherman with a panzerfaust.  However, B Company eventually captured the church after its first assault failed.

At the main road, one German platoon crossed the rail line to form a new defensive position along Rte. 2 behind Ressen, while the other two platoons and the two PaK40s remained in place, holding Rte. 1.  With Rte. 1 still being well defended, British command kept A Company and its supporting platoon of Shermans off the table for the remainder of the game, and this area of the table saw no action.

In the end game, the British consolidated their hold on Ressen, while bringing their Shermans, WASPs and additional infantry forward to imminently attack the Germans along Rte. 2 behind the village.  Behind Bemmel, the isolated platoon in the fields was destroyed by 4.2" mortar barrages, while the other two platoons were under fire from infantry, HMGs, Shermans, and a 25-pdr barrage.  The German commanders could see that it was just a matter of time before their last blocking forces were eliminated.  Thus we called the game after four hours of play, deeming it a British victory!

Aftermath:  We played 12 turns, which equate to four hours of campaign time, and we estimated that it would take three more game turns to eliminate the last German defenders along Rtes. 2 and 3, which would equate to another hour of campaign time.  From the German baseline, the nearest buildings of Elst are about 1500 yards away (45 inches at the scale of our table).  Moving at full game speed, it would take about an hour for the leading tanks to move from the game table to Elst.  Thus, with the battle starting at 1000 hours, the leading elements of XXX Corps would make contact with 1st Airborne Division at 1600 hours, with the remainder of the force following close behind, in strength.  The main road to Elst was still in German hands, but those defenders were isolated, and two secondary routes to Elst were opened.  This seems like a significant Allied victory in the campaign.

Losses on both sides were relatively light.  The limited fields of fire, the general lack of artillery, and the abundance of hard cover limited infantry casualties.  The Germans lost about three infantry platoons in the game along with three StuGs, one PaK40, one French 75, and a few HMGs.  They would have lost three more infantry platoons in the continuation (had they stayed to fight).  The British lost just under three infantry platoons, three carrier patrols, and one Sherman 75 tank.

So that was that.  Our next WW2 game is in two weeks.  What is next for us?

Cheers, Tony

[Steve J]

Another great AAR Tony .

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Fab report, well done XXX Corps

[toxicpixie]

What they said, well executed assault on hard targets there, and without the benefit of much supporting indirect fires!

[MartinKnight1333]

Yesterday's big game was a fitting end to a great campaign.  The British smashed through the German defenses and broke out of Arnhem.  Here is the battle report.

According to the brief, XXX Corps had reached Arnhem in force, crossing to the north side of the river and joining with the remaining 1st Airborne Division troops.  This combined force was ordered to push out of the battered bridgehead and break out of Arnhem to the ENE.  The German defenders, consisting of three SS infantry battalions supported by a company of King Tiger tanks, were ordered to stop any breakout.

Terrain:  The terrain on the 11 X 5 foot table was based on contemporary maps and aerial photographs.  The Neder Rijn River ran just off the southern edge of the table, and the Ijssel Rijn River ran along most of the eastern edge.  The western end of the table depicted the destroyed area of the city around the northern ramp of the Arnhem Road Bridge.  The middle of the table held the rail yard and the more intact sections of the city.  The eastern half of the table was mostly open polder land crossed by a main road on a dike and several secondary roads, with a factory complex near the river.  About 12 inches in from the northern edge of the table, a high railway embankment ran from the western to the eastern edges.  The five underpasses under the railway were the Objectives -- the capture of any one of these would enable the British to break out of the city into the open country beyond.

(Note:  The railway embankment was shown on the table with a cork underlay beneath the tracks, and the dike road was shown with low hedges along the road.  Both of these features blocked ground level line of sight across them.  Vehicles could only move on roads or on the open portions of city blocks.)

German Forces:  The defending German forces were described as three battalions of SS infantry with a Tiger company and three battalions of off-board artillery in support.  Running the game at 1/3 scale (so a platoon on the table represented three platoons in the campaign), this provided three SS infantry companies with a total of 9 platoons, 12 HMGs, 3 PaK40 ATGs, 8.0 cm mortar battery, 6 King Tigers, one 15.0 cm battery, and two 10.5 cm batteries.  The infantry had panzerfausts and three panzerschreck teams.  All were rated Fearless Veteran.

British Forces:  The attacking British forces were described as three battalions of Para infantry at half strength, one Guards armored regiment at half strength, one infantry brigade at half strength, plus one more Guards armored regiment at full strength, and one more infantry brigade at full strength, with off board artillery support (still limited by ammunition shortages).  In the game, at 1/3 scale, this massive force was represented by two Para companies with 6 platoons and one assault platoon (and no other support), six Infantry companies with 18 platoons, HMGs and 3" mortar support, one half-sized Armored company with 10 mixed Shermans, one full Armored company with 16 mixed Shermans, two 25-pdr batteries and one 5.5" battery.  The paras were rated Fearless Veteran and the others were rated as Confident Veteran.
German Deployment:  The Germans placed six infantry platoons, the mortar battery and two Pak40 ATGs in the urban ruins around the British bridgehead to defend Objectives One and Two.  Two more platoons were dug into the polder fields behind the railway embankment to defend Objectives Three and Four.  One platoon and one PaK40 were in the factory complex near the dike road, defending the route to Objective Five.  The six King Tigers were placed in pairs outside of town along the eastern edge of the city, in positions where they could fire down the streets or move to defend the dike road across the polder.

British Deployment and Plan:  The British concentrated all six of the para platoons to the NNW of the bridge.  Their task was to assault and turn the German right flank, then continue to advance along the railway to capture Objective One.  Nine platoons of regular infantry deployed to the ENE of the bridge.  Their task was to move through the undefended rail yard to turn the German left flank, while keeping pressure on the German center to eventually threaten Objective One and Objective Two.  Nine more infantry platoons were in reserve near the bridge, to be used as a breakthrough force where needed.  The half-company of Shermans was in the lead on the road beneath the bridge, tasked with moving into the town to support the infantry attacks.  The full company of Shermans was on the road behind them, tasked with moving out of the city along the dike road to the east to threaten Objective Five, with the expectation that they would draw the King Tigers away from the city.  The tower of St. Eusebius church provided the British FO with an excellent vantage point.

Battle Report:  On Turn 1, British artillery and mortars started to soften up the German defenders near Objective One.  This bombardment would continue with varying force throughout the game.  The British paras launched a series of close assaults, which swiftly cleared one block and, most importantly, captured the large, damaged house on the German right flank.  The leading British infantry moved into the undefended rail yard.  The Shermans started rolling, but their movement was slowed by debris on the road.  In their turn, the Germans answered with their artillery and mortars and held their ground.  Critically, they did not shift any troops to reinforce their threatened right flank.
On Turn 2, the leading paras bounded over the rail line into the undefended row houses on the German baseline.  The Germans responded to this clear threat to their right by pivoting their right hand platoon to occupy the last row house in the block.  This provided a small but solid core of resistance that temporarily stopped the paras' turning movement.
On Turn 3, the British infantry launched an assault out of the rail yard into the ruins across the street.  With the support of a smoke bombardment, the British closed with the SS defenders, but then lost the melee and were thrown back.  However, this was only a temporary set back, and the British cleared the block of ruins on the following turn, and also moved into some of the undefended row houses to the north of the rail yard.  This prompted the Germans to shift a platoon to occupy the other houses in that block, which halted the British advance in that sector.  The German defenses in the city were now stretched very thin.

On Turns 4 and 5, combined assaults by the British paras and infantry cleared one more block of ruins in the center, with the half-company of Shermans in the city providing supporting fires.  The full company of Shermans reached the dike road, and attracted the attention of four King Tigers.  Two of these Tigers would later move to block the British armored thrust along the dike road.  Only a well-timed smoke screen limited British tank losses.  The other two Tigers took long range shots at the Shermans in town, killing three, and then slowly moved into the city but arrived too late to make a difference at the objectives there.
On Turn 6 the British attack on the German right flank regained its impetus.  The para assault platoon had come forward with its flamethrower, and pinned the German platoon holding the row house behind the rail line.  The first British assault was annihilated by a German counterassault, but a fresh British platoon continued the assault, and wiped out the Germans in turn.  Only one more block of buildings stood between the British and Objective One.  The Germans were left with very little with which to hold this last redoubt.
Turns 7 and 8 saw the British artillery finishing off the last of the German defenders in front of Objective One, and British paras and infantry moving to occupy the now vacant ruins.  Meanwhile the paras assaulted with overwhelming force and took the last block of buildings behind Objective One.  The Germans had nothing that could counterattack to contest the objective.  The game was over!

Conclusion:  What an epic game!  This scenario pitted three German players, with a force valued at about 6000 points (in old FOW money) against five British players with a force valued at about 9000 points, although it was impossible for the British to use all of their strength in the very crowded battle area.  It took about 1.5 hours to set up the terrain, .5 hours to deploy the troops, 3.5 hours to play, and .5 hours to pack up.  After all this, the beer and the food tasted very good at the bar!
Analysis:  Possibly the only way for the Germans to win this battle was to mass everything they had around the bridgehead to keep the British contained in as small a space as possible.  The German commanders erred by initially placing three of their infantry platoons to defend Objectives Three, Four, and Five -- which were very far from the bridgehead.  Two King Tigers would have sufficed to block the entrance to the dike road and thus would have kept the British armor bottled up and far away from these distant objectives.  The absence of those three platoons compromised the German defense in the city.  Six platoons were not strong enough to hold the necessary frontage in the ruins, and the British turned both flanks on Turn 1.  Once the bridgehead was unsealed, the British could flow around the German flanks to outnumber and successfully assault the two ends of the German line, while their other troops and artillery wore down the German center.  By the end of Turn 8 (less than three hours of campaign time), the German defense in the city had been crushed, with the British in firm control of Objective 1.

In contrast, the British plan was much better.  It focused on the nearest objective (Objective One) with the best assault troops and most of the artillery, but if the Tigers had come into the city, the British could have made the armored move to the east their main thrust.  British tactics were excellent.  They used massed converging fires to suppress the frontline German defenders, then assaulted using the terrain to limit defensive fire.  The British also opportunistically seized undefended portions of the city, forcing the Germans to stretch even thinner to counter the threats from these sectors.  The British attack was relentless, accepting equal casualties in order to eliminate the less numerous German defenders, and willing to sacrifice Shermans to draw the King Tigers away from the city.
Casualties were nearly equal between the two sides.  The British lost 33 para teams and 20 infantry teams, along with 7 Shermans.  The Germans lost 40 infantry teams, 5 HMGs, 2 PaK40s, and two FOs.  Proportionally, this was 20% of the British para and infantry strength and 27% of their tank strength, vs. 50% of the German infantry strength.  The remaining British infantry would have been able to mop up the last few German defenders in the city, forcing the Tigers to withdraw.

P.S. -- The really bad thing about this counterfactual British victory in the campaign is that Montgomery will now be made a Duke and will be considered the third Great British Commander, along with Marlborough and Wellington!  That is a bit much for us Yanks to take!
Cheers and Good Health!  Tony

[Steve J]

Another great AAR and a fitting way to end the campaign.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Amazingly detailed report. Thank you, sounds awesome.
Monty has just shortened the war, honest!

Monty for PM! 

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Monty for PM! 

NEVER !!!!!

[mollinary]

/quote]

Burton, Don or Panesar?

[MartinKnight1333]

Link for photos

http://www.wargamingftb.net/

[Ace of Spades]

Looks good; nice scenery too!

Cheers,
Rob

[MartinKnight1333]

Not my terrain this is the guys in the USA who played out some scenarios with us.