Month: July 2018

Market Garden – preparation for day 2

Since the last Market Garden report, what has been happening?
In effect, lots of preparation for day 2.

Guards Armoured Division has moved into Eindhoven and faces opposition.
The British force consists of 7 units of 2nd (Armoured) Regt. Irish Guards, 6 units of 1st (Motorised) Battalion Grenadier Guards and 4 units of 2nd (Recce) Regt. Household Cavalry.

I fight the tactical battles with Memoir ’44 rules.
Using known troop types available I use the Memoir 44 battle dice to determine the exact available force composition for the local commander.   This gives me more interesting battles and my e-mail commanders extra tactical issues to consider.  I use a conversion from campaign strength to unit makeup as follows: One strength point = 1 die = 1 company or equivalent game unit.  Note that overnight lost strength points in the campaign may be recovered if the unit is resting.

The British order of battle  for the attack on Eindhoven thus became:
1. Arm’d Regt. HQ (Stuart, “Dingo”, Jeep)
2. 3 Sherman 75s + 1 17pr “Firefly”
3. 3 Sherman 75s + 1 17pr “Firefly”
4. 3 Stuart 37mm
5. 2 M10 17 pr “Achilles”
6. 2 x 17pr + 1/2 track
7. 2 x 17pr + 1/2 track
8. Inf.Bn HQ (Jeep, 15cwt Truck, WT Truck)
9. 4 Rifle Plns + 2 3-Ton trucks
10. 3 Rifle Plns, 1 6pr Gun, 4 1/2 tracks
11. 3 Rifle Plns, 1 6pr Gun, 4 1/2 tracks
12. 3 Rifle Plns, 1 3″ Mortar Pln., 4 1/2 tracks
13. 3 Rifle Plns, 1 3″ Mortar Pln., 4 1/2 tracks
14. 3 Daimler 1 2pr Arm’d Cars
15. 3 Staghound 37mm Arm’d Cars
16. 3 Daimler “Dingo” Scout Cars
17. 3 Daimler “Dingo” Scout Cars

And so I had to start creating some of the units. The Shermans and infantry were already in stock, but I had no Achilles tank destroyers – or so I thought – and no 17pr AT guns.
I set to work with my 3D printer, using M Bergman’s wonderful templates on Thingiverse.com.
Having printed, assembled and painted two Achilles models, I found that I had in the loft a pack of five GHQ models unopened, so I started again.

As for the 17pr guns, these things are always a problem for 3D printing in small scales.  The template provides them on end, standing on the trail. They are designed as 1:200 models, so I start by reducing them to 70% size for 1/285.

A couple of test prints gave me some plastic sclptures that will paint up nicely as trees or bushes!

I rotated the model to print in its normal deployed position. Therefore I needed to add supports for the barrel. After printing, cutting these away without destroying the barrel was a problem (see the header photo).  There is an idea to try to paint them draped in camo netting, but I am also considering removing the barrel and drilling a hole for a pin instead.

Meanwhile I have ordered at considerable expense some GHQ models (The very reason I bought a 3D printer was to avoid this sort of cost) and expect to be fiddling about with superglue some time next week.

Operation Market Garden: Day 1

A summary of the events of day 1 of the play-by-email campaign.

14:00.  Allied parachute drops and glider landings north of Eindhoven, east of Nijmegen and west of Arnhem.  Guards Armoured Division moved north from the Belgian border, but was ambushed south of Valkenswaard.  Irish Guards armoured group lost several light tanks in the breakout.

14:30.  German infantry attacked from the Groesbeek area against 82nd US Airborne.  This attack was repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides.  9th SS Recce Battalion and 16th SS Training Battalion attacked British airborne forces east of their landing area.

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15:00.  505th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division discovered that the railway bridge and a minor road bridge across the Waal-Maas Canal had been blown.  101st Airborne Division secured Uden, Vehgel and St Oedenrode.

15:30.  9th SS Panzer Division elements fought with British gliderborne and parachute troops between Arnhem and the landing area north-east of Oosterbeek.  The British Airborne Recce Squadron captured the Arnhem road bridge from the south end.  101st Airborne secured Schijndel.  The German garrison at Helmond was ordered to Eindhoven.

19440917 1515 Arnhem d

16:00.  82nd US Airborne reported Groesbeek was secure, and turned their attention to the road and rail bridges across the Waal.  101st US Airborne secured the bridges over the Wilhelmina Canal.

16:30.  The fight for the British landing zone was won by the British.  The German forces concentrated on re-taking the road bridge at Arnhem.

17:00.  59th Infantry Battalion of 15th Army arrived from the west at Best and split.  One battalion attacked St Oedenrode, the second moved to take the bridges on the Wilhelmina Canal north of Eindhoven.  82nd US Airborne took the Grave Bridge intact.

17:30.  10th SS Armoured Recce Battalion attacked the Arnhem road bridge from the north.  They suffered casualties on the approach but one company managed to charge across the bridge despite the mines laid by the British advanced forces.  A fight began around the north end of Arnhem bridge as both sides moved up reinforcements to the area.

18:00. The Americans approached the Nijmegen bridges from the south while 10th SS Recc Bn raced to reinforce them from the north.

Nijmegen

18:30.  The fight developed around the major bridges at Arnhem and Nijmegen.  These battles would continue until after dusk, with neither side gaining a firm advantage.  St Oednrode was attacked and both sides fought to a standstill.

19:00 59th Infantry regiment attacked 502nd PIR of 101st Airborne on the Wilhelmina Canal rail bridge.  The attack was defeated.

19:30  3rd Battalion, 9th SS Panzer Grenadiers attacked the Arnhem rail bridge and took it from 2nd and 3rd Battalions Parachute Regiment.

Arnhem Rail bridge

By 21:00 the situation was that 101st Airborne held all their first day objectives.  82nd division held the Nijmegen rail bridge while the Germans still controlled the road bridge.  At Arnhem the Germans had captured the rail bridge while the British had the northern approaches to the road bridge.

It started to rain.

Just before midnight the lead elements of Guards Armoured Division, ordered to push on through the night, reached the southern outskirts of Eindhoven, where the Dutch underground informed them the Germans were occupying the town.

To be continued…