The Battle
Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the German-occupied Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. Its objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine River), creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: seizing nine bridges with combined American and British airborne forces(“Market“) followed by British land forces swiftly following over the bridges (“Garden“).
Highway 69 (later nicknamed “Hell’s Highway”) leading through the planned route was two narrow lanes, partly raised above a surrounding flat terrain of polder or floodplain. The ground on either side of the highway was in places too soft to support tactical vehicle movement and there were numerous dikes and drainage ditches. Dikes tended to be topped by trees or large bushes, and roads and paths were lined with trees. In early autumn this meant that observation would be seriously restricted.
Although the area is generally flat with less than 30 feet (9 m) of variation in altitude, Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks, commander of XXX Corps, recalled that “The country was wooded and rather marshy, which made any outflanking operation impossible.”
On the morning of 17 September Horrocks was given confirmation that the operation was to take place that day. At 12:30 hours Horrocks received a signal that the first wave of the airborne forces had left their bases within the United Kingdom and set the time for the ground attack to start at 14:35 hours. At 14:15 hours 300 guns of the Corps artillery opened fire, firing a rolling barrage in front of XXX Corps start line that was 1 mile (1.6 km) wide and 5 miles (8.0 km) in depth. The barrage was supported by seven squadrons of RAF Hawker Typhoons firing rockets at all known German positions along the road to Valkenswaard. The advance was led by tanks and infantry of the Irish Guards and started on time when Lieutenant Keith Heathcote, commanding the lead tank, ordered his driver to advance. The lead units of the Irish Guards Group had broken out of XXX Corps bridgehead on the Maas-Schelde canal and crossed into the Netherlands by 15:00 hours. After crossing the border the Irish Guards were ambushed by infantry and anti-tank guns dug in on both sides of the main road. The Guardsmen moved forward to clear the German positions, manned by elements from two German parachute battalions and two battalions of the 9th SS Panzer Division, and soon routed the German forces flanking the road. The fighting soon died down and the advance resumed. By last light the town of Valkenswaard had been reached and occupied by the Irish Guards Group.
Horrocks had expected that the Irish Guards would have been able to advance the 13 miles (21 km) to Eindhoven within two-three hours; however, they had only covered 7 miles (11 km). The operation was already starting to fall behind schedule.
The Game
I needed to through a quick game together for our last Tuesday game session. TJ was running a small ACW game and only had enough room for a few players. I was not int he mood for ACW, so volunteered to run a small FOW game to include the overflow gamers we expected. I kind of had to rush putting everything together, due to some other commitments on Monday, but with FOW being a low level game, you can almost always sort something out!
I looked at the scenarios on the Battlefront site and thought the ambush one would be a fun tactical exercise. With that type of fight in mind, I figured a section of the fight between the Guards Armoured Division and the 9th SS on Hell’s Highway would be a good choice. I decided day one fighting on the road to Eindhoven would work. The fight would represent one of the cleaning operations after the breakout from Joe’s bridge, once the Brits outran their artillery and air support.
The terrain was mostly flat int he area and had a lot of fields and wooded areas. I made the woods all open (twelve inch visibility) to reflect the manicured nature. All fields had tree lines covering them. All brown field areas on the mat represented the soggy areas of mud and would require a cross check.
I made a number of changes to the scenario to make it work with the forces I was thinking. The British would be represented by a squadron of Shermans, supported by two platoons of infantry. Two platoons of tanks would be deployed on the road, at the two objectives. The Sherman troop would be carrying an infantry platoon as tank riders.
The British would roll for reserve each turn, following the normal rules. The exceptions would be that the first successful roll would give them two units. If the roll was a six, they would get reserves from the east side road entrance. These would be made up of the rest of the armored company (three more companies of Shermans and another infantry platoon. On a roll of six, they would get elements of the armored car regiment that was farther up the road. This force included three humber troops (I don’t have any Daimlers painted), a mortar infantry platoon (I do not have any scout cars painted, so I used universals) and a wasp platoon. Once all the British reserves had entered, they would then get a regiment of artillery as their last reserve.
The Germans would get half their units to deploy on the backside of the board, with a single platoon in Ambuscabe (an old 3rd ed. rule). The remainder of their forces would enter from their board edge as standard reserves, with leg entering first, followed by mobile elements. The main force was a company of SS infantry (three platoons, AT infantry platoon, plus mortars). This was supported by three Pak40 gun nests (could deploy in unlimited ambush), a tiny Stug/Jagdpanzer company (two platoons of two and an HQ), a GW33 section and a 105mm off board artillery battery.
The Germans would win if they could cut the road (hold one of the objectives). If they did not at least contest an objective by turn six, it would be a British victory. As long as they contested or cut the road, the game would go on until turn twelve. If the British cleared the road, they would win. Wow then would calculate lost platoons to determine the level of victory.
The game started with the British setting up their onboard platoons. The Germans then set up their Ambuscabe and remaining forces. The Germans decided to deploy their forward infantry back and forge any shooting (Ambuscabe get a pregame free shooting round).
The game started with the British turn. They were lucking and got their first reserve right away, which was a Sherman troop with more tank riders. They decided to go defensive and await the Germans arrival. The Germans did not have much luck with early reserves, but did move their forward infantry to occupy the buildings nearest the Stuarts and engage in some long range panzerfaust fire, while the rest of their forces moved forward.
Seeing the location the German infantry and the treat to the stuarts, the British player decided to start funneling some Shermans to bolster the forward defense. Unfortunately for them, they triggered two Pak40 nests. This resulted in a multi turn one sided firefight, that resulted in the loss of the Shermans. Another platoon was sent forward from reserves and suffered the same fate. This all took some time, allowing the Germans to move into position along the front and position their own tiny armored reserve for the attack on the British rear.
In the forward town, the Germans started to funnel in more infantry and support weapons towards the isolated Stewarts. The little tanks held their ground for quite some time, shooting up the SS infantry in the process with their trusty 37mm guns. As time went on, the elements of the recce squadron started to show up. The swarm was heavily affected by disproportionate cross check roll failures, that severely slowed their advance. However, a swarm is a swarm, and they were able to slowly get the upper hand against the SS troops and widdle them down, until they were holding on by their finger nails.
The loss of the Shermans to the Paks proved critical. The remaining Shermans could not get he upper hand against the Stugs and command Jagdpanzer and eventually fell on turn eleven. This resulted in the company failing their check and seeding the field to the Germans. We counted up the loses and the Germans had lost three of their units, while the British had lost six. This gave the Germans an unhistorical marginal victory! Fortunately for the airborne, there were plenty more companies of Guards coming up the rear!
- Manteuffel