The existence of the 1st Allied Airborne Army in the summer/fall of 1944 was due mainly to the efforts of George C. Marshall, then Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Marshall was interested in the possibilities of airborne warfare, and had insisted on the organization of the 1st Allied Airborne Army as a first step in showing just what a major airborne operation could do in the field. The command was unique in that both the ground units - the Allied Airborne Forces - were joined with the transport elements - Troop Carrier Command - in a single command structure. By the early fall of 1944 the following elements were under command:
| BRITISH | AMERICAN | POLISH |
|---|---|---|
| Ist AIRBORNE CORPS | XVIIIth AIRBORNE CORPS | 1st Parachute Brigade |
| 1st Airborne Division | 17th Airborne Division | - |
| 6th Airborne Division | 82nd Airborne Division | - |
| 52nd Air Landing Division | 101st Airborne Division | - |
The politics of MARKET GARDEN become more apparent when you look at a thumb nail sketch of each unit was it existed in September 1944.
I AIRBORNE CORPS (British)
Commanded by Lieutenant General "Boy" Browning, this unit had been activated in 1943, and was the senior formation within the 1st Allied Airborne Army, though it had never seen action. More to the point, most of its officers had been with the unit since it was formed, with the result that actual battlefield experience was badly lacking, as those British officers with airborne experience were in the Mediterranean in 1943 serving with 1st Airborne Division, and did not return home to England till 1944.
- 1st AIRBORNE DIVISION (British)
The senior British Airborne Division, it had earned its reputation in North Africa and Sicily by carrying out a series of Battalion and Brigade operations. Its combat experience as a division was limited to their use as conventional ground division in Italy, landing at Taranto in September of 1943 from an assortment of American and British Cruisers.
They arrived in england to find that their part in OVERLORD was taken by the 6th Airborne Division, and by September the bitter jest in the unit was that they were the "1st Stillborne" Division, as all of their planned operations were cancelled before they were started. They had a new division commander, Major General Roy Urquhart, who was posted to command the 1st in spite of the fact that he no prior experience with airborne troops.
6th AIRBORNE DIVISION (British)
The 6th Airborne Division was the first Allied unit to land in Normandy, with some elements actually landing before midnight on the 5th, so their official date of entry into France was June 5th. Due to a shortage of manpower in the British Army, the 6th Airborne Division remained in combat for the next three months, and did not return to England till late in August. Understrength and in need of a rest, it was not able to take part in MARKET GARDEN.
52nd AIRLANDING DIVISION (British)
This division had a most interesting past. It started life as an Infantry Division, was then converted into a Mountain Division for service in Italy, and then was converted into an Airlanding Division. The idea was that it could be flown by transport aircraft into a captured enemy airfield, so all equipment and vehicles used by the division were subject to loading limitations.
It was not able or trained to land by glider or any other means, so that before it could be used an existing enemy airfield would have to be captured and kept open for the divisions arrival. It is not a front line combat unit, but rather designed to appear as reinforcements once the operation has reached needed objectives.
XVIII AIRBORNE CORPS (American)
Formed from the XVIII Corps, which in turn was formed from the II Armored Corps, this unit was commanded by Major General Matthew Ridgeway, the former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. Ridgeway stripped out most of the existing staff officers as soon as he arrived, replacing them with his old staff of the 82nd Airborne to fill all key positions. In view of the 82nd's operations in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, its staff officers were well versed in the problems faced by an airborne force.
- 17th AIRBORNE DIVISION (American)
The junior American Airborne Division, it had just arrived in England from the States, and while ready for combat, it lacked the experience of its older brothers.
82nd AIRBORNE DIVISION (American)
The dean of American Airborne Divisions, it had started life as the 82nd Infantry Division commanded by Major General Omar Bradley, and was picked due to its excellence for conversion to an Airborne Division by Bradley's Deputy Divisional Commander, Matthew Ridgeway. By September of 1944 it was the largest and most experienced division in the 1st Allied Airborne Army, having made division sized drops in Sicily and Normandy, as well as other operations in North Africa and Italy.
Commanded now by Major General Jim Gavin, it had four parachute regiments instead of three, and could put 15 infantry battalions into the field. Withdrawn from combat in Normandy in July, it had been refitted and rested, and was now ready for action.
101st AIRBORNE DIVISION (American)
Formed from the 82nd, the 101st was its younger brother, and was determined to show the 82nd up in combat. Though the Normandy drop had been its first, it had shown its mettle, and commanded by Major General Maxwell Taylor, had been withdrawn from action in July. Refitted and rested, it too was ready for action.
1st PARACHUTE BRIGADE (Polish)
Raised for a planned air assault on Warsaw that never came off, the Brigade Motto translated to "The Shortest way Home". Ready and eager for action against the Germans, the unit suffered from its small size.
If one were to rate the units of the 1st Allied Airborne Army in September as to their usefulness in combat, it would look like this:
- CORPS
- XVIII Airborne Corps
I Airborne Corps
DIVISIONS
- 82nd Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division
1st Airborne Division
1st Parachute Brigade
17th Airborne Division
52nd Airlanding Division
6th Airborne Division
The political element of this whole episode comes into play in terms of the commands picked to run the show, and the decisions as to which units were to drop were. The 1st Airborne Corps under Browning was chosen to run the show, and put together the final plan.
The closest division to the British lines was to be the 101st, while the 82nd Division would hold the middle ground. The task of being the first Allied unit across the Rhine would fall to the British 1st Airborne Division, supported by the Polish Parachute Brigade.
The lack of expertise in the plan was evident from the start. The Polish Parachute Brigade was to land its parachute elements on the south side of the Rhine on day 3, but their gliders were to bring in the heavy weapons on the north side the day before. Two of the three local crossings of the Rhine were ignored, and the 1st Airborne Division accepted a drop zone no less than nine miles from the bridge that was their goal.
Officially, that Drop Zone was picked due to the fact that the RAF did not want to accept a landing zone within the range of the German Flak guns in Arnhem, both at the bridge and an airfield north of the city. By contrast though, one finds both the 82nd and 101st putting drop zones on areas where flak batteries existed, and ended up silencing those weapons in the opening rounds of the battle. (The sudden sight of several hundred parachutists dropping on a gun crew seems to cause a hasty morale check which most of the gun crews failed.)
American officers who served in MARKET GARDEN felt that the Airborne side of things was poorly handled due to the fact that the 1st Airborne Corps was put in charge of things, even though they lacked the expertise and experience to pull off such an operation. Likewise,. the choice of the 1st Airborne, the smallest of the three divisions, to be the spearhead was seen as another political decision, as the 82nd would have been a far better choice. As it was though, MARKET GARDEN was to be a British operation, with the Americans cast in the role of the supporting cast.
CHANGING HISTORY
What if History had been changed, and MARKET GARDEN had been entrusted to the XVIII Airborne Corps in place of the 1st Airborne Corps? If we refight MARKET GARDEN, we can build into the system the fact that the players know what went wrong with the actual battle, and allow them to draw up a new plan to be tested in combat. We can work then with a "what if" situation that is plausible based on the actual facts, by picking the XVIII Airborne Corps to lead the operation, instead of the I Airborne Corps.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GERMANS?
One of the most interesting elements of the MARKET GARDEN operation was that the Germans quickly figured out what was happening. Their problem was not one of WHAT ARE THE ALLIES TRYING TO DO, but rather HOW DO WE STOP THEM? There is no need for German players to do any preliminary planning, rather they need to show up at the game, be assigned a unit or command, and and attempt to halt the allied advance. Their command structure will be put together on the run, as it was done historically.
In an interesting sidelight on history, the usual Allied Air Support which was the bane of the Germans at this time of the war was lacking to a major extent. Those aircraft which normally served as fighter bombers were instead acting as escort to the Allied Transport Fleet, so the Germans do not have to worry about them to the usual degree some are still there, but not in the usual numbers.
SCALING DOWN
It will not be possible to run the entire MARKET GARDEN Operation at this game on a 1:1 scale. It would be possible to reduce by a factor of one third to bring down to a level that could be more easily handed. In this case Corps would become Divsions, Divisions would become Brigades or Regiments, and Regiments would down scale to Battalions, etc. In game terms, the following organization will exist:
XVIII AIRBORNE DIVISION (US)
82nd AIRBORNE BRIGADE (US)
101st AIRBORNE BRIGADE (US)
1st AIRBORNE BRIGADE (UK)
52nd AIRLANDING BRIGADE (UK)
INDEPENDENT PARACHUTE BATTALION (UK)
XXX DIVISION (UK)
GUARDS ARMORED BRIGADE
43rd INFANTRY BRIGADE
In terms of COMMAND DECISION, the 82nd Airborne Division will become the 82nd Airborne Brigade, with the following organization:
82nd AIRBORNE BRIGADE Veteran, Morale 11
BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS
- 2 Command Stands
2 Jeeps
1 Staff Radio Truck
1 Recon Jeep with MG
1 Recon Jeep with AAMG
307th ENGINEER COMPANY
- 1 Command Stand
3 Engineer Stands
1 Light Truck with Trailer
82nd ARTILLERY BATTALION:
- HEADQUARTERS
- 1 Command Stand
1 FO Stand
2 Jeeps
319th ARTILLERY BATTERY, GLIDER
- 1 Command/FO Stand
1 Jeep
1 75mmL16 Pack Howitzer
1 Gun Crew (ds)
2 Light Trucks
320th ARTILLERY BATTERY, GLIDER
- 1 Command/FO Stand
1 Jeep
1 75mmL16 Pack Howitzer
1 Gun Crew (ds)
2 Light Trucks
376th ARTILLERY BATTERY, PARACHUTE
- 1 Command Stand
2 75mmL16 Pack Howitzer
2 Gun Crew (ds)
4 Porter Stands
456th ARTILLERY BATTERY, PARACHUTE
- 1 Command Stand
2 75mmL16 Pack Howitzer
2 Gun Crew (ds)
4 Porter Stands
82nd ANTIAIRCRAFT BATTERY
- 1 Command Stand
1 Jeep
2 AAMG Stands
2 Light Trucks
82nd ANTITANK BATTERY
- 1 Command Stand
1 Jeep
2 57mm. AT Guns
2 Gun Crews
2 Light Trucks
325th GLIDER INFANTRY BATTALION
- HEADQUARTERS
- 1 Command Stand
1 Jeep
1 LMG Stand
1 Bazooka Stand
1 Gun Crew
1 57mmL52 AT Gun
1 Light Truck
1 Recon Stand
3 GLIDER INFANTRY COMPANIES, each with;
- 1 Command Stand
4 Infantry Stands
1 Weapons Stand
1 GLIDER WEAPONS COMPANY;
- 2 MMG Stands
1 82mm Mortar Stand (ds)
504th PARACHUTE INFANTRY BATTALION
- HEADQUARTERS
- 1 Command Stand
2 LMG Stands
1 Bazooka Stand
1 82= Mortar Stand
1 Recon Stand
3 INFANTRY COMPANIES, each with
- 1 Command stand
3 Infantry Stands
505th PARACHUTE INFANTRY BATTALION HEADQUARTERS
- 1 Command Stand
2 LMG Stands
1 Bazooka Stand
1 82mm Mortar Stand
1 Recon Stand
- 1 Command stand
3 Infantry Stands
- HEADQUARTERS
- 1 Command Stand
2 LMG Stands
1 Bazooka Stand
1 82mm Mortar Stand
1 Recon Stand
- 1 Command stand
3 Infantry Stands
508th PARACHUTE INFANTRY BATTALION
- HEADQUARTERS
- 1 Command Stand
2 LMG Stands
1 Bazooka Stand
1 82mm Mortar Stand
1 Recon Stand
3 INFANTRY COMPANIES, each with
- 1 Command stand
3 Infantry Stands
To run this command, which would be among the larger ones in terms of the game, 8 players would be needed, 3 for Senior Commanders to represent the Brigade Commander and his staff, and 5 Junior Commanders to represent the 5 Battalion Commanders. The Senior Commanders would will hold the following positions:
Commander, 82nd Airborne Brigade
Chief of Staff, 82nd Airborne Brigade
Assistant Brigade Commander, 82nd Airborne
The three officers listed above will be tasked with the responsibility of planning the drop of the 82nd Airborne Brigade. During the game itself, the Brigade commander and one of the two officers will drop with the Brigade, while the remaining staff officer will stationed in England with the rear echelon, and be in charge of resupply, reinforcements, and the like.
Since this is a parachute drop, and there is a rare limited supply of aircraft, the locations of each planned drop, the loads for each serial of aircraft, and the landing of additional supplies and units all must be plotted in advance. And since no plan ever survives contact with the enemy, it will be up to the staff officer left behind to attempt to keep things moving.
WHEN AND IF?
Ideally, the best time to run this game would be in the winter of 1991, say in late February or early March. We would be needing a hotel complex in central Illinois, and plan to run things over a three day period, with participants paying for their room and meals. The schedule would look somewhat like this:
FRIDAY NIGHT: Get acquainted time, last minute meetings, perhaps watch a copy of "A BRIDGE TOO to put us in the proper mood, set up terrain.
SATURDAY MORNING: Allies commanders carry out troop briefing if not done already, German players finish terrain and sorting troops.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Commence play
SATURDAY EVENING: Continue Play
SUNDAY MORNING : Finish up Game
SUNDAY AFTERNOON: Clean up and after action reports.
Now if this appeals to anyone out there, please let us know.
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© Copyright 1990 by Greg Novak.
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