This was a very ambitious project, using the Rapid Fire rules and its supplement 'Operation Market Garden'. All the wargames figures, vehicles etc. were in 20mm. The game was played at the MOAB conference in Sydney, Australia, September 2001.
Day One
All players had arrived by 0900hrs. Play commenced (once unpacking, setting up and chatting had completed) at around 1030. Turns 1-3 went pretty quick. SS Trg. Btn Kraft had set up covering most of the southern route to the bridge, just east of Oosterbeek. Turns progressed until about no.7 when 2 PARA got brassed up with MMG and mortar fire. They stopped and went to cover. Krafts mob had succeed in doing their job. But why stop there?
They took the houses and proceeded to engage the rest of 2 PARA as it to took to the houses. Firefights ensued. 2 PARA built up its forces, with Glider Pilots, an AT troop and with some Arty spt managed to mount a very successful assault on Krafts mob. Turn 10 arrived, night fell and Krafts mob were in a tenuous position. They next day saw a renewed assault and buy turn 15 Kraft and his last couple of figures had withdrawn.
North of the battle field saw a different scenario. The rest of 1st Para Bde had followed a northern route into the town. The Airborne Snake wound its way under the railway embankment, and through the country side until it reached the outskirts of Arnhem itself. Then it stopped. SS Spindler had deployed din the suburbs and was able to stop the long line of paras marching up the road. The paras took to the houses and the nasty business of street fighting followed.
Much of the built up area to the NW of the city was held by 1 and 3 PARA and, with a couple of 6 pdrs and support of some 75mm guns from the 1st Airlanding Light Regiment they have managed to hold off some significant German assaults.
They have, however, not reached the bridge...
The only units that did reach the bridge were the Recce Btn of 9SS PzDiv. Grabner and his men sailed over the massive Arnhem bridge without so much as a rifle shot or bugle call to annoy them. their presence in the game could make quite a difference.
We knocked off at the end of Turn 15 at around 1700hrs yesterday. Today we're back into it.
Day Two
After a decent nights sleep (unlike the few brief hours the previous night after the last figures were painted...) all combatants were back in action by about 1000hrs today.
Play opened at turn 16. Opening shots saw a number of Paras killed on the northern part of the front and two companies of Germans come on to bolster the defence. 9SS Recce sailed over the bridge and into the town and headed south to block the line that was left open by the destruction SS Trg Btn Kraft. They were not quick enough however and the remains of 2 PARA, Glider Pilots and a couple of 6pdrs made there way into the perimeter of the city of Arnhem. Some judicious placement of smoke and some very good AT firing offset some rather ineffectual mortar fire by the Paras.
A brief firefight followed the paras approach to the Museum building and some casualties were inflicted but the four man German garrison was soon overwhelmed and the Paras took the building. Some additional firepower for the Paras was available in the form of a captured Pak 40 and a 20mm flak both captured earlier in the action. They both did Stirling service despite being limited to three turns of fire owing to dwindling ammo, their crew have since rejoined the infantry ranks.
The Para engineers performed well, destroying a 20mm armed halftrack and a building with flame-thrower fire. Nasty stuff. That man is now a target. A foray into the jaws of death by the Recce squadron however wasn't so successful. A dragoon like drive up and dismount for ground action crumbled when the troops had to clamber over a fence. Fire from German troops ensconced in a row of houses and 20mm fire from two armoured cars made tragically short work of this rather brave if foolhardy assault. If successful it could've been decisive. It wasn't.
9SS Recce moved up and charged through a smoke screen in an attempt to outflank the Paras assaulting the museum. The did not account for the presence of two 6pdrs. One was left flaming and the rest withdrew. A very lucky long range shot managed to dispatch another armoured car leaving Grabner with a little bit of thinking to do. Troops dismounted, occupied building surrounding the Museum and now we wait for the next duel between building. So far few have been bold enough to actually assault building. There's been too much fire and the buildings are just too far apart to make that dash across the road a safe one. The northern part of the action has proved this with one largish British assault on a building cut to ribbons before it knocked on the door.
The northern front has seen British fortune's wane and a withdrawal to safer ground appear to be in the offing. At the same time the southern front is hotting up. As we tap away 4th Parachute Brigade is marching to the sound of gunfire and German units appear in dribs and drabs to stop these airborne men.
Play finished this arvo at around 1700hrs. We reached turn 26 (I think). We'll have to get a wriggle on tomorrow if we expect to finish this action. We have yet to get into the third game day. When night falls units can change position up to 3 feet from where they were. That will make things interesting.
Day Three
All (well not all actually, just myself and the British CO, my good friend Dean) rocked up bright eyed but not so bushy tailed on Monday morning for the final day of action on the road to Arnhem Bridge. Play commenced at around 0930 with Turn 25 yet to be fought out (not 26 as I had thought in my last episode). Dean and I positioned our troops and started slugging it out once again. The main action for the early part of the day continued to be around the north-west cnr of the city of Arnhem. The 1st Para Bde was nearly shot to pieces but it had probably taken almost a brigade or equivalent of German forces with it. The northern battle was very much a drawn out battle of firepower with neither side really having enough to tip the balance. Both sides attempted to break in to each others building but were usually hamstrung by having building just over 6" away making the assault very much a charge through fire over open ground. One whole move had to be spent in the open and this generally proved fatal for the figures involved. After a few companies were lost on either side our opposing units seemed to be content with rolling dice and waiting until the enemy was well depleted (i.e. one or two figs left in a building) before even thinking about an assault. This was the general state of affairs in the northern battle until about Turn 27.
Along the river elements of 4 Para Bde were wending their way to the fore, marching in the general direction of Germany. They would have to stop on the journey at the Museum. This had been cleared at the end of play the day before but had yet to be captured. It took some time for the British to actually enter the museum owing to such obstacles the steel fencing around the place and some desultory fire from some distant German units. The Museum was finally taken and the Paras with a couple of coys of Gliders troops and some of what turned out to be very potent 6pdrs, settled in for the fight. The Museum would prove to be vital ground.
The ridge upon which the Museum and the St Elizabeth Hospital were sighted was now in the possession of British forces. The moved up a 6pdr and a mortar crew and another company of Paras. From here continuous fire issued forth, keeping heads down, preventing assaults and knocking out a couple of AFVs including a heavy armoured car and a couple of half tracks deployed as mobile MG posts. German forces had a distinct lack of indirect weapons and were at a distinct disadvantage against the British at this stage. They weren't beaten by any means but they were held up. Little progress could be made against this force and it would depend upon a gradual build up of German forces and then deploying there hopefully overwhelming firepower to break this short yet powerful "Thin Maroon Line".
Turn 26 saw the British players (we'd had a few more blokes show up) hearts skip a collective beat when German reinforcements appeared in the form of Heavy Tank Detachments. A Tiger and a King Tiger were now on the table. As play progressed however it was clear that these beasts, as the Germans at the real battle were to find out, weren't as effective as first thought. Yes, they had a big gun, but really couldn't deploy it properly. The close nature of urban terrain and the long distances to cover up and down, and around the Arnhem streets meant that they were somewhat ineffectual.
Interesting to say the least (During the action I pondered why had bothered to paint them, for all of the good that they were doing...).
Much of the rest of Turns 26 and 27 were spent moving up more troops with both sides at the front just slinging dice at each other from afar when the opportunity presented itself. And then night fell...
The 3' night movement rule is an interesting one and it helped us all to get our troops up and into position for the next game days action. The rest of 4 Para Bde was well into position along the southern flank with more forces heading up to the Museum while such German units as Kampfgruppe Knaust and Personnel on Leave were able to get into the buildings surrounding the Museum, joining the troops of the 9SS Recce Btn. These units then sat, waited and shot at anything that moved until some more decisive action could take place. An important addition to the German forces was the reappearance of the mortar plt from SS Kraft, the remnants of which had reorganised over night.
Finally some indirect fire was available to interdict the British in their forming up areas. It wasn't much but it made a difference.
Turn 28 began with the Tigers and other AFVs moving up to blast the British from their buildings. Their commanders however appeared to be a little gun-shy especially after some spectacular shooting by the crew of a captured PAK40 which destroyed a PzIV with its final round of captured ammo. This vehicle had fallen to the same AT screen that had destroyed two recce vehicles during a previous turn. Some high ground in the centre of the line between the northern and southern battles was also proving to be a good position for another 6pdr which managed to knock out a couple more armoured cars. The 20mm and mg of the A/Cs had proved particularly effective against the Paras so when these vehicles went up in clouds of black cotton wool much miniature smiling was in evidence. German long range MMG fire proved to be effective at knocking off crew members from this gun but a constant supply of perhaps not so willing but nonetheless able Paras kept the gun manned.
Turn 28 also saw the arrival of 1st Airlanding Bde at the western edge of the table. My good friend Dean was most relieved. Many late nights painting these glider borne lads would've been wasted and much gnashing of teeth and beating of breast would've ensued had the game finished before their appearance. To make the whole adventure a little more interesting their movement rate was increased to allow them to join battle a little sooner. There were no German units near them to slow them up so this was quite reasonable.
Morris C8s with 17pdrs raced up the road and another battery of 75mm pack howitzers joined the 1st Airlanding Light Regiment, spelling more trouble for the Germans in Arnhem. The previous days negative finish for the British seemed to be turning.
The subsequent turns saw more too-ing and fro-ing. The southern flank saw the most action with the paras succeeding in breaking into a German held building. They only got there however after losing a company and a half to mortar fire and reserve fire from the Germans in the building who were able to engage again before being all but wiped out in the subsequent turn. The Paras were now only three buildings away from the Bridge. These buildings however were held strongly by the Germans as were surrounding buildings from which mutually supporting fire could be provided. The Paras in the Museum had been killed but the building remained untaken owing to weak German units and heavy British supporting fire. Same old story of long distances over open ground to reach ones target. 4th Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers had moved out of cover to assault down from the Museum but were more than decimated. Stalemate? Don't know, but no-one was going anywhere in a hurry.
Turn 31 saw the introduction of off board fire from 64th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery. This proved effective when the signal could get though. Bad die rolling saw to it that only one salvos of 5.5" fire crashed down on the German positions. Turn 31 also saw the introduction of Divisionen von Tettau.
Due to rather unfortunate planning on the part of the British artillery commander von Tettau came on basically amongst the gunline. They really should've brought up those guns. As 64th Med Regt came into the picture 1st Airlanding Light Regt left it. Turn 31 was indeed a most interesting turn.
By this stage of the game things were looking grim for all sides. More Germans were flooding onto the table but the British were getting very close to the Bridge.
The British were all but ejected from the north-west part of Arnhem but the Germans were too weak to pursue them cross country. Rather they dug in amongst the buildings on the towns edge and poured fire into the withdrawing but not beaten remnants of 1st Para Bde. As they continued this fire they saw 1st Airlanding Bde move up. An 88 was moved into position to engage some rather annoying British positions and the King Tiger lumbered forward in support. It continued on, shrugging off 6pdr shot after 6pdr shot only to find itself in the open facing a 17pdr. What a mistake to make.
The 17pdr got its shot of first. CLANG !!!! it ricocheted off in the direction of the Fatherland. The King Tiger replied with a dirty great lump of 88mm HE. BANG!!!. The 17pdr crew shook itself, knocked the dirt out of their ears and survived. Opposing players congratulated themselves on the quality (or lack thereof) of their dice throwing. This exchange of fire proved to be the last of the game. It was 1500hrs on Monday and we had to call it quits. There was a lot of packing up to do.
And so Market Garden in the Grand Manner was over. Neither side was able to claim victory but general consensus was that the Brits probably would've got to the bridge but had a good chance of being ejected by turn 58. We only got up to turn 32, little more than halfway. Despite this it was a fun if tiring way to spend three days and for all parties an interesting exercise in which to be involved. This is Stanley Maxted, signing off.
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© Copyright 2001 by Rolfe Hedges
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