Editor's note: This article has been reviewed by Nigel Roberts, who did the research for Screaming Eagles in Holland back in 1996. Nigel states that his research was cross referenced from several sources, including books from British, German and American authors and the Imperial War Museum's library in London. However, he notes that this was a difficult piece of research due to the chaotic nature of the battle and was at times confusing to pin down, which units were present, what their designations were and what equipment they had.

When I first heard that a game was going to be developed involving the now famous Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), I was very excited. The game was released on the heels of the mini-series Band of Brothers and looked marvelous.

When the game arrived, upon looking at the counter sheet, I noticed something curious. Easy Company was there, but it was the first company in the second battalion. That is, the 2nd Battalion in the game contained company designations of Easy, Fox, George, and How. In the Tables of Organization & Equipment for Parachute Infantry Regiments at the time, each Parachute Infantry Battalion contained only three "lettered" companies. Therefore, 2nd Battalion should have been Dog, Easy, and Fox Companies. I figured this was an oversight and in no way affected the play of the game.

Some time had passed since the release of the game when I became involved in doing research for another Operation Market-Garden game. I volunteered to tackle the entire Order of Battle for Operation Market-Garden down to the company-level. The first starting point was Kershaw's It Never Snows in September, the same inspiration that the designers of the game used for Screaming Eagles. Included in the back of the book were OB's from the various engagements in the operation. Initial review of the material made it very noticeable that many of the formations listed conflicted with many of the OB's in older Market-Garden games. As my research continued, new resources were released that verified Kershaw's OB. One book in particular that stood out was Operation Market Garden: Then and Now. The information provided in the book listed many units that had otherwise been unidentified. The book was a godsend and became known amongst out wargaming group as "the Bible". It was books like these and numerous other resources that allowed me to complete an Order of Battle for Operation Market-Garden that I feel is very accurate.

If one thing could be said in researching the OB for this operation, it is that it was very difficult. While the Allied OB was fairly easy due to the properly structured and complete formations that participated, the German OB was a whole other issue.

Quite literally, the Germans were throwing everything within arms reach to stem the Allied drive. This produced very odd formations. Divisional formations and Kampfgruppen were formed with all branches of the German military and contained varied equipment and experience amongst the men. While amazing to think how these ad-hoc forces succeeded in stopping the Allied drive, it is a nightmare for a researcher. These ad-hoc units were training units, remnants from larger reduced formations, stragglers, or in one case, a penal unit consisting of degraded officers. Therefore many of these units would not show up in any OB books or neatly broken down into its subcomponents and equipment.

This is where "The Bible" and other new resources provided so much assistance. As individual components - each provided standalone information. Combined, compared, and contrasted, one could extrapolate those odd units and who they were. Where there were contradictions, efforts were taken to ensure that the most logical OB answer was applied.

This article is written to revisit the Order of Battle and Counter Manifest as provided in Screaming Eagles based on the recent research I did. The format I have chosen to do this is to go over each formation in Screaming Eagles and describe any differences based on my research with the game pieces.

At the end of the article is a revised Order of Battle and Counter Manifest based on my research. It does not dramatically change the units as provided in the game, but identifies differences in several unit designations and composition. This effort is in no way lessening the efforts of the designers and researchers of Screaming Eagles, but rather to supplement it with my recent findings in order to provide insight and hopefully a more historically accurate

In the first paragraph, I discussed the labeling of the PIR Rifle Companies. Parachute Infantry Battalions contained three Rifle Companies (Able, Baker, Charlie in the 1st Bn, Dog, Easy, Fox in the 2nd Bn, George, How, Item in the 3rd Bn) and kept their heavier support weapons (4x 81mm Mortars and 8x.30cal M1 919A4 MG's) in a mortar and MG platoon in the Headquarters Company. Infantry Battalions from Infantry Divisions, on the other hand, had a Weapons Company that contained their heavy weapons. The Infantry Battalions had 4 "lettered" companies (Able - Dog, Easy - How, Item - Mike in each battalion respectively). The MG's from the HQ Company are not represented in the game and can be assumed to have their strengths distributed amongst the Rifle Platoons.

The battalions in the Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR) were very similar to Infantry Battalions, both contained four line companies per battalion (including the Weapons Company) and almost the same equipment as well. The only point of confusion lies in the number of platoons per GIR Rifle Company. In the official TO&E prior to Market- Garden, GIR's had two Rifle Platoons per Rifle Company. However, the TO&E issued in December 1944 bumped this number up to three rifle platoons. It is very likely that Glider Infantry Battalions implemented the three rifle platoon structure prior to the release of the December TO&E. Parachute Infantry Regiments likewise had the tendency of creating unofficial unit changes that were reflected later in official tables. These changes included creating a third rifle squad per platoon and assigning a Browning Automatic Rifle to each squad.

German Forces

The British forces in Screaming Eagles appear to be correct, so now we examine the German forces. As mentioned earlier, the ad-hoc nature of the German forces in Operation Market-Garden made the researching the unit designations difficult. The exception to the ad-hoc and depleted German forces was the 107th Panzer Brigade. It was at near-full strength when it was diverted enroute to Aachen and instead to the Eindhoven area.

This unit appears in Screaming Eagles as:

723 Panzer Grenadier Battalion:
6x Inf PI, 6x MG, 3x Pioneer PI, 2x Mortar (81mm), 4x IG (75mm), 4x Mortar (1 20mm), 6x AT (75mm), 20x Halftrack

107 Panzer Battalion:

24x Panther, 9x Pz IV

My research indicates that this brigade had much more bite. The 107th Panzer Brigade was of the late-1944 type of Panzer Brigade. It consisted on a panzer battalion (2107th Panzer Battalion, not 107th), a five-company strong panzergrenadier battalion (2107th Panzergrenadier Battalion, not 723rd), a panzer pioneer company (2107th Panzerpioneer Company), and support troops.

The Panzer Battalion consisted of three panzer companies each of 11 x Panthers and one panzerjaeger company of 11 x Jagdpanzer IV's, not Panzerkampfwagen IV's, and 3x Panthers in the HQ section. By the time the 107th Panzer Brigade attacked Hell's Highway on September 22; it was short five Panthers and two Jagdpanzer IV's to losses or repair. Hence the total number of Panthers involved in this action would have numbered 31. In addition to the tanks, there was also a Flak platoon of 4x Ostwinds carrying dual 37mm Flak Cannons.

By late-1944, panzer formations easily fell prey to Allied Jabos (air tank-busters). To prevent this, Panzer Brigades were given a very large amount of anti-aircraft weapons in their panzergrenadier (PG) battalions. Of the 140.halftracks in the panzergrenadier battalion, 42 were of the SdKfz 251/21 variety, halftracks sporting triple 15mm AA cannons. The five companies of the battalion were composed thusly: two PG Companies consisted of two PG platoons, one Flak platoon of six SdKfz 251/21, one IG platoon of two SdKfz 251/9 (halftracks mounting a 75mm IG), and one mortar platoon of two SdKfz 251/2 (halftracks mounting an 81mm mortar). Another PG Company had two PG platoons, and in place of mortars and IG, had two Flak platoons for a total of twelve SdKfz 251/21. The fourth company was a Flak company of three platoons each with six SdKfz 251/21. The fifth company was the heavy weapons company with an IG platoon of six SdKfz 251/9 and two heavy mortar platoons each of four 120mm mortars.

The pioneer company was also equipped with flamethrowers which I figured would be halftrack mounted (SdKfz 251/16). There is no mention of flamethrowers being used but this does not mean that they did not make an appearance in the battle. This certainly makes the Panzer Brigade frightening in terms of strength and firepower. The unit, however, was green like all of the other Panzer Brigades formed in the Summer/Fall of 1944 and performed with some hesitation.

Kampfgruppe "Frundsberg" (which should be Kampfgruppe Heinke, KG Frundsburg was reserved for the main 10th SS force up north in Arnhem and Nijmegen) were the only SS to have fought in the southern end of the operation. Kampfgruppe Heinke consisted of two weakened battalions (KG Richter and KG Segler), a depleted panzerjaeger battalion (KG Roestel), an artillery battalion, a recce company, and a pioneer company. It was a relatively small force due to its losses in Normandy and retreat across France. As its fellow 11 SS Panzer Corps were recouping north of Arnhem slated to fight the British, KG Heinke found itself occupying the frontline and tasted some of the initial breakthrough of 30 Corps on September 17. For the counter-attack on September 22, it was beefed up with an infantry and a fallshirmjaeger battalion.

Kampfgruppe Richter was II Bn, 21st Panzergrenadier Regiment. It consisted only of 200-300 men without its organic transport. Likewise, Kampfgruppe Segler was the 11 Bn, 19th Panzergrenadier Regiment and was similarly depleted. In It Never Snows in September, Kershaw states that only a company of KG Segler made its appearance in the attack on September 22, I can only assume that this was the entire battalion reduced to company strength after 5 days of combat.

One can only speculate as to which unit the three Sturmgeschutz III's belonged to. The only armored vehicles that Kampfgruppe Heinke had were the Jagdpanzer IV's with KG Roestel and there was no SS Sturmgeschutz Battalion. In Operation Market Garden: Then and Now, there is a photo of a knocked out StuGlIl near Valkenswaard that was knocked out prior to September 17 and belonged to the 559th Panzerjaeger Battalion.

While the 559th makes an appearance on the order of four Jagdpanthers, the other two companies were composed of StuGIII's. The 559th was decimated prior to the start of Market-Garden so it is plausible that three surviving or repaired StuGIII's were pressed into the service of the SS.

The I Battalion, 16th Grenadier Regiment is described as a replacement battalion from the 180th Infantry Division. I have not been able to track this unit down. While the 180th Division was in the vicinity, the 16th Grenadier Regiment was not one of its inherent regiments but rather the 22nd Infantry Division which was at the time in the Aegean in anti-partisan operations. It is plausible that the 16th Grenadier Regiment was newly reconstructed or a new unit was formed using an old regiment number.

In It Never Snows in September, Kershaw states that the I Battalion, 21st Fallshirmjaeger Regiment participated in the attack on September 22. Later he makes reference to this unit as "Battalion Kerutt". Major Helmutt Kerutt's Battalion belonged to Fallshirmjaeger Regiment von Hoffman which had the official designation as Fallshirmjaeger Regiment 18.

Therefore these two references cannot be the same unit. Enroute to the battle on September 19, the 107th Panzer Brigade was reinforced by Hauptmann (Captain) Vosshage's I Battalion, 21st Fallshirmjaeger Regiment. This battalion acted more as a part of the 107th than as a separate unit. Battalion Kerutt took the brunt of the 30 Corps breakthrough on September 17 and was virtually wiped-out after that day. I doubt that it had any semblance of order or even the ability to join the counter-attack on the 22nd.

Kampfgruppe Huber was built around the 1035th Grenadier Regiment from the 59th Infantry Division. For the counterattack on September 22, it was given several 75mm AT Guns from the 159th Panzerjaeger Battalion and a reduced company of JagdPanthers from the 559th Panzerjaeger Battalion. This division had some semblance of order when it arrived on the battlefield on September 18 but the battles around Best had reduced it by a great deal.

Kampfgruppe von der Heydte (6th Fallshirmjaeger Regiment) consisted of three seriously reduced battalions of 150-200 men each. A fourth weapons battalion contained a medium mortar company, an AT company (which Kershaw labels as 125mm but must have been misidentified), and an AA company containing deadly quad 20mm's. In addition to this it had a recce and pioneer companies. During the initial breakthrough by 30 Corps, von der Heydte's men fell back in good order and was under the control of Kampfgruppe Chill (85th Infantry Division). It joined Kampfgruppe Huber on the 22nd in the attack on Veghel. It lent one of its battalions to the 245th Infantry Division and in return took control of a battalion from the 2nd Fallshirmjaeger Regiment. While still technically under KG Chill, KG von der Heydte drew supply from the 59th Infantry Division.

The equipment used by each German unit was a huge bone of contention. Given that many of these units were depleted in Normandy and their retreat across France, or newly formed and had not received an official allotment of heavy equipment, it is difficult to say for certain which units had what.

Many sources state units as not having "heavy weapons", which I ascribe to items such as heavy mortars (120mm), infantry guns, or any other equipment that needed animal or vehicle transport to carry. I would also contend that items such as medium mortars (81mm) and heavy machine guns (MG34/42 with tripods) would in some instances be rare in some units. Here, one has to give the Germans the benefit of the doubt. As such, I have left the MG sections and medium mortars where they are and removed the infantry guns from the Fallshirmjaeger units.

The Fallshirmjaeger units represented in the game were the more seriously deficient units as compared to the other German branches involved. For instance, the I Bn, 21st FJ Regt was a newly formed unit and from personal accounts of similarly newlyformed units, did not receive all or any of their support weapons. Likewise, KG von der Heyclte was a seriously depleted force that lumped its heavy weapons into a heavy weapons battalion. By all accounts I've read, this unit did not have any infantry guns. Instead, there are references to infantry guns in the 59th Infantry Division, so the eight infantry guns removed from the Fallshirmjaeger units can easily be used by KG Huber in the game.

Overall, there are not a significant amount of changes to the number of units in the Counter Manifest, the exception being the 107th Panzer Brigade, which gets a serious facelift and a sprinkling of new units in KG Heinke and von der Heydte. Whether the inclusion of these changes pushes the balance of the game in favor of the German side I cannot say for certain, but I am welcome to any comments from those who try the new OB in the game.

My research into Operation Market-Garden has put a lot of things from the battle in perspective. Rather than simply stating that the Germans stopped the Allies at Arnhem, one has to examine the forces involved, who they were, where they originated and how they ended up. For the Germans, it is a fascinating study into showing their flexibility in command and their tenacity even given a dearth of forces. I hope that this article provides much insight into the units that fought in the action around Veghel on September 22-23, 1944.

One last note, the revised Order of Battle and Counter Manifest below, I have used the German nomenclature for German units. Abteilung is a battalion-sized force reserved for non-infantry battalion-sized units (such as panzer, AT, or Flak battalions), Zug stands for "Platoon" and Kompanie (abbreviated Kp) is German for "Company". Italicized items in the revised counter manifest reflect changes to the counter manifest provided in the game.

Orders of Battle: Operation Market Garden Allies and Germans