Turn 002 - 1400 Sep 17, 1944 (played 2011-06-29)

OVERVIEW of Turn 002


From the Allied perspective, Turn 2 could hardly have been better.  The Guards Armored Division expanded it's infiltration of the German positions a bit and only suffered 1 loss.  In the 101st Airborne's zone, the Germans blew the bridge at Veghel and the Zon bridge was preserved.  This was the opposite of what occurred in real life.  Further north, elements of the 82nd Airborne Division are about to seize both ends of the Nijmegen bridge.  This is a major accomplishment which did not occur until much later in the actual battle.  North of the Rhine, the British have occupied most of the major road crossings and are working their way into Arnhem.


XXX Corps (Map D)


Turn 2 began with an artillery barrage that was disappointingly ineffective (from an Allied perspective).  The Germans only suffered 2 losses.


The Allies continued to infiltrate the German positions, but much more cautiously because the Germans started shooting at them.

Map D - Overview at the end of Turn 2

15*19iii Regiment stranded and stalled

Guards Armored main effort in the center

Welsh Guards/GA crawling forward as the Germans retreat

101st Airborne (Map C)


Units of the 101st moved to their objectives.  The highway bridge over the Zuid-Willems Canal at Veghel was blown up, but the railway bridge to the west and the secondary road bridge to the east were captured intact.  German reinforcements made their first appearance.

Map C - Overview at the end of Turn 2

Along the Wilhelmina Canal, near Zon, one of the German Flak units was destroyed and paratroopers reached the bridge.  It was not blown, but 9th SS Panzer units are blocking the crossing.

Wilhelmina Canal at Zon

Further down the canal, the 506th Regiment of the 101st is working its way towards the bridges near Best.  The German Flak unit there managed to undisrupt itself, so it is able to delay that advance.

(Note:  Steve made the Bomb Markers to help us keep track of the bridge demolitions.  All eligible bridges start with a Bomb Marker to indicate that the bridge has note been tested yet.  Once an Allied unit is adjacent to a bridge, the German Player rolls for demolition and the Bomb Marker is either removed or replaced with a Destroyed Bridge Marker, depending upon the outcome of the roll.)

Wilhelmina Canal, near Best

And the lead elements of the German 59th Infantry Division arrived on the scene.

59th Infantry on the move

82nd Airborne (Map B)


This was a good turn for the 82nd Airborne.  The 508th regiment eliminated one of the blocking German units, allowing two battalions to enter Nijmegen.  An Anti-Tank (AT) unit in Travel mode actually crossed the highway bridge and now occupies the Fort on the other side of the Waal River.  The 505th Regiment has the responsibility of securing the drop zones.  They set up a perimeter and worked to eliminate the German units occupying the high ground south of Groesbeek.  The 504th Regiment is testing all of the remaining bridges over the Maas-Waal Canal and the Maas River.  The only dark spot for the Allies in this sector is in the Grave area.  The German Flak Units undisrupted themselves before the advancing paratroopers could get to them.  What's worse is that the German Player managed to get on of them in Supply, so they are a real menace.

Map B - Overview at the end of Turn 2

Nijmegen

South end of the Maas-Waal Canal

Grave

1st Airborne Division / Arnhem (Map A)


The Turn opened with the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Para Regiment disrupted and in jeopardy from German 9th SS Panzer Division tank units (KG Harder).  This problem was mostly alleviated when the Allied Player successfully removed the Disruption from the main stack.  The German Player then dispersed most of his units.  During the first Allied Movement Phase, things proceeded normally with the British advancing on Arnhem, except for the AT units.  They had all been placed in Travel mode before the end of Turn 1.  With the retreat of KG Kraft and the advance of KG Harder into Arnhem, all of the roads north of Arnhem were wide open.  Allied AT units occupied several key crossings and were poised to occupy more.  During the German Phases KG Harder pulled back somewhat in response to this threat.  KG Kraft continued its retreat west.  The Allied AT units then blocked all of the highway approaches into Arnhem while the rest of the 1st Airborne Division continued the advance on Arnhem from the west.

Map A - Overview of the Arnhem area at the end of Turn 2

Arnhem

Allied AT units blocking the highways east of Arnhem

KG Kraftt, west of the 1st Airborne drop zones

This concluded play for the day.  We completed all of Turn 2 in about 5 hours, which once again was extremely fast for us.

Interlude (2011-06-28)

Steve sent me some additional pictures, and I had some requests.

We are playing in Steve's basement.  He decided that this new game required a new table.  So this is our new playing area.  I must say that this is the best playing surface and lighting I've ever had.  So thanks to Steve's wife for allowing us to do this and to Steve for the playing environment.

Half of the table - note the lights

The other half - so bright!

The full table in all it's glory

Steve increased the height of table for easier access.  Note the raised border to keep the playing pieces from ending up on the floor.

The tools of war

My son asked for some overviews to make it easier to understand what was going on.  We are going to try to do that.


This battle was fought in the latter half of September 1944, between the liberation of France during the summer and the Battle of the Bulge in December.  It was attempt to end the war early by securing a route through Holland, capturing a bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem and then moving on to the main German industrial centers.  The plan was to drop the British 1st Airborne Division in the Arnhem area to secure the Rhine bridge, the American 82nd Airborne Division SE of Nijmegen to secure the bridges over the Waal and Maas Rivers and the American 101st Airborne Division further south to secure all the canal bridges between the Maas and the Dutch/Belgian border.  The British XXX Corps, spearheaded by the Guards Armored Division, would race up the only major highway, relieve the British paratroopers and drive on into Germany.

The main account of the battle from the American perspective is "A Bridge Too Far" by Cornelius Ryan (1974).  Steve has an additional reference "It Never Snows in September" by Robert Kershaw (1990), which describes the battle from the German perspective.


Additional maps from Turn 1.

Map D - South - Guards Armored crossing the Start Line

Maps C & B - 101st Airborne on the left - Maas River on the right

Map A - North - Nijmegen in bottom left, Arnhem in bottom right

1200 Sep 17, 1944 (played 2011-06-23)

INTRODUCTION

We are playing Highway to the Reich, 2nd ed. (c)SPI 1977.  This is our third attempt at this game in 2011.  First we tried the Landing of the 1st Airborne scenario.  After a few turns, we thought we had the rules down, so we decided to move on to the main event.  Over the course of three months, we managed to play through the end of Turn 12.  At that point, we had discovered and/or realized that we had made so many mistakes that any future results would be meaningless.  SO...  Now that we really do know the rules, we are starting afresh.
- Allied Player, Dave
-German Player, Steve

SETUP

Pre-Game Flak suppression was very successful.  All of the Flak units on Maps D & C were disrupted, as were the two units in the Grave area.  Unfortunately, only half of the Flak units on the Maas-Waal Canal and in Nijmegen were disrupted.  The Flak in the Arnhem area isn't really in play at this time.

South end of Maas-Waal Canal

North end of Maas-Waal Canal

XXX Corps (Map D)

The basic philosophy of the Allied Player (me, Dave) is "What would Patton do?".  Consequently, we are not using the Optional Rule regarding the five hex front limited to the main road.  And I am un-historically kicking off the assault 4 hours early, prior to the completion of the pre-attack barrage.  Since I can't leave travel mode until Turn 3 (1600), this is risky and possibly even stupid.  But you don't win battles by sitting on your ass, so CHARGE!  I have the 15*19ii Battalion? on the west flank,

the 5th Armored Brigade of the Guards Armored division in the center

and the Welsh Guards Battalion? of the Guards Armored division on the east flank.

Note that all units in the three pictures above are in travel mode.  I left the markers off for these photos, so that the units could be identified.

The German Player may not destroy bridges before Phase 13 (2nd Allied Conditional Movement)(according to our interpretation of the rules), so the GA division pushed forward without knowing if the bridges behind them would still be there at the end of the Turn.  As it turned out, the only bridge destroyed on the Meuse-Escaut Canal was the one on the west flank.  Most of the 15*19ii Battalion is cut off, and will remain so until I can get the bridge repaired.  The German Player (Steve) elected to pull back the units defending the canal in this sector after the Allied units crossed the bridge.

West flank at the end of Turn 1

The infiltration of the German entrenched positions by the 5/GA brigade seems to be working.  They only suffered one casualty and are close to cutting off the southern-most German positions held by 2iii Ind.  The un-entrenched German units in the center are retreating in an orderly fashion to the road behind the 2nd line of entrenchments.

Center, north of the Start Line at the end of Turn 1

The Welsh Guards are across the canal in force and Steve elected to retreat some of the German units on the east flank allowing the capture of two entrenchments without combat.

West flank at the end of Turn 1

101st Airborne (Map C)

The 101st landed without casualties or scatter.  The German SS tank units in Eindhoven moved to cover the Wilhelmina Canal crossings.

Area between Best and Zon at the end of Turn 1

82nd Airborne (Map B)

The 82nd landed without casualties or scatter.  Some German units occupied the high ground overlooking the Drop Zones.

South end of 82nd Airborne drop zone at the end of Turn 1

Arnhem (Map A)

This got real ugly, real fast.  The 1st Air Landing Brigade of the 1st Airborne Division landed without scatter, but the 1AL/1 HQ and 1AL/1 Eng company suffered losses during landing.

1AL Drop Zone at the end of Turn 1

The 1st Parachute Brigade landed N and NE of Oosterbeek.  The 3rd Battalion scattered into the nearby Forest and was disrupted.

KG Kraft was sandwiched between the 1st AL and 1st Para Brigades and elected to retreat west.  OKW HQ (Model) was in an even worse predicament in Oosterbeek and exited at a high rate of speed (Travel mode) even further west.  The 9th SS tanks north of Arnhem reacted forcefully to block the entry points into Arnhem and put the disrupted units of the 1st Para at risk.

Arnhem area at the End of Turn 1

This concluded play for the day.  We began the day with about 1 and 1/2 hours of setup, then played all of Turn 1 in approximately 3 and 1/2 hours, which might be the fastest we have ever played.