Turn 006 - 2200 Sep 17, 1944 (played 2011-08-17)

OVERVIEW of Turn 006


Night has fallen over the battlefield.  That means that visibility is reduced to 2 hexes for all units.


The Guards Armored achieved its breakout.  The Welsh Guards ended the day in the suburbs of Eindhoven and the 15*19 regiment was looking for a way across the river at Geldrop.  The Germans continued to punish the Americans in the vicinity of Best.  However, the Americans did finally capture Grave.  Up north, the Germans continued to receive reinforcements and worked to eliminate the outlying British strong points.


XXX Corps (Map D)


The Turn began with leaders of the main body of the Guards Armored division (GA) on the outskirts of the last heavily forested area before Valkenswaard and the Welsh Guards just outside of Valkenswaard itself.  Through a combination of artillery fire, Close Assault and German retreats, the GA cleared the entire area of German units except for one company of German paratroopers who were left to block the highway on the north edge of the forest.  The Irish Guards cleared a path on the left and are now mostly in the clear.  The Grenadier Guards are moving up the highway and the Coldstream Guards went into Travel Mode and followed the Welsh Guards through Valkenswaard.


The Welsh Guards took the lead and eliminated the German independent paratroop HQ that was the only defender in Valkenswaard.  The rest of the German defenders moved to Eindhoven and to block the British 15*19 regiment that was threatening their east flank near Geldrop.  With the German defenders out of the way, the Welsh Guards moved up the highway and stopped just short of the Eindhoven city center.


On the British left (west) flank, the 32nd Infantry Brigade finally managed to get around the German defenders and has them trapped.

GA 32nd Infantry brigade surrounds German SS survivors from the Start Line

Main body of the Guards Armored pushing through to Valkenswaard

Welsh Guards in Eindhoven on the center left and 15*19 regiment blocked by Germans near at Geldrop

Map D - Start Line to Eindhoven at the end of Turn 6

101st Airborne (Map C)


The 506th regiment of the 101st Airborne is in a bad position.  They are getting pounded by the massed German artillery around Best.  Ordinarily you would retreat in the face of such concentrated force.  However, that would expose the 101st's Drop Zones and Suppyhead which would be a total disaster.  So the Americans have to tough it out until either the British GA division arrives, or morning when the next batch of air-landed reinforcements arrives.


The central sector of the 101st's area of responsibility was quiet.  But in the north, German units that had participating in the skirmish near Grave began to move south.  So more units from the 501th regiment were sent north to Veghel to prepare for this potential threat.

Best

Making preparations at Veghel

Map C - Eindhoven to Veghel at the end of Turn 6

82nd Airborne (Map B)


The Americans of the 504th regiment finally captured Grave.  Immediately afterwards, the Germans began disengaging and heading south.  Elsewhere, the process of eliminating the German Flak units continued.

Grave

The Nijmegen and the 82nd's Drop Zone at Groesbeek

Map B - Grave to Nijmegen at the end of Turn 6

1st Airborne / Arnhem (Map A)


The Germans continued to receive reinforcements and hammer away at the British Anti-Tank batteries placed outside the main British defensive line.

West of Arnhem

Arnhem

Map A - Nijmegen to Arnhem at the end of Turn 6

CONCLUSION


The German inflicted heavy damage on the Americans at Best and Grave.  However, they didn't make any progress at all in the Arnhem area.  With the American capture of Grave and the advance of the Guards Armored division into Eindhoven, the Allies came out on top this Turn.


The Victory Point totals at the end of Turn 6 are:


Allies - 179
Germans - 94


We finished this turn so quickly that we played half of Turn 7 also - but more on that in the next post.