One Hour Drop Too Far, Arnhem 17th September 1944

 As it was September I wanted to run an Arnhem scenario. I'd done quite a few during lockdown using NATO Brigade Commander, but this particular one I'd only run at the Sheffield club some years ago using John As 'Battlegroup' rules so I thought it was suitable for the One Hour WW2 treatment. The original scenario is from the Command Decision Scenario book 'Market Garden' and its full title is 'A Drop Too Far, or a drop too far from the bridge?'. It covers 1st Airborne Brigade on the afternoon of 17th September 1944.

Battlefield from the south, you can see it is heavily wooded. I've cycled along the airborne route to Arnhem and it gives you a good feel for the terrain.   Oosterbeek is in the bottom right, Wolfheze station top left on the railway line and the Hartenstein Hotel is right in the middle just south of the railway next to a T junction. The grey road at the bottom is the main road to Utrecht (Utrechtsweg) and the one at the top right is the main road ot Amsterdam (Amsterdamweg). Deelen Airfield is off to the northeast and Arnhem itself is off to the east. There are five objective locations, Wolfheze, the road exit down the Amsterdamweg, two hexes in Oosterbeek and the Hartenstein. The British need to capture four to win.

Sadly for the British Kraffts 16th SS Training Battalion is in the way. I've used the scenario setup, but irl one of these companies was further south. 4 Ko is at Hartenstein accompained by an SP Flak platoon, 9 Ko is at Vallenburg on the west side of Osterbeek with the mighty battalion AT platoon (Pak 36!) and the battalion mortar platoon provides indirect fire support. I'm using company sized elements for this. 

There is a destroyed German artillery park burning northeast of the Hartenstein.  John B and Russell are commanding the Germans, with Tim joining. on Tuesday. This game attracted an insane number of players for a remote game, but I wanted to keep the Germans as a tight team with just a couple of commanders.

Up at Wolfheze, 2nd Ko is dug in accompanied by the engineer platoon. Historically these are the guys who ambushed Goughs 1st recce squadron. I'm going to deploy all the German starting forces as hidden, as the 1st Airborne Brigade didn't have a clue they were there although the South Staffs had already skirmished with them.

West of Wolfheze Station is a burning Flak train, destroyed by the RAF. There also various Dutch civilians lurking in the woods, including some escaped patients from the nearby psychiatric asylum.

Up on the Amsterdamweg, 9th SS recce battalion already has armoured car patrols motoring up and down the highway. The 9th SS response was so fast that these guys were deployed before 1st Airborne Brigade had even moved off its DZ. They spent some time motoring up and down here unable to find any British paras, and then motored off to Nijmegen to try and find anyone down there, crossing the Arnhem bridge before 2nd Bn got there. Thanks to the crazy assignment of priorities in the 82nd Airborne sector (just one company assigned to take Nijmegen Bridge), they didn't find any US paras in Nijmegen either.

The South Staffs noticed the German armour on the main road and actually sent a fairly decent sighting report of '20 tanks and halftracks' on the main road, but it never made it to 1st Para Brigade.

On the way are the immediate reinforcements, KG Weber, a bunch of Luftwaffe signallers handed rifles and sent south and KG von Allworden, the 9th SS Panzerjaeger battalion. KG Weber aren't very good and I'm treating them as raw light infantry (so 1D6 at long range) as they haven't got any heavy weapons. KG von Allworden are a different matter, these are veteran SS troops with a company or so of dismounted panzerjager crews operating as infantry and the only actually functional fully tracked AFVs possessed by 9th SS, a pair of Jagdpanzer IVs. 9th SS may have also had a pair of Panthers, accounts vary. The Jagdpanzers should be L48s but I only have L70s, and I'm assuming some SP Flak is with them too as some SPAA guns were in action very quickly. The British reported these as Stugs or 'SP guns'.

irl these guys were in a blocking position on the Amsterdamweg north of Oosterbeek long before the Paras even got marching, but for game balance reasons, they rock up on turn 6.

The Germans threw more and more troops from 9th SS into this blocking detachment overnight, as they mobilised including at least a dozen SP Flak guns and two battalions of artillery crews fighting as infantry, eventually becoming KG Spindler under the 9th SS Artillery Regiment CO.

The top left of the battlefield is part of the 1st Airlanding Brigade LZ, so there are a few gliders scattered around. 1st Airlanding dropped closer to Arnhem where the terrain was better for gliders, but had the job of securing the LZs. There are a couple of platoons from the South Staffs in the woods staking out a perimeter and a small group of Germans on bicycles checking out the gliders. Well, they did say there would just be old men and bicycles at Arnhem. 

And here is 1st Airborne Brigade. 1st and 3rd Battalions anyway. 2nd  Battalion is down on the river road. All the Para units are rated as Veterans. John A is overall commander. I had loads and loads of players so I gave most of them to the British to reflect the breakdown of communications and the very hesitant British advance.

First up we have Freddie Goughs 1st Airborne Recce Squadron. Despite what Cornelius Ryan said, most of the jeeps survived the landing and they formed up to lead the coup de main via Wolfheze and then into Arnhem. John will run Gough along with the brigade.

Behind them coming up the road to Wolfheze we have 1st Para Bn with three rifle companies, one of which is accompanied by engineers and the other by the battalion MG/Mortar platoon. Jerry and Michael are running these, with Michael being replaced by Jim on Wednesday and Ian joining in too.

Behind them we have 3rd Battalion, run by Pete and Simon. One company is accompanied by towed 6pdrs and the other by the MG/Mortar platoon. They enter in the northwest corner over the LZ.

In support we have two batteries of pack 75mm guns from 1st Royal Airlanding Artillery Regiment and a couple of jeeps towing supplies. The guns have three fire missions each. There are also figures for Brigadier Lathbury and General Urquhart, who may roll up at some point. The British have comms problems so messages only get through on a 3+.

And of course we have fleets of aircraft. The Dakotas are just for fun but I'm allowing the British to have RAF interdiction strikes on the German logistics even though the main wave of raids is over. They will get a good chance of one strike per turn, either of B-25s or Mosquitos.

So, to battle....

Goughs Jeeps rolled up the road to Wolfheze passing cheering crowds of Dutch civilians. They were flagged down by some South Staffs who vaguely indicated that there were 'some Germans down the road', but they pressed on to Wolfheze Station. 1st Para marched in column behind them.

3rd Para marched on across the LZ, past odd figures in robes in the woods. The Germans on bicycles inspecting the gliders ran away, but the paras ran onto some more South Staffs who reported 'at least 20 German tanks and armoured cars on the main road'. Nothing was in sight however.

All hell then broke loose as 2/16th SS spring their trap. Mortar bombs, MG fire and even flamethrowers tore into Goughs jeeps. Even worse, 4/16th SS with their SP Flak opened up on them from the Hartenstein. Gough took enough damage to become disorganised.

The British response was swift and brutal. Gough withdrew into the woods south of the railway to reorganise, while the leading companies of 1st Para shook out into combat formation. 2/16th SS was plastered with 75mm artillery fire and suppressed. The German return fire suppressed B/1 Para but was otherwise fairly ineffective. 3rd Para meanwhile marched across the heathland towards the Amsterdamweg, undeterred by tales of German armour.

The combat debut of my Mosquito! It rolled up and strafed the German logistics units, carefully avoiding the ambulance. 

Every single available British unit opened up on 2/16th SS, including most of 3rd Para. This was enough to disorganise them and the Germans wisely fell back down the track to some woods. Krafft called up his 9th company to support 4/16 SS at Hartenstein but otherwise there was something of a lull in the German fire as the Germans resupplied their mortars. Some German armoured cars appeared on the Amsterdamweg and motored off into the distance. They didn't seem overly bothered by the Paras milling around the gliders.

With Wolfheze clear, Gough was able to get his reorganised Jeeps under the railway embankment and north of the railway. 3rd Para resumed their march eastwards and made it onto the Amsterdamweg, just as KG Weber appeared and blocked the highway. 1st Para redeployed to attack the Hartenstein but took heavy fire from Kraffts 4th and 9th companies. In turn the British artillery shelled the hotel and grounds. 2/16th SS was well out of harms way and reorganised.

Next turn saw a general British advance. 3rd Para deployed to attack KG Weber. Gough pushed his Jeeps up to recce 2/16th SS. 1st Para lined up to attack Hartenstein and the combination of small arms and artillery fire was enough to disorganise 4/16th SS. It turned out I'd made a mistake in the briefings and got 1st and 3rd Para mixed up in terms of unit objectives, but a conference between Gough, Fitch and Dobie sorted it out and everyone set off in the correct directions. 

The reorganised 2/16th SS shot up Goughs jeeps again, but to far less effect this time. 4/16th SS fell back down the road to Oosterbeek covered by 9/16th SS.

In the north 3rd Para laid down a hail of fire on KG Weber, enough to disorganise it, followed up by a charge by A/3 Para which was enough to rout the hastily armed Luftwaffe signallers.

2/16th SS had also taken a battering and fell back disorganised towards Hejendal. In the nick of time however, KG von Allworden (9th SS Panzerjaeger battalion) turned up and blocked the main road.

Meanwhile 1st Para took the Hartenstein as 4/16th SS reorganised. A/1 Para was badly shot up as it tried to attack 9/16th SS over open ground and became disorganised. At the end of turn 6, the British are are actually making decent progress towards their objectives and have captured two of the four required.

We broke for the evening there and would resume operations the following day.

A bit of a personnel change on Wednesday, Micheal had to leave us but we were joined by Tim, Ian and Jim. Pete was also having persistent wifi problems so I had a bit of a rejig of the British. Simon, Ian and Pete ran 3rd Para while Jerry and Jim took 1st Para. John B stepped back to overall command of the Germans so Tim took over 4/16 SS and 9/16 SS while Russell had 2/16 SS and KG von Allworden.

2/16th was first victim, already disorganised and left in the open west of Hejendal, concentrated fire  from 1st Recce Squadron, 3rd Para and 1st Airborne artillery sent them back to reorganise further east and they vanished from the table.

4/16 SS and 9/16 SS continued their fighting withdrawal into Oosterbeek covered by the 120mm mortars. The dense terrain frustrated the British efforts to concentrate fire on them, and the British kept taking losses and having to stop to reorganise. They kept up a steady pressure on the SS however who could never quite muster the firepower to actually eliminate a unit.

There was an exciting interlude when General Kussin, commander of the Arnhem garrison, motored down the road right into the Paras and was duly machinegunned in his car. Various gruesome pictures of him hanging out of the door are in Ryans' Bridge Too Far'.

In the north the whole of 3rd Para was deployed now as well as 1s Recce. KG von Allworder didn't fancy the odds and fell back to the woods south of Hejendal carrying a couple of hits.

Back in Oosterbeek 9/16 SS fell back in disorder but 4/16 SS shot up C/1st Para quite badly and they became disorganised. B/3rd Para infiltrated down the railway line to the underpass.

To everyones amazement, massed fire from 3rd Para and 1st Recce (plus the divisional artillery) convinced KG von Allworden to head for home, leaving their Jagdpanzers behind. The British did roll four 5s and 6s on their combat dice, so they were somewhat fortunate. The German northern flank had completely collapsed and B/3 Para advanced into the vacuum. Brigadier Lathbury had meanwhile turned up at 3rd Para HQ asking what was going on.

Meanwhile back in Oosterbeek 16th SS were hanging on by the skin of their teeth. The British reorganised C/1st Para covered by A/1st Para but B/1st Para was very badly shot up by 4/16th SS. It was reduced to a single hit and became (very) disorganised. 

3rd Para and 1st Recce took Hejendal and set off to capture Oosterbeek Station, which would open a road route into Arnhem (the Amsterdamweg being thoroughly blocked by offtable German units by now). The marching columns looked rather grand! Lathbury had been joined by General Urquarrt himself, equally bemused by the situation. Later both senior officers would become cut off in the western outskirts of Arnhem, leaving 1st Para Brigade and 1st Airborne Division leaderless. Lathbury was seriously wounded escaping the encirclement.

16th SS were doing a good job holding off 1st Para, but the British superiority of numbers and (at this stage of the battle) logistics was beginning to tell. 1st Airborne arty stonked 4/16th SS who fell back to reorganise.  

By now 3rd Para was entering the fray from the northeast and the British communications were obviously working well for a change as once more they called down a devastating stonk on 9/16 SS who fell back to avoid encirclement. The German ambulances (fortunately spared from repeated bombing raids) were kept very busy. It was a case of Festung Oosterbeek now.

Outnumbered 3:1 it was just a case of time though, and as the Railway Bridge exploded down by the Rhine, 9/16th SS melted away and 4/16th SS became disorganised. The British held four objectives and there was no hope of the Germans retaking one in the last two turns so we called it there with a British victory!

Historically 1st Recce never really recovered from the initial ambush at Wolfheze, while 3rd Para got stuck on the northern outskirts of Oosterbeek although they did manage to infiltrate a company down the railway line to the bridge. So well done to the British, they did rather better than historically despite wrestling with bad comms difficult terrain and a lot of ground to cover. The Germans also managed to conduct that hardest of military operations and wargames, a fighting retreat, very effectively and they were perhaps let down by some hot British dice in the last few turns.  

That was quite hard work to run due to the number of players, but despite some confusion it seemed to go well and we reached a conclusion with time to spare, something I was doubtful of after Tuesday evening. Many thanks to players for making it such an enjoyable game and taking part with such enthusiasm. Excellent job on the hats everyone!