Nijmegen Historical Campaign - AAR

[Barbarossa]

Hi all,

I enjoyed Tzar007's AAR of the Battle of Arnhem Bases (it was actually one of the things that convinced me to buy the game) so I thought I'd try writing my own. I'm going to try my hand at the Nijmegen Historical Campaign. It should be interesting because I am not very good on the offense . I haven't played this campaign before and I don't know what the German reinforcement schedule is or where they will appear.......

Order delay is set to realistic and everything else is on "Standard".


Patrick

[Barbarossa]

Day 1 - 13:00

The overall plan is to allow XXX Corps to proceed north east towards Nijmegen. To this end E Co of the 504th is to secure the bridge at Nederasselt. At the same time the 1st Bat of the 504th is to secure the bridge at Overasselt enabling the remainder of the 504th to move west along the Mass River to aid in taking the Nederasselt bridge. If this goes well they will hopefully be in a position to move south and take Grave.

The 2nd Bat of the 505th has been ordered to take and hold the Groesbeck Heights. Will this be enough to hold off any counter attack / reinforcements from the south east? The rest of the 505th is to take the Mook railway bridge and then move north, hopefully taking the Heumen, Blankenberg and Hatert bridges in succession. Ultimately they may be in a position to help in taking the bridges at Honinghutje which are vital if XXX Corps is to get to Nijmegen.

The 508th brigade is tasked with Nijmegen itself.......

[Barbarossa]

Day 1 14:08

The first setback has occurred, the Germans have blown the bridge at Nederasselt. E Co is now tasked with probing towards Grave, but not too closely...... The 504th now needs to cross the bridge at Overasselt and skirt the south bank of the Maas River towards Grave where, hopefully, we'll be able to secure the bridge. If this fails the only realistic, if unpalatable, option is the bridge at Escharen.

[Barbarossa]

Day 1 19:01

The 1st battalion of the 504th has secured the road bridge at Overasselt alowing the rest of the 504th to cross south of the Maas River and move west towards Grave. Apparently E Co of the 504th has secured Grave but somehow I doubt it.......

Over in the east the 1st battalion of the 505th has secured Mook Rail Bridge although there is still enemy activity in the area. The rest of the 505th has now been ordered to move north and take the road bridge at Heumen. Defensive positions around Nicoline and the south east of Groesbeeck Heights are being taken by the 2nd battalion of the 505th and the 82 Airborne's divisional base (plus supporting units).

The 508th brigade continues it's move north towards Nijmegen......

[Barbarossa]

Day 2 05:02

The dawn of day two sees us in a reasonably promising position. The 1st battalion of the 508th defends where it is. It ran into stiff opposition on the north eastern outskirts of St Anna but, where it is, it has oversight of one of the main routes into, and out of, Nijmegen. Will it be able to hold? I don't know. The fact that it's mortar platoon has been reduced to ten men and has no mortars (but still has a bombard capability?!?!?) won't help. On the right flank the 508th is ordered to continue it's northward march into Nijmegen with the 2nd battalion and 3rd battalions moving to Orange Single in the centre of Nijmegen and the southern end of the highway bridge respectively.

Meanwhile in the south the 2nd battalion of the 504th shifts east to hold the Overasselt road bridge whilst the 1st battalion, currently holding at Overasselt, moves east towards Heumen. When it arrives the 505th will move north in an attempt to secure the Blankenberg road bridge.

Now that the Nederasselt highway bridge has been blown XXX Corps will have to come north by way of the Overasselt and Heumen road bridges.

[Barbarossa]

Day 2 11:14

Time to relocate my one and only artillery unit.....

[Barbarossa]

Day 2 14:22

The 1st battalion of the 508th is having some success in securing Somerchen whilst the 2nd 508th has been ordered to secure Nijmegen. A difficult task but hopefully it will tie up the German defenders until XXX Corps arrives. The 3rd 508th has been given the hardest objective yet - secure the northen end of the Nijmegen highway bridge.

The eastwards shift of the 504th went well but the 3rd 505th is now struggling to secure the road bridge at Blankenburg. The enemy seems to concentrate its fire on the engineering company. Much needed artillery reinforcements have arrived and are moving to set up a fire base with my single original artillery battalion (successfully disengaged from the enemy forces).

Just as we are receiving reinforcements so are the Germans and this is causing me some concern. To counter it the 2nd 505th have been ordered to leave their position entrenched around Nicoline and move north east to the high ground south east of Grenskatanor where, with luck, they will be able to interdict German forces coming up the highway. The German forces appearing to the west of the Reichs Wald have me worried. If they swing north west towards Mook we should be able to contain them. If however they drive straight north things might get complicated.......

[Barbarossa]

Day 3 05:25

Dawn and the 2nd bat 505th did well to establish themselves a defensive position south east of Grenskantoor. They are doing well at impeding the march of German reinforcements north to Nijmegen.

[Barbarossa]

Day 3 05:25

The situation in and around Nijmegen is confused and volatile. The 3rd bat 508th is dug in north of the Nijmegen highway bridge. I hope it manages to stay there. The 1st bat 508th is moving north east to put pressure on the southern end of the railway bridge.

Roll on the arrival of XXX Corps.

[Arjuna]

Barbarossa,

Nice AAR. I really like the texture of your arrows - just like real life chinagraph markers on talc. [:)]

[Barbarossa]

The wonders of "Paint", the only graphics package (in the loosest sense of the term) I have on my machine . Anyway, both Allied and Axis forces are likely to get a well earned brake for a few days while the real world intrudes.......


Patrick

[Barbarossa]

Day 3 09:16

At last the first part of XXX Corps arrives. Some forty five minutes late the Grenadier Guards are here. They are ordered to move via Grave across the Overasselt bridge and then east towards the light road bridge at Heumen. Once across they are to move north through Malden, Kluis and the Sanitarium towards St Anna. My one concern, have the Germans managed to establish a position in the woods and hills of the Groesbeck Heights that can threaten this move northwards?

Needing to work infantry north in the direction of Nijmegen and hoping that (how I hate hoping) the Blankeberg road bridge is now unecessary the 505th units guarding the Blankenberg road bridge are ordered north towards the Hatert bridge.

[Barbarossa]

Day 3 09:16

The 2nd bBn 505th is doing wonders disrupting hordes of German reinforcements trying to move north west towards Nijmegen. They should slow things down enough that XXX Corps can get to Nijmegen in force first...... A stray AT company (I had lost track of it) has been ordered, with maximum aggression and a lot of artillery support, to reinforce their position.

[Barbarossa]

Day 3 09:16

This situation in Nijmegen is still, frankly, a mess. The 3rd Bn 508th, holding the northern end of the Nijmegen highway bridge has been badly mauled. Both it's mortar platoon and G Co have been destroyed. To this end the 1st 508th has been ordered to force a crossing via the railway bridge and then turn east to support the 3rd. The rest of the 508th is to remain in situ in Nijmegen......

Enough artillery has been fired to deafen everybody on the battlefield for days to come. Unfortunately things won't stay this way. I don't have enough shells left.

[Barbarossa]

Day 3 14:42

With this going on...........

[Barbarossa]

Day 3 14:42

Doesn't it make sense to do this? The bulk of the 505th continues north to Hatert and the Grenadier Guards drive east to relieve the 2nd 505th south east of Grenskatoor. With the hills at our backs and the Germans south east and below us life for them should be very difficult. If they can get into position by nightfall they should be well placed for offensive operations on the morning of the fourth day. Meanwhile the rest of XXX Corps will continue as planned towards Nijmegen. The obvious concern is whether the forces in Nijmegen, particularly north of the bridges, will hold out. The 1st Bn 508th has, after repeatedly failing to cross the railway bridge, given up it's attempt to relinforce the 3rd Bn 508th. Times for them are hard..........

[Golf33]

Great AAR, can't wait to hear how it ends!

Regards
33

[Arjuna]

Medals all round for the 2/505th Bn at Wyler. Great stuff. [:)]

[Tzar007]

Barbarossa, you are really doing a great AAR here. Keep it up my friend !

[Barbarossa]

One thing that is frutstrating me at the moment is:-

1) I have a secure route across the Maas River.
2) I have multiple secure routes over the Maas Waas Canaal.
3) I have units in Nijmegen that don't look like they're going to be shifted out and units north of the Highway bridge that, frankly, amaze me because they are well, I'm tempted to say "holding on" but I think "still there" might be more accurate......
4) I have relatively unimpeded movement for XXX Corps north into Nijmegen (so far anyway).
5) I'm about to unleash a whole load of pain on the German units I have impeded in the south east corner of the map.

What I don't have is control of a lot of strategically unimportant (given the above) objectives.

What I don't have is a very good score....... And it does change the way I think about the strategic position. The next time I get a chance to post screenshots etc you'll see I've moved units west along the Maas River to secure a completely unimportant objective just because it will give me fifteen more victory points.


Patrick