Nijmegen Campaign Advice Needed

[BK6583]

After reading all of the strategy tips and practicing the tutorials I took the plunge and started the Nijmegen Campaign as the Allies. I was patting myself on the back when by D-2, 1215, I had several key bridges intact and had taken Nijmegen itself, pushing right up to the southern ends of both bridges. BUT, now the proverbial German krap has hit the fan, with the south and southeast portions of the 82nd's line now coming under very heavy pressure. I'm not ready to panic yet, but for those of you that have played and won this campaign as the Allies - what did you do to succeed? I simply don't know what to do at this point.

[Arjuna]

BK6583,

Sounds pretty historical to me. In RL Gen Gavin the cmdr of the 82nd faced a similar problem - ie too much ground to cover, with too few troops against too many enemy. He formed a reserve by thinning his line elsewhere and committed that reserve to stem the tide at Mook and Weeler. Why don't you post a screren shot with your current deployments and let others make some suggestions.

[BK6583]

It's been quite a while since I've done this. To refresh my memory, I do a "Print Scn" of the game, save it, and attach it to my post, correct?

As for the game itself, what threw me a bit is that I succeeded quite well compared to the histroical result by Day 2 - hence I foolishly though the rest of the game might be a foregone conclusion - wrong!

[akileez]

First time I played, I rushed a considerable sized task force [3 coys] to Kranenburg village in the south-east. When 30 Corps arrived I again detached a brigade-sized force there too. I found this 'outpost' significantly hampered all major Germans manouevres in that area by squeezing them into concentrations [and using up precious time in wide outflanking movements] north and south of Kranenburg making good targets for initially scant Allied arty/mortar fire.

I seized the south side of Nijmegen as fast as possible and rushed an AT battery there fast when available. A terrible slaughter took place there for the Germans, and even though they got across the road bridge they were held at the exit and massacred for hours in their first very major assault by SS units by eventually only 3 companies of the 82nd. All too much for them and despite reinforcements flowing into the south bridgehead, the Germans scampered back across the bridge - after 2 days of trying to breakout. I also made sure to keep the south-east side of Nijmegen secure from enemy infiltrations.

My Airborne artillery I split into 2 teams on the Grosbeek Heights... one covered Nijmegen sector, the other Kranenburg and Mook, Also, for the first few days I gambled on keeping only skimpy forces covering Wyler and the east.

On the Grosbeek heights I had a tiny mobile reserve to impede and hamper scattered German infiltrations that popped up in the area while putting the bulk of my forces into front line defensive positions straight away.

Though it was touch-and-go for a few days, the 82nd held Nijmegen and Kranenburg until the chaps from 30 Corps relieved them.

Screenshot shows things moved along a bit, but note how I threw out blocking positions beyond Mook in the south east too to create 'choke-points' for the large advancing German forces.

I have other exciting screenshots of this campaign if you care to see them[;)].

[BK6583]

"I have other exciting screenshots of this campaign if you care to see them."

I'd love to see more!

[JeF]

akileez,

wow ! this is a very strong position.
IIRC I was never able to keep the germans so far east.

BK6583,

There is an AAR from Yakstock of the scenario in the AAR section at the Drop Zone.

JeF.

[akileez]

Thanks for the replies.
Regarding Kranenburg JeF, initially it was more of a lookout post with single coy. as a garrison, which I steadily increased in size when I assessed the advantageous possibilities of holding it rather than let it fall. The Day 3 screenshot in my above post, also showed a stronger position than Day 1 and 2 since I was able to start shifting to this sector, spare elements of 504 and 505 regimemts that were previously employed in guard duties west of Grosbeek heights until 30 Corps arrived. More tense was trying to use the limited Airborne arty resources available to break up the attacks steamrolling to Kranenburg since as you know on this map, German intrusions on the 82nd's perimeter are constantly ongoing and all over the place.
Looking back I see how a similar situation at Waterloo [1815] played a critical roll in the Allied victory. It concerned a chateau-turned-fortress called Hougoumont that jutted out of Wellington's front line and succeeded in luring a significant portion of Napoleon's army in the vain attempt to capture it [and almost he did].

Revisiting my screenshots of the first 2 days I see the situation was quite desperate at the Nijmegen road bridge. For the most part [as shown in the screenshot below] 'I'coy/508 Btn -82nd, was holding out against fantastic odds on its own in Hunner Park south of the bridge. They did at one point fall back and the Germans were actually breaking out with a huge column ready to pour out from the bridgehead. The Germans, on the brink of victory were pinned in place by 82nd's howitzers until 'I' coy recovered and in a 'forlorn' counterattack actually recovered their former position and with scant reinforcements of 2 more Para coys. solidifying the perimeter, the Germans packed it in and retreated back across the bridge permanently, suffering crippling losses in the process.

For you BK6583 [:D], This screenshot shows the first of many determined German assaults over the road bridge. Though it looks like a small action, it was quite a significant moment deciding how the campaign would be waged. As you can see, just 'I' coy and mortars/howitzers in the area are already causing significant damage to the attacking bridge forces. How 'I' coy held on so defiantly was stunning - they saved the day - had the Germans broken through, not much would have stopped them steamrolling southwards with armour and rolling up my extended east-flank line.

[akileez]

ORIGINAL: BK6583

It's been quite a while since I've done this. To refresh my memory, I do a "Print Scn" of the game, save it, and attach it to my post, correct?

I use a nice free printscreen tool that you might like and it's user friendly.It's called Gadwin.

Another free tool I use is Irfan viewer. A nifty free little art editor that very quickly allows you to crop/resize/rename your pictures,etc. Does great things too like convert all pictures in a folder in one go from say .bmp files to .jpg and renames everything to your desired title all at once via a batch option.

You can find them easy on google.

Otherwise if you use Printscreen key go here for a quick course on using it;
http://www.dartmouth.edu/comp/support/l ... creen.html

To paste the picture here use the post's Embed click box at the bottom and make sure the picture is >200kb in size.