Re: Interactive History: Arnhem, September 1944
Managed to squeeze another update in
Looking at the clock in your HQ you see it’s still only 13:24. Brigadier Hicks just visited you and he wanted to regroup the brigades. Now that all the battalions are split from their official brigade, and now that they have different tasks then in the original plan it’s hard to use them while they are still in command of commanders that are not aware of even their position. Now that Brigadier Lathbury is in hospital he suggested the following:
For now there will be 3 groups (4 if you count the Poles when they come next hour).
Group 1 will be commanded by Hicks, it will consist of the 11th Battalion, the 3rd Battalion and the 2nd South Staffordshire’s when they come.
Group 2 will be commanded by Hackett, it will consist of the 10th Battalion, the 156th Battalion, the Border Regiment and the KOSB.
Group 3 will be commanded by Dobie, and it will consist of the 1st Battalion, the 2nd Battalion and 2nd Company of Glider Pilots.
Group 4 will then be the normal Polish Brigade.
All remaining units, the Recce Squadron, the 1st Company of Glider Pilots, the Airlanding RA, the Pathfinders, and the little group of Dutch commando’s, will stay out of the frontline until they are really needed.
When the entire division is linked up there will be 3 groups (including the Poles)
Group 1 will be commanded by Hicks and will consist of the 11th Battalion, the KOSB, the 1st Battalion, the 2nd Battalion and the 2nd South Staffordshire’s. This group will then move to take control of everything from the road between LZ ‘S’ and LZ ‘Z’ and the Rhine near Den Brink and the western borders of Arnhem.
Group 2 will be commanded by Hackett and will consist of the 10th Battalion, the 156th Battalion, the 3rd Battalion and the Border Regiment, it will control the line from the road between LZ ‘S’ and LZ ‘Z’ and the Rhine near the eastern borders of Arnhem.
Group 3 will be the Polish Brigade and it will control the southern bank of the Rhine.
Now Hackett is at your HQ and as could be expected he would never agree to Hicks proposal, not only because Hicks would get more battalions then he would get, he also wants to breakthrough to the Rhine and the bridge first. Then, he said, further plans could be made. It might be better to direct the fresh Poles to the northern bank, and send the more weakened battalions to the southern bank. Also, he said, it would be wise to get to know what was happening in the other regions.
There were rumours that the Grave bridge was already taken at the first day, but nothing more of the south was known. If things went correctly XXX corps should be around Grave now and it should be here in about 24 hours, that would also mean that the entire Lowland Division would be flown in at Deelen and that your division could slowly retreat from the front and be directed to the south. But for now that wasn’t happening.
What was happening now was that the Border Regiment was moving south the western flank of the 156th Battalion to support it, the 10th Battalion was already fighting somewhere between the IJssel and the positions of the 156th Battalion.
But the 11th Battalion too came under attack. The Germans attack at their most western flank, with armoured cars and infantry, over the road Arnhem-Utrecht. These men weren’t the SS as the Germans in Arnhem, but this were all sorts of men, Wehrmacht, Dutch SS and forms of Luftwaffe soldiers.
No further news came from any of the other battalions, those in Arnhem were most likely in heavy fighting. Hackett told you about how Frost contacted him asking for all the artillery support he could give, and to direct the fire to the southern bank. Most likely Frost was about to mount another assault. But for now it was not known if this frontal charge on the bridge succeeded or not. If it did the Poles would be able to cross it and they could also help with grouping the division together again, if it failed the Poles would be in for a hard time when they would arrive next hour.
But for now other decisions had to be made
1. Hackett or Hicks
A. Agree with Hicks and reorganize the division
B. Agree with Hackett and wait till the division is linked up and see what you can do then.
2. The other regions
A. Keep trusting on the resistance for further communications. In Arnhem you can now contact every unit, be it going from one to the other, but the radio’s you use now can’t contact any of the American units.
B. Use the uncoded BBC radio, the antenna is 30 metres high, but it will most likely be able to contact other BBC radio’s in Holland.
C. Wait for the 2nd South Staffordshire’s, with them another radio set will arrive, using high secret code which can make contact with Browning only, maybe he is able to contact all others.
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