Interactive History: Arnhem, September 1944

[Stig]

Slowly battle reports are coming in, radio contact is slowly becoming possible. The 1st Battalion is close enough to the 2nd Battalion to come in contact, and similarly KOSB is close enough to 2nd Battalion to come in contact. This is all to your advantage since the resistance is unable to provide further news from the different battalions. But there's little you can do untill the reinforcements arrive.

-KOSB report 11:36-
-Under heavy mortar fire-
-Not being able to break through-
-Enemy using tanks-
-Paits able to destroy most tanks-
-Slowly running out of AT-ammo-
-Casualties around 30 men-


-1 BAT report 11:17-
-Advance stalled after 300 m.-
-Heavy MG fire from higher roads to north-
-Heavy Artillery fire from southern bank-
-Retreating to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital-
-Reinforcements needed if wanting to break through-


-2 BAT report 12:01-
-Pinned down by mortar fire from southern bank-
-Not have been able to launch assault-
-Frontal assault planned at 13:15-
-Running out of ammo-
-Casualties lower then expected-


-156 BAT report 11:56-
-Not being able to break through to the river-
-Enemy bringing reinforcements over the river IJssel-
-Eastern flank open-
-In need of reinforcements-


In Arnhem things were going not as planned, the enemy used their main force to attack Arnhem itself and took no notion of the 4 Battalions to the north protecting the high grounds. This might come in good use, troops can be moved to the south, as the high grounds need less protection and troops are needed in Arnhem. However this will mean that the LZ for the 2nd South Staffordshire’s receives less protection, they will come in about 2 hours, if things are going to plan.

So there are some important decisions to be made:

1. 11 BAT
A. Keep them in position
B. Send them to reinforce 1 BAT
C. Send them to reinforce KOSB

2. Border
A. Keep them in position
B. Send them to reinforce KOSB
C. Send them to reinforce 156 BAT

3. 3 BAT
A. Keep them in position
B. Send them to reinforce KOSB
C. Send them to reinforce 156 BAT

4. 10 BAT
A. Keep them in position
B. Send them to reinforce KOSB
C. Send them to reinforce 156 BAT

Take this in mind: If you decide for example to send the Border Regiment into Arnhem their position will be taken over by both the battalions on their flanks.

[AggonyDuck]

We need to concentrate on a single point. I believe our best option is to cut off the Germans in Arnhem from the Issel bridge, so I want to concentrate on helping the 156th Batallion to break through. I think to get a proper breakthrough we need to send atleast two batallions to support.

1. 11 BAT
A. Keep them in position

2. Border
C. Send them to reinforce 156 BAT


3. 3 BAT
A. Keep them in position

4. 10 BAT
C. Send them to reinforce 156 BAT

My decision is to concentrate the Border regiment, the 10th Batallion and the 156th Batallion to breakthrough and cut off the Germans in Arnhem. This does leave the rear areas a bit exposed, but hopefully it will pay off.

[Stig]

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.

[AggonyDuck]

But for now other decisions had to be made

1. Hackett or Hicks
A. Agree with Hicks and reorganize the division

2. The other regions
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.