GMT Holland 44 (Conclusion)

 22ns September. Turn 15 morning

30 Corps relieve the pressure on Veghel, pushing 107th Pz Bgde back with losses on both sides.

There is a developing German thrust from the west pressing on the engaged 101st paratroopers and their artillery.

The 82nd retain a foothold in Nijmegen and hold intact bridges at Hatert and one side of the bridge at Grave.

The Oosterbeck perimeter is being reduced and the bridge defenders are holding on, but units are being whittled down on both sides - but then the Germans greatly outnumber the defenders.

Turn 16 pm.

30 Corps recce push east to hold Boekel in preparation for an attempt at a right hook around Uden and a greater encirclement of the German troops on the eastern flank.

The German thrust from the west has been halted using a determined defence, with step losses on both sides.

The 82nd have more or less fought to a standstill.

A Polish counterattack has pushed some weak SS units back enough to include the bridge defenders in a defensive perimeter.

Turn 17 night.

Uden comes under pressure, while 107th Pz Bgde is pushed back and the road is almost clear.  Wessex Div swings out to secure the eastern flank of the narrow advance.  Helmond and Duerne fall to 30 Corps and 101st as the German defenders fall back on Gemert.  On the western flank, German defenders fall back around s'Hertogenbosch.

The gap between 82nd and 30 Corps is narrowing - note the Guards Sherman unit just 2 hexes from Grave, but also note the Germans have a 4-7-3 unit defending Grave!

Attirtion continues in Arnhem, as does the 82nd stalemate

23rd September - the last day.

Turn 18 morning

11th armoured on the eastern flank and Wessex Div east of Veghel begin to encircle German units in Gemert, although they can't quite cut their supply completely.  Udun falls, while 107th Pz Bgde finally pulls away from the road.  The Germans begin to form a stop line from s'Hertogenbosch in the west towards the vicinity of Zeeland, north of Udun.

Attrition continues in Arnhem, 82nd impass remains.  Germans attemt to infiltrate units into the Betuwe

Turn 19 pm

Note change in map orientation - north is to the left.  The Germans extend their, albeit partly incomplete, defensive line to Grave.  On the eastern flank, Gemert is encircled and the defenders isolated.  30 Corps approach the Waal east of Grave. 

30 Corps close with the Waal and close the gap with 82nd.

Arnhem and Nijmegen continue as before.

Turn 20 night.

30 Corps - well a unit of 43rd Wessex, reach the Waal at the Cuijk ferry site.  The Germans strengthen their defensive line anchored on Grave.  30 Corps engineers will have to rush to Cuijk.

Attrition still going on at Arnhem, still holding, but for how long?

The Arnhem defenders.

82nd stalemate.

30 Corps failure to progress fast enough.

An interesting game that replicated a lot of the pressures placed on the various commanders.  I'm not sure we played all the rules properly and we forgot some - e.g airborne returnees, replacements and, for some reason, we missed out on all of the Turn 2 Allied reinforcements from 11th Armoured and the 50th Corps artillery.  It did take us 3 days to play - luckily Si's games room meant we could leave it set up as we only meet once a week.  Sadly, quite a bit of time was taken up in set up, as the counters had not been sorted, although I've now done that if there is a next time.  I found management of the major units challenging, as it is not always easy to keep a handle on which units are which, especially for the German player, and this seems to be a key factor in the game as lead units have limited support from subsidiary units in combat.  The counter congestion on the roads in the early game means that the traffic markers can be overlooked when moving the columns of counters.  Some of the retreat rules also seem counterintuitive, allowing units to pull back through enemy zones of control.  Similarly, isolated units retaining their full defense strength and ability to move also seemed counterintuitive.  The effects of disruption also seemed fairly weak as a disrupted unit retains full ability at the end of the players turn, so unless the attacker scores a breakthrough and can follow up with a second attack, the effect dissipates - we had less than a handful of such results in the whole game.

Thanks to Will - dastardly Germans, Si - 82nd US and 1st Br Airborne, me - 30 Corps and 101st US Airborne.

Thanks to you for looking.