Scheldt '44 Market Garden (expanded) Allied AAR - settled for a Draw turn 69

[Elxaime]

Greetings -

I am Comrade P's opponent in this battle and we have just agreed that the remaining turns are unlikely to alter the current situation and have decided to call it a Draw. At the outset, I will note it was a very exciting PBEM, with lots of twists and turns. Comrade P is an excellent player and a gentleman and I always learn from watching his tactics. Below are some comments from the German side.

Opening - General Situation
Market Garden is a situation where the Germans know the main goal of the Allies - a bridge across the Rhine - but there is lots of uncertainty on how they plan to get there since much depends on which bridges blow. As the Germans you have to plan for the worst and hope for the best, but be ready for surprises, which turned out to be the case here.

Your forces basically divide into four groups, which reflect the eventual split of the map as the Allies advance. In the south (which soon becomes two groups split by the highway) you have a smattering of battered infantry divisions and kampfgruppe backed by guns, some decent SS companies and Fallschirmjaeger, but only partly entrenched in places. Your main ally is the terrain and weather, as you are outmatched heavily in artillery, armor and heavy weapons. In the north, the flanking forces (around s'Hertogenbosch and then to the east Division 406 and Westwall) are likewise a mixed bag, get divided into two, but generally sufficient to hold the flanks. Northernmost of course is II SS Panzer Korps, with the elite units, lots of artillery and some armor coming in around Arnhem while Division Tettau (a makeshift affair with some elite units nonetheless) holds the west. I adopted a traditional approach at the start, planning to defend heavily the historic axes of Allied attack, but especially hold onto the Valkenswaard Highway like grim death. The Germans have two other benefits, which is the ability to rail units around and also the worsening weather.

Early Game
The south generally went well, with Division Erdmann managing to interdict the highway around Valkenssward for a decent amount of time. There was an early scare when the British got an unobserved bridge up and threatened a breakthrough west of the highway, but I managed to get some units to cover the hole as the terrain over that side is not so good. Around Nijmegen, also managed to hold the main city area. Around Arnhem, some early surprises as the 1st AB managed to batter some over enthusiastic Tettau infantry that rushed in heedless. At this point, I wasn't sure the 1st AB would breakout to the southwest, which was a big failure of imagination as we shall see.

Mid-Game
On the southwest and west side of the Hell's Highway, the situation slowly stabilized into positional warfare. The Germans made an early push with their infantry reinforcements but got pushed back. An Allied push against s'Hertogenbusch developed into a worry, as it involved big stacks of elite Allied AB with some British armor along for the ride. I had been covering this gap with part of the Tettau since the Fallschirmjaegers were spread thin, but these were the E units and they melted fast, so I needed to route one of the reinforcing divisions that way later.

On the east side of the highway, I got a bit complacent, and even contemplated trying to cut the road with 107 PZ brigade, but then all hell broke loose. The British launched a two division armored attack and as soon as that began it was back to the heimatland for Division Erdmann and its companions, a retreat that would last the rest of the game with significant losses to the many low quality infantry (e.g. from Division 406) pressed into the line, although the Erdmann paras proved resilient. Around Nijmegen, the Germans noticed the 82AB wasn't pushing and managed to slowly entrench a strong line in the city and woods. Not knowing whether a bridge was up the Germans weren't sure when the Guards Armored was going to show up. But it was clear the Allies had shifted focus from Nijmegen to instead attempting to rescue the 1st AB.

The retreat of 1st AB and its rescue by 82AB was truly epic and the AAR would have needed to be turn by turn to do it justice. It was sort of like the retreat of the 1st Marines from Chosin Reservoir. The key moment was when the British AB successfully bum-rushed the bridge one turn before I was about to get a decent infantry unit there (it was being defended by one of the horrible E battalions, probably an ear/stomach unit). Several times as Germans, I thought I had their escape route blocked, and I had some parts of the river road covered by MG and AT fire, but they battered their way through by the skin of their teeth. Then there was a Verdun-style battle over the pocket of the 1st AB and 82d AB, reinforced by some XXX Corps infantry and increasing horde of guns firing over the river in support. II SS Korps threw everything they had and managed to inflict some decent losses, but took losses in return. The Germans had their own horde of artillery including screaming meemies. The Allied 1st AB, even with 82AB helping and XXX Corps, didn't have enough power to expand. This was basically a slugging match for about 20-30 turns straight over about 5-6 hexes, with both sides overstacking and frantically trying to entrench their new hexes as soon as they advanced or retreated.

Late Game
The SW flank continued its trench warfare. The NW Allied push at s'Hertogenbosch was finally halted just E of the city by arriving German reinforcements, including the two remaining precious armor companies on that side (one of them a Jagdpanzer) - the town is a very tough nut since it is bounded by rivers. On the SE side, Division Erdmann finally escaped to the Siegfried line, then after some rest and reorg, railed up to Nijmegen sector (by the time it arrived we had decided on the draw). On the NW "island" the Germans gave up trying to reduce the Allied AB pocket, and the 82AB expanded somewhat to the west as the Tettau Division began to disintegrate, but they didn't have any good options to go north as the Germans managed to cover the ferries and bridges (mixed quality infantry backed by 88's). Around Nijmegen, both sides poured in their main remaining forces for a big showdown, but by this time, even though the Allies were deploying "death stars" of massed armor, the Germans were well-entrenched in depth - the British GDs armor "death star" was stalled at the woods for about 20-25 turns as the Germans managed to rotate in fresh infantry as their troops got blasted by tank guns. South of Nijmegen, the Germans managed to throw back a British attack across a ferry - I had one Panther unit that acted as a fire brigade to help Erdmann escape and to thwart the ferry push, I guarded that unit carefully as it was the only thing I had during this time that could strike fear in the columns of Shermans (except for a more fragile Jagdpanther, which did good service as long as I kept it at stand off distance. The German reinforcements coming out of the Reichswald by then were significant and included a number of werfers.

My only regret at Nijmegen was that we declared a draw just as the King Tigers were about to enter the fray - at 42 tanks at B quality, except for the Ferdinands in Kursk this Konigs Tiger was the most imposing armor unit I had ever seen and I was looking forward to its performance against the GDs armor death star.

So we settled for a draw, as it was clear that the various offensives of both sides had petered out and it was unlikely any further push would alter the point count. The Germans on the west side of the highway ended up holding on, with some scare at s'Hertogenbosch and the Division Tettau being somewhat of a mess and retreating at the end. On the east, lots of losses from the big British tank advance, but Division Erdmann barely escaped. In the north, British 1AB had an epic escape, but ultimately this meant no real chance to get more than a draw, although this also meant it was unlikely the Germans would get a victory. Stalemate ultimately at Nijmegen.

On the scenario design, I echo the comments that Market Garden is very tough to simulate. Maybe some tweaks can include a low supply (e.g. 5) source for the Allies on Arnhem bridge to encourage them to make a try for it. Otherwise, i agree 1AB is in a tough spot, although perhaps that is just historical.

Not sure they are being caught in the update, but here are some items for potential attention:
- ferries aren't wired, which seems strange as some start the game destroyed and in other games, without the wired function, you can destroy them...seems to me that if you have them in you need to consider making them wired
- a number of bridges on the flanks aren't wired, including some heavy bridges across major rivers in clear terrain, I think the bridge wiring needs another pass to consider whether the ones that need wiring are wired. In this scenario, the Allies can expand the battle towards the edges in ways the designer may not have anticipated
- Stab der KG Heinke is foot mobile, although it has the mobile icon and this HQ commands a mobile KG, seems a glitch
- Kdt s'Hertogenbosch, which commands the Fallschirmjaeger in the area, seems to have a pretty short command radius, considering some of its battalions gradually release and have to cover a broad front, I found that covering the line meant having most units out of command since the HQ was fixed with such a short command radius (and the units can't be reattached to another HQ)
- on the NW side of the map, s'Hertogenbosch north towards the Rhine, it is really an empty space and the German units there are mainly fixed...I had to bring a chunk of Division Tettau south just to cover this gap. The designers may want to consider an "alarm" unit or two around this sector to unlock fixed units
- glad to hear about the change to Renkum, as it seemed to me this would be the default choice for an Allied push as you can get across there easier than at Arnhem. Although this means addressing the Arnhem problem, so the Allies have a chance there, it seems weird that the situation encourages a westward push away from Arnhem
- not sure if this is by design, but the many German Luftwaffe 88's in the scenario are dicey to use since they attach to Luftflotte III and are hence out of command. You might want to consider having some of them attachable or attached to units they fought in the front with, as otherwise a low fuel/ammo 88 is best used to dig trenches in the rear

Thanks again to Comrade P for one of the most exciting PBEM I have been in. Thanks as well to the designers for creating a very interesting take on Market Garden. I think this one will be a classic as it has a lot of replayability.