
Scenario #0917_09x Market-Garden - Additional Forces extended Campaign

Designed by Gary Cobleigh

Notes:


  This scenario has the inclusion of some additional units that may or may not have actually participated in the battle. To the best of my knowledge, most if not all, were in the vicinity and could have participated. That is, all but the 1st SS Panzer Corps which to the best of my knowledge was far to the rear refitting for a later offensive. However, I wanted to include a large formation of Axis forces that would allow that player to mount a serious counter threat to the Allies.
The most likely target of such a threat would be Nijmegen and it's bridge. Although threats to Grave and the Eindhoven are also possible. I wanted these units to arrive relatively late in the contest so that the Allied player was fully envolved in taking Arnhem and rescuing the 1st Airborne Division. However, to make an Axis counter offensive workable, I extended the length of the standard campaign by 30 turns, or three days.
  With just this change, the game would be severly unbalanced. Therefore, I set out to make changes for the Allies that would give them a good chance to prevail. First, in order to counter the arrival of the 1st SS Panzer Corps, I included additional elements of the British 2nd Army to the campaign. In order for this to work, I removed all the impassable hexes and set up forces for both sides on either side of Meuse-Escaut canal. It's very possible that these units are not positioned with historical accuracy. However, to the best of my knowledge, there exists a reasonalble plausability. I do know that the British XII Corps was on XXX Corps' Right, and the VIII Corps was on the left and that the units represented in the OOB were part of those organizations. For the Germans, I believe the accuracy of which units held the Meuse-Escaut line are pretty close to correct. However, the strength levels of these units may not be. It was never my intention to make a historically accurate scenario, but rather one that was hypothetically plausable. So please excuse any historical inaccuracies.
   It's my design that these additional British Forces can not be released until after the arrival of the 1st SS Panzer Corps and therefore they have little to do with the initial phase of the battle. Therefore, I included some options for the 1st Airborne Division that would improve that Division's chances for success. First, and most importantly, I created the ability for the Recon Squadron to break down into 4 platoons. With this ability, the Allied player should be able to use these units to spread out and move swiftly behind Kraft's SS Troops and block them from shuting down the river road. Then, units such as the 2nd Parachute batalion can make it to the bridge before armored units from the North and Northeast can arrive. Secondly, the assumption is made that Gen. Urquhart had slightly better comunications with England on the 18th and was able to change his plan of attack after discovering that he was facing SS Panzer troops. Therefore, the Allied player is given several drop zone options for both the 4th Parachute brigade and all future Direct supply drops. In effect, this allows the Allied player the option of using all of his first day units on an all out drive on Arnhem. However, it should be noted, that as far as the supplies are considered, their drop zones can only be changed once. If you chose to have them dropped in the Arnhem area and you fail to take or hold the town, you're out of luck. Third, I included the 52nd Air portable Division to the mix and it can arrive at all the usual airfields. Included in the Polish Drop zone choices, is a drop near Deelen Airfield in order that it might capture it ahead of the 52nd's arrival. With all these options, the Allied player has a good chance of capturing Arnhem with the 1st Airborne Div. and then reinforcing it with the 52nd Div. from the North and XXX Corps from the South just as the 1st SS Panzer Corps arrives from the East.
   One last note, realizing that this should be a tough scenario for the Allies, I changed the wired to blow status of one of the main highway bridges along XXX Corps's path so that it's not possible for all the bridges to blow. If that were to occur, it would make the game completely impossible for the Allied player.
   In designing this scenario, It was my intention to make an intense and desparate battle even more intense. I hope I succeded. Please enjoy.