ARNHEM

BACKGROUND

As I am sure we have all seen a Bridge to Far and if we are interested in World War 2 then we all know enough about the battle of Arnhem for me not to go into detail. If you are unsure this is a great article on Wikipedia that will fill in the blanks.

Our game begins with our advancing British Paratrooper attempting to advance to the town of Arnhem. Two Jeeps and a 10 man section led the initial advance.

They were part a troop of Reconnaissance jeeps from the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron. Unfortunately one developed engine trouble (we rolled the lowest initiative 11) so the other pushed on regardless. The Germans, seeing the mass landing, quickly organised a reconnaissance unit of their own in the shape of1 Schwimmwagen and 2 Hanomag Halftracks. 14 men in total.

The concept behind the game is this is a meeting engagement, as both sides rush to complete their mission. The British needed not to be held up and exit off the far side of the table. The Germans needed to hold the British to enable reinforcements to be organised.

The British moved first with one of their Jeeps hounding up the road a full move (24").  They also have a Bren team race uptake position overlooking the road. The Germans push their Schwimmwagen forward followed by one of their Hanomags.

The Schwimmwagen rounds the corner, seeing the closing jeep it dives into cover to try and bring its MG42 to bear. Unfortunately not quick enough and the paired Lewis guns on the jeep rip apart the Schwimmwagen killing all of its crew.

The Hanomag rounds the corner next and opens up on the jeep, but misses the jeep. Unfortunately, for the half-track they also haven't seen the Bren team. This team brews up the Hanomag immobilising it and forcing the men in the rear to run to the building for cover.

Faceoff between the jeep and the Halftrack

Hanomag brews up but the infantry race for cover in the building

The jeep racing seeing the Hanomag brewing up but all of its crew getting out the vehicle takes first left to get out of harm's way.

Two vehicles burning and the jeep racing out of dodge...

The second half-track has been working its way through the farmland and turns up just as the second jeep enters the board.

 The Germans  escaping from the burning half track start to occupy the buildings.

The second halftrack quickly suppresses the 2nd jeep. Suppression is just one of the new elements we are adding into this rule set.

A carefully placed German grenade takes out the first jeep, things are not looking good for the allies. The fighting then became so intense I forgot to take photographs so the end of the battle was not visually recorded. Eventually the allies managed to drive off the second half track but really could make headway against the Germans in the village. The fighting got intense and street by street the battle raged but by the time we had called it the Germans still held half the village and had thus won because they held up the allies advance.


A narrow victory but at this stage in the war they will take any victory they can get. The games was a very intense battle and was enjoy immensely by all the players.