Battle for Arnhem.... (3 Viewers)

[panda1gen]

[FONT=&quot]At launch the A-4 propelled itself for up to 65 seconds on its own power, and a program motor controlled the pitch to the specified angle at engine shutdown, from which the rocket continued on a free-fall ([/FONT][FONT=&quot]ballistic[/FONT][FONT=&quot]) trajectory. The rocket reached a height of 80 km (50 mi) after shutting off the engine.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][21][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
The V-2 was guided by four external rudders on the tail fins, and four internal [/FONT][FONT=&quot]graphite[/FONT][FONT=&quot]vanes[/FONT][FONT=&quot] at the exit of the motor. The LEV-3 guidance system consisted of two free [/FONT][FONT=&quot]gyroscopes[/FONT][FONT=&quot] (a horizon and a vertical) for lateral stabilization, and a [/FONT][FONT=&quot]PIGA accelerometer[/FONT][FONT=&quot] to control engine cutoff at a specified velocity. Some later V-2s used "guide beams" (radio signals transmitted from the ground) to navigate towards the target, but the first models used a simple [/FONT][FONT=&quot]analog computer[/FONT][FONT=&quot] that adjusted the [/FONT][FONT=&quot]azimuth[/FONT][FONT=&quot] for the rocket, and the flying distance was controlled by the timing of the engine cut-off, "Brennschluss", ground controlled by a Doppler system or by different types of on-board integrating accelerometers. The rocket stopped accelerating and soon reached the top of the (approximately [/FONT][FONT=&quot]parabolic[/FONT][FONT=&quot]) flight curve.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
The painting of the operational V-2s was mostly a [/FONT][FONT=&quot]camouflage[/FONT][FONT=&quot] ragged pattern with several variations, but at the end of the war a plain olive green rocket also appeared. During tests, the rocket was painted in a characteristic black-and-white [/FONT][FONT=&quot]chessboard[/FONT][FONT=&quot] pattern, which aided in determining if the rocket was spinning around its longitudinal axis.[/FONT]



This Figarti 88mm is guarding a V2 site with A4 rocket in camo alonside.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meillerwagen
The Meillerwagen (English: Meiller Vehicle) was a German World War II trailer used to transport a V-2 rocket from the 'transloading point'[1]1 of the Technical Troop Area to the 'launching point', to erect the missile on the Brennstand (English: firing stand),2 and to act as the service gantry for fuelling and launch preparation. The unofficial 'Meillerwagen'3 name was often used in official documents and refers to a parts supplier for the trailer, Meiller-Kipper GmbH of Munich, Germany (founded 1850).

The Army Research Center Peenemünde designed the Meillerwagen, and the Gollnow & Son company assembled the Meillerwagen from supplied components. The Meillerwagen was assembled with ItalianRussian prisoner laborers of the Lager Rebstock. The Meillerwagen was vehicle code number 102 of several vehicles in a V-2 launching battery,[2] which included an 8 ton launch control vehicle. Launching of V-2s from mobile equipment was studied under code name Regenwurm ("Earthworm") to replace bunkers such as at Le Blockhaus.[3]

Following Operation Crossbow bombing, initial plans for launching from the massive underground Le Blockhaus and La Coupole or from fixed pads such as near the Chateau du Molay[26] were dropped in favor of mobile launching. Eight main storage dumps were planned and four had been completed by July 1944 (the one at Mery-sur-Oise[27] The missile could be launched practically anywhere, roads running through forests being a particular favorite. The system was so mobile and small that not one Meillerwagen was caught in action by Allied aircraft,[citation needed] although Raymond Baxter reported that he shot at a V2 from his Spitfire as it was launched.
An average of ten V-2s could be launched per day and up to 1000 V-2s could be launched per month, given sufficient supply of the rockets.[28]

Rocket near bunker, in camo pattern



Rocket in test colours




Troops involved in launch, all Figarti








View attachment 43655

 

[Louis Badolato]

Great shots, Kevin! Did the photos I sent you to finish the Modern War volume of the K&C book work out?

 

[panda1gen]

Great shots, Kevin! Did the photos I sent you to finish the Modern War volume of the K&C book work out?

Sorry Louis, no photos received.


After Hitler's 29 August declaration to begin V-2 attacks as soon as possible, the offensive began on 8 September 1944 with a single launch at Paris, which caused modest damage near Porte d'Italie,[12]:218,220,467.

Two more launches by the 485th followed, including one from The Hague[14]:285 – the first landed at Chiswick which killed 63-year-old Mrs. Ada Harrison, 3-year-old Rosemary Clarke, and Sapper Bernard Browning on leave from the Royal Engineers.[15]:11 Upon hearing the double-crack of the supersonic rocket (London's first-ever), Duncan Sandys and Reginald Victor Jones looked up from different parts of the city and exclaimed 'That was a rocket!', and a short while after the double-crack, the sky was filled with the sound of a heavy body rushing through the air.[14]:286

The Germans themselves finally announced the V-2 on 8 November 1944 and only then, on 10 November 1944, did Winston Churchill inform Parliament, and the world, that England had been under rocket attack "for the last few weeks." against London on the same day at 6:43 p.m.

Over the next few months the number of V-2s fired was at least 3,172, distributed over the various targets as follows:

·Belgium 1664: Antwerp (1610), Liege (27), Hasselt (13), Tournai (9), Mons (3), Diest (2)
·
England 1402: London (1358), Norwich (43),[14]p289Ipswich (1)

France·76: Lille (25), Paris (22), Tourcoing (19), Arras (6), Cambrai (4)

Holland ·Maastricht 19

Germany ·Remagen 11

An estimated 2,754 civilians were killed in London by V-2 attacks with another 6,523 injured,[29] which is two people killed per V-2 rocket. However, this understates the potential of the V-2, since many rockets were misdirected and exploded harmlessly.



Accuracy increased greatly over the course of the war, particularly on batteries where Leitstrahl-Guide Beam apparatus was installed, with V-2s sometimes landing within meters of the target.[30] Accurately targeted missiles were often devastating, causing large numbers of deaths—160 killed and 108 seriously injured (the worst loss of life in a single V2 attack), in one explosion on 25 November 1944 in mid-afternoon, striking a Woolworth's department store in New Cross, south-east London (plus 108 seriously injured) and 567 deaths in a cinema in Antwerp—and significant damage in the critically important Antwerp docks.

As a result of such deadly targeting, British intelligence leaked falsified information implying that the rockets were over-shooting their London target by 10 to 20 miles. This tactic worked and for the remainder of the war most landed in Kent due to erroneous recalibration.[31]

The final two exploded on 27 March 1945. One of these represented the last V2 to kill a British civilian: Mrs. Ivy Millichamp, aged 34, killed in her home in Elm Grove, Orpington in Kent, evidencing the German re-calibration.

A scientific reconstruction carried out in 2010 demonstrated that the V2 creates a crater 20m wide and 8m deep, throwing up around 3000 tons of material into the air.[31]

 

[panda1gen]

Unlike the V-1, the V-2's speed and trajectory made it invulnerable to anti-aircraft guns and fighters, as it dropped from an altitude of 100–110 km (62–68 mi) at up to four times the speed of sound (appr. 3550 km/h).



A plan was proposed whereby the missile would be detected by radar, its terminal trajectory calculated, and the area along that trajectory saturated by large-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The plan was dropped after operations research indicated that the likely number of malfunctioning artillery shells falling to the ground would do more damage than the V-2 itself.[32]


The defence against the V-2 campaign was to destroy the launch infrastructure—expensive in terms of bomber resources and casualties—or to cause the Germans to "aim" at the wrong place through disinformation. The British were able to convince the Germans to direct V-1s and V-2s aimed at London to less populated areas east of the city. This was done by sending false impact reports via the German espionage network in Britain, which was controlled by the British (the Double Cross System).


There is a record of one V-2, fortuitously observed at launch from a passing American B-24 Liberator, being shot down by .50 caliber machine-gun fire.[33]


The limitations of any countermeasures can be understood by two facts: 20 seconds after starting, a V2 was out of reach; the time from start to impact in London being merely 3 minutes.


Ultimately the most successful countermeasure was the Allied advance that forced the launchers back beyond range.


On 3 March 1945 the allies attempted to destroy V-2s and launching equipment near The Hague by a large-scale bombardment, but due to navigational errors the Bezuidenhout quarter was destroyed, killing 500 Dutch civilians.

The V-2 program was the single most expensive development project of the Third Reich:[citation needed] 6,048 were built, at a cost of approximately 100,000 Reichsmarks each; 3,225 were launched. SS General Hans Kammler, who as an engineer had constructed several concentration camps including Auschwitz, had a reputation for brutality and had originated the idea of using concentration camp prisoners as slave laborers in the rocket program. The V-2 is perhaps the only weapon system to have caused more deaths by its production than its deployment.[34]


"… those of us who were seriously engaged in the war were very grateful to Wernher von Braun. We knew that each V-2 cost as much to produce as a high-performance fighter airplane. We knew that German forces on the fighting fronts were in desperate need of airplanes, and that the V-2 rockets were doing us no military damage. From our point of view, the V-2 program was almost as good as if Hitler had adopted a policy of unilateral disarmament." (Freeman Dyson)[35]


The V-2 consumed a third of Nazi Germany's fuel alcohol production and major portions of other critical technologies:[36] for one V-2 required 30 tons of potatoes.[37] Due to a lack of explosives, concrete was used and sometimes the warhead contained photographic propaganda of German citizens who had died in allied bombing.[17]


The V-2 lacked a proximity fuse, so it could not be set for air burst; it buried itself in the target area before or just as the warhead detonated. This reduced its effectiveness. Furthermore its guidance systems were too primitive to hit specific targets, and its costs were approximately equivalent to four-engined bombers, which were more accurate (though only in a relative sense), had longer ranges, carried many more warheads, and were reusable. Moreover, it diverted resources from other, more effective programs. Nevertheless, it had a considerable psychological effect as, unlike bombing planes or the V1 Flying Bomb, which made a characteristic buzzing sound, the V-2 traveled faster than the speed of sound, with no warning before impact and no possibility of defense.


With the war all but lost, regardless of the factory output of conventional weapons, the Nazis resorted to V-weapons as a tenuous last hope to influence the war militarily (hence Antwerp as V-2 target), as an extension of their desire to "punish" their foes and most importantly to give hope to their supporters with their miracle weapon.[17]


The V-2 had no effect on the outcome of the war, but its value, despite its overall ineffectiveness, was in its novelty as a weapon which set the stage for the next 50 years of ballistic military rocketry, culminating with ICBMs during the Cold War and modern space exploration.


A submarine-towed launch platform was tested successfully, effectively making it the prototype for submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The project codename was Prüfstand XII ("Test stand XII"), sometimes called the rocket U-boat. If deployed, it would have allowed a U-boat to launch V-2 missiles against United States cities, though only with considerable effort (and likely limited effect).[38]


While interned after the war by the British at CSDIC camp 11 however, Dornberger was recorded as saying that he had begged the Führer to stop the V-weapon propaganda, because nothing more could be expected from just one ton of explosive. To this Hitler had replied that Dornberger might not expect more but he himself certainly did.
Hitler, in July 1944, and Speer, in January 1945, made speeches alluding to a campaign to have U-boats fire "robot" U-1 and U-2 bombs at the U.S.[39] Germany did not possess any capability to fulfill these threats, however. These schemes were met by the Americans with Operation Teardrop.


According to decrypted messages from the Japanese embassy in Germany, twelve dismantled V-2 rockets were shipped to Japan.[40] These left Bordeaux in August 1944 on the transport U-boats U-219 and U-195, which reached Djakarta in December 1944. A civilian V-2 expert was a passenger on U-234, bound for Japan in May 1945 when the war ended in Europe. The fate of these V-2 rockets is unknown.


Near the end of the war, German scientists were working on chemical and possibly biological weapons to use in the V-2 program. By this stage, the Germans had produced munitions containing nerve agents sarin, soman and tabun; however, they had never used any of them.

 

[Louis Badolato]

I sent 5 photos of the figure you needed, taken outside in natural sunlight on the same firebase diorama with one of the M113's next to it. I will resend the e-mail.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Did you get the photos this time?

 

[panda1gen]

Meanwhile, the Guards Armoured Division leads the run to link up at Arnhem, via the heroic 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions of the US Army.

Two shots of a Guards 105mm armed Sherman (K&C UK version)





The link takes you to a pdf of the 30 Corps order of Battle for 'Garden'.

http://www.2ndbn5thmar.com/history/BrXXXCorps440917.pdf

 

[Louis Badolato]

Kevin,

I just sent you 5 more e-mails, 3 photos to an e-mail. Let me know if you get them.

 

[panda1gen]

One of my favourite series is the K&C early Arnhem, and this is one of favourites of that series. The watercooled Vickers machine gun, defending the woods near Oosterboek



(The photo is nearly as old as the series!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arnhem_Map_1.jpg links to a map of the Arnhem battlefield.

For anyone who is interested in the Vickers machine gun, you probably can't do any better than this site http://www.vickersmachinegun.org.uk/

There is also..................

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_machine_gun

The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 inch (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six- to eight-man team to operate: one to fire, one to feed the ammunition, and the rest to help carry the weapon, its ammunition and spare parts.



It served from before the First World War until after the end of the Second World War.


The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg, in Weapons & War Machines, describes an action that took place in August, 1916, during which the British Army's 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns continuously for twelve hours. They fired a million rounds between them, using 100 new barrels, without a single breakdown. "It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one."[1]

 

[Cyber Field Marshall]

Meanwhile, the Guards Armoured Division leads the run to link up at Arnhem, via the heroic 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions of the US Army.

Two shots of a Guards 105mm armed Sherman (K&C UK version)

View attachment 43722

View attachment 43723

The link takes you to a pdf of the 30 Corps order of Battle for 'Garden'.

http://www.2ndbn5thmar.com/history/BrXXXCorps440917.pdf

This ongoing thread is my absolute favourite on TREEFROG. Really appreciate the history, pictures and collections. Keep up the terrific work. The DD065 Special Edition British Sherman pictured is still one of my absolute favourites after all these years and that's despite many new and improved pieces put out on the market.

 

[panda1gen]

This ongoing thread is my absolute favourite on TREEFROG. Really appreciate the history, pictures and collections. Keep up the terrific work. The DD065 Special Edition British Sherman pictured is still one of my absolute favourites after all these years and that's despite many new and improved pieces put out on the market.

Thanks,

I agree, hats off to K&CUK. I don't know if any of the limited edition are left over, but they are a superb buy and at today's amazing prices for a tank and three figures, were amazing value - I have two!

Some more pics and info...............





from http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/56014sherman/sherman_expl.htm


The History of the M4 Sherman 105mm Howitzer

Though the U.S. was decisively winning in the latter stages of WWII, there remained concern about the inferiority of the Sherman tank in firepower and armor protection to the German Tiger and Panther. It was said that the U.S. had matched the superior quality of the German tanks only by superior quantities of American tanks. And this was largely true.

The Sherman did not fare well in tank-to-tank slugging matches with their giant German counterparts-shells often harmlessly bounced off the thick German armor. Interestingly enough, before entering the war, the U.S. did develop some extremely heavy tanks, but later switched to lighter tanks for the following reasons.

The U.S. tanks had to be transported by ship from Detroit, across a vast ocean to land amphibiously on enemy shores. This reality placed great limitations on the size and weight of the tanks. Especially with the frequent U-boat sinkings, the number of U.S. ships was dropping, and the bigger the tank, the fewer a ship could carry.


Another factor that faced the U.S. was moving their armor over bridgeless streams. The U.S. Air Force was targeting enemy bridges as a means of disrupting enemy supply lines, etc. Once these bridges were destroyed, U.S. tanks would have to cross the streams on temporary bridges. Heavy tanks could not have crossed, but the lightweight and nimble Shermans could.


Also, while the Tiger and Panther were made bigger and more powerful than the Sherman was, they were comparatively slow and ponderous. The German tanks were often used as pill-boxes, forced to become immobile and fire at oncoming armor.



On the other hand, the Sherman was designed for deep thrusts into the enemy's rear, where it would destroy supply installations and communications. This demanded great speed and minimal fuel consumption.


But perhaps the greatest reason behind the success of the Sherman was its reliability-maximum performance and minimum care and replacement. General George Patten recognized this when he declared, "In mechanical endurance and ease of maintenance our tanks are infinitely superior to any other". This factor played out on the battlefield, allowing the Sherman to out-run, out-maneuver, and ultimately out-fight the Tiger and Panther.


With about 50,000 produced in all variations, the Sherman was the most widely produced tank during the war. The five major variants of the M4 to the M4A4 were designated by the hull and engine used. Although powerful and proven, its high center propeller shaft gave the hull a tall profile. Suspension was a rugged and simple design, known as VVSS (Vertical Volute Spring Suspension), with three units (or bogies) on each side, and each with two road wheels. The transmission was 5-speed forward plus reverse.



Early production M4's had a 3-piece front transmission cover, and a cast one-piece steel turret mounting a 75mm main gun. For added protection, oblique armor plates were added to the turret, hull sides and just in front of the forward hull hatches. Production of the M4 began in July 1942, five months later than the cast hulled M4A1.






One of the most powerful variants of the M4 Sherman was the 105mm howitzer equipped version, which provided valuable fire support for the U.S. Army and Marines as well as extensive use in anti-tank operations.




Specifications for M4 Sherman 105mm Howitzer
Overall length: 6.197m
Overall width: 2.67m
Overall height: 2.94m
Weight, Combat Loaded: 31.48t
Weight, Unstowed: 28.486t
Actual Thickness, Angle w/Vertical
Hull Thickness:
Front: 63mm/47 degrees
Sides: 38mm/0 degrees
Rear: 38mm/10 degrees
Top: 19mm/83-90 degrees
Turret Thickness:
Front: 76mm/30 degrees
Sides: 51mm/0-5 degrees
Rear: 51mm/0 degrees
Top: 25.4mm/90 degrees
Gun Shield: 91mm/0 degrees
Armament: M4 105mm howitzer (X1), M1919A4 7.62mm machine gun (X2), M2 12.7mm heavy machine gun (X1).
Ammunition: 66 rounds 105mm, 4,000 rounds 7.62mm, 600 rounds 12.7mm.
Engine: Continental R975-C4 9-cylinder 4-cycle radial air cooled (15,945cc displacement, 460hp/2,400rpm output)
Maximum speed: 38.6hm/h, Cruising Range: about 161km, Crew: 5

 

[wwiibuff]

Great thread here. Love looking at all the photos. Keep it going!

 

[panda1gen]

Great thread here. Love looking at all the photos. Keep it going!

Thanks, some Germans, fed by use of the ubiquitous (HB) horse drawn field kitchen, in sharp contrast to the more highly publicised armour in the background.





You may also find the following link of interest

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=152124



Panther A crews and panzer grenadiers will eat better tonight! (or maybe not)

 

[OzDigger]

You may also find the following link of interest

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=152124

Thanks for the link, I especially like the photo of the Horse pulling the Motorcycle Combo

Btw guys, the Honour Bound "Summer" Field Kitchen is still available and well worth the money.

 

[panda1gen]

Thanks for the link, I especially like the photo of the Horse pulling the Motorcycle Combo

Btw guys, the Honour Bound "Summer" Field Kitchen is still available and well worth the money.

Oz, good to 'hear' from you, miss some of our earlier 'chats', hope you are well.

Meanwhile.......................... f

German Horse Drawn Transport, from...............

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=121594

From an article by R. L. DiNardo and Austin Bay, entitle Horse-Drawn Transport in the German Army , from the Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 23, No. 1.

'by 1939, the German army possessed some 590,000 horses...[the German army] was still primarily dependent on horses, of which Poland was to supply the majority, to the tune of 4000 per week in April of 1940 [...]

The campaign [in the west] was also a major boon for the German army's horse situation, as access was now gained to the valuable horse-breeding areas of Holland, Belgium and Normandy [...]By June 1941, the army in the east had assembled some 625,000 horses. Of these, the single largest concentration was in the Fourth Army (twelve infantry and one security divisions), which by 13 June 1941 possessed some 130,000 horses, over 20 per cent of the total number.

Although the campaign [in the east] opened for the Germans with a series of brilliant successes, a number of problems were encountered. During advances in the hot Russian summer, German forces had to make frequent stops - some at great length - in order to water their horses. Worse problems were encountered with providing food, particularly in Army Groups North and Centre.

Hard fodder had to be shipped to units through the supply system, creating an additional burden on an already overstrained network.The horses most affected by the food shortage were the heavier western breeds, which were also unaccustomed to the Russian climate. The Russians had large numbers of horses, but these could not be used immediately.

The 'panje'* horses were hardy animals, but too light to pull the standard 105 mm artillery gun**. Also, the standard German horse-drawn vehicle was made of steel*** and was too heavy for the Russian horses. It was only after the Germans produced a lighter vehicle - or took Russian wagons - that Russian horses could be used cost-effectively [...]

The winter of 1941 produced the greatest crisis. Horse losses in Army Group Centre had reached about 1000 per day [...]

The standard German infantry division (1939 pattern) required anything from 4077 to 6033 horses to move. However, German divisions rarely had more than 150 horses in reserve. Moreover, German veterinary hospitals, which could handle from 500 (divisional veterinary company) to 550 (army hospital) horses, were swamped, often having to treat 2-3000 horses at one time.

Yet the Wehrmacht survived. Replacements and captured horses were sent to veterinary collecting stations for medical examination. Horses no longer fit for military service but able to work were evacuated and later sold to farmers. Those too weak to be evacuated were slaughtered for meat. Measures like these enabled the army to endure, even though the Germans lost a total of 180,000 horses during the winter of 1941.

For the fateful campaign of 1942, the German horse situation looked better. Over 200,000 horses were brought in from Germany and the occupied countries, although only about half of them had arrived at the front by May. Since the major offensive operations were to be conducted in the south, the divisions in Army Group South obtained the full complement of horses [...] by 1942 the Germans were using much lighter vehicles, or wooden carts, which allowed them to make use of the large number of Russian horses in occupied areas [...]

By 1 February 1945 the Wehrmacht was able to deploy some 1,198,724 horses [...] From 1940 to 1943, the German army requisitioned a total of 1,200,000 horses from Germany and the occupied territories (see the table I've posted below) [...]The total number of horses lost by Germany during the war was estimated at some 1,500,000.[...]

The Wehrmacht's reliance on horses was also deeply felt in European agriculture. The most immediate effect, of course, was on horse population. Equally obvious was the fact that those areas where campaigns were hardest-fought lost the most horses. The Soviet Union's horse population was decimated. From a total of 21,000,000 in 1940, by 1943 the number had fallen to a low of 7,800,000, a drop of almost two thirds. Of the 11,600,000 horses in occupied territory, some 7,000,000 were 'killed or taken away'.

In the west, the horse population in Belgium and the Netherlands fell as Germany's needs increased. In Belgium, the number of horses in agriculture fell from a pre-war 1929 high of 266,433 to a low in 1944 of 222,781 In the Netherlands, the total number of horses during the war actually increased, although the number of horses in agriculture declined considerably, from 326,000 in 1940 to 302,000 in 1944.











Some pitures of the HB field kitchens....................

 

[OzDigger]

HI Kevin, I'm fine thanks mate and have got back into collecting - and posting. Your thread is always entertaining and informative.

Btw, has anyone been game enough to cut the base off the Field Kitchen?

It teams strong enough to be self supporting but I'm interested in what other members with more hack and fill (modification) experience think.

 

[panda1gen]

HI Kevin, I'm fine thanks mate and have got back into collecting - and posting. Your thread is always entertaining and informative.

Btw, has anyone been game enough to cut the base off the Field Kitchen?

It teams strong enough to be self supporting but I'm interested in what other members with more hack and fill (modification) experience think.

Oz, I wouldn't try it with mine mate!



And now a news flash for UK Reb, you can't recreate Pickets charge with just four Rebs against 2500 Union soldiers! (cf Brits v Germans) So the bad news is that this interminable thread becomes even more so unless I just stop? Good to see you today Bob.

Meanwhile................the poor weather was creating havoc with the air support over the crucial first three days as many Allied airfields were covered in fog, yet German airfields were clearer and their planes could fly.

There was also an affect on resupply for 1st Airborne at Arnhem, who only had around 13% of necessary supplies, less so for the two US para divisions who received around 80%.

Fighter bombers such as FW190, Me110 and Me109 did their best to interfere with the resupply or strafe ground targets.

 

[panda1gen]

Dear UK Reb,

Your wish is my command , as I don't have even a platoon's worth of UK infantry and I don't think your offer of reb rienforcements would fit in too well, even in this interminable thread, here is the Cavalry you suggested and I promised,

US 82nd Reb Shotgun Cavalry 1944 style.....

 

[panda1gen]

On day one of Market Garden, the US 101st Airborne met relatively light resistance and captured four of five bridges.

Unfortunately however, the bridge at Son was blown up as they approached it, after being delayed by a short engagement with a German 88mm AA gun and a machine gun.





Later that day several small attacks by the German 59th Infantry Division (a 15th Army unit that had escaped across the South Beveland isthmus) were beaten off, while small units of the 101st had moved south of Son.

 

[panda1gen]

It took a while, but Guards Armoured finally got round to moving on towards Eindhoven and Nijmegen............