Battle for Arnhem.... (1 Viewer)

[panda1gen]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden
Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders

News of the cut to the highway reached 501 PIR by 14.30 hours ....




.... but it was later in the afternoon that word of the cut in the vital Corridor reached Lieutenant General Horrocks.




He was at Malden, on the outskirts of Nijmegen.

General Horrocks:

‘The 22nd was a bad day for me. I had witnessed the failure of 214 Brigade [43rd Division on The Island], and no advance had been made anywhere on XXX Corps front.

I arrived at my headquarters to be told by my BGS [Brigadier General Staff] that contact had now been made at last with 1st Airborne …. their situation could hardly have been worse.

While I was pondering over this information, my BGS returned to say that once more, a German armoured formation had succeeded in cutting our road to the rear.

There was only one thing for it – I ordered the 32nd Guards Brigade to turn back and open the road by attacking from the north.’

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden
Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders

That evening XXX Corps’s AQ War Diary recorded.

‘Enemy succeeded in cutting Corps L of C in area VEGHEL 4838, resulting in complete hold up of all movement’.




At a time when it was vital that attention and resources needed to be concentrated on reaching Arnhem, by 17.30 hours, 32 Guards Brigade (with the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards Groups under its command), were instead moving back south down Hell’s Highway.




A Squadron 2/HCR was also recalled from a task on the flanks and ordered to support 32 Guards Brigade.




The Grenadiers Group were led by a troop of No. 1 Squadron’s Shermans and accompanied by a platoon of infantry from No. 4 Company. They started to move south.




The divisional historian recorded that,

‘The Group’s journey to Uden was eventful only by reason of the little clusters of Dutch people who congregated in the villages to watch the tanks go by, obviously believing that the liberation had come to an untimely end’.

The historian continues:

‘Uden was a strange sight. American paratroopers had set up headquarters in the school and a small Stars and Stripes fluttered from the window. RASC lorries, which had been hurrying back to collect more supplies, were parked in every street.

Staff officers sat mournfully in their cars, waiting to take reports from the front line to their generals.





If they had been passengers on a Tube [underground or metro railway] stuck between two stations, this odd assortment of stragglers from the British and American Armies could not have looked more annoyed.’

 

[OzDigger]

Hi Kevin, I always enjoy seeing the latest update from Arnhem, please keep these coming.

The K & C Panzer Meyer Command Halftrack Special Edition set remains a favourite of mine, 6 Figures and the camo vehicle, would cost a fortune if issued now {eek3} ^&grin

 

[panda1gen]

Hi Kevin, I always enjoy seeing the latest update from Arnhem, please keep these coming.

The K & C Panzer Meyer Command Halftrack Special Edition set remains a favourite of mine, 6 Figures and the camo vehicle, would cost a fortune if issued now {eek3} ^&grin

Hi Matt

Thanks for your kind comment, it is appreciated.

Whilst I can, I do plan to continue this 'interminable thread', one has to do something eh?
I also like this set and I agree that a new version of this would probably be very expensive. {eek3}:redface2:{sm2} Glad I bought when I did.

All the best

Kevin

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders

As they passed through Uden, the northern enemy positions were confirmed when the Grenadiers lost a scout car to a Panzerfaust at a level crossing.




However, as darkness descended, little could be achieved beyond reconnaissance and preparation of a hasty defence in order to prevent the enemy moving north.




Captain the Honourable Willoughby’s company of Coldstream Guards were operating with a troop of tanks to the east of Hell’s Highway when they had a success.






They located a vast German ration store at Oss which contained over a million man days of rations.



Although the cutting of the highway meant XXX Corps may have been starved of ammunition, fuel and engineer stores, they did not go hungry, although many complained about the issue of black bread and Wurst. Many unit records mention the phlegmatic Dutch store keeper at Oss.

According to XXX Corps historian:

‘He was a pleasant old man, only too willing to issue the supplies to anyone who was willing to sign for them … the quartermasters were drawing their needs and signing with pleasure. But it came as a shock to one QM, who, as he was signing, noticed that the signature previous to his own was that of a German Captain. The ancient custodian cheerfully agreed that this was correct, and thereafter his staff was increased by a party of Tommies.’

Others recall tacit agreements where the British drew rations from one end of the massive depot while the Germans drew theirs from the opposite end!

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders

The American Reaction

Overnight on the 21/22 September, 101st Airborne Division’s intelligence officers were nervously assessing the significance of reports from the Dutch Underground.

German forces were massing to the east ....




.... and west of the Corridor.




It seemed likely that the enemy attack would strike the undefended portion of Hell’s Highway north of Veghel, so plans were made for 506 PIR to move up to Uden as soon as they were relieved in Eindhoven. The intelligence of the imminent attack advanced the timing of the move. A mixture of units, based on the Regimental Headquarters, moved off just before 10.00 hours under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Chase:




‘Riding trucks and every other kind of vehicle that could be got, the advance party managed to get to Uden by 11.00. Right after it passed, the Germans cut the road north of Veghel, and it was isolated [from the remainder of the Division] until 1700 the next day.’

107 Panzer Brigade managed to prevent all but a few members of 506 PIR from reaching Uden.




Colonel Chase and a hundred and fifty men took up positions in the deserted town.

He recalled,

‘Had the Germans realized that my force consisted only of Regimental Headquarters Company and a platoon from the 2nd Battalion, the Germans might have overwhelmed us.’




The divisional historian recorded how the panzer grenadiers probed his defences:

‘It was touch and go all the time, but Colonel Chase made masterful use of his meagre forces, rushing them back and forth across town, firing, creating an impression of strength. And the Germans never went all out against them.’

On balance however, the German force facing Uden was only a flank protection detachment, designed to prevent the Allies from the north interfering with 107 Panzer Brigade’s main thrust against Veghel.

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders

To the south, 1st and 3/501 PIR were still attempting their envelopment movements around Schijndel .....

..... and 2/501 PIR was holding Veghel.




Private First Class Cartledge recalled how his patrol on Hell’s Highway:

‘… was walking down the road from our outpost to four [British] trucks ......



..... with 40mm anti-aircraft guns behind and the men had stopped for tea.



I explained that we five men were the only Americans within a half-mile or so, and the enemy could see them from the distance. The British [Artillery] captain told this American private how presumptuous I was to tell him what to do. Frank “Chief” Sayers laughed … and said, “Well you told him.” …

In about ten minutes, all hell broke loose and we helped evacuate the bodies and the wounded much later. The trucks and guns burned all that afternoon.’

Meanwhile, on the eastern outskirts of Veghel the approach of forty Panthers provoked hurried reinforcement to meet the enemy.

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders


For a time, the paratroopers were on their own facing the enemy.






Private Derber recalled:




‘We pulled out of our positions and forced marched across town to meet them …

a German machine gun opened up on us and I saw the tracers coming at us and hitting the dirt not 15 feet away. I hit the dirt too and tried to locate the enemy so I could take him out with my .03 rifle with a grenade launcher and five rifle grenades.

… A few riflemen came to join us and formed a Line of Resistance and a German tank appeared in the far corner of the field. My assistant gunner manned the LMG [light machine gun] while I prepared to use my grenade launcher on the tank.

A burst from a BAR to my right caused the tank commander to button up and a nearby rifleman was lobbing rifle grenades at the tank so I saved mine.’




SS-Obersturmführer Damske was on the receiving end of the fire:




‘Further progress through this marshy terrain was not possible. Moreover, the engineers and panzer-grenadiers came under well-aimed rifle fire delivered by the American paratroopers and were not able to take a further step forward.’

With their accompanying riflemen pinned down by the paratroopers, the panzers were unable to press home their attack.

 

[panda1gen]

Meanwhile heavier Allied reinforcements started to arrive.

Brigadier General Higgins recorded:

‘Battery B, 81/Anti-Tank Battalion arrived and went into action on the highway and immediately destroyed a Mark V tank leading the attack.






The 2nd Battalion 506th took position on the left of the 2nd Battalion 501st, with 3rd Battalion 327th Glider Infantry on its left.

 

[panda1gen]

With assistance of the British artillery gathered from the highway, the attack from Erp was repulsed by dark.’

 

[Louis Badolato]

As usual, just wonderfully designed and photographed scenes, Kevin!:salute::

 

[OzDigger]

Great scenes Kevin, wish I had got that 5.5 " gun, maybe someone will redo it with some Aussie crew...one day ^&cool

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Great shots as always, love the quad and limber. Setting is awesome!

 

[panda1gen]

As usual, just wonderfully designed and photographed scenes, Kevin!:salute::

Great scenes Kevin, wish I had got that 5.5 " gun, maybe someone will redo it with some Aussie crew...one day ^&cool

Great shots as always, love the quad and limber. Setting is awesome!

Thanks Guys.


Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden
Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders

This account omits that C Squadron 44/RTR speedily redeployed from Schindel. They played a significant part in helping the lightly armed paratroopers halt the attack, within sight of the Veghel bridges.




Rocket-firing RAF Typhoons also assisted.




SS-Obersturmführer Damske recalled the intervention of the Allied fire support, particularly the artillery:

‘… the English then fired a protective barrage out of all available barrels, including smoke, particularly in Richter’s sector.




At the same time the attack [by 107 Panzer Brigade] along the main road ....




..... stalled against formidable tank units.’

 

[sfarrelly]

Hi Matt,

Clive from Grey Goose has a couple of those Figarti Matador + 5.5" guns painted in desert camo by the factory. in his personal collection. I agree I wish someone would do some...

Cheers,

Stefan

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders

According to SS-Obersturmführer Damaske ....

...... with the Allied strength building, SS-Hauptsturmführer Richter, ‘changed his attack plan, which he now felt to be totally impractical. He decided that fire now had to be opened from the flank against the [Allied] armoured forces moving on the Veghel road. The canal bridge came under fire from the Sturmgeschütz [tracked assault guns] from the line we had reached.’


Extremely rare early K&C wooden Stugs


Richter had currently succeeded in cutting Hell’s Highway by fire. However, they were to fail in their primary aim of capturing and blowing the Veghel bridges, instead halted themselves by Allied firepower. 107 Panzer Brigade were deployed astride the road, and now would attempt to take Veghel by attacking south down the road through Mariaheide.




Meanwhile, Brigadier General McAuliffe arrived in Veghel to find a new location for divisional HQ and was tasked by General Taylor to take responsibility of coordinating the town’s defence and reopening Hell’s Highway. He disposed his troops in a defence in depth but by last light, Veghel was still the scene of bitter fighting.




Rare early glossy K&C paras


Sergeant Taylor of Company F, 2/506 PIR wrote: ‘During the night we could hear tanks moving around in front of us and we told our people not to open fire unless they had to. We decided to move a machine gun out there in the middle of the night, as I crawled up through some bushes, I put my hand on someone’s leg and sort of froze momentarily. I knew he was alive, whoever it was, and in a second I heard someone say in a British voice,

“Are you American or German?”

There were two British soldiers who had been hiding in the ditch since that episode that afternoon and they were pretty shook up and scared.’

 

[Terp152]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders

According to SS-Obersturmführer Damaske ....

...... with the Allied strength building, SS-Hauptsturmführer Richter, ‘changed his attack plan, which he now felt to be totally impractical. He decided that fire now had to be opened from the flank against the [Allied] armoured forces moving on the Veghel road. The canal bridge came under fire from the Sturmgeschütz [tracked assault guns] from the line we had reached.’

View attachment 304848
Extremely rare early K&C wooden Stugs



Richter had currently succeeded in cutting Hell’s Highway by fire. However, they were to fail in their primary aim of capturing and blowing the Veghel bridges, instead halted themselves by Allied firepower. 107 Panzer Brigade were deployed astride the road, and now would attempt to take Veghel by attacking south down the road through Mariaheide.

View attachment 304849


Meanwhile, Brigadier General McAuliffe arrived in Veghel to find a new location for divisional HQ and was tasked by General Taylor to take responsibility of coordinating the town’s defence and reopening Hell’s Highway. He disposed his troops in a defence in depth but by last light, Veghel was still the scene of bitter fighting.

View attachment 304850

View attachment 304852
Rare early glossy K&C paras


Sergeant Taylor of Company F, 2/506 PIR wrote: ‘During the night we could hear tanks moving around in front of us and we told our people not to open fire unless they had to. We decided to move a machine gun out there in the middle of the night, as I crawled up through some bushes, I put my hand on someone’s leg and sort of froze momentarily. I knew he was alive, whoever it was, and in a second I heard someone say in a British voice,

“Are you American or German?”

There were two British soldiers who had been hiding in the ditch since that episode that afternoon and they were pretty shook up and scared.’

View attachment 304851

As always Kevin, a most engrossing diodrama scene. Chris

 

[panda1gen]

As always Kevin, a most engrossing diodrama scene. Chris

Thank you Chris.

Meanwhile ......

Elsewhere in the town, General McAulliffe ordered XXX Corps’ 3.7 and 4.5-inch anti-aircraft crews back to their guns in an unfamiliar anti-tank role.




Much to the Gunners’ surprise, their guns, which had almost exactly the same characteristics as the German 88mm, were extremely successful. As a result, this AA Regiment ended the war with more tank than aircraft kills! On the few occasions, normally in extremis, when the British used their anti-aircraft guns against tanks the results were promising but there was no move to mount these guns in tanks or tank destroyers ......

....... as the 17 pounder gun was already proving effective.




After dark, Private Zimmerman was given a message to send from the Division’s forward Command Post over his SRC499 radio set to XXX Corps:

‘to get help from the “Desert Rats” [7th British Armoured Division].




The reception was bad. Two people came to check to see if the message got through. I had so much trouble, I told one of them to be quiet. It turned out to be General McAuliffe! If I hadn’t gotten through, I guess my tail would have been mud. The general understood and thanked me.’

As the Americans struggled to defend the vital Veghel bridges, small parties of Germans closed in to the town from the south and west, almost surrounding the town. Amongst these forces were 59th Division’s Kampfgruppe Huber with the Fallschirmjäger of Oberstleutnant Von der Hydte’s 6 Fallschirmjäger Regiment.




Their attack from the west, at one point, came dangerously close to the railway bridges. However, Huber’s force was now virtually surrounded and destroyed, as American paratroopers from across the division moved towards Veghel.

SS Obersturmführer Damaske summed up the situation after Kampfgruppe Richter’s final assault on Veghel:

‘This attack also broke apart under the heaviest artillery fire we had experienced since Eterville and Hill 112 in northern France, a superiority of material we could not match.




Even during darkness and long after the attack had come to a halt, our positions were hammered without pause by artillery, which had no regard for ammunition expenditure rates. While this was going on, the infantry in the first company who had been set in defence were reduced to getting a few belts of machine gun ammunition passed on from the panzer crews, in order to carry on fighting.’

 

[panda1gen]

While the SS infantry and the well protected Panthers stood their ground,

Extremely rare early wooden K&C panther.


some of Oberst Walther’s Wehrmacht troops began to withdraw ....




Damaske continued,

‘The situation is confused. The armoured Engineer Company has broken off the action and some of its half-tracks are driving eastwards; they could not be pressured into remaining any longer’.





The situation was not looking hopeful for the Germans but every hour they blocked Hell’s Highway, vital supplies were denied to the Allied divisions fighting to the north.

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders

The advance of VIII British Corps to the east of Hell’s Highway threatened the left flank of Kampfgruppe Walther.

Despite this however, the Germans renewed their attack at dawn on 23 September, but this time from the west. Oberstleutnant von der Heydte’s inexperienced and mainly young soldiers of 6 Fallschirmjäger Regiment were now fully concentrated and prepared to renew the battle. However, in his opinion,

‘the training and combat experience of the troops were inadequate to meet the requirements of such an attack’.




Still missing promised SS Infantry and assault guns, von der Heydte admitted that he,

‘went about the execution of the task given to my regiment with little hope of success’.

None the less, his action delayed the American counter-attack to reopen the highway, for additional precious hours. Supported by heavy mortar fire, 6 Fallschirmjäger Regiment’s attack fell on 2/501 to the south of Veghel. With only the hastiest reconnaissance and the briefest of orders the footsore Fallschirmjäger advanced through an area of scrub and one of the two battalions emerged onto an open area where there was,

‘hardly any cover’.




Oberstleutnant von der Hydte was forward with one of his battalions and realized that,

‘the attack was hopelessly stalled, and that it would be impossible to seize and retain Eerde, much less the Veghel Bridge, with the force already committed’.

He called back a battalion that had become disorientated in the scrubby terrain and by 12.00 hours the Fallschirmjäger were digging-in.

However, by 13.00 hours, the missing 9th SS (Hohenstaufen) Panzer Division’s battalion of infantry (under SS-Hauptsturmführer Segler) .....

Rare early K&C glossy WS series.


.... and Obersturmführer Roestel’s dozen assault guns had arrived and so the attack was renewed.

Rare early K&C wooden StuG.


Nevertheless, 1/501 PIR’s defences were well organized and supported by both XXX Corps and 101st Divisions’ artillery, so the SS attack soon ground to a halt.