Battle for Arnhem.... (2 Viewers)

[panda1gen]

VIII Corps held ground to the east of the highway and with the Grenadier Guards operating to the west of it, the road was never again cut in significant strength.

Nevertheless, the Germans had not gone away and still took every opportunity to raid and disrupt Allied traffic on the road.






Private Rex Wingfield of 1/6 Queens wrote of one of these raids:

‘The rest of us mounted on Cromwells turned back to clear the roads.




We soon found the targets of last night’s firing - ten gutted RASC lorries, one blasted to fragments. That had been the ammo truck. Two hundred yards further down the road was a roadblock of logs.

… A clatter of tracer bounced and sang off the tank as a spandau opened fire from the roadblock.



Cordite fumes blasted from our tank gun into our faces. A six-pounder shell hit right in the middle of the logs. The beams sailed upwards. A fieldgrey rag doll jerked high into the air.

We burst through, firing Stens and heaving grenades into the smoking roadblock …




Each morning we had to clear the roads in front and behind before we could move on.’

 

[panda1gen]

 

[panda1gen]

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


EFFECT OF THE CLOSURE OF CLUB ROUTE (HELL’S HIGHWAY) BY ENEMY ACTION

‘The line of communication must be certain and well established for every army that acts from a distant base. If it is not careful to keep this line perfectly open, it marches upon a precipice. It moves to certain ruin if the road by which provisions, ammunition and reinforcements are to be brought up is not entirely secured.’

Raimundo Montecuccoli (1609 - 80)

Memoroe della guerra ed instruzione d’un general (Venice 1703)

Tim Saunders ......

Much of the criticism of XXX Corps during MARKET GARDEN is based on a lack of understanding of the impact of a cut in an armoured or mechanised formation’s lines of communication.




Also, airborne forces are expected to conduct most of their operations behind enemy lines and are therefore familiar with the idea of being ‘cut off’ and sustained for short periods by air.




Many of XXX Corps’ critics have failed to appreciate the quantity of combat supplies required by a Corps conducting offensive operations. By the time the spearhead of XXX Corps had reached Nijmegen, its logistic vehicles were operating at distances of seventy miles from their combat supplies Distribution Points, located between the Albert and Escaut Canals.




The round trip of one hundred and forty miles was complicated not only by the cuts but also by the need to close the route to returning traffic, in favour of urgently needed formations moving forward.




XXX Corps was operating on a single ‘Centre Line’ or axis and was, therefore, extremely vulnerable to enemy action.



Traffic prioritization was not good, but the problem was exacerbated by the need to get the ‘Sea Tail’ (the supply vehicles) of the three airborne divisions forward as a priority.

 

[panda1gen]

Ref: Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden

Hell’s Highway - By Tim Saunders


ORDERS OF BATTLE

GUARDS ARMOURED DIVISION

The Guards Armoured Division had, by September 1944, departed from its official ORBAT (Order of Battle) to form, uniquely, regimental groups of armour and infantry that habitually fought together.

This closeness and cooperation between armoured and infantry units was unusual at the time, but brought many benefits to both arms.




HQ GUARDS ARMOURED DIVISION

Guards Armoured Division Signal Regiment.


HQ 5th GUARDS ARMOURED BRIGADE (‘Group Hot’)

1st (Motorized) Battalion, The Grenadier Guards. 2nd (Armoured) Battalion, The Grenadier Guards.

1st (Armoured) Battalion, The Coldstream Guards. 5th Battalion the Coldstream Guards.

55th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.



14th Field Squadron Royal Engineers.


HQ 32nd GUARDS ARMOURED BRIGADE (‘Group Cold’)

2nd (Armoured) Battalion, The Irish Guards. 3rd Battalion, The Irish Guards.

1st Battalion, The Welsh Guards, 2nd (Armoured Recconnisance) Battalion, The Welsh Guards.

153rd (Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field Regiment Royal Artillery.

615th Field Squadron Royal Engineers.


GUARDS ARMOURED DIVISIONAL TROOPS

HQ 21st Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery

HQ 94th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery

HQ Guards Armoured Division Engineer Regiment, Field Park Company.

11th Bridging Troop RE.

Divisional Postal Unit.

Number 1 Independent Machinegun Company, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.




Royal Army Service Corps, HQ Guards Armoured Division RASC Battalion, Tank Delivery Squadron.




Royal Army Medical Corps, 19th Light Field Ambulance, 128th Field Ambulance and Field Hygiene Section.




Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Guards Armoured Division Ordnance Field Park, Company RAOC and Mobile Bath Unit.

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 5th Guards Armoured Brigade

Workshop, 32nd Guards Armoured Brigade Workshop.

Military Police, Guards Armoured Division Company, Royal Corps of Military Police.

Intelligence Corps Field Security Section


231st (MALTA) INFANTRY BRIGADE

2nd Battalion, The Devonshire Regiment.

1st Battalion, The Dorsetshire Regiment.

1st Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment.

90th Field Regiment Royal Artillery.


DETACHMENT 4th ARMOURED BRIGADE

44th Royal Tank Regiment (to 101st Airborne Division)


DETACHMENT 11th ARMOURED DIVISION

5th / 19th Hussars (to 231 Brigade and subsequently to 101st Airborne Division)


101st US AIRBORNE DIVISION HEADQUARTERS 101ST US AIRBORNE DIVISION

101st Signal Company and 101st Headquarter Company


501st PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT

1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment.

2nd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment.

3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment


502nd PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT

1st Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment.

2nd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment.

3rd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment.


506th PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT

1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.


327th GLIDER INFANTRY REGIMENT

1st Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment.

2nd Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment.

1st Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment.


DIVISIONAL TROOPS

101st Parachute Maintenance Battalion.

326th Airborne Engineer Battalion.

326th Airborne Medical Company, Attached Field Hospital.

81st Airborne Anti-aircraft and Anti-tank Battalion

321st Glider Field Artillery Battalion

377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion

907th Glider Field Artillery Battalion

801st Ordnance Company

426th Quartermaster Company

397th Quartermaster Truck Company

101st Military Police Platoon

101st Reconnaissance Platoon

 

[Louis Badolato]

I thought you might like to see a little old school cooperation between 30 Corps and the paras: