On day 4 I moved to the Island to take control of the Polish Paras. In view of this I will sum up what happened in Arnhem first and then cover the battle on the Island.
The end of day 3 saw the Airborne troops move back into Arnhem and completely give up the ground around the railway line.
All the Allied artillery had been moved into Arnhem and all the buildings on the western edge had been occupied and reinforced for defence.
The streets are crammed with jeeps of every kind.
The two central rows of houses are still held by the Airborne, but the house in the top left corner is still held by the Germans.
to the north the station and the next row of houses is held by the Airborne. Only worry here is the row can be attacked from two directions.
The German armour had been forced to move back deeper into Arnhem.
The river road is still heavily defended with German armour.
The German forces in the west were up to the railway line and preparing for a major attack.
The British airborne has dug n some A/T guns to cover the railway cutting. All was set up for a major action here.
The Germans in Arnhem started to counter attack, but found it hard going, even with the help of Tiger tanks. With the action on the Island to the south, forces were collecting on the bridge to counter any break through.
The counter attack on the river road suffers heavily and by the end of day 4 makes no headway.
They do recapture the row of housed at the top of the picture.
But the two main rows of buildings are still strongly held by the British Airborne.
Day 4 The Island.
Move one see an old fashioned Rf para drop with pieces of paper. No losses.
the Wessex Division come well prepared with a number of DUKWs
The lead elements quickly capture Lent.
The Polish paras shake out into units and make a move on the main road to Arnhem.
The supporting elements of the Wessex division arrive.
The German force on the island is a bit of a hotch botch of what every they could send forward. They are well out numbered by the Allied effort.
The Polish paras throw caution to the wind and rush across the open ground towards the road.
The Wessex division main effort is to join with the paras and push up the main road. They attack around the village of Elst.
The Germans are throwing everything at the paras, but they barely break stride as they rush for the road.
With time called the combined attack has cleared the German forces around the road, but no time is left to exit to the north. Given the planned for extra hour they would have made it. However both sides had added to the delays yesterday and so we ended a Bridge Too Far.
To the south Panzer Brigade 107 had arrived, but was not getting anywhere very fast.
It had been an incredible week end of wargaming. The numbers and quality of the troops on display was outstanding.
No one had had time to move from their tables and see what was happening n the other tables. Everyone's view was very much a person thing.
We are going to try to re-fight the separate tables with the group here in the south west, but that will entail a great deal of work.
Hope you enjoyed the write, sorry I could not add detail from he other tables.
Thanks for looking
Don
