Building the Arnhem Bridge Perimeter - Part Five - The Germans

Part One

Part Two 

Part Three

Part Four

The main German units that attacked the British bridgehead over the four days of the battle can be identified as following

KG Graebner, - SS Panzer-Aufklarungs-Abteilung 9 (9th SS)

KG Brinkman, - SS Panzer-Aufklarungs-Abteilung 10 (10th SS)

KG Euling, - SS-Btl. Euling, based around I/SS-Pz-Gr Regt 22 (10th SS)

KG Knaust, Pz-Gr Training and Replacement Btl.64 

Ko.Mielke, Training and Replacement Abt. 11 - subordinate to KG Knaust

PzGr Regt 21, 10thSS

schwere Pz-Ko. Hummel

I'll cover these units in more detail in subsequent posts, but the forces facing the British ranged from dismounted Panzergrenadiers and light armoured vehicles (Sd.Kfz. 250 and Sd.Kfz. 251) through to Panzer III and IV tanks and the formidable Tiger I.

Alongside this project, I've also been working on building and painting a Panzergrenadier platoon, as I currently only have a standard infantry platoon for gaming. I'd already decided to paint these figures in a camouflage scheme based on the 1944 Erbsenmuster (Pea Dot) Herringbone uniform. As this uniform had a similar cut to the standard M43 feldgrau uniform, I am able to use figures from the standard Peter Pig range.

Painting the figures this way gives me plenty of variety within the platoon, with some wearing full camouflage suits, others in standard feldgrau, and a few sporting a mix of the two and means I can use them for Arnhem.

I'd originally started basing these figures to match my usual rural terrain style, but I've since experimented with giving them a more urban feel. Ideally, I'd like to use the platoon in both urban and rural settings, so the finished bases are intended to strike a balance between the two, blending elements of each to create a versatile look.