Einsatz Arnheim - Book Review

I looked at purchasing this book when it first come out in December 2024, but was put off somewhat by the price, however after a recommendation from Peter Anthony on the CoC Facebook page I took the plunge last week and ordered the book direct from Marcel at https://www.einsatz-arnheim.com. I placed my order on the 14th September and received it here in the UK a week later on the 21st.

Einsatz Arnheim
Marcel Zwarts

MZS Publishing
ISBN: 987-90-834813-0-2

This is a might tome of 536 pages in a sturdy hardback cover.  Its sub title is "German Armoured Units and their Opponents at Arnhem and Oosterbeek, September 1944" which describes exactly what the book covers. The book is split into four chapters, and includes appendices A-H.

Chapter One - Armoured Units

This chapter covers the overall situation in the Netherlands on the eve of Market Garden, and details each of the armoured units that would be involved. Those familiar with Marcel's previous book "German Armoured Units at Arnhem: September 1944" will recognise the pictorial organisation charts detailing the vehicles and guns available for the various units. 

please note images are of low quality to protect copy write.

Chapter Two - Rückmarsch

This covers the withdrawal of 9th and 10th SS-Panzer Divisions from France during the period 21st August 1944 though to the eve of Market Garden on 16th September providing context for the state of these units at the start of the operation.

Chapter Three - The Battle

This is the largest chapter in the book and provides a day by day breakdown of the actions as the Germans react to the British Airborne units attempt to reach, hold and reinforce the bridgehead at the Arnhem Road bridge from 17th September until the bridgehead is eliminated on the 20th.

Chapter Four - Hexenkessel

Covering the period 21st September until the 26th this chapter details the operations of the German armoured units and the British and Polish defence in the Oosterbeek area as the perimeter is squeezed and eventually collapses when the Allied forces withdraw to the south bank of the Rhine. 

There are then a further eight appendices with these covering among other things German armoured vehicle and Allied anti tank-gun loses, and a detailed look at the composition of Gräbner's SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 9.

It is immediately apparent on turning the pages that this was a labour of love for the author and that he has attempted to provide the definitive book on the actions of the German armoured units in the Arnhem and Oosterbeek areas, and of the British and Poles in opposition. In my opinion he has been wildly successful in this regard. 

The book has over 500 high quality photos, many of which I had not seen before, and these are often crossed referenced to the detailed maps included and descriptions of key events. There are 55 maps and numerous diagrams detailing TOE and unit composition particularly from the German perspective.

The main reason for my purchasing the book was to assist with my Arnhem Bridge Perimeter project and it has already answered a great many queries I had in this regard despite not yet having fully read it. The aerial photos of the bridge area are of such high resolution that I can make out individual building details and pre-war photos are also included of the bridge area showing specific key buildings and locations. Exactly what I was hoping for. 

Pairing this book with the redoubtable "Arnhem 1944 - The Airborne Battle" by Martin Middlebrook provides a very comprehensive overview and in many cases minutely detailed view of the actions in and around the landing and drop zones, Arnhem and Oosterbeek.

I would thoroughly recommend this book if the wallet allows. While it is not cheap I do believe its contents are of such quality that its does provide great value for the money if you have an interest in the events of September 1944. 

Einsatz Arnheim video

Building the Arnhem Bridge Perimeter - Part Two - The Bridge Ramp

 Part One 

The printer continues whirring away printing perimeter buildings, which leaves me time to consider how to build the bridge embankment and ramp. I will not be able to fit the entire length of the ramp on the table, but will fit in the most important part including the Van Limburg Strum School. Given the ramp takes the road from street level up onto the bridge I have been busy calculating the road height at different distances along the ramp. In order to fit things in while keeping the overall look of the bridge approach I have decided that the grass embankment will have an incline of 2.5 degrees, while the bridge itself (up to the centre) has an incline of 1 degree. Setting these allows me to ensure the road and flanking building heights are correct in relation to each other, and that I have a guide for building the embankment and its various slopes. 

If my calculations are correct the road surface is 60mm above the table top at the point where the steps up from the underpass meet the road, and is 25mm above the table top as it leaves the board edge at the north end. Establishing these height has allowed me to model the steps and and basic underpass, which in turn has allowed me to start understanding the shape of the embankment in this area. I plan to build the bank itself from layers of 5mm foam sheeting I have sitting in the garage.

I have an ancient copy of Lightwave 3D which allows me to build basic 3d models which I can then convert to STL files and print. Building the steps in Lightwave was an easy way to understand their shape and space that they occupy. The step model is 65mm high at the southern end of the underpass, that being its highest point and 60.014mm at the steps themselve. The steps are 510mm wide when mirrored on both sides of the road which I have set at 150mm wide. This is a little narrower than it should be at 1:100 but is a concession I have made to fit everything in that I want on the map. In rough terms this means the ramp and flanking steps are 20 inches wide, leaving me 28 inches of table width at that point to play around with - perfect !

I need to refine the underpass further, but am happy that I am close to getting the design finalised and that the heights are established and are correct with regard to the buildings that will flank it.

Down the Rabbit Hole - Arnhem style

For the Arnhem Bridge Project I'm busy listing and investigating details pertinent to the project. Most of which are proving I am deep down the Rabbit Hole and only getting deeper.

One

The road bridge appears to have two different and distinct handrails/barriers along the the bridge edge.

Those edging the bridge proper appear to be made from steel/iron while those that run along the the top of the underpass appear to have a concrete base panel with steel/iron rails at the top.

I have simplified the designs a little to assist with printing and to ensure the are robust when gaming but now have models of both types. 

Two

The Kickstarter that provided the bulk of the buildings and the bridge also includes a tram model, which if I can successfully print will be a great piece of table scatter. When asking Google "what colour were the trams in Arnhem in 1944" I got the answer that the trams were originally painted beige (1911) and repainted in 1931 to a yellow ochre and black scheme that was still in use in 1944 when the battle in the town effectively destroyed the tram system.

This scheme contrasts with the cream and green NBM Company scheme used by the trams in Oosterbeek which is perhaps better known, in part due to the famous photo of tram #77 

I have however also seen references to the trams being blue, or having blue trim, with the cream and green trams being leased by Arnhem but coming from elsewhere. I have also seen photos of what appear to be beige or cream trams cited as being in the Arnhem area. 

So for the moment I'll go for the yellow ochre and black livery until such time  as someone tells me differently.

Building the Arnhem Bridge Perimeter - Part One

The Ambition

This is an ambitious project, and so will take a while to come to fruition, but the plan is to build the British Perimeter at the Arnhem Road Bridge in 15mm. ( or that part of it that will fit on a 6 x 4 table). A Kickstarter earlier this year provided most of the building files, albeit some need quite a lot of work to print correctly.

I was twelve when "A Bridge Too Far" was released at the cinema, and immediately become fascinated with Operation Market Garden, even if at that age I didn't really understand much of what had happened. Over time I slowly built a collection of books covering predominantly the actions of  the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem, Oosterbeek and the surrounding areas.  In 2012/13 I worked on the Market Garden module for the Combat Mission computer game (as an unpaid volunteer) and designed and built maps covering the Arnhem Road Bridge, the entire Oosterbeek Perimeter as well as the Johanna Hoeve and Dreijenseweg area for the game. 

Oosterbeek in the Combat Mission editor and in game

During this time I gathered further resources from the web and so am now very excited with the, hopefully, imminent release of the Market Garden Handbook for CoC given this is ground I have looked at in detail before.

The Arnhem Road Bridge perimeter is well known by anybody with a passing interest in the subject, but only existed from about 20.00hrs on Sunday 17th September 1944, when the first British units arrived there, until late evening on Wednesday 20th September when British resistance at the bridge effectively ended. The last armed resistance is quoted as having ended at 05.00hrs on the Thursday morning - three days and nine hours after the first men had arrived at the bridge. (Middlebrook, 1994)

There are a great many drawings and photos of the bridge area but this video I found a little while ago gives a great sense of the layout and will help greatly with the project although it covers an area larger than I will be able to do.

3 minute video - Arnhem Bridge Perimeter by Secander Raisani

I could not find the original source for this map, but it is watermarked Gelders Archief and looks to show the maximum extent of the perimeter

Using Google Maps to establish a ground scale I was able to establish an area that can be covered using a 6' x 4' table and overlaid this on the map from Middlebrook. Scale is approximately 1/100

The red box and green boxes are both 6 x 4, with the green being the area I intend to actually cover although I will have to tinker with edges somewhat.

To date I have printed the bridge support, towers and staircases together with all the buildings immediately to the east and west of the overpass and this has allowed me to establish the ramp dimensions and its fit on the table. The only real disappointment is that the iconic girder arch will not actually feature on the table as this falls outside of the area I can cover.

Next up is to get the Van Limburg Stirum School printed (building no 26 on the map above) so I can start work out how to create the road ramp and surrounding area.

I have no idea how this table can, when complete, be played in CoC, but that's a problem for another day.

Part Two

 Reference

Middlebrook, M. (1994) Arnhem 1944 - The Airborne Battle. 17-26 September.

British Airborne Heavy Support - Market Garden

 

With the release of the Market Garden Handbook hopefully within the next few months I've spent time this week completing some British Airborne Support. They have, by virtue of being airborne, a limited range of integral heavy support options, with the two most obvious options for Market Garden being the QF 6-pdr and 17-pdr anti tank guns. For the parachute battalions these guns were provided by separate air landing anti-tank batteries from the Royal Artillery with these units being delivered by glider.

1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery RA provided four troops of anti-tank guns in support of 1st Parachute Brigade. A, B and C Troop supported 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions respectively. These troops each consisted of four 6-pdr anti-tank guns and so in theory each parachute battalion would have four guns in direct support. D Troop consisted of four 17-pdr guns and provided support at brigade level.

2nd Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery RA supported 4th Parachute Brigade in an identical manner.

The three airlanding battalions that made up 1st Airlanding Brigade each had two integral anti-tank platoons with four 6-pdr's in each platoon for a total of eight guns per battalion.

In addition an ad hoc third anti-tank battery was created. This comprised of P and Z Troop from 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery and F Troop from 2nd Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery. P and F Troop had four 17-pdr's each while Z Troop had four 6-pdr's. This group was under command of Divisional HQ.

In total 1st Airborne Division had fifty two 6-pdr's and sixteen 17-pdrs due to fly into Arnhem on the eve of Market Garden. These guns provided a potent anti-tank force, but this was dependent on all elements successfully landing and joining with their respective units. 

Each anti-tank gun was flown in as a single glider load with its towing vehicle and crew. The 6-pdr was a modified version designed to fit into a Horsa glider along with an airborne jeep and an immediate supply of ammunition. The 17-pdr was carried by the larger Hamilcar glider, along with a cut down Morris C8 Mk III AT Tractor and ammunition. In theory this meant a gun could move out and deploy or fight immediately after landing. 

In addition to the anti-tank guns 1st Airborne also had its own artillery. This was provided by 1st Airlanding Light Regiment RA which was organised into three batteries each with eight 75mm Pack Howitzers. The 75mm gun could fit into a Horsa glider along with an airborne jeep, an ammunition trailer and four of the crew. A second glider carried the remainder of the crew, a second jeep and two further ammunition trailers. Each trailer carried 45/46 rounds and so upon landing, in theory, each gun would have 125 rounds of HE available for immediate fire missions (together with six AP rounds and six Smoke rounds). The inclusion of the AP rounds indicates that the howitzer firing over open sights was allowed for, and there is at least one recorded instance of this at Arnhem ( F Troop at Oosterbeek ). I am hopeful that the Handbook will introduce this gun into the game.

QF 6-pdr (5 crew) + JL     - 4 support points

QF 17-pdr (5 crew) + JL   - 6 support points

75mm Pack Howitzer       -  TBA

All models are FDM printed from free STL files available on the web. Crew figures are from Peter Pig, being a mix of the British Para gun crew, 3" mortar team and Late War British standing gun crew. 

7th Armoured Division - My themed CoC British force

                                                       

7th Armoured Division - the famous Desert Rats. 

Formed in North Africa just before the start of WW2 they are not only famous for their actions as part of the Eighth Army, but also for landing on the Normandy beaches and then fighting all the way across NWE ending the war at Hamburg whose surrender they accepted on 3rd of May 1945. Every schoolboy in the UK of a certain age knows this story and of the famous red Jerboa. 

Alongside the armoured units a  key element of 7th AD was 131st Infantry Brigade which served with the division from late 1942 until the end of war. Also known as the 131st (Queen's) Lorried Infantry Brigade this unit comprised of three battalions from the Queens Royal Regiment -1/5 Queens, 1/6 Queens and 1/7 Queens. The latter two battalions were replaced in the Division in November 1944 by 2nd Bttn Devonshire Regiment and 9th Bttn Durham Light Infantry respectively. 1/5 Queens Royal Regiment however continued to serve with the Division through to the end of the war. 

Back in the Eighties I served ten years as a Territorial Army infantry soldier as a member of 5th Battalion the Queens Regiment  - 5 Queens - a successor to 1/5 Queens Royal Regiment when the Queens Regiment was established in 1966. For most of my time with the battalion it was NATO roled, meaning we trained to fight in West Germany against the Soviet Army should they every cross the Inner German Border. While I never served in 7th Armoured and so am not a Desert Rat, I was a proud Queensman and for this reason my British units in game, where possible, all wear the markings of 7th Armoured Division and my core platoon is from 1/5 Queens.

This weeks reinforcements

 Ordnance QF 17-pounder

Coming in at a cost of six support points is the 17 pdr anti-tank gun. This has a crew of five and is commanded by a Junior Leader.

Gun was FDM printed in nine parts to allow a nice clean print with base details scratch built from plastic sheet and scraps.

The crew are a mix of the Peter Pig British Late War anti-tank gun crew and standing gun crew, with the JL being from the Late War Company Commanders pack.