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Old 09-24-21, 04:32 PM   #1
Dowly
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Default All American over Nijmegen (CO2 AAR)

Hello. It is I, Mr. Never-Finishes-An-AAR back again.

This time, let's see how I can cock up the Nijmegen part of Operation Market-Garden!

Ok, who doesn't know what Operation Market-Garden was about? Right, you two in the back go read this and come back. Thank you.

Right, to the game at hand. It has had many names, it used to be a single game "Highway to the Reich" aeons ago, not sure, but it is now a module to Command Ops 2! Yay! (Was is Airborne Assault at one point?)
Anyway, Command Ops 2 is a command-chain simulator. You can decide how much micro you want (company level being smallest), or you can give the overall HQ a command and the AI takes care of the routes/formations etc.
I tend to start with battalions and then micro companies as needed.

Anyway, I'll be playing the Nijmegen sector campaign of the 'Highway to the Reich' module (DLC) as the US 82nd AB. My task is to capture victory locations - at least that's how the game gauges if I am winning - ,but I am more interested to see if I can take the bridges needed and hold back the Germans enough for the British XXX Corps to get over the Waal river and onto Arnheim in time. (Spoiler: I doubt it)

My Initial Plan:

*Note that these are my day 1 major forces. Some AT and AA guns arrive on day 1 as well.

First off, here's a map of the scenario with my plan. Depending on imgur, you might have to click it a few times to open it fully. (Size of the image is 3537x2423)
Yellow names are victory locations:


Starting from Drop zone O:
2/504 takes the Grave bridge. One company landed on the western side of the Maas River (unmarked) so it is only logical I use 2 Bn.

The two remaining battalions head to the eastern bridges at Blankenberg and Heumen. Town of Grave I leave for now, XXX Corps can clear it. Should not be any problems here.

Drop zone N:
1/505 will head towards Mook immediately. I don't care about the bridge all that much, but the road is a highway and I want to block it as soon as possible.
The rest of 505 will remain at the southern end of the heights.

Drop Zone T:
This' the tricky one.
One battalion of 505 landed here, so I use it together with the 508 HQ to capture the town of Groesbeek and prepare defences there.
1/508 I send to cut off the highway at Wyler Meer. Forest and uphill* positions should give them a good advantage to prevent enemy troops from reaching Nijmegen.

*The browner the terrain color is, the higher the elevation.

I could use one more battalion to close the gap between the 1st Bn and Groesbeek, but I've decided to send two battalions (3&2/508) to Nijmegen to secure the two roundabouts. It is very risky, but I am hoping they can hold until the XXX Corps are scheduled to arrive on day 3. The Groesbeek heights forest will become a skirmish grounds no matter what.

Enemy Forces:
The briefing says enemy reinforcements are historically accurate, so I will assume that the 406th will be attacking from the Reichwald to the east of Groesbeek heights at some time on day 2 and that the 10th SS will arrive around midnight on day 1 at Nijmegen.

EDIT: Oh right, my overall aim.

Nijmegen is the key. I want to have it at least partly cleared when XXX Corps arrive. I won't be trying to cross the bridge with the AB troops, my aim is to hold the city.

Once XXX Corps arrives I can use the eastern bridges (Blankenberg/Heumen) to not only head to Nijmegen, but also to Groesbeek whatever the situation is there at the time. I just need to hold until day 3.

I'd like to see armor across the Nijmegen bridge by early day 4, the scenarios end day 5.

***

I'll leave this here for a bit in case some of you have suggestions regarding the plan.

Last edited by Dowly; 09-24-21 at 04:43 PM.
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Old 09-24-21, 06:12 PM   #2
ChristopherTarana
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It's looks like WinSPWW2! I was checking for a OMG campaign after someone on https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/ posted a message about the battle!


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Old 09-27-21, 12:46 PM   #3
Dowly
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"A Sunday of wonderful sunshine, appearing to be one of a series of charming but uneventful autumn days. At least until the afternoon..."
- Herbert Kessler, NCO, Training & Replacement Regiment Hermann Goering

DAY 1: 17 September, 1300hrs

Five of the nine battalions have reached ground by 1300hrs and are immediately given orders as per my original plan. The remaining troopers will be landing within the next 30 minutes.


The situation at 1300hrs. I have some very vague intel on enemy troops around the area, not good for much.
Since I originally had no plan for 3/505, I've decided to use it to support the attack on Groesbeek from the west once they land.

Before the chaos begins, I think it's a good time to talk about supply.
Command Ops 2 handles supply in quite a cool way. First of you have Supply Entry Points (SEP) on the map, in this case there's one at Drop Zone O and another at Drop Zone N as marked by the half-circle icon.
These points acts as supply dumps from where supplies are delivered to bases, attached to HQ units. Supplies trickle down the command chain, so the 82nd AB Div base will get theirs first and from there to lower echelon units' bases who in turn figure out which units under their command need what and how much.
Normally units sent their supply requests once or twice a day (0600hrs/1800hrs) at which point their immediate supply base processes those requests, allocates personnel and trucks and sends out supply columns. The columns are not shown on the map, but can be affected by enemy presence. For example, if a previously safe route has now enemy units on the way, the column suspends its mission and tries to return back, usually taking losses in process. If a column is repeatedly attacked, they might simply stop sending supplies to a unit until a safe supply line has been established.


Here's an example of a supply base unit card.
Stocks show the current level vs the required by units drawing from this base.
Capacity tells the depots current supply capacity; Bulk fuel are available/required fuel tankers, Payload represents available trucks and handling shows how many units of supply can be handled in an hour.
Requests list the currently active missions from units calling for supplies.
- Unprocessed
- Suspended (unit's supply lines cut for example)
- Despatched (to requesting unit)
- Aborted (due to enemy threat)
- Returning (from supply mission)
- Returned
Routine/emergency simply shows how many of each request the depot is currently handling.
Next up, transport columns is the number of columns, vehicles and personnel currently on supply missions.
Last tab shows the units and sub bases that draw from this depot.
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Old 09-28-21, 11:43 AM   #4
Dowly
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DAY 1: 17 September, 1800hrs

The bridges at Blankenberg, Heumen and Mook were captured in short succession during the afternoon without much resistance. The bridge at Grave remains in enemy hands at this time, but is expected to be captured as soon as 2/504 gets their act together.

Groesbeek as well is still not fully cleared, 3/505 ran into some enemies while preparing for their attack from the west which put them behind schedule and had 2/505 attacking the town alone. However, the last of enemy resistance should be taken care of within the next hour.

Situation at Nijmegen is the same as elsewhere; behind schedule. Both battalions ran into enemy patrols already in the woods southeast of the city and have been fighting slowly towards the city for much of the day.

On the bright side, casualties remain low. The German units I've been fighting on the first day have all been low quality.


Situation at 1800hrs.
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Old 10-01-21, 08:48 AM   #5
Dowly
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Sorry, bear with me. I'm having some supply related problems, such as one of the battalions that landed at Groesbeek suddenly switching to draw from the drop zone O supply point (cutting their supply line), and another one is 82nd div HQ not getting supplies from its base which is right next to it resulting in supplies not trickling down to the lower echelon units.


EDIT: Also getting an issue where an attack order is halted and the HQ bunkers down for no reason. This is a known issue with the latest (read: almost year old) beta. If all else fails (I'll do some test), I'll go back to the latest stable build and do a quick restart since I haven't played the scenario for more than a couple of in-game hours forwards from my last post.

Last edited by Dowly; 10-01-21 at 09:24 AM.
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Old 10-01-21, 12:08 PM   #6
Threadfin
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Interesting, thanks for posting this AAR. One of the more compelling battles of the war. I'll follow with interest. Good luck commander.
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Old 10-04-21, 12:57 PM   #7
Dowly
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DAY 1: 17 September, 1800hrs-0000hrs


GRAVE
While the rest of 2/504 were doing God knows what on the east side of the river, I decided to send in Easy Company from the west and see if they could take the bridge alone. Great success! At 1900hrs sharp the Grave highway bridge was secured!



I ordered 2/504 to come defend it (when it pleases them) and ordered my new favorites to head back over the river and into Grave itself to see, if anyone's home.

The Company reached the city at around 2000hrs and immediately drew fire from a light flak platoon. With a bit of help from the battalion mortar platoon, the city was taken around 2130hrs.


MAAS-WAAL BRIDGES
All quiet at the bridges. Pushed some Companies to the east side of the canal to block the Mook-Nijmegen highway.

GROESBEEK NORTH

Decided to deploy 1/508 further south from Wyler Berg to defend the road running through the forest.

GROESBEEK
Last of enemy resistance is cleared by 1900hrs and the town secured. I order 3/505 to head back south to defend Drop Zone N.



The town is currently under attack by two German units which managed to slip in under darkness.


GROESBEEK SOUTH
As mentioned above, 3/505 was ordered here to defend DZ N. Nothing else to report.

NIJMEGEN

F Company is the first to reach the city proper just past 1915hrs, followed by its sister companies shortly after.


3/508's attack however doesn't progress as well and I order them to regroup and try again.

By the end of first day of battle, the situation remains uncertain. On one hand, I have a foothold on the city and 3/508 is making progress again, but on the other I saw a lot of SS troops crossing the road bridge meaning the 10th SS has arrived. Welp, better dig in!





Situation at 0000hrs.
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