Scenario 42 Bridgehead on the Rhine
Scott B
BRIDGEHEAD ON THE RHINE
SCENARIO 42, G.I.: ANVIL OF VICTORY
AFTER ACTION REPORT
Can you imagine being a GI looking across the Rhine in 1945? There are three Allied army groups lined from Wesel to Worms, over two hundred miles. Monty is to the north, Bradley in the center and Devers to the south. Approximately three million men are waiting to cross into Germany and bring the war to an end. The four Shermans of this scenario are caught in this current of war and propelled to its inevitable conclusion, the first drops in an Allied thunderstorm of men and material about to rain down on Germany and drown all opposition. It is probably one of the less appreciated moments in the war, and I cannot help but wonder how the average GI felt waiting to cross the last significant obstacle.
The Rhine held great significance to both the Allies and Germans. Since Roman times, it was the boundary between Germania and Galli, and has protected Germany for millennia. The Roman incursion past it in 12 BC started the Germanic Wars, and later the barbarian crossing in 406 signaled the decline of the Roman Empire. It was the symbol of German nationalism, the formation of the German state and it’s legend woven into their culture. This was no longer occupied territory, to cross the Rhine was to penetrate into the essence of the Reich itself.
Field Marshal Montgomery’s Operation Plunder would take his army group across and into Germany. Three armies would assault, including airborne drops (Operation Varsity), a five-thousand gun barrage, and Anglo-American bombers. The Germans offered determined resistance but once across the Allies were impossible to dislodge. With the bridgeheads established, men and material poured across. In the following weeks, they would liberate the Netherlands and capture much of north-west Germany.
Not to be outdone by Monty, Patton also pushed his army across too. “Take the Rhine on the Run” he ordered. One hundred and fifty miles south of Wesel, Eddy’s XII Corps crossed near Oppenheim, beating his archrival across by twenty-four hours.
I can only imagine how the average allied soldier felt looking across this last obstacle, deep and swift, at the distant far bank, home never felt so close yet so far away. Crossing it would bring the war to an end. However, the challenge of making it home remained.
British Comments
The Black Watch hedgehogs the perimeter in the town. The relief force gets as close as it can. Me thinks the town is a long way off for only ten turns.
German Comments
The German setup is yet another difficult one. I feel like a sandwich in a panini press-am going to get squeeze on both sides!
The terrain is not conducive for long-range fires. Too many walls, hedges, buildings, etc. So elevation is key- but is also a vulnerability.
I make a quick decision to not setup on board 13. Any forces there will not be in strength, and will get cut off and be rendered useless. I decide for maximum effort keeping the 2 x British elements separate for as long as possible.
I set up using the Command Control (166) rules, thinking they are standard rules. But alas! It is pointed out to me that they are optional (if I had paid more attention to the rulebook I would have known this..) and that we are not using them. So my force task organization is not how I would like it to be if C2 was not in play. I place a squad and PSK in the HT without a leader because of C2. But I will work with it.
First order of business, after my overall strategy is determined, is to place the heavy weapons. The ATG on board 3 Hill 547 is not very safe. Maybe he’ll get a few shots in, but I don’t expect him to last too long. So I place a PSK in the halftrack for mobile anti-tank options, and the PFs are in-between boards 3 and 6. The obvious place for HMG is in the 3-level building 6J8 to try and slow down the advance. MMGs I split between the village on board 3 and the blocking force on board 6/3
The 2 x 75mm IGs I put in the village. Their low accuracy at range vs Case R infantry, plus the lack of fields of fire on board 6, to me, means they should be used in the close fight in the village.
British Comments
Thus far fear has guided my actions, fear of a 105mm barrage landing on my troops with a firepower of twenty and a negative one modifier in woods. I stayed out of LOS and entrenched the first few game turns. Fate disabled the radio before it could land a barrage, but the damage was already done. My infantry have neither moved nor fired and lost precious time avoiding the artillery. The German radio may have won the game without firing a shot.
When they did move forward, the German fire broke up their line and they were unable to form effective fire groups nor advance.
The Black Watch suffered early losses and switched to defense, retreating behind buildings. Both sides settled into an uneasy truce, entrenching, gaining concealment, and waiting.
The first Sherman crosses the Rhine on turn four, the others on turn five and six. They should arrive at the front in two turns.
German Comments
The British entrenching is surprising. They need to advance. The unpredictability of OBA rears its ugly head. The German radio is busted and can’t get fixed. Is not a big problem, as I usually consider OBA availability and effectiveness as a bonus, not as an expected. Thus I do not rely on it. There are just too many possibilities for failing to deliver steel on target.
In the board 3 village, I do what I can to affect the Brits, and have some success with a KIA of a 9-1 leader, and destruction of a HMG. But I play it safe, I thought of counterattacking into the village, but decided in the end that my stance is defensive, not counter-offensive just yet.
My blocking force (includes ATG) stays put, with few targets of opportunity. The ATG fires on the infantry and is very effective despite the lower THs against non-moving infantry in woods. ATG can’t engage the DD Shermans in the river, and the effective British use of smoke affected the LOS and probability of a hit. So the ATG focuses on infantry support for now. But how much longer will the ATG be able to fire??
GAME TURNS FIVE TO EIGHT
British Comments
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Not much to say when the troops only advance five hexes from their starting line over eight turns.
AFTERMATH
British Comments
The British only advanced five rows past their starting line and by turn eight it was obvious they would never fulfill the victory conditions. A surprisingly few number of Germans stopped the advance. It was an ecosystem of break-rout-rally-advance-repeat. The 6K9 building held only three German squads and three MGs with occasional support from the ATG and that was enough to stop the Brits. Three out of an eighteen squad is just 17% of the OB and yet stopped fifteen squads in their tracks.
The Black Watch was surrounded by two IGs, numerous squads and MGs. After some early losses, they hadn’t the strength for any offensive action. Both sides settled into an uneasy truce as they awaited the British relief force and tanks. Unfortunately, they were still waiting when Brits resigned at the beginning of turn eight.
I am not sure how the British can succeed in this scenario. The German 6K9 building has LOS to open ground which the Brits must cross. The Brits could not neutralize the building even without the additional burden of German artillery. Perhaps they could break into small groups and charge across open ground. The Shermans don’t arrive until turn five at the earliest and are unavailable to support the early game. Yet the British must advance to Speldrop early or run out of time. The ROS is 1 Allied to 3 German so at least one person had a better plan than mine.
Its too bad because the large play area had potential for maneuver and flanking, an interesting alternative to the usually tight confines of two boards.
I would play this again - but only to prove I can do better than the drubbing I took from the Germans this time.
German Comments
In the end, the dice proved pivotal. I don’t think my setup was significantly good or poor. I was never confident of victory, but cautiously optimistic once the Brits seemed to stop significant offensive actions.
Mission #1 was keeping the Black Watch at bay in the village- so I setup strong positions with 1x MMG, 2 x IGs and sufficient forces to at least make it dicey for the Black Watch to be offensive. Good initial dice rolling proved to be deterrent enough- the Black Watch stayed put.
Mission #2 was to delay or block the reinforcement of the town by the Shermans and Brit relief force. So I setup the ATG on hill (exposed and vulnerable, but really no other places due to heavily-restricted ground-level LOS) for long range anti-armor and close-in anti-personnel fires until the tanks arrive. I also setup 1 x MMG and 1 x HMG in 6K9 on 2nd floor, with a 3rd squad to replace any squads that broke while manning a MG.
I also placed ground-level infantry squads in-between the village force and blocking force to provide flexibility - they could support either mission as needed- the importance of interior lines!
The British morale (as evidenced by its morale check and rally dice rolls) was this biggest surprise. They broke and failed to rally, or were casualty reduced far more than I expected.
The ATG took out 2 x Shermans and broke/casualty reduced multiple squads before being taken out itself. I would say the ATG did its job. The IGs didn’t really factor in- they were mostly for village support. I did place a squad and panzerschrek in the halftrack to be a mobile tank-fighter, but I quickly realized the stone walls and hedges severely limited the movement possibilities. So the halftrack with passengers returned to the village area and dismounted the tank-busters into an expected Sherman avenue of approach for the close fight. The HMG kept up a good fire despite multiple manning units breaking, routing, rallying, and assault moving/advancing back to the HMG and acquiring it. 1xMMG permanently broke in the 6K9 building-fortunately it did its blocking-force job in the early turns.
RESOURCES
“Bridgehead on the Rhine.” G.I.: ANVIL OF VICTORY, Baltimore MD; the Avalon Hill Game Company; 1982.
https://storage.googleapis.com/archivesqlt/DAO00042A.pdf
Related Scenarios
- Scenario 10 “Hitdorf on the Rhine”, SQL.
- Scenario 11 “The St. Goar Assault” depicts the US 87th Infantry Division crossing at St. Goar, SQL.
- Scenario 46 “Operation Varsity” depicts the 513 PIR paradrop, GIA.
- Scenario I “Hunters from the Sky” depicts the airborne phase of Monty’s northern crossing, COI.
“Operation Plunder”. Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plunder
“The Rhine Crossings: Part One”. The Tank Museum.
https://tankmuseum.org/article/rhine-crossings-part-one
“The Rhine Crossings: Part Two”. The Tank Museum.
https://tankmuseum.org/article/rhine-crossings-part-two
“154 Brigade - Operation Plunder - The Crossing of the Rhine”. 51st Highland Division.
https://51hd.co.uk/accounts/154_brigade_rhine
Operation Plunder and Varsity: The British and Canadian Rhine Crossing (Battleground Europe) by Tim Saunders (2006-01-06)
“To Close for the Guns!” Lee A Windsor.
https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=cmh
Search speldrop for this link…
https://www.canadiansoldiers.com/history/battlehonours/northwesteurope/rhine.htm
“RHINE CROSSING 1945: The Rees bridgehead (30 Corps in operation 'Turnscrew').” ww2talk.
Detailed. List of casualties.