Two Bridges at Nijmegen - The Matrix Games version of West Front

20 September 1944, Nijmegen, 15 km S. of Arnhem, Holland. Historical scn (Recommended for PBEM). By 20 September, 1944, three days into Operation MARKET GARDEN, the British 1st Airborne Division was surrounded in Arnhem and fighting for its life. The relief force driving towards Arnhem from the south, Horrocks’s XXX Corps, was stalled at Nijmegen, where the Germans had built up a defensive position around the two bridges spanning the Waal River. If Operation MARKET GARDEN was to have any chance of success, these two bridges had to be taken by the Allies, and quickly! Troops from the 504th PIR of the crack US 82nd Airborne Division were selected to cross the Waal River in boats, while a mixed Anglo-American force was to assault the bridges from the southern bank. Taking the bridges would allow XXX Corps’ stalled drive to resume, and, if they could link up with Urquhart’s paratroopers in Arnhem in time, potentially end the war several months early. Naturally, the Germans would do anything and everything in their power to prevent the bridges from falling into Allied hands. The weak German forces which had been holding Nijmegen at the beginning of the operation were reinforced by units of the 10th SS-Panzer Division “Frundsberg”. Although it would have made sense to simply drop the bridges into the river, thus permanently ending the threat that MARKET GARDEN posed to Germany, Hitler insisted the bridges be held with an eye to future offensive operations. The bridges' garrison and the men and machines of the "Frundsberg" were to hold the bridges at all costs, only blowing them up as a last resort to prevent their capture by the Allies and only with permission from the German high command. This scenario recreates the American paratroopers’ operation to take the bridges of Nijmegen. Designer note: From Historical point of view, tanks from Irish Guards supporting the 504th PIR’s river-crossing operation were used like support role. Players can decided how use them in other unhistorical way. Thanks to Huib Versloot and Alex (Steelrain) for your help with maps, testing and OOB.