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OPERATION
MARKET GARDEN
TACTICAL
WEEKEND - MARCH 31st
/APRIL 1st
The First Allied Airborne
Association is certainly not a battling organisation,
preferring the Living History aspects of the hobby, however
for the first time as a group, the FAAA took part in
a Tactical weekend when it attended the National event
on Swynnerton MOD Training Area.
This event was run along different
lines than the normal private battle weekend, concentrating
more on the Living History aspect of re-enactment than the
"blatting"
that is unfortunately characteristic of many weekends!
The event was BASED around the
Market Garden operation, but probably would have been better
suited due to the time
of year to
Operation Varsity, the Rhine
crossing. However,
the scenario having been set, the FAAA deployed into the
field representing the S2 Intelligence Platoon who operated
from the 82nd Airborne Division Command Post "Champion CP"
in Holland.
Planning for the part we were to
play in the weekend started at a very early stage of the
event plans, with several meetings with the overall organiser
to discuss what we were looking at getting out of the
weekend and what we could put in.
The group's
criteria was we would be available from Friday afternoon to
Saturday evening. Due to many of the group participating
having to work their shifts on Sunday or prior engagements,
it meant the planning of our involvement and our tasking
would have to fall within this time frame. This was agreed.
With so many younger lads now within
the group, it was not difficult to attract interest for the
event, however many of the older guys also came on board and
made great efforts to get the required time off to attend.
13 of the group finally attended and we took on 3
attachments before crossing the start line.
The Command group of myself, Ash,
Tim and Simon met up at Ash's house (lives local) on Friday
afternoon for an "Orders Group" where maps were looked over
and CP location selected and potential targets of
Reconnaissance discussed.
The aim was to get the CP location
as accurate as possible and much research was carried out in
the build up to the event. It meant taking a lot of kit into
the battle area and this was done with a simulated Glider
Lift on Friday afternoon. With the basics of the CP set up
well before dark, the first Patrol was sent out to the Drop
Zone (Car Park) to pick up the rest of the Platoon as and
when they arrived through out the evening.
By 2200hrs on the Friday evening, 1st
and 2nd Squads were dug in on the position and Platoon HQ
were planning the Platoon's first Reconnaissance task. All
group members knew from the start there would be little if
any sleep to be had during this phase of the operation, the
darkness of the night had to be used to dominate the area
and to recce covered routes to targets.
The event brief was that the
National was to start on Friday evening, with simulated
parachute drops by vehicle in the areas the Allied Airborne
units were to hold. This did not happen and only the British
Airborne deployed as well as us on Friday night. This was, we
felt, a bit strange to say the least, as this would mean none
of the American Bridges and Key points being defended until
daylight, with what seemed like hundreds of Germans already
in the area.
This was our
first event, but I guess we knew what to expect really.
The
attendees seemed to be very split in what time THEY WANTED to
start and WHERE they were going to start. Some groups who
had shown an initial interest and advertised their
involvement did not in the end turn up and some group
members just turned up without booking in!
It was very evident right from the
start that, although this was a well thought out and planned
event and the organisers were working flat out to make
things happen, some groups were going to dictate how it was
going to be run! We decided to keep as much as we could to
the scenario and plod on, get our tasks done on Friday
night/Saturday morning and get back to the CP to be ready
for first light and concentrate on operating the CP and
carrying out our secondary role of defending a bridge.
Before we could do this we had to
draw blank firing weapons, this was, as far as we were concerned, the
biggest cock up of the event. To get to the weapons hire
location we had to walk in broad daylight through the German
Garrison to get there. The Germans were as equally
unimpressed to see us as we were to see them. We had been
tactical all night and avoided detection and contact only to
walk right past the enemy while they performed morning roll
call. At this stage, any realism in the event went out the
window, heaven only knows why this particular vendor decided to
co-locate with the Germans.
Of course, this did mean that the
enemy got their weapons early and were out on the ground
well before we got ours. This meant that we had to get back
through enemy lines and back to ours with the place swarming
with German troops. This we did but it took us 3 hours to do
so and we had to fight all the way taking on SS and Fallschirmjager
(paratroopers).
Nearing our own lines we found
ourselves in a position to help out the 101st and 505th who
had a German Recon patrol between the two Allied Groups and
were finding it difficult to dislodge. The follow up action
has brought about a report of a BLUE ON BLUE CONTACT that in
the event did not happen, Fog of War!!!!!!!
By the time we reached the CP the
area had hotted up with many small-scale actions taking
place, although the enemy were finding it hard to get to us
and never did get across the bridge we were holding.
In the Afternoon we sent out patrols
to an area that had reported enemy activity. The patrol was
successful in locating and destroying a force of SS infantry
and capturing a prisoner who was taken back to the command
post for interrogation.
There was a final large-scale attack
on our location late afternoon, which we held with
assistance from some British Infantry from 30 Corps.
We moved out of our location late
afternoon, using a borrowed 505th Jeep to bring out the CP
stores. Tim, representing our Dutch attached Officer, brought
the troops out through the lines while Ash and myself
secured the stores for our withdrawal.
For Us End Ex was Saturday night, it
seemed that half the players were also in the car park
packing up; still it had been a wet day!
Would we do it
again? Yes.
One well
planned weekend like this a year would do us; it would give
us a focus for our own tactical training and keep the
younger guys happy.
As long as the event is Living History based,
we are interested. If
it were allowed to turn into a "blat
fest", dictated by groups who
cannot stick to a scenario and directive,
then we would probably pass on it next time around.
As a group,
we got a tremendous amount out of the event and proved
through good preparation both of kit and in build up
training, a group of people with no previous military
training can work well as a team in the field.
There were lessons to be learnt from
all parties taking part, organisers and players, however
there were no serious injuries and for the most part people
got on when working together.
Thanks to all the organising staff
for putting this on, we did have a great time and went away
with some great memories.
Lee Bowden
First Allied Airborne
Association
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