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The 3rd Para Brigade continued to take heavy casualties while aggressively defending the northeastern sector of the invasion bridgehead. The 5th Brigade, who had been placed in reserve after their courageous stand around the canal bridges during the…
Unlike the confused response to the Normandy landings, some German commanders quickly and correctly appraised the massive airdrop outside of Arnhem and took immediate action. Captain Sepp Krafft, an instructor at the Waffen SS NCO School, did just…
The 12th battalion had landed earlier in the morning and established defensive positions around the strategically important town Ranville. Here, the countryside was more open, and the 5th Para Brigade allocated their small supply of anti-tank guns…
After months of rehearsals, D Company of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (familiarly referred to as the "Ox and Bucks") under Major John Howard, lifted off in towed Horsa gliders during the later hours of June the 5th, headed …
The British 3rd Para brigade under Brigadier James Hill had successfully accomplished their D Day objectives, but with heavy casualties. They then established holding positions north of the town of Ranville. Ranviiie was key in defending the British…
While Free-French and American troops were liberating Paris, the fatigued and depleted British 6th Airborne division was still inching its way northeast towards the Seine. The village of Beuzeville lay in the 3 Para Brigade's path. General Gale, the…
One of the objectives on D-Day for the British 1st Special Service Brigade was to clear the gun emplacements outside the seaside resort of Ouistreham. Captain Kieffer, in charge of the contingent of Free-French Commandos, asked permission to lead the…
On the second day of the invasion the British 6th Para Brigade had easily taken its first objective: the town of Longueval. The Brigade commander decided to assault the secondary objective to the southeast: the hamlet of Ste. Honorine. With …
The Ox and Bucks had taken the Orne canal bridge and quickly established a perimeter. Now, they had to hold it while facing greater German resistance. Even worse was the incessant sniper fire coming from west of their positions. …
Operation Market Garden; Montgomery's plan to shorten the war by creating an “air bridge" of allied troops to the city of Arnhem, was floundering. The 101st Airborne Division had successfully seized its assigned bridges, but now had to defend them …
Benouvilie, a town crucial in stemming any German counterattacks against the canal bridges and the invasion itself, was defended by a small holding force of the Ox and Bucks. They had successfully fended off early morning German probes, but had …
Colonel John Frost's 2"^ Parachute Battalion had orders to take and hold the Arnhem Bridge until relieved. He had taken one end of the bridge and had established a small perimeter with the limited resources at his disposal. Now, with …
In the morning, the extent of the German build up became apparent. Noville was threatened by possible encirclement. HQ decided to evacuate the town and fall back to Foy. Will the American forces manage to break through the tightening ring …
When Team Desobry arrived at the small crossroads settlement of Noville their task was clear: stop the German advance on Bastogne. The men of Combat Command B (CCB), of which the team was a part of, had barely enough ñrepower …
All through the night the Pares held against probing attacks of ever-mounting intensity. It was a nightmare of violent firefights, clanking tank tracks, and confusion, but the Pares gave as …
Suddenly the mist lifted, as if drawn aside by an invisible hand, and Noville's defenders saw that they were surrounded by Panthers, Tigers, Panzer IVs and groups of advancing German infantry. But what could well have been a disastrous defeat …
In the morning the men had to fall back to Noville proper. But the day's fighting had just begun. Out of the almost impenetrable mist came threatening noises: Tigers were …
His forces bolstered by the hardy Paras of the 1st Battalion, 506th PIR, Maj. Desobry felt confident. He immediately ordered a counterattack to take the high ground around Noville. The German Volksgrenadiers and Panzers had other ideas, however. - …
Hitler's Operation Spring Awakening, using six Waffen SS divisions to counterattack and relieve entrapped units in Budapest, was off to a slow start. Mud and dogged Russian defiance once again were the culprits, denying quick rnaneuver and advance.…
Once again, the Soviet armies had encircled German forces on the tenuous and dynamic Ost Front. The encircled this time were six German Divisions that had been holding defensive positions along the Dnepr River in the Korsun Pocket. German High …
The Soviet winter offensive of 1943 threw the Germans back along the breadth of the Eastern Front, frequently creating ruptures in the Wehrmacht's line, both large and small. In this fictitious scenario, a small German reconnaissance group, probing…
Right after 5 a.m., on July 12th, hundreds of Soviet tanks and assault guns rolled out of Prochorovka and slammed into the German SS Leibstandarte Division, which had stalled just west of the town. Streams of T-34 and T-70 tanks, …
Operation Uranus had been a success for Soviet command. They had effectively encircled the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. The Germans formed a defensive perimeter (nicknamed, The Cauldron) and dug in, still hoping they would soon be relieved. The…
German High Command launched a counter offensive to attempt to relieve the encircled 6th Army at Stalingrad, and made steady progress, approaching within 25 miles of the 6th Anny lines before the Soviets retaliated. After some initial success, the…
The Final objective for Russia's Operation Uranus was to seal off any escape for the embattled 6th Army by taking the bridge over the Don River at Kalach. Using a handful of captured tanks, Lieutenant-Colonel Filippov drove right through cheering …
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