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Battle of Groningen scenario by Geo
First release: Version 1.0

The Netherlands, near Groningen
April 7 1945 - 22:30
Semi-historical Scenario

The River Rhine was the last major physical barrier standing between the Allied armies and the heart of the German Reich. By March 1945, the Allied armies had crossed the Rhine River. Field Marshal Montgomery commanded the 21st Army Group, which included the 1st Canadian Army under General Harry Crerar. This command now included, for the first time in the war, all Canadian forces in the European theater under one command. Montgomery's 21st Army Group was tasked with protecting the northern flank of the main American attack into Germany. Since Operation Plunder had been initiated at the end of March, one of the remaining goals has been clear: cut off the German forces in the Northern parts of the Netherlands from their homeland. Some 4.5 million Dutch civilians in the west of the Netherlands have been with a severe lack of all food supplies since September 1944 and the battles at Arnhem. Liberating the northern provinces will bring the vital relieve needed to aid the civilians living in near starvation.

The situation is looking grim for the German forces. Turning the tide is deemed almost impossible, delaying the Allied advance as long as possible has become the priority. Generalmajor Karl Böttger is tasked with the difficult task of defending the northeastern parts of Holland, with the main priority preventing the Allies to break through and reach the homeland via the northeast of the Netherlands.

/// Scenario notes ///

This scenario is considered semi-historical, because of two reasons:

1. In real life the 480. Infanterie Division left the city of Groningen by train a few days before the SAS operation in Drenthe started. The Canadians counted on the 480. Infanterie Division to be still around Groningen, to their surprise they were not.

2. At this point in time Blaskowitz was commander of Heeresgruppe Nordwest, and considered the supreme commander of the forces in the Netherlands. However, the 88. Armeekorps was located in Festung Holland, in the west. I have been unable to find out under which command the highest tier active in the area of this scenario was hierarchically under. Therefore I decided to make it Heeresgruppe Nordwest, as all structure was basically chaotic either way. There probably wasn't a Corps or Army that the troops were formally part of.

3. I added some - what if - reinforcements that could have happened for the Axis, as these weren't too far away in reality. They arrive relatively late. If the Axis aren't careful, too late.

The Allies are fairly accurate. But it was very difficult to form an Axis force, as in april '45 there was barely any structure left to be found in the German army. I had to be creative in certain areas, such as the KG's are fictional. There was barely any information regarding the battle of Groningen for the Axis, other than it did concern elements of SD, SS, Luftwaffe, Wehrmacht, Hitler Jugend and Kriegsmarine troops

Playing as the Axis is a significant harder challenge than as the Allies.

The Map, NW-Drenthe / Groningen.


Thanks to:
Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor for being the brain behind the game Command Ops 2
Bie - for allowing me to use his PegasusBridgeEstab as base and as some inspiration for my scenario.
The people on the Command Ops Series forum for offering suggestions and helping me around a bit.

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