H O L D O N THE W A A L

bite into apples that are late season, slightlycidery, grimacing at a refreshing and famil-iar taste.

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Not too long and they would be in action.There had been the inevitable delays enroute. In Tegelen nails, glass and barbedwire had been placed on roads disablingsome Wehrmacht vehicles. Hostages hadbeen seized as reprisal. In Venlo signalscables had been cut. It all contributed to adepressing picture. Within another fivekilometres they could expect their first con-tacts with the enemy.Artillery fire could be heard bursting inthe distance as the battery, in support fortheir attack, and flak began registering ontargets on the east side on the Gennep-Mook road. Some of Captain Goebel'sgroup in the ranks were a little more ner-vous. Only 36 hours before they had beenflung out of Mook by the American para-troopers. That little contest had cost sixdead and five more wounded. Goebel'smen were hungry. There had been nomedics or doctors to treat his wounded,and his men had been without food forthree days. Two Dutch civilians hadreported that enemy entrenchmentsstretched for 1,000 metres south of Mook.They had few illusions about what wasgoing to happen.These Fallschirmjäger had been put intothe line to reinforce 406 Division. Theywere all that was left of the 3rd and 5thFallschirmjäger divisions belonging to IICorps. Training and refurbishment underway at Wahn near Cologne had been prem-aturely halted by the airborne landings. Itwas hoped they would reverse the debaclesuffered by 406 Division two days before.Model, hearing of the initial failure, insistedthese new arrivals be launched immediatelyagainst the American screen protectingNijmegen. But the commanders of bothCorps Feldt and II Fallschirmjäger Corpsargued prudence, at least until more sub-

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stantial forces were assembled. These werethose forces.Field Marshal Model's plan was to holdon the Waal with forces already in situ, andbuy time for an eventual reinforcement andcounter-offensive by the 10SS Panzer Div-ision. Spoiling attacks from out of the eastand the Reichswald forest were part of theconception to distract the XXX Corps'pressure on Nijmegen. The assault by theforces co-ordinated by the Corps Feldt -406 Division, elements of Wehrkreis VI andII Fallschirmjäger Corps - were to imposethis vital delay. Three attack prongs were tolance the American defences, composed ofthree Kampfgruppen named after theirrespective commanders.Major Karl-Heinz Becker was to lead aconglomeration of remnants from threeregiments: 5, 8 and 9 of the former 3rdFallschirmjäger Division. Kampfgruppe'Becker' included the division's reconnais-sance, anti-tank, anti-aircraft and engineerunits. It was a divisional cadre reformed asa weak regiment. The survivors from thebadly mauled division were mainly the ser-vice and supply soldiers, supplemented byrecently drafted and largely untrained re-cruits. Captain Freiherr von Fuerstenbergprovided further substance in the form of anumber of guns mounted on armouredhalf-tracks. This was further supported bya small flak battle group of one 88mm gunand two 20mm cannon, and an attachedinfantry battalion, 'Isphording'. Beckercould muster in excess of 800 men spreadover three battalion-sized groups. The mis-sion was to advance in a north-westerlydirection, storm the American positionsaround Wyler and reach the Maas-Waalcanal. Thereafter, they were to clear the eastbank of the Waal as far as the Neerboschbridge.

Kampfgruppe 'Greschick', commandedby a Major, was a three-battalion organisa-tion with 400-500 recently conscriptedinfantrymen. Fire support was provided by

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