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Battle of Geel

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Ulf Norman

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Historical background: The Battle of Geel or the Battle for the Gheel Bridgehead took place between September 8th and September 12th 1944. (Geel and Gheel are interchangable, just the new and old spelling.) Antwerp had fallen on September 4th, and on September 7th the Irish Guards captured Beringen. As a result of that, the British 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division was ordered to cross the Albert Canal south of Geel (see picture below)


On the German side of the Albert Canal was Kampfgruppe Dreyer of the 85th Infantry Division on its way to be reinforced with two Luftwaffe Flieger Regiments, 51 and 53. On the morning Sept 8th, the 69th Brigade had crossed over at Het Punt (B on map below) and later that evening the 151st Brigade had established a bridgehead at Stelen (A on map below). The Germans counterattacked repeatedly but by morning on the 9th the two bridgeheads were connected and a folding bridge at Stelen allowed armoured cars of the 61st Reece Regiment to cross into the bridgehead. By evening on the 9th, a class 40 bridge at Het Punt allowed the Sherman tanks of the Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry to cross also.

By afternoon on the 10th, 6th Durham Light Infantry supported by C Squadron, Sherwood Rangers (including troop leader Stuart Hills) had pushed into Gheel and taken up positions around the marketplace, while the German defenders of the city centre retreated to north of the rail station (see map below). At the same time the Jagdpanthers of 1. Kompanie, schwere Heeres Panzerjager-Abteilung 559 arrived in the area and made its presence felt with more or less continous attacks supported by infantry.








Early afternoon on the 11th the troops of II./Fallschirmsjager Regiment 6 'von der Heydte' arrived in Geel and started pushing the British back around the marketplace. The company commander of 5. Kompanie, Heinz Kohne, fired panzerfausts from Cafe 'Het Schild' (see below)




and knocked out the Sherman of Jimmy McWilliams (see below)




and damaged Stuart Hills tank. With only a Firefly left as tank support in the city proper, the British withdrew from Geel in the evening. On the 12th the badly battered 50th Division recieved orders to pull out and move to the Neerpelt bridgehead (Joe's Bridge), to free Guards Armoured to spearhead Market-Garden. Meanwhile the 15th (Scottish) Division moved into the line south of Geel and the Germans, fearing encirclement with the capture of Joe's Bridge, retreated north behind the Maas-Scheldt Canal. For a detailed description of the battle, check out the PDF with Diddens case study.


Why the Battle of Geel?

1. It is like Overloon one of the forgotten battles, probably because it is so close both geographically and chronologically to Market-Garden, and it does deserve its own rendering in Combat Mission. I consider myself to have a fair knowledge of World War 2 and only recently did I gain knowledge of it
2. Interestingly, for the British 50th Infantry Division it was their second clash with elite troops of the Fallschirmsjager Korps, the first one being Primosole Bridge on Sicily
3. Jagdpanthers! The 1. Kompanie of schwere Heeres Panzerjager-Abteilung 559 supported the Germans and its one of the few cases you can make a historically accurate battle and get to use Jagdpanthers


What I've done so far:

1. Researched the battle, here Diddens study and Hills book have been very valuable, since other sources have been rather scetchy and scant
2. Before I had either of those sources I started on a 2km by 2km map of Geel city center (see below) but some of the primary roads ended up zigzag, so scrapped that map






Short tem goals:

1. Detailed order of battle for each side
2. Weather conditions for each day


Goals in the long run:

1. Two Master Maps to cover the terrain of the battlefield, a southern one where the focus of the fighting was on Sept 8th-9th, and a northern one for primarily Geel city centre and the Sept 10th-12th fighting. My primary sources here would be the 1943 scale 1:50 000 maps of the area (see below) and Google Maps for more detailed positioning of roads, houses, fields, etc., with trying to eliminate the modern roads and buildings







What would help here is to be able to make the Google Map image and the 1943 map in question both semi-transperent to fit them over each other in GIMP and turn them both into overlays for the same area. Haven't figured out how to do that yet but it is doable, I'm sure.


2. A campaign for both the British and the Germans but here I have no experience at all and can use all the help I can get

I'm thinking here it would be best to follow the 6th Durham Light Infantry Bn and C Squadron of Sherwood Rangers on the British side, since they were the ones who penetrated into Geel city centre and 6th DLI was in the battle from the 8th to the 12th.

On the German side, it would probably be most interesting to follow II./Fallschirmsjager Regiment 6 and the Jagdpanthers of 1. Kompanie, schwere Heeres Panzerjager-Abteilung 559 in their fight for the city centre Sept 10th-12th

That's all I have energy to write for now :)

References:
Didden, Jack; 'Fighting Spirit: Kampfgruppe Chill and the German recovery in the West between 4 September and 9 November 1944, a case study'; chapter 3.2 Gheel on p. 123-141; https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/22610247/pdf-hosted-at-the-radboud-repository-of-the-radboud-university-/124
Hills, Stuart; 'By Tank into Normandy'; Chapter 8 Gheel
 
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Wow this sounds like a great project. I did not know about this battle either.
do you know how to create a map overlay for editor?
If not the save the map you wish to use as a .bmp and name is: scenariooverlay, editoroverlay specialoverlay??? Not sure anymore I'll have to check once I'm home from work.
 
Wow this sounds like a great project. I did not know about this battle either.
do you know how to create a map overlay for editor?
If not the save the map you wish to use as a .bmp and name is: scenariooverlay, editoroverlay specialoverlay??? Not sure anymore I'll have to check once I'm home from work.

Yeah, I got that down; special editor overlay.bmp. The tricky part with the overlays here is that want a 1943 1:50 000 overlay and a Google Map overlay depicting exactly the same area, which means I'd have to fit them over each other first before cutting the outlines of the overlays
 
Oooh big project. :)

Should be a little easier considering the 3.0 upgrade for CMBN/CMFI is virtually imminent going by ChrisND's weekend stream.

As for weather, when I was researching my incomplete 'JOE's Bridge' scenario the Irish Guards diary records their race across Belgium to be in dry heat for the most part. Not much but it's something, and 'my guys' were just down the road so to speak. I'd suggest getting hold of the unit diaries of the allied forces involved if possible. best source for those micro history facts.

Keep us all in the loop about how this is progressing.
 
Yeah, it is a big project, hopefully not biting over more than can be chewed :eek: Got a weeks vacation ahead, so I'll get a little head start. Haven't kept up with the 3.0 upgrade, will that introduce flamethrowers and Crocodiles to CMBN also? (not that they're needed for the Battle of Geel)
 
All I know about the 3.0 update is that it will be an engine update and no new units for cmbn
 
Some progress on the overlays, made a collage Master Map overlay, so to say, patched together from 7 zoomed in screenshots off of the website of Belgium's Geographical Institute, www.ngi.be



Tilted and cut that map to get two Master Map overlays. Think I'll just try to cut the 1943 map by hand to approximately the same area, to get an idea which buildings, roads etc weren't around in -43
 
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@Ulf Norman Have to say this looks brilliant, admire the work you have done - excellent.

Not sure if this will help or not, but I live in Northumberland, and I actually travel regularly to Durham - and have been meaning to go visit again the Durham Light Infantry museum (been years since I last went) - perhaps I can see what they have - or maybe someone there could point me in the right direction (though I guess a lot is maybe online already). Anyway have a think if you have specific questions or black spots I may be able to ask about and I will see what I can do.

Naturally only if you think its of use!
 
@Ulf Norman Have to say this looks brilliant, admire the work you have done - excellent.

Not sure if this will help or not, but I live in Northumberland, and I actually travel regularly to Durham - and have been meaning to go visit again the Durham Light Infantry museum (been years since I last went) - perhaps I can see what they have - or maybe someone there could point me in the right direction (though I guess a lot is maybe online already). Anyway have a think if you have specific questions or black spots I may be able to ask about and I will see what I can do.

Naturally only if you think its of use!

Thank you for that gracious offer, Richtig! :) What I need to pin down that they might have information about at the museum is the combat readiness of the DLI battalions involved (the 6th, 8th and 9th) right before the Geel battle started, manpower strength and influx of new recruits after the losses in Normandy [to set headcount and experience level for the battalions]. Also if there's any outstanding officers in the battalions at the time [for leadership values for Bn HQ, companies and platoons]. And possibly if they have weather conditions recorded in any of the unit diary's for September 8th-12th. Don't wanna make it a burden for you but if you happen to come across any of that at the museum I'd be most grateful :)
 
@Ulf Norman OK that sounds like it should be something we can find! I have a full schedule of rl this week, but hopefully no later than next week I will pay a visit - update you then.
 
Just a short update; started on the Master Map over the area below, got the road network and waterways almost completed on my vacation :) back to work tomorrow :(



View from windmill marked in southeast area of map, we're seeing the blown bridge near Stelen and the Grote Nete river and flooded areas in the background
 
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A few more locations done, map of where Poyel, Rijkskolonie, the soccer field and Larum Cemetery are located below:



Soccer field across street from Rijkskolonie; home field for FC Gheel before the war?!



Soccer field from the south.



Larum Cemetery viewed from the south, putting up gravestones is hard work!



Chapel at Larum Cemetery; toolsheds for shovels and handcart for transporting caskets beside the chapel.
 
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Thank you, gentlemen :) encourages one to keep going on a big project like this
 
Very cool and interesting.
My Grandfather, Tpr. William Reid was a member of Capt.John Manns crew ,knocked out on the 10th.
All 5 members are buried in Stelen.
 
Thank you Karlo :) Do you have Stuart Hills book? Or been to Stelen by any chance?
 
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