Version 1.0

Arnhem, The Netherlands
September 17, 1944

******
From: Field Marshal Model
To: Lt. Gen. Wilhelm Bittrich, Commander of the 10th SS Frundsberg Division

The Allies have launched a surprise airborne assault in your area and in other regions in Holland including Nijmegen to the south. It is not completely clear as to what all of their objectives are at this point, but one thing is clear: The Arnhem Road Bridge is in serious danger of being captured by the enemy. 

Even now several battalions of airborne infantry are making their way through the outskirts of Arnhem towards the bridge. The SS training battalion is successfully blocking  some of these units from reaching Arnhem but others near the river are filtering in. 

Your job, Bittrich, is to first use what little forces you have to try and slow the enemy down or deny access to the bridge if possible. You will then need to determine the enemy's size and position and eliminate their forces. I know that your 10th SS Division is worn to the bone and without tanks or heavy weapons, but you must scrape the barrel of your available forces and immediately force the Tommies off the bridge! Brittish armored forces are attacking hard towards Arhnem but are many kilometers away at this point. If this force links with a captured Arnhem bridge, then Germany is in grave danger, especially the industrial Rhur region which is responsible for much of our war production.

Attack now and attack hard day and night, wear down those airborne troops - they will have few or no supplies to reinforce themselves- they will have to be worn down into defeat.
******

You look at your available forces and see little hope of finding anything that resembles an assault force. Your immediate forces are tiny, two small platoons that you order to gaurd key intersections within Arnhem to slow down the airborne tide. Also you have the inexperienced crews manning the AA guns near the bridge.

The next 24 hours looks better although not exactly what you were hoping for: Two weakened panzer recon battalions, one led by Graebner and the other led by Brinkman. This accounts for all of the available armor for the next 24-48 hours. You also have some scraped up infantry units, but none of high caliber. These infantry are a mix of men from various units in the immediate area and are also low on ammunition and without heavy weapons.

Within 48 hours: Possibly some light and medium tanks may reach your area, but no more than eight are available. The good news is we will have appoximately two weak batallions to throw against the Tommies. The not so good news is that one of them is a replacement batallion, full of green young boys and others that would normally be unfit for combat. The other one is a veteran battalion from your 10th SS Division.

48 Hours+: Expect some flak units to arrive and (the news you've been waiting for) some veteran Tiger tanks.