Scenario

For this event we are portraying the members of Ersatz Abteilung 6 / Wehrkreis VI (Corps 'Feldt') the day after the Allied airborne landings. 

It all began on Sunday 17 September, D-Day for 'Market Garden.'  The US 82nd Airborne Division under the command of General James Gavin landed in the area of Groesbeek heights (just north and south of the village).  The heights itself were that of wooded hills about 100m high and 12km long to the east of Nijmegen.  The 82nd's mission was first to secure the heights, then capture the bridges over the River Maas (Meuse) at Grave and over the Maas-Waal Canal.  After those objectives were complete, then they would try for the road bridge over the Waal at Nijmegen.

The Americans were able to secure the heights and capture the Grave bridge.  But two of the three bridges over the Maas-Waal Canal were blown by the German defenders.  It was not until after dark that a company of the US 508th PIR attempted to enter Nijmegen.  This patrol was stopped before it could reach the Waal bridge by Kampfgruppe 'Henke', a battalion sized formation of soldiers, airmen, & railway guards defending Nijmegen.

At this point, Generalfeldmarschall Model (commander of Army Group B) saw that the key to the battle was not at Arnhem where the British had landed, but at the road bridge at Nijmegen.  If the enemy could be stopped on the Waal, then any success to the north by the enemy would be useless.  After learning of the Allied airborne operations, Hitler ordered the defeat of 'Market-Garden' to have full military priority.

Model was given command of the troops in training from Wehrkreiss VI, this was the German military district just east of the Netherlands.  These troops along with those in transit or on leave in the Wesel area would be known as Corps 'Feldt.'  These troops under the command of General Kurt Feldt which the organization drew its name, were to recapture Groesbeek heights from the US 82nd Airborne.  

At dawn on 18 September, the first troops of Corps 'Feldt' which now numbered 3,400 barely trained men in four groups under the 406th Landesschützen Division started it's attack on the heights.  Slowly the Germans found gaps in the thin American lines. This attack by Corps 'Feldt' succeeded in overrunning part of the 82nd's landing zones.  This gain was held shortly, but a counter-attack by the Americans was able to regain the lost ground just as allied gliders appeared, bringing much needed reinforcements.  This counter attack almost resulted in the almost capture of General Feldt himself.

We will be portraying men of Corps 'Feldt' during the attacks following September 18th.  Since the unit we are portraying consisted of returning vets, troops in training (which would be wearing training gear of earlier issued types), and territorial soldiers, our uniform and equipment regulations allow us various options. 

Thanks to Doug Nash, we now have a "Soldbuch Story" of one of the soldiers of Corps 'Feldt'.  To read Gerhard Weiss' story: Click Here