Rhineland '45

The Mod Section.

Operations Veritable, Blockbuster, Grenade.

The Rhineland Campaign:

Defense Against Better Judgment.

The Situation

Operation Grenade

In the south, the US Ninth Army was designated to assault across the river Roer and attack in a north-easterly direction, parallel to the river Rhine. This operation, called "Grenade" was set to commence simultaneously with operation Veritable but the Germans had just demolished several dams, making an assault crossing over the river Roer impossible for as long as two weeks.

This clever move allowed the Germans to divert troops to the Canadian sector and delay the Canadian 1st Army's advance considerably.

However, once the Americans did finally cross, the Germans had no reserves left to slow down their advance. Once the Roerfront had been breached, even Panzer Lehr division was not able to stop the American armored onslaught and it became unequivocally clear that a German defeat was unavoidable.

Operation Veritable

To turn south-east from Nijmegen for operation Veritable was as unexpected from the German perspective as it was logical for the Allies, however. Between Nijmegen and the river Rhine bridges there were no waterways or other geographical features of significance and the gradually widening gap between the rivers Maas and Rhein would allow the Allies to initially concentrate forces to breach into the undermanned German defensive lines and after that deploy more units on a broader front and leverage the manouverability of their superior armored forces.

In reality, however, the British and Canadians were seriously slowed down by the heavy muddy terrain and tenacious German defense.

The Next Move

In the aftermath of the ambitious "Wacht am Rhein" offensive the Germans were not being given much chance to recover. On their northern flank, along the river Maas in the Netherlands, the 1st Canadian Army, consisting of British XXX corps and 2nd Canadian Corps, had continued to prepare for their assault towards the Rhine. The 1st Canadian Army was in a favourable position, being protected by the rivers Waal and Lower Rhine in the north, behind which the Germans were waiting anxiously for the next Allied move. While the Allies saw no direct threat from that direction, the Germans had every reason to anticipate a renewed offensive across the rivers.

About the mod.

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Key take aways:

The Rhineland, Germany, February-March 1945.
Allied forces: American, British, Canadian.
Axis forces: German.
64 maps, custom made after period topographical maps and aerial reconnaissance photos.
Includes plenty of Grand Campaigns, Operations and Battles.
Armored, Infantry, Mechanized battle groups on either side.
Fallschirm battle groups on German side.
Additional "Bodenständige" (static) BG's on German side.

If you seek a mod with well balanced forces, this might not be your best choice.

For the Rhineland offensive the Allies assembled an overwhelming superiority, which is represented in this mod. However, Axis resilience is not to be underestimated. Forcepool tank strengths of 10:1 is one thing but in battle it will rarely exceed 5:1 and you still need skill if your opponent has got big cats to play with.

Due to the muddy terrain, Allied tanks are initially limited to hard surfaced roads, providing the defender with an opportunity to force the attacker into costly close quarter infantry fighting.

In multiplayer, the challenge for the Allies is to reach the Rhine bridge maps and for the German side to prevent a decisive Allied victory.

As the attacker you are going to need your superior numbers and you will find your forcepools well stocked. Also, because of the new Victory Location point system you need to control more than twothirds of the maps for a Major Victory.

The Axis side has only few battle groups with armor and reinforcements may be but a trickle of what you wish, but if you manage them wisely you could certainly eliminate US armored battle groups.

The Rhineland strategic map uses the maximum of 64 maps in a wide variety of map types. In the north, the Veritable and Blockbuster areas, there are the heavily forrested areas of the Reichswald and Hochwald, urban maps with intact towns or flattened towns and rural maps representing the areas where battles raged from farm to farm.

In the south, the Grenade area, you have the Roer crossing sites, the slightly undulating half-open terrain where the Germans can leverage their long guns, followed by industrial zone maps and finally the densely packed city maps.

The version 1.2 update of maps and strategic map introduces the novel idea of dividing the stratmap into zones of importance after the Allied goalsettings and with Victory points assigned accordingly.

In the displayed image the stratmap has been color coded into four zones to indicate the "weight" of Victory Location points: White, Yellow, Orange, Red, with white being the lightest and red the heaviest in terms of points. White are the start zones, Orange and Red are the Rhine bridgehead and Rhine crossing sites.

Orange and Red are only 14 maps combined but they hold 45% of the VL points. This means that when the Allies occupy the 50 White and Yellow maps they will win but it will be only a minor victory.

For a major victory they need to make a dent in the Orange coloured bridgehead and for a decisive victory they need most of the Orange maps but not the Red maps.

From a historical perspective, anything less than a Decisive Victory for the Allies would be a failed campaign.

Rhineland Strategic Map

Rhineland mod Axis Forces

2. FJ.Rgt. / 2. Fs.Div.
7. FJ.Rgt. / 2. Fs.Div.
16. FJ.Rgt. / 6. Fs.Jg.Div.
19. FJ.Rgt. / 7. Fs.Jg.Div.
20. FJ.Rgt. / 7. Fs.Jg.Div.
21. FJ.Rgt. / 7. Fs.Jg.Div.
22. FJ.Rgt. / 8. Fs.Jg.Div.
24. FJ.Rgt. / 8. Fs.Jg.Div.
1051.Gr.Rgt. / 84. Inf.Div.
1062.Gr.Rgt. / 84. Inf.Div.
1222.Gr.Rgt. / 180. Inf.Div.
1223.Gr.Rgt. / 180. Inf.Div.
1224.Gr.Rgt. / 190. Inf.Div.
1225.Gr.Rgt. / 190. Inf.Div.
17. FJ.Rgt. / 6 Fs.Jg.Div.
901.PG.Lehr.Rgt./130. Lehr.
902.PG.Lehr.Rgt./130. Lehr.
60.PG.Rgt. / 116. Pz.Div.
156.PG.Rgt. / 116. Pz.Div.
1034.Gr.Rgt. / 59. Inf.Div.
1036.Gr.Rgt. / 59. Inf.Div.
115.PG.Rgt. / 15.Pz.Gr.Div.
104.PG.Rgt. / 15.Pz.Gr.Div.
1218.Gr.Rgt. / 176. Inf.Div.
1219.Gr.Rgt. / 176. Inf.Div.
1220.Gr.Rgt. / 176. Inf.Div.
330.Gr.Rgt. / 183. VG.Div.
343.Gr.Rgt. / 183. VG.Div.
351.Gr.Rgt. / 183. VG.Div.
KG. 11. Pz.Div.
959.Gr.Rgt. / 363. VG.Div.
958.Gr.Rgt. / 363. VG.Div.

Rhineland mod Allied Forces

71 Bde / 53 Welsh Division
Grenadier Guards Group
4 Canadian AD
8 Bde / 3 British ID
11 Br. Armoured Division
44 Bde / 15 Scottish Div.
46 Bde / 15 Scottish Div.
227 Bd / 15 Scottish Div.
214 Bde / 43 Wessex Div.
129 Bde / 43 Wessex Div.
130 Bde / 43 Wessex Div.
51st Highland Division
160 Bde / 53 Welsh Division
52nd Lowland Division
9 Bde / 3 British ID
2nd Canadian Inf. Division
3rd Canadian Inf. Division
29 US ID
30 US ID
TF Byrne / 35 US ID
137 / 35 US ID
333 / 84 US ID
TF Church / 84 US ID
335 / 84 US ID
405 / 102 US ID
406 / 102 US ID
407 / 102 US ID
CCA / 5 US AD
CCB / 5 US AD
CCR / 5 US AD
CCA / 8 US AD
TF 2 US AD

Rhineland mod Map previews:

The Mod Section

We are "Buck_Compton" and "Pete" in the Close Combat community, mod creators since 2007.

Special contributor: Schnellemeyer.

Our logo depicts a brush and a pen that represent the creativity and research that go into making a Close Combat mod.

The Mod Section

We are known as "Buck_Compton" and "Pete" in the Close Combat community, mod creators since 2007.

Special contributor: Schnellemeyer.

Links:

Downloads:

Mod download section.

Close Combat on Wikipedia

We do not own or claim any copyrights pertaining to the Close Combat games.

To play a mod for the Close Combat series you must own a legal copy of the game.

Permission to use anything from this website - Creative Common licensed images excepted - only in writing from the website owner.

Last edited: May 2024