A Bridge Too Far: Why Operation Market Garden Failed | Battlefield | War Stories

In September 1944, the Allies dropped over 40 thousand troops into the Nazi occupied Netherlands. Their objective was to capture strategic points including 9 bridges to create an invasion route into Germany. This hugely ambitious operation was a disaster and led to enormous Allied casualties and prisoners.

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He On the 26th of September 1944 a British Le force of 2,000 parad troops succeeded in making a crossing of a fast flowing river in central Holland the journey across the lower rind marked the completion of an operation code named Berlin and the soldiers who reached the other side could be proud of

Their achievement they were also relieved for the British paratroops a terrible battle was finally at an end these 2,000 men were all that were left of an original force of over 10,000 that had arrived in Holland just 9 days before four the success of operation Berlin also signaled the ultimate

Failure of a far bigger Allied Enterprise its code name was Operation Market Garden the men who crossed the low rine had been deployed as the spearhead of one of the most ambitious Allied efforts of the second world war at the time operation Market Garden was the biggest combined air and ground offensive ever

Seen in the history of warfare the idea was for British Le troops to strike against Germany Itself by making a huge Advance through Holland to bypass the fortifications of the sea creed line the potential prize on offer was enormous in early September 1944 Allied commanders still hoped to bring the war

To an end by the close of the year and Germany could fall to the Western allies before the Russians arrived from the East operation Market Garden was one of the most radical ideas of the whole War the Allied Commander who conceived it was not normally associated with such imaginative thinking but as events

Turned out the vast Allied offensive that took place in September 1944 proved to be too ambitious for it to have worked British paratroops would have needed to Capture One strategic road bridge that stretched across the lower rine by the 26th of September it was clear that the

Objective had not been achieved as a result the war in the west would drag on well into 1945 but the story of the Allied failure remains one of the most compelling episodes of the second World War the British troops fought with exceptional bravery as did their colleagues from

America and Poland but in the end their courage was not enough to overcome an enemy who still possessed a remarkable stomach for the fight the plan itself may have been fatally flawed from the start and many Allied commanders expressed concerns about the objective given to the British Paratroops for the Allies the month of August 1944 proved to be one of the most satisfying periods of the second world war on the Western Front the weeks of high summer had proved to be a hard SLO as the Germans prevented an Allied breakout from Normandy in the aftermath of the

D-Day Landings but in the early days of August the men of George Patton’s American third Army were finally sweeping eastwards away from Normandy as British and Canadian armies pushed forwards towards the town of phes which fell on the 16th just hours before the Allies had opened up an entirely new front with the

Arrival of the American Le sixth Army group in the south of France this force of seven divisions quickly began to Advance North as terrible fighting continued in the region that became known as the filet’s pocket the Allies were now in the ascendant and when the filet’s pocket was eventually closed on

The 21st of August the once Mighty German force in the West was in full Retreat after having taken huge casualties good news continued to reach the Allied leadership on the 25th of August the French capital of Paris was finally liberated from German occupation when the American General Dwight

Eisenhower took charge of the new supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary force a week later he could be satisfied with the progress of events in the early days of September three vast Allied Army groups moved forward through France and Belgium and their final destination was obvious Germany itself was almost within

Reach some Allied units Advanced at speeds of up to 25 M a day and many Allied commanders began to think of a life beyond the second world war but Eisenhower knew that his armies still had work to do the sheer speed of Allied progress began to cause problems with overstretched

Supply lines winter was now on the horizon and the enemy was still a force in the field despite its losses in Normandy on the 4th of September the legendary G Von rad was brought out of retirement to once again take charge of German forces in the west Von runed knew that the Normandy

Fighting had cost Germany some 40 divisions out of 50 deployed and many of those that had survived were in poor fighting shape but the German High command was able to bring in a remarkable number of hastily trained reinforcements Von rad also knew that he still had a number of fanatically loyal

SS units whose abilities on the battlefield were well known to Germans and allies alike but in September 1944 the biggest problem facing Von Rad’s opponent Eisenhower concerned the business of attacking the German Reich itself the German border was defended by the mighty SE freed line a line of

Defenses that stretched all the way from the Swiss border to the industrial Heartland of the ru even if the Allies could break through this West Wall there was still the difficulty of crossing the Rind before Germany could finally be brought to surrender both Enterprises were likely to be expensive in terms of

Time and Allied lives so in early September 1944 some Allied commanders began to question the wisdom of a direct assault against the Nazi State maybe there was another way to attack the Fatherland instead of trying to breach the SE freed line why not go around It one famous Allied Field Marshal grew convinced that there was a real chance to achieve a strategic Surprise by launching a lightning thrust through Holland before sweeping East into Germany itself to carry it out would require a vast operation combining an advance on the ground with an invasion

From the air it was one of the boldest ideas of the whole War for the commander who conceived it the proposal was little short of Revolutionary World War II was the first great human conflict to involve the deployment of airborne troops in battle the German capture of CIT proved that paratroops could be used decisively to carry out offensive operations the Allies also used parachute Landings in Pursuit Of War AIMS in Sicily and especially Normandy where Airborne

Forces had a key role to play in the early hours of the D-Day Landings but as the British sixth Airborne Division went about their duties on the 6th of June 1944 their colleagues in the first Airborne Division remained in Reserve at their base in England 3 months later the three brigades that made up first Airborne had still not seen action and divisional

Commander Roy uret was well aware that his men were desperate to join the fight against the enemy their opportunity would soon Arrive by early September first Airborne was part of a newly formed first Allied Airborne Army alongside three other divisions one British and two American as well as an independent polish parachute Brigade in August the new Airborne Army was placed under the overall command of the british-led 21st

Army group then in action in northern France and it was the commander of 21st Army group that decided to use his Airborne forces as part of a major new Allied offensive his name was Bernard Montgomery by early September 1944 Montgomery was already a Legend and his promotion to field Marshal only served

To confirm the stature of one of Britain’s Finest ever soldiers Monty was known as a cautious Commander but he was also a great showman whose thirst for Glory could cause rivalries with men of a similar character such as the American General George Patton now Montgomery revealed a plan that could bring him yet

More Glory as the man who brought the war to a final end in the West Montgomery argued that his own 21st Army group should be deployed in a bold offensive to strike at Germany itself the idea was for the first Canadian Army to continue its Advance along the coast

Of the English Channel while the British second Army thrust forward from the Belgian border into Holland before turning East into the heartland of the enemy to achieve this the Allies would have to secure a number of strategic Bridges along the road that ran from the Dutch border towards the Zer Z two of

These structures were located in the region around einhoven two more were situated further North near the towns of GRA and Nyan finally there was a fifth essential Crossing that the Allies had to secure this was the road bridge at the city of arnam the need to capture the bridges on

The road to Aram meant that the first British airborn division would at last get their chance to go into battle along with the rest of the new first Allied Airborne Army Army Montgomery’s plan was to deploy his airborne troops at the three key locations along the road through Holland while his ground troops

Launched a simultaneous advance from the south in all Montgomery sought to carry out the biggest combined land and air operation ever seen for a supposedly cautious Commander The Proposal was little short of Breathtaking it was all too much for some the commander of the American third Army was was dismissive of the idea General George Patton argued that priority be given to his own direct Advance towards the German Homeland Patton’s Superior Omar Bradley was also unsure about Montgomery’s plan though he accepted that the potential

Prize on offer was considerable in the end it was the Supreme Allied Commander who made the decision to support the Bold new Operation Eisenhower accepted that the chance to finish the war in 1944 was simply too good to turn down and on the 12th of September the formal orders for the new Allied offensive were issued the Airborne element was given the code name Market on the ground Montgomery’s men were to pursue operation Garden the whole combined operation was known as Market Garden and there was little time to waste on the 12th of September member the Allies began frenzied preparations for an Enterprise that would begin just 5 days later Montgomery had won his argument and the British Field Marshal was convinced that

He had the forces needed to bring off a spectacular and decisive Victory treat yourself to the best gift in history this holiday season enjoy unlimited access to award-winning podcasts and thousands of hours of original history documentaries released weekly exclusively on history hit there are topics for all history lovers from

Pompei to D-Day sign up via the link in the description for an exclusive discount don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to explore the past like never before with history hit on the the 10th of September 1944 an advanced unit of British guards succeeded in capturing a bridge over the

MS Esco Canal near the border between Holland and Belgium known as Joe’s bridge this striking Landmark was determined as the starting point for the Allied ground advance to begin on the 17th of September the task was allocated to the men of the British 30th Corp with the tanks of the guards armor division

As the spearhead on either side of 30th core the men of eth and 12th core were given the job of securing a supporting flanking Advance through the Dutch Countryside but it was the progress of 30th core along the main road to arnam that would be essential if operation Garden was to

Succeed to assist them the first Allied Airborne Army was given the objective of capturing the Strategic Bridges located along the Route the region around einhoven was allocated to the American 101st Airborne Division their fellow countrymen of the 82nd Airborne Division were given the job of securing the bridges around grav and

Nima furthest North of all the battle Hungary first British Airborne Division were ordered to secure the crossing of the lower rine at arnam with men of the Polish independent parachute Brigade in support the British and polish elements formed part of the first British Airborne core which was placed in

Effective command of the whole Airborne operation as the 17th of September approached the core commanders prepared their men for the battle that lay ahead they knew that victory was far from certain despite the ingenious nature of Montgomery’s strategic plan many Allied officers suspected that a fierce fight

Lay ahead across the channel in Holland their suspicions would be justified Germany had suffered a terrible defeat in France and her Regional forces had taken catastrophic losses but the vear was still not finished as a fighting force in the West In late August 1944 a once Mighty military machine found itself in full retreat by early September the German armies that made up the command of OB West had lost 40 out of 50 divisions since battle was joined in France on D-Day when they elderly G Von runed was

Recalled to take charge of OB West on September the 4th he could Suspect with good reason that the men under his command were now a defeated Force but all was not yet lost for Germany on the Western Front new divisions were formed using former pilots and seamen in a new role on the

Ground Hitler’s concern for events in the west led him to transfer precious resources from other theaters of operations and units based in Germany itself could be brought quickly into battle in the event of an Allied offensive in Holland there was also no shortage of good German commanders who retained

Acquired confidence in the men under their command at the town of EK to the west of arnam field Marshal valter mle established the headquarters of German Army Group B A force whose main elements were the first parachute Army based to the south of vot and the 15th Army located to the West

Myrdle also knew that he had a number of battalions in the region of Aram itself including two SS training battalions but the German field Marshal was aware that his real military muscle was located just to the north and east of his EK headquarters this was the ninth and 10th SS paner

Divisions these Elite armored units formed the second SS Panza core having succeeded in withdrawing from the fighting in France and it was the power of these these two divisions that would cause the greatest concerns to Allied commanders once battle was joined at Arm in September 1944 Montgomery was 57 years of age and a hero to his Nation his great victories over roml in Egypt and Tunisia had caught the imagination of the British public and turned the war in North Africa when the Germans and Italians were eventually ejected from Africa Monte played a key role in the conquest of Sicily before moving on to Italy itself as Eisenhower’s Deputy the British general was also heavily involved in the successful Normandy Landings on D-Day on September the 1st 1944 he was appointed Field Marshal

Commanding all British and Canadian Forces in the western theater throughout this brilliant career Monty was always regarded as a cautious leader in battle he said himself that his own experiences of the slaughter of World War I led him to avoid excessive risks to the lives of his men but Monty was

Also a showman with a Keen Eye for publicity in Sicily he became involved in a rivalry with the American General George Patton with the two men almost bitterly engaged in a race to see whose Army would be first to the port of Miss Cena It Was a Race won by Patton but in September 1944 Montgomery was back in the ascendant and the British Field Marshal knew that if his bold plans for operation Market Garden succeeded then his Fame would be sealed forever to secure his objectives on the ground Montgomery chose to rely on an

Old prote to command the advance of 30th core on which so much depended leftenant General Brian horo first came to attention during the fighting in Egypt in late 1942 when he took command of the British 13th Corp in the fight against roml universally known as joro this popular Commander was given command of

30th Corp in August 1944 having already been heavily involved with events in Normandy but horo was injured in the course of the summer fighting and his health was still suspect in the days before the launch of operation Market Garden the overall commander of the Airborne Army was Lieutenant General Lewis

Britton but as operation Market Garden got underway effective command would be in the hands of bitton’s Deputy the commander of first British Airborne Corps this was Lieutenant General Frederick boy Browning the commander who’ gained a reputation as a powerful advocate of air power September 1944 gave Browning the chance to put his

Beliefs into action operation Market Garden was was the only Allied deployment of airborne troops in a strategic role during the fighting on the Western Front Browning’s subordinates included the American Major General Maxwell Taylor commander of the 101st Airborne Division and his compatriot Brigadier General James Gavin in charge of the 82nd Airborne these two commanders would be responsible for securing the key objectives along the road to arnam Once their men had landed safely on the

Ground but it was that arnum itself the toughest task lay ahead and the capture of the arnam bridge was the responsibility of Browning’s first British Airborne Core Browning’s command was not confined to British units first Airborne Corp also included the Polish independent Brigade of Major General stanislav sosabowski a soldier who typified his nation’s burning desire to get to grips with the Germans but sosabowski had grave concerns about the planning for operation Market G

A shortage of aircraft meant that his Brigade would only arrive at arnam on day three of the operation sosabowski was quick to point out that changing weather conditions could delay their arrival even longer with potentially disastrous results sosabowski was also prepared to argue that the staggered drop at arnam

Meant that the first troops to arrive would be put under an enormous burden as they pursued their objective of arnam bridge these were the men of the British first parachute division under under the command of Robert Roy uret a 47-year-old major general whose reputation soared during the bitter fighting on the Italian

Peninsula but in mid-september 1944 Roy uret found himself in England waiting to lead his Airborne Division as part of the Allied air Armada but urk could was another Allied Commander with concerns about what lay ahead and not because September the 17th 1944 would be the date of his first ever parachute jump

The divisional Commander was Gravely concerned at the 8 Mile gap between his men’s Landing zones and the objective of arnam bridge he was also aware that his division’s Landings were also staggered with three battalions arriving on day two to join the first six battalions already on the ground these included the

Second Battalion of the parachute regiment a body of men whose bravery at arnam would become the staff of Legend as would the leadership of their Commander leftenant Colonel John Frost In contrast to Roy kkut John Frost was a paratrooper of massive experience having joined the parachute regiment as soon as it was formed in 1941 the following year as a major Frost led the daring raid on the German radar installation at bruneval in northern France he was also involved in Airborne

Operations in Sicily and by September 1944 Lieutenant Colonel Frost was a well-known figure figure in the British Army and an ideal choice for command during operation Market Garden but as Frost and his colleagues must have suspected it wasn’t only the Allies who could call on excellent command in the battle that lay

Ahead as the dramatic events of world War II unfolded and the tide began to turn against Germany the vear Supreme Commander took an increasingly Hands-On approach to Command Decisions within his Armed Forces time and again Hitler intervened in his Army’s command chain much to the annoyance of his

Generals in December 1944 the massive scale of the German offensive in the Arden was Hitler’s personal order overruling his nominal commander in the western theater the legendary Field Marshal G Von runstein at the time of operation Market Garden 3 months before the Arden campaign Von runed was already 69 years old his

Formal retirement from the German Armed Forces took place as far back as 1938 before the second World War Began but his experience was far too valuable for Hitler to ignore in the years that followed Von runed enjoyed senior command positions in Poland France and then Russia as German forces is swept across

Europe by the summer of 1944 gon runed was back in retirement after his dismissal as commander-in-chief of the western theater Hitler was unimpressed with the old field Marshal’s apparent defeatism during the Normandy campaign but it was a brief withdrawal from command on September the 4th he was once

Again recalled to duty andon winad remained commander-in Chief West almost until the end of the war But the extent of his authority was limited as the German forces fought an increasingly desperate battle in the west when it came to resisting the Allied operation Market Garden the real German commander in the region was not the commander-in-chief West but the commander of army Group B Field Marshal valta

Modal at the beginning of World War II valta modal was virtually unknown even within the German Armed Forces by 194 44 he was a 53-year-old field Marshal with a substantial reputation at home and abroad during the fighting on the Eastern Front myle became known as the furus fireman because of his ability to

Take charge of a difficult situation and turn it around quickly unusually for a German Commander myrdle was prepared to challenge Hitler directly if he disagreed with the fur’s thinking and by September 1944 Hitler had to rely on myrdle skill skills once more when the market Garden offensive

Began in Holland but valter modal knew that he was not the only skilled Commander available to resist any Allied Assault his command included a newly formed first German parachute Army based at vult halfway along the corridor that the Allies hoped to secure though the parachute Army was essentially a groundbased force its Commander was one of the pioneering figures of Airborne Warfare General Kurt students flying experience began as a pilot during World War I by 1940 he was an experienced Luft buffer officer in charge of Airborne operations in France and Holland the following year student led the Airborne invasion of CIT an Enterprise that can now be seen as one of the most impressive achievements

Of the war unfortunately for student Hitler was unconvinced of the merits of using airborne troops in a strategic role in the years after C student was denied the chance to repeat his success but in September 1944 this gifted Commander was back at Center Stage applying his skills

To thwart the Allies own attempt at strategic Airborne Warfare in addition to student’s first parachute Army Field Marshal myle also knew that he could call on a force more readily associated with German operations of the second world war just to the north and east of modal EK

Headquarters the armor of the second SS panac cor lay waiting for any call to action core Commander villy berri knew that the two divisions under his command could be a devastating weapon against an unarmored Airborne offensive and that’s exactly what faced berri at arnam when the British arrived on the 17th of

September but an armored provision was also part of the overall Allied planning for the combined ground and air offensive and the tank was just one of many weapons required for a successful push to Aram one of the most compelling features of the Aram campaign is the combined nature of the operation with ground and Air elements pursuing simultaneous objectives but for many people it’s the sheer size of the Airborne Landings That Remains the most memorable episode of the battle it’s hard not to be impressed

With the idea of dropping three divisions of troops over enemy held territory in all over 2,000 aircraft were required for the drop on September the 17th 1944 and there was only one transport plane that the Allies were ever going to use to carry the bulk of the first first Airborne Army on its

Journey to Holland this was the American Douglas c47 Sky Train known to the British as the Dakota the Dakota was a military transport plane with origins in the world of commercial Aviation the c47 design was inspired by the early passenger aircraft the DC 2 and DC3 but by the end of World War II the c47 was the most famous Transport Aircraft anywhere with a range of over 2,000 M

And a top speed of 230 mph it was an ideal Workhorse aircraft for operations like Market Garden 20 fully equipped paratroopers could be accommodated in a c47 and many Dakota Sky trains were filled with Airborne soldiers on the morning of September the 17th 1944 but the c-47 was also used to carry

Material to The Landing sites in Holland jeeps and light artillery were just two types of Hardware that could be accommodated by the Dakota’s 6,000 payload and the c47 was also employed extensively as a glider tower for airlanding battalions during operation Market Garden the Allied gliders were also able

To carry both men and material and of all the hardware landed on September the 17th 1944 perhaps the best known weapon of them all was the American design 75 mm pack Howitzer the M1A1 introduced into service between the wars the M1A1 became the standard infantry support weapon in British as

Well as American arsenals as World War II unfolded British gun Crews knew that the M1A1 13B shells could make a devastating impact in the event of close cour street fighting the plans for Market Garden called for the howitzers to arrive both in gliders and under parachutes with the

Weapon broken up into nine pieces for the purpose when reassembled the M1 A1 could provide invaluable support for isolated infantry units it’s typical of the nature of warfare that Montgomery’s great plan for operation Market Garden called for fast movement of resources over a substantial area of land but when fighting got

Underway many Allied units found themselves bogged down in localized exchanges for many American soldiers this meant relying on one of the best known weapons of World War II the M1 automatic rifle known as the Garand rifle after its inventor John Garand the M1 was a gas operated weapon that was the first

Automatic rifle to be issued as standard to infantrymen during World War II with a weight of 92b the M1 may have been heavier than the typical bolt operated rifle but American forces appreciated its sturdiness in combat situations as the production figures confirm by the end of the war over 52 million garan

Rifles had been manufactured and this was the gun that persuaded the world’s armed forces that automatic weapons were the way forward for infantry rifle provision famous mass produced American designs were also available to British forces during operation Market Garden and British armored units were pleased to have the American M4 tank at their

Disposal for their land offensive through Holland ever since the Battle of el alamin British tank Crews appreciated the protection and Firepower of the American Tank known to them as the Sherman in Africa the typical Sherman design boasted up to 76 mm of armor protection and a 75mm main gun but by

1944 the British had evolved their own variant on the classic M4 this was known as the Sherman Firefly a vehicle that packed a hefty punch over 600 fireflies were made with the thumping 17b anti-tank gun mounted in the turret the 17lb gun had already proved itself a vast Improvement on the traditional

British six pounder when Allied to the Sherman speed and maneuverability the result was a devastating weapon of War capable of taking on the best of the enemy designs but when it came to sheer speed there was one British tank that could hold its own with any produced during the war

The Mark 8 Cromwell had a top speed of some 40 mph first used in the Normandy campaign the cromwell’s Armament and armor were not World beating in the late summer of 1944 but its speed did much to make up for its relative lack of strength and

The use of a standard 75 mm main gun meant that it could use American ammunition when in action with speed being one of the key elements of operation Market Garden the potential advantages of a 40 mph tank were obvious to Allied commanders but there remained the question of whether

The local landscape would allow the British Cromwell Crews to exploit their advantage what could be assumed was that the Allies had no Monopoly on quality weapons in September 1944 when Montgomery and his senior commanders made their preparations for the market Garden offensive the opinions of The Troop Carrier commanders were

Taken especially seriously the danger of the LT vaffa meant that the air Armada would travel with strong fighter support and Allied bombers were also involved with the task of hitting German anti-aircraft defenses on the ground but there was still real concern about the potentially disastrous impact of German

Flack and no anti-aircraft weapon was feared more than the 88 mm gun the Allies knew all about the 88 by the time of Market Garden its 20 PB shells could hit aircraft as high as 26,000 ft over 10,000 of these Mighty weapons were produced and the Firepower

Of the 88 was not only used against aircraft early on in the war the Germans recognized that the gun could be adapted for anti-tank use and many lightly armored Allied tanks had no chance against a direct hit from the 88 during the fighting in North

Africa but by late 1944 it was the 88’s original role that concerned the Allies most and fear of the weapon led directly to a cautious choice of drop zone for the British paratroops at arnam Roy ur’s men would have to advance 8 miles to reach their objective of the bridge but

Once on the ground there was still the danger that the British paratroops would come up against the 88 mm weapon as part of the Firepower of the most famous of all the great German tank designs the type 6 Panza the tiger with a weight of some 56 tons the

Tiger looked and felt like a mighty weapon of War though it was too slow for divisional use the 1350 Tigers produced between 1942 and 1944 was still able to make an impressive impact on many battlefields especially during the the fighting for Normandy on the 13th of June 1944 the German tank Ace Michael

Vitman sealed the reputation of the tiger forever that day vitman LED an attack by four type six panzas against Allied armored units at Vier bokage in Normandy the Allied tanks included Shermans and cromwells but there was nothing they could do against the Tiger’s 88 mm gun

Which could penetrate 110 mm of armor at a range of a th000 m 27 Vehicles fell victim to the Tigers in a matter of minutes and it was this kind of Firepower that the Allies hoped to avoid during operation Market Garden the British and Americans also

Knew that the enemy was likely to be well equipped for Close Quarter street fighting in theaters of operations such as Italy the Allies were forced to deal with the considerable skills of German mortar Crews the fighting for arnum again revealed the value of the most famous German mortar

Design the 8 cm weapon fired an 8 lb bomb and a well-trained crew could deliver an enviable rate of fire up to a range of half a mile more than enough to make an impact in street fighting to this day Allied Veterans of the arnam battle recall the unsettling effect of

Facing German mortar fire without any certainty as to where the enemy crew was situated a similar effect was achieved by German machine Gunners during the Battle of arnam with one gun design again well remembered today like many other great weapons the mg42 began to establish its reputation on the battlefields of North

Africa and the Soviet Union German machine Gunners were quick to appreciate the smooth feed of the 50 cartridge belt they could also take advantage of a remarkable rate of fire some 1550 Revolutions a minute could be be delivered by the mg42 and it’s not surprising that the gun remains in

Service in many armies of the present day the mg42 was just one excellent weapon that the Allies were likely to face during September 1944 The Hope was that the Brilliance of the Strategic plan could keep casualties to a minimum When Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery unveiled his plans for operation Market Garden there were many amongst his colleagues who were taken aback by the Bold nature of his proposal the words of the American General Omar Bradley have survived to give some indication of the reaction I could not have been more

Astonished than I was by the daring Adventure he proposed for in contrast to the normally conservative tactics Montgomery ordinarily chose the arnam attack was to be made over a 60m carpet of airborne troops Bradley believed that mon his plan was ambitious too ambitious but he also accepted that if it worked the

Prize would be well worth winning in simple terms the British 21st Army group Commander proposed to use his own forces in a dramatic thrust through enemy held Holland this involved British second Army moving forward from the Belgian border at Joe’s Bridge along the main road to arnam parallel to the SE freed

Line of fortifications that blocked the way into Germany itself having Advanced past this line Second Army could turn East and attack Germany’s industrial Heartland in the ru Valley the suspicion was that this might be enough for Germany to accept that the war was Lost the armored guards division was given the task of leading second Army’s 30th core on their Advance North with flanking advances through the Dutch Countryside by e8th core and 12th core but this was not the full extent of the Allied thrust forward at the same time

As 30th core began its Advance the first Allied Airborne Army would also arrive in Holland to secure strategic Bridges along the road to arnam five major Crossings were identified as essential to the success of the operation in the South there were bridges over the villa minina and Zoid

Villms vad canals their capture would be the responsibility of the American 101st Airborne Division further north Montgomery knew that three major river Crossings also had to be secured one of them was the road bridge over the mass near gra this was to be taken by the paratroops and air Landers

Of the American 82nd Airborne Division along with the mighty road bridge over the Val at Nyan furthest North of all there was the bridge that has come to be most closely associated with the whole Market Garden operation the road bridge over the lower Rine at arnam to secure this final Crossing Montgomery allocated his first British Airborne core with its first Airborne Division an independent polish

Parachute Brigade this was the toughest objective of all and success was essential to the Allied cause if the arnam bridge could not be captured the whole operation would fail as Montgomery was well aware in the days prior to the launch of the operation the Airborne core Commander General Browning met with

Monty to discuss the imminent engagement according to one of the most famous stories of the war Montgomery argued that the British paratroopers would only have to hold the bridge for 2 days before the ground troops arrived from the south Browning said that he could hold it for

Four but the British general could not conceal his doubts about the whole operation he suggested to Montgomery that the crossing at arnam might proved to be a bridge too far Browning knew that Market Garden was an operation that involved a substantial degree of risk and he was not the only Allied Commander

To recognize the potential pitfalls of Montgomery’s Grand Proposal with the benefit of hindsight it’s easy to see the risks that lay ahead for the allies during operation Market Garden there can be no doubt that a large number of assumptions were built into the thing thinking behind an offensive which was prepared in a matter of days commanders like general

Sosabowski made their concerns clear at the time but there were compelling reasons for going ahead with the operation the Allies were on the March German defeat was surely only a matter of time and the amazing plan of the legendary Montgomery meant that it could all be over by Christmas again with

Hindsight we might consider that the glitter of the potential prize blind the Allied command to the risks of operation Market Garden to begin with there was the uncertain nature of Allied Intelligence coming through from the ground in Holland in particular no one could be certain of the scale of anti-aircraft

Defenses that lay in wait for the Airborne Landings on day one at the city of arnam it was believed the German flag defenses were substantial and so the idea of a direct Landing there was ruled out as a consequence the landscape to the north of arnam was also considered unsuitable for an

Airborne Landing which meant that Browning’s first Airborne core were forced to accept a landing Zone some 8 mil to the west of their objective before the British could get to Aram they would have to advance through the town of EK where some German resistance would be inevitable what the Allies could not be

Sure about was the scale of the resistance intelligence reports failed to give a full picture of Germans strength in the arnam area but one Dutch communication made the alarming suggestion that the Germans were still a force to be reckoned with around Arnam it suggested that a strong German armored presence was resting and refitting in the area having succeeded in withdrawing from France the report was ignored the men of the British Airborne Corp did not know what was waiting for Them what they did know is that their arrival to the west of arnam would not take place in one lift a shortage of aircraft and the decision to give priority to the American Landings meant that 3 days were allocated for the deployment of Browning’s force with the polls scheduled to arrive on day Three this staggered deployment had two serious consequences for the Allies the first airborne troops to land would be faced with a massive burden with the need to secure the zones for Day 2 and three the British would only be able to send three battalions of paratroops into

Action on day one against a light defense this might be enough a more substantial resistance perhaps involving armored units would make the capture of arnam bridge a fish objective on day one There was also the question of the follow-up Landings sosabowski and others knew only too well that bad weather back in England could cause the second and third Landings to be delayed or postponed but once again the Allied command judged that it was worth taking a chance with the

Weather in Holland itself the local landscape was also a factor that could present problems for the allies the advance of 30th core would be made along a double Track Road known as the club route the key to 30th core success would be the speed of advance but the single

Road meant that slow moving traffic was likely to arise if Vehicles broke down or were taken out by enemy Fire by the end of the operation the club route would be known by a far more Grim nickname either side of the road the flat marshy poer land made Speedy

Progress all but impossible and in the region to the south of arnam the exposed nature of the landscape made any kind of open Warfare a dangerous Enterprise but of all the potential difficulties for the Allies in September 1944 it was the uncertainty concerning the strength of the enemy that presented

The biggest danger to the success of operation Market Garden but by the evening of the 16th of September there was no more time for worrying and no turning back at air bases across the southeast of England British and American airborne troops prepared to board their transports across the channel on the

Dutch border the guards Armored Division prepared to lead the advance along the club route towards arnam all that was certain was that one of the most ambitious operations of the whole war was about to Begin late in the evening of Saturday September the 16th 1944 200 British Lancaster bombers took off on raids designed to soften up the German defenses in Holland the following morning some 800 American flying fortresses joined the attack it was not the first or the last time that German

Units on the ground felt the power of the famous Allied bombers but on this occasion their deadly cargo was not released as part of the Strategic bombing offensive this was a tactical move in support of operation Market Garden as the bomber Crews went about their work back in England Allied

Fighter pilots also prepared to go into action over Northwest Europe but their job was one of protection not destruction 371 British Spitfires tempests and mosquito and 548 American Thunderbolts Lightnings and Mustangs were allocated to protect the huge Armada of the air that began to take to the English skies at 09:30 hours

On the morning of Sunday the 17th of September in a matter of minutes two vast Columns of aircraft began to form into position some 2,000 planes and gliders on route for Holland on board the 20,000 men and material of an Airborne Army The Hope was that the

Mission that lay ahead could secure an early end to the second world war on the Western Front but no one knew for sure what would happen especially the men of the British battalions as they took off for the city of Arnam