Arnhem Bridge

The largest airborne drop ever designed, Operation Market Garden was Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery's plan to end the war on the Western Front early. If successful, it would threaten the flanks of German defenses along the Siegfried line and behind …

1944-09-19

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The largest airborne drop ever designed, Operation Market Garden was Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery's plan to end the war on the Western Front early. If successful, it would threaten the flanks of German defenses along the Siegfried line and behind the Rhine River, helping an Allied crossing and precipitating the fall of Berlin. The operation famously ended up being "a bridge too far", handing Montgomery his only high-profile defeat. The airborne plan on 17th September was for the 1st British Airborne Division to secure Arnhem Bridge and the high ground to the north. At the bridge, 2nd Battalion Lieutenant Colonel Frost commanded a force of about 500 men that took up a strong position at the northern end of the bridge. The Germans soon discovered that the airborne troops were a formidable enemy, and more than infantry assaults were needed to blast Frost's men out of their houses. A charge by the 9th SS Reconnaissance Battalion across the bridge was destroyed; likewise so were attacks from the north. Despite being short of ammunition and with no food or water, the airborne force held the northern part of the bridge, denying the Germans a crossing place, until the night of 20/21 September. The last British Resistance near the bridge ceased on September 23rd.

Arnhem, Holland

The Battle of Arnhem was a battle of the Second World War at the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden. It was fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Wolfheze and Driel and the vicinity from 17 to 26 September 1944. The Allies were poised to enter the Netherlands after sweeping through France and Belgium in the summer of 1944, after the Battle of Normandy. Market Garden was proposed by Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, who favoured a single thrust north over the branches of the Lower Rhine River, allowing the British Second Army to bypass the Siegfried Line and attack the Ruhr. US Airborne troops were dropped in the Netherlands to secure bridges and towns along the line of the Allied advance. Farthest north, the British 1st Airborne Division landed at Arnhem to capture bridges across the Nederrijn, supported by men of the Glider Pilot Regiment and theist Polish Parachute Brigade. The British XXX Corps were expected to reach the British airborne forces in two to three days.

Wikipedia: Battle of Arnhem

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British

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