Operation Market Garden

The largest airborne operation of all time, Operation Market Garden was a bold attempt by Field Marshal Montgomery to drop three entire Airborne Divisions behind the enemy lines, in German-occupied Netherlands. Their tactical objective: To capture and hold all the …

1944-09-17

5342

The largest airborne operation of all time, Operation Market Garden was a bold attempt by Field Marshal Montgomery to drop three entire Airborne Divisions behind the enemy lines, in German-occupied Netherlands. Their tactical objective: To capture and hold all the major water crossings along a narrow 60-mile stretch of highway and into northern Germany. British XXX Corps would then rush onwards from the Dutch-Belgian border and across the Maas and Lower Rhine to outflank the Siegfried Line and choke off the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland. The daylight drops were initially successful, with the capture of the Waal bridge at Nijmegen, but German Resistance was stronger than expected; the British 1st Airborne Division failed to secure the bridge at Arnhem. British ground advance was hampered by marshy ground. Eindhoven was eventually captured by a joint Airborne and Armor assault, but British XXX Corps failed to relieve the 1st Airborne Division. Despite the latter's valiant hold out at Arnhem bridge, the planned advance had to be abandoned and Monty wouldn't cross the Rhine until the spring of 1945.

Eindhoven, Holland

Operation Market Garden was a failed World War II military operation fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. It was the brainchild of Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery and strongly supported by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt. The airborne part of the operation was undertaken by the First Allied Airborne Army with the land operation by XXX Corps of the British Second Army. The objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the River Rhine, creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. This was to be achieved by seizing a series of nine bridges by Airborne forces with land forces swiftly following over the bridges. The operation succeeded in liberating the Dutch cities of Eindhoven and Nijmegen along with many towns, creating a 60 mi (97 km) salient into German-held territory limiting V-2 rocket launching sites. It failed, however, to secure a bridgehead over the Rhine, with the advance being halted at the river.

Wikipedia: Operation Market Garden

German

British / American

Game Type: Overlord

Board Type: Countryside

Website Access: Available