The Road to Oosterbeek

Day six of the battle at Arnhem, would become known as “Black Friday” for the British paratroopers of the 1st Airborne Division. The survivors of the failed attempt to take the vital bridge across the Rhine River at Arnhem had retreated into a pocket just north of the river around Oosterbeek. There they hoped to link up with the tanks of the British XXX Corps fighting their way to relieve them. Mean while, the German forces assembled an ad hoc mixture of units to try to annihilate the bridgehead.

1944-09-22

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Day six of the battle at Arnhem, would become known as “Black Friday” for the British paratroopers of the 1st Airborne Division. The survivors of the failed attempt to take the vital bridge across the Rhine River at Arnhem had retreated into a pocket just north of the river around Oosterbeek. There they hoped to link up with the tanks of the British XXX Corps fighting their way to relieve them. Mean while, the German forces assembled an ad hoc mixture of units to try to annihilate the bridgehead.

Oosterbeek, 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

German

British