If This is Combat

Operation Market-Garden had begun. Paratroopers were to seize bridges along Highway 69 in Holland to aid the British advance. Elements of the 506th were to take the main bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal just south of Son as well as …

1944-09-17

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Operation Market-Garden had begun. Paratroopers were to seize bridges along Highway 69 in Holland to aid the British advance. Elements of the 506th were to take the main bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal just south of Son as well as two secondary spans, one to the east and one to the west of town. The jump went well. It was aided by the daylight drop and the excellent jump field. Since the entire 506th used the same jump field, the biggest problem was that it was literally raining equipment on the jump field. Unfortunately, upon landing a Dutchman informed the paratroopers that the secondary bridges had been blown by the Germans a few days earlier. Company A’s job of taking the main bridge just became more important. The company had gathered in drop zone C and moved into and through the Zoenche Forest.

Son, 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

American