The Orchard

The Hell’s Highway phase of operation Market-Garden was drawing to a close and the time of the muddy, bloody island was beginning. Still under command of Montgomery, they were eating British rations (bully beef, oxtail soup, daily rum ration) and …

1944-10-05

10

The Hell’s Highway phase of operation Market-Garden was drawing to a close and the time of the muddy, bloody island was beginning. Still under command of Montgomery, they were eating British rations (bully beef, oxtail soup, daily rum ration) and were kept in the line contrary to how Airborne was supposed to be used. The 101st was ordered to move north to be used as supporting infantry in Montgomery’s army. They were deployed on the “Island,” a piece of land that was between the Waal and Neder Rhine Rivers, just south of Arnhem.

Oosterbeek, 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