Immortalized by the movie A Bridge Too Far, the parachute landings of
the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were the first part of an Allied
breakthrough attempt. In the late summer of 1944, the First Allied
Airborne Army began to plan a complex operation to seize a Rhine River
Bridge at Arnhem in the Netherlands. The airborne mission was code-named
Operation Market, and the ground assault was designated Garden. The
American portion of Operation Market was to employ the two divisions of
Gen. Matthew Ridgway's US XVIII Airborne Corps to seize key terrain
features that might otherwise delay the advance of British tank columns
towards the ultimate objective of the Rhine bridge at Arnhem. The plan
envisioned landing the US 101st Airborne Division near Eindhoven to
clear a path for the advance of the armored divisions of the British XXX
Corps, and to land the 82nd Airborne Division around Nijmegen to seize
the Waal river bridges there. In view of the problems experienced in
Normandy with night landings, Operation Market was scheduled to take
place on the afternoon of September 17th, 1944, with an elaborate
tactical air plan to suppress German flak positions.
The initial 101st Airborne Division conducted its combined
parachute/glider landings on the afternoon of September 17th, 1944,
using its three Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR). The 82nd Airborne
Division was dropped further northeast with its three regiments having
separate assignments. Overall, the first day's operation was a
considerable success compared to the Normandy drops. The Wehrmacht did
not anticipate the airborne attack so resistance on the first day was
light. The fighting intensified dramatically over the next several days
as the Germans attempted to stamp out the landings, attacking the Allied
forces on all sides of the salient.
The 101st Airborne Division pressed south towards Eindhoven on the
morning of September 18th, while the British Guards Armoured Division
pressed north. The paratroopers captured the city by early afternoon and
linked up with the British tanks in the evening. After quickly bridging
the Wilhelmina canal in the dark, the Guards Armored Division crossed
around dawn on September 19th and raced up to the 82nd Airborne Division
sector by 0820. Combined British and American attacks to seize the vital
Nijmegen bridge were repulsed through September 19th due to the arrival
of elements of the 10.SS-Panzer Division from the Arnhem area. But in a
bold move, the 82nd Airborne outflanked the defenses on the afternoon of
September 20th by using boats to cross a mile downstream from the
bridge. Last minute German attempts to detonate the bridge failed, and
British tanks were streaming over the bridge that night, heading for
Arnhem.
Nevertheless, the delays caused by the initial defense at Eindhoven, the
need to build a bridge at Son, and the fighting for the bridge at
Nijmegen slowed the advance by XXX Corps and put it behind schedule.
German resistance against the 1st Airborne Division in Arnhem was far
fiercer than anticipated due to the unexpected presence of two Waffen-SS
panzer divisions refitting in the area. The positions of the British 1st
Airborne Division at Arnhem proved untenable and permission to withdraw
was given on September 25th with the action taking place on the night of
September 25-26th.
