Operation Market Garden Arnhem - HN

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Imperial War Museum PAGE 1 Second World War: Operation Market Garden (Arnhem)
Second World War

Operation Market Garden
(Arnhem)

Background
German forces invaded and occupied the Netherlands in May 1940. The
country remained occupied for most of the Second World War with the
Dutch government in exile in Great Britain, until being liberated by the
Allies in spring 1945.

The successes of the Allied push through northwest Europe after D-Day
on 6 June 1944 forced the German troops back as far as Antwerp in
Belgium. Many believed that the end of the war and defeat of the Nazis
was only a matter of time. However, delays in capturing key locations
such as Cherbourg and Antwerp meant that supply lines became
stretched. Feeding, equipping and replacing troops became increasingly
difficult. The Allies took the port of Antwerp in early September 1944,
but delayed securing the vital approaches to the port along the River
Scheldt from the North Sea. The delay gave the Germans time to fortify
the islands and river banks, delaying the opening of Antwerp by two
months. The Allied advance was halted, but on 10 September Field
Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery proposed a daring new plan that he
hoped would liberate the Netherlands, hasten the final advance towards
Berlin and end the war in Europe by Christmas 1944.

Strategy
The key to crippling the Nazi war machine would be an Allied advance
into the industrial heartland of Germany (the Ruhr), crossing a series of
rivers and canals which lay between the Allied positions in Belgium and
the German border. The key would be the bridge over the Lower Rhine
at the Dutch town of Arnhem, which would provide the gateway to the
Ruhr. Today the Lower Rhine is a relatively slow and well-controlled
river, but in 1944 it was fast, turbulent and over 100 metres wide at
Arnhem.

So in 1944, capturing bridges intact over these waterways was vital for
the Allied armys advance. Montgomery wanted Allied resources
concentrated into a narrow front advance. His plan centred on
dropping three airborne divisions into German-occupied Netherlands to
seize the bridges at Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. Ground troops
from the British Second Army, advancing from Belgium to Arnhem,
would support them.

General Eisenhower, the Allied Supreme Commander, disagreed with
General Montgomery. He thought that an advance on a broad front
would be better, but eventually Montgomerys plan, named Operation
Market Garden, the most ambitious Allied airborne operation of the
Second World War to date, was launched in September 1944.


Market
Market was the airborne element, involving 30,000 US, British and
Polish airborne troops who would drop by parachute or land in wooden
unpowered gliders.

The two American divisions were to be dropped at Eindhoven and
Nijmegen to capture and secure a number of bridges and the Groesbeek
Heights, a range of strategically crucial hills to the east of Nijmegen. The
British division was to be dropped near Arnhem to secure the road and
railway bridges over the Lower Rhine River, and then occupy high
ground north of Arnhem. The Polish Parachute Brigade under Major
General Sosabowski was due to arrive and reinforce them on the third
day.

The airborne forces were to hold the bridges until reached by ground
troops who would approach Arnhem by road from the Belgian border
via Eindhoven and Nijmegen.

Garden
Garden was the land element of the operation, the advance by British
Army ground troops from Belgium, through the Netherlands and from
there into Germany itself.

Only one route was possible - a 60-mile (100km) long, narrow road
running from Belgium towards Arnhem. It was only wide enough for two
vehicles to pass, and at times only for one. The ground troops had
enough rations for four days, but fuel for 250 miles (400km), as it was
hoped they would advance all the way into Germany.

The Plan
American Lieutenant General Brereton and his British deputy, Lieutenant
General Browning only had a week to plan and organise Operation
Market Garden. They faced a number of problems.

The number of aircraft available for the simultaneous parachute drops
and glider landings was limited. Capturing Arnhem would be pointless
unless the Americans were able to take the bridges in the south, so the
largest number of aircraft for the initial drops was allocated to American
airborne troops. In total it would take three days to get all the airborne
troops on to the ground. Landing in the dark was too risky for
inexperienced glider pilots, so the drops would have to take place in
daylight. Resupplying the troops on the ground would have to be done
from the air as they advanced.

The plan relied heavily on supposed German exhaustion and imagined
inability to fight back but Major Brian Urquhart, one of Brownings
Intelligence Officers, received reports from Dutch resistance fighters
that they believed two German SS Panzer Divisions were in the Arnhem
area, refitting after taking heavy losses during the battle for Normandy.
Reconnaissance photographs of the woods near Arnhem confirmed that
a number of tanks had been hidden north and east of the town. But
Lieutenant General Browning ignored the warnings. The presence of the
German tank divisions in the area and the underestimation of the ability
of German troops to form improvised battlegroups and quickly respond
to an emergency greatly increased the risk of failure.


The First Landings
On the morning of 17 September 1944 the first Allied gliders and troop
carriers set off from airfields in the south of England. Most of the 1,500
troop-carrying aircraft and 500 gliders made it to their drop and landing
zones as planned. By 2:00am the following morning, 20,000 Allied
airborne troops, over 500 vehicles and 330 pieces of artillery had landed.

The drop zones were located 6 to 8 miles (about 9.5km) from Arnhem
town, a long distance for troops without any transport. The anti-aircraft
defences around Arnhem meant that dropping closer to the bridge was
too risky and the open drop zones further away gave the troops the
advantage of being able to assemble rapidly on landing. However, they
lost any element of surprise and German forces had time to react before
Allied troops even reached their targets.

THE BRITISH ARMY IN
NORTH-WEST EUROPE
1944-45
Sherman tanks of the Irish
Guards Group advance
past others that were
knocked out earlier during
Operation Market Garden,
17 September 1944.
IWM Ref: BU 925

PARATROOP TRAINING
IN NETHERAVON,
BRITAIN, OCTOBER 1942
Lt General Frederick Boy
A M Browning earlier in
the war, when he was,
commanding officer of the
Airborne Division.
IWM Ref: TR 174


17

September 1944 (Sunday)
There were a number of blows for the recently landed British airborne
troops: an SS battalion was on a training mission near their landing zone
and General Bittrich, in charge of 2 SS Panzer (tank) Corps reacted
swiftly to the Allied attack. The advance was also hampered by
inaccurate maps, and the enthusiastic reception the British troops
received from local Dutch civilians, who welcomed them as liberators.

German defenders blew up the Arnhem railway bridge just as British
troops arrived and only Lt-Col John Frosts 2
nd
Parachute Battalion (2
Para) reached the Arnhem Road Bridge before a German blocking force
was established between the drop zone and the town. When the rest of
the division tried to break through to support Frost, the airborne troops
found themselves engaged in combat with SS troops, with heavy
casualties on both sides.

2 Para formed a perimeter around the northern end of the Arnhem road
bridge and the surrounding houses and waited as German tanks entered
Arnhem to start their counter-attack.

German resistance also slowed British ground troops coming from the
south, who failed to reach their first planned rendezvous in Eindhoven
falling short by 6 miles. Their tight schedule for meeting up with the
airborne divisions was increasingly under threat. Meanwhile, the
Germans blew up several of the bridges that were American objectives
before they could be captured.

By the end of the first day the plan was disintegrating. German resistance
was greater than had been anticipated, the ignored intelligence proved to
be correct, communications were proving difficult, and many of the
Allies planned objectives were already destroyed. However, the crucial
road bridge at Arnhem was holding, and it was hoped that the ground
troops, though delayed, would continue to progress.

18 September 1944 (Monday)
On the second day of the battle, the airborne troops trying to reach 2
Para at the bridge became caught up in fighting on the outskirts of
Arnhem and their advance stalled with heavy casualties. At the Arnhem
road bridge 2 Para were holding out well under attack. American
paratroopers captured the bridge at Grave near Nijmegen and British
ground troops eventually managed to link up with them. The bridge at
Nijmegen proved a more elusive objective, though, particularly as fog
disrupted plans to increase the number of troops on the ground by
dropping in more airborne soldiers. By the end of the second day, the
success of the operation was hanging in the balance.

19 September 1944 (Tuesday)
By the third day, the weather had worsened, Polish troops expected to
reinforce British airborne troops near Arnhem were delayed and British
troops advancing from near Oosterbeek towards those already in the
town were unable to make a clear breakthrough. The troops at Arnhem
bridge held on, sheltering their wounded in cellars, and fighting
numerous street battles as German tanks methodically destroyed their
cover house by house. The relentless German bombardment started


many fires that rapidly got out of control.

At the same time, British ground troops coming from Belgium continued
to advance slowly northwards, nearing Nijmegen, where US airborne
troops were fighting German forces in the streets. The Americans failed
in their first attempt to take the road bridge over the River Waal and
decided to attempt an assault river crossing, after which they could
outflank the German defences and attack the bridge from the opposite
bank. However this could only take place when the delayed British
ground troops arrived, as they had the necessary boats. By the end of
the third day, the chances of success for the Allies were looking thin, but
a glimmer of hope remained.

20 September (Wednesday)
By this point General Roy Urquhart, commanding officer of 1 British
Airborne Division, realised that it was not going to be possible to reach
the airborne troops at the bridge. His division had little food or water,
few anti-tank weapons and rapidly diminishing ammunition, and many of
the supplies being dropped by Allied aircraft to the soldiers on the
ground were falling behind enemy lines. Urquhart decided to withdraw
the rest of the division, into a defensive perimeter at Oosterbeek, which
later became known as the Oosterbeek cauldron as German firing in
the area intensified.

OPERATION MARKET
GARDEN (THE BATTLE
FOR ARNHEM): 17 - 25
SEPTEMBER 1944
Nijmegen and Grave 17 -
20 September 1944:
Vehicles of the Guards
Armoured Division of the
British XXX Corps passing
through Grave having
linked up with 82nd (US)
Airborne Division.
IWM Ref: B 10133

US troops at last crossed the River Waal at Nijmegen in a daring assault
under intense German fire. They crossed in flimsy canvas boats as
German bullets rained down from the rivers northern bank. Casualties
reached 50% in the first two waves of men to cross. When they landed,
the Americans managed to take the bridge, and the Irish Guards tanks,
part of the British ground troops, rolled across to the far side. Capturing
the River Waal Bridge at Nijmegen, the longest road bridge in Europe at
the time, was an essential part of the plan as it allowed ground troops to
continue the advance towards Arnhem, but the delay meant Market-
Garden was now hopelessly behind schedule.


21 September (Thursday)
2 Para were forced to surrender the road bridge at Arnhem in the
morning. The mostly wounded survivors of the battalion were captured.
Troops abandoned their positions and attempted to fight their way to
safety.

OPERATION 'MARKET
GARDEN' (THE BATTLE
SEPTEMBER 1944
Major-General Roy E
Urquhart DSO and Bar
(leader of the 1st British
Airborne Division plants
the Airborne flag outside
his headquarters, the last
British stronghold in the
Arnhem area before the
evacuation.
IWM Ref: B 1136

British ground troops from the south had now advanced far enough to
support the surrounded British paratroops at Oosterbeek with artillery
fire, and the soldiers of the Polish Parachute Brigade at last reached
Driel, just south west of Arnhem, but it was too late for the bridge. It
seemed that the Arnhem objective was indeed a bridge too far.

THE BRITISH AIRBORNE
DIVISION AT ARNHEM
AND OOSTERBEEK IN
THE NETHERLANDS
Aerial view of the bridge
over the Neder Rijn,
Arnhem; Wrecked German
armoured vehicles are
visible at the north end of
the bridge.
IWM Ref: MH 2061


The Final Days of the Battle (ending the night of 24-25
September)
Ground troops eventually arrived on the south side of the Lower Rhine
river, whilst the defensive British line at the Oosterbeek cauldron was on
the opposite bank of the river. Some troops crossed the river to join the
defensive line, sustaining heavy casualties as they went; the remainder
were unable to reach them. German artillery fire now controlled the
river.

Eventually, facing defeat, on the night of 24-25 September the evacuation
of troops from the northern bank of the Lower Rhine was organised.
Somewhere in the region of 2,000 to 3,000 men made the crossing,
having to leave many wounded comrades on the northern bank to
become prisoners of war or to attempt to escape on their own.

A general strike in the Netherlands, timed to coincide with Operation
Market Garden, was strongly encouraged by the exiled Dutch
government. Dutch civilians enthusiastically joined in this symbolic
resistance, leading to German reprisals against them and the Nazis
terminating all civilian transport in the country. The strike lasted
throughout the incredibly cold and harsh winter of 1944-1945, when
many thousands of Dutch civilians died from hunger and cold. Liberation
had been expected quickly, and had the ambitious Market Garden plan
successfully achieved all of its objectives, perhaps that expectation would
have been fulfilled.

Losses
Allied ground forces sustained over 5,000 casualties (killed,
missing or wounded).
During Operation Market Garden 10,000 British airborne
troops landed north of the Rhine near Arnhem. Almost
1,500 of those were killed and nearly 6,500 troops captured,
most of whom were wounded or caught while trying to
escape.
Polish forces took around 400 casualties, whilst the
American 101
st
Airborne suffered 2,000 and 82
nd
Airborne
suffered almost 1,500.
Estimates of the number of German casualties resulting from
Operation Market Garden range from 3,000 to 8,000; the
exact number is not known.

Gallantry and Mercy
At one point during the fighting the British chief medical officer trapped
in the Oosterbeek cauldron organised a ceasefire with his German
counterpart, allowing injured British soldiers to be safely evacuated. The
battle saw some of the bitterest street fighting of the Second World
War, yet also some great acts of bravery and mercy. All prisoners are
alive. Otherwise they are corpses. Need to be careful not to perpetuate
the myth of the good SS at Arnhem here. The SS were respectful of the
paratroops because they saw them as tough ruthless fighters like
themselves. Their attitude to Dutch civilians (for example) could be very
different.



OPERATION 'MARKET
GARDEN' (THE BATTLE
SEPTEMBER 1944
Major-General James
Gavin, Commander of the
82nd (US) Airborne
Division receiving the DSO
from Field Marshal Sir
Bernard Montgomery in
Munchen Gladbach.
IWM Ref: B 15742

Five Victoria Crosses (the highest British award for military bravery)
were awarded to troops involved in Operation Market Garden. Dutch
civilians also suffered greatly during the fighting, often putting the lives of
Allied forces before their own, and helping to shelter Allied soldiers
evading capture by Germans towards the end of the engagement.

Battle Honours
The following British Army regiments received special Battle Honours
for the part they played in Operation Market Garden in 1944:

Arnhem
The Parachute Regiment
The Glider Pilot Regiment
The Kings Own Scottish Borderers
The Dorset Regiment
The Border Regiment
The South Staffordshire Regiment
Nijmegen
The Life Guards
Royal Horse Guards
Irish Guards
Grenadier Guards
Veghel
1
st
The Royal Dragoons

Aftermath

THE BRITISH AIRBORNE
DIVISION AT ARNHEM
AND OOSTERBEEK IN
THE NETHERLANDS
Dutch children pay their
respects to the fallen and
lay flowers on the graves.
IWM Ref: B 10741



It was to be another four months before the Allies eventually crossed
the River Rhine and advanced into Germany. Arnhem itself was
eventually liberated on 15 April 1945.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill refused to countenance
Arnhem being called a defeat or a reverse. When he received a telegram
of commiseration from the South African Prime Minister, Field Marshal
Jan Smuts, he replied:

I think you have got Arnhem a little out of focus. The battle was a
decided victory, but the leading division asking, quite rightly for more,
had a chop I am glad our commanders are capable of running these
kinds of risks

A few days later on 28 September, in his address to the House of
Commons, Churchills assessment was more sober:

By the largest airborne operation ever conceived or executed, a further
all-important forward bound in the North has been achieved. Here I
must pay a tribute, which the House will consider due, to the superb feat
of arms performed by our First Airborne Division...The cost has been
heavy; the casualties in a single division have been grievous; but for those
who mourn there is at least the consolation that the sacrifice was not
needlessly demanded nor given without results. The delay caused to the
enemys advance upon Nijmegen enabled their British and American
comrades in the other two airborne divisions, and the British Second
Army, to secure intact the vitally important bridges and to form a strong
bridgehead over the main stream over the Rhine at Nijmegen. Not in
vain may be the pride of those who have survived and the epitaph of
those who fell

It is easy now to point to the flaws in 'Market Garden', but at the time it
appeared to be a daring and viable alternative to fighting against German
defences elsewhere. Some commentators have seen it as a tragic mistake
leading to the only major Allied defeat of the northwest Europe
campaign; others have seen it as a brave attempt to shorten the war,
which was successful in part but failed when it did not achieve all of its
objectives.

Richard Holmes summed up the unusual nature of the battle of Arnhem
and Operation Market Garden as a whole by stating:
those who flew the transports no less than the men who fought on
the ground share an intense pride in having taken part. Why some
battles achieve thisand not others is hard to say, but the annual
pilgrimage of pensive veterans and the veneration they are shown by the
Dutch confirms that something rare happened here

Battlefields of the Second World War, Richard Holmes, BBC
Worldwide Ltd, London, 2001 p.141



THE BRITISH ARMY IN
NORTH-WEST EUROPE
1944-45
Sgts Lewis and Walker of
the AFPU eat rations in
their jeep and receive a cup
of tea from a Dutch civilian
at Arnhem, 18 September
1944.
IWM Ref: BU 1150

The John Frost Bridge
today. Copyright P.Ginnings

Each year, veterans of the campaign meet at Arnhem and surrounding
area in September and pay their respects to their comrades who did not
make it back to safety. More recently, German survivors of the battle
have returned to the scene of suffering and devastation and they are also
generally welcomed by the locals, young and old alike, who will continue
to remember and commemorate the battle for a long time to come.

The road bridge at Arnhem was rebuilt and renamed the John Frost
Bridge in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost and his men, who
held out against the odds at the Arnhem bridge road for so long. It
stands on its original piers and was rebuilt to its original design. Today,
the John Frost Bridge serves as a memorial to the battle fought at
Arnhem.



Memorial plaque at the
John Frost Bridge.
Copyright P. Ginnings

All source material used in these historical notes comes from the Collections of
the Imperial War Museum, has been generated by the Their Past Your Future
project, or is used by kind permission. Every effort has been made to trace
copyright holders and gain permission for use of this image. We would be
grateful for any information concerning copyright and will withdraw images
immediately on copyright holder's request.

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