Battle of Arnhem
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Arnhem was a famous Second World War military engagement
fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem
, Oosterbeek
, Wolfheze
, Driel
and the surrounding countryside from 17–26 September 1944.
After sweeping through France and Belgium
in the summer of 1944, the Allies
were poised to enter the Netherlands. Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery favoured a single thrust north over the branches of the Lower Rhine
river, allowing the British 2nd Army to bypass the German
Siegfried Line
and attack the Ruhr
. To this end, the Allies launched Operation Market Garden
on 17 September. Paratrooper
s were dropped in the Netherlands to secure key bridges and towns along the Allied axis of advance. Farthest north, the British 1st Airborne Division
, supported by men of the Glider Pilot Regiment
and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade
, landed at Arnhem to secure bridges across the Nederrijn
. Initially expecting a walkover, British XXX Corps planned to reach the British airborne forces within two to three days.
The British forces landed some distance from their objectives and were quickly hampered by unexpected resistance – especially from elements of the 9th SS
and 10th SS Panzer Divisions
. Only a small force was able to reach the Arnhem road bridge while the main body of the division was halted on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, XXX Corps was unable to advance north as quickly as anticipated and failed to relieve the airborne troops according to schedule. After four days, the small British force at the bridge was overwhelmed and the rest of the division became trapped in a small pocket north of the river – where they could not be sufficiently reinforced by the Poles or XXX Corps when they arrived on the southern bank, nor by the RAF's
resupply flights. After nine days of fighting, the shattered remains of the airborne forces were withdrawn in Operation Berlin
.
With no secure bridges over the Nederrijn, the Allies were unable to advance further and the front line stabilised south of Arnhem. The 1st Airborne Division had lost nearly ¾ of its strength and did not see combat again.
forces had successfully broken out of their Normandy bridgehead
and pursued shattered German forces
across northern France and Belgium
. Although Allied commanders generally favoured a broad front policy to continue the advance into Germany and the Netherlands, Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery proposed a bold plan to head north through the Dutch Gelderland
, bypassing the German Siegfried line
defences and opening a route into the German industrial heartland of the Ruhr
. Initially proposed as a British and Polish operation codenamed Comet, the plan was soon expanded to involve most of the First Allied Airborne Army
and a set piece ground advance into the Netherlands, codenamed Market Garden
.
Montgomery's plan involved dropping the U.S. 101st Airborne Division
to capture key bridges around Eindhoven, the 82nd Airborne Division to secure key crossings around Nijmegen, and the British 1st Airborne Division, with the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade attached, to capture three bridges across the Rhine at Arnhem. Although Lieutenant-General Lewis H. Brereton
commanded the First Allied Airborne Army, his second in command Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning
took command of the airborne role. The British Second Army
, led by XXX Corps would advance up the "Airborne corridor", securing the Airborne Division's positions and crossing the Rhine within two days. If successful the plan would open the door to Germany and hopefully force an end to the war in Europe by the end of the year.
With the 6th Airborne Division still refitting after Operation Tonga
, the task of securing the Rhine Bridgehead fell to the 1st Airborne Division under the command of Major General
Roy Urquhart
. The division was made up of three brigades of infantry (two parachute, one glider borne), supporting artillery
and anti-tank batteries and substantial Royal Engineer units, as well as supporting elements such as Royal Army Service Corps
and Royal Army Medical Corps
units. Most of the division had seen action in North Africa and Sicily
, particularly the 1st Parachute Brigade and 1st Airlanding Brigade. However, this was the first time the division had fought together as a complete unit.
The division was also substantially reinforced by the addition of 1,200 men of the Glider Pilot Regiment, providing Urquhart with the equivalent of two battalions of infantry for the operation. Smaller additions included a Dutch commando team and American communications teams. Urquhart also had the 1st Independent Polish Brigade under his command, who would also be joining the British in the operation to seize the bridges.
The Division was required to secure the road, rail and pontoon
bridges over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem and hold them for two to three days until relieved by XXX Corps. From the beginning, however, Urquhart was severely restricted in how he could prepare and deploy his troops for the upcoming battle. The U.S. IX Troop Carrier Command
were limited in their availability; with two more major drops taking place at the same time, there were insufficient carrier aircraft available to fly the entire division to the Netherlands in one lift. Additionally, Major General Williams—commander of IX Troop Carrier Command—decided that it would only be possible for one air lift per day, meaning it would take three days to deliver the entire Division and Polish Brigade to the area. A limited number of areas suitable for glider landings and a reluctance from troop command to fly too near to Arnhem, exposing them to flak from Deelen airfield
after the drop, meant that Urquhart was forced to pick drop zone
s (DZ) and landing zones
(LZ) up to 8 mi (12.9 km) from Arnhem itself, on the north side of the river. With the need to secure the bridges, towns and drop zones for subsequent supply drops, the 1st Airborne would need to defend a perimeter of some 18 mi (29 km) whilst waiting for XXX Corps.
Urquhart decided to land Brigadier
Gerald Lathbury's
1st Parachute Brigade and Brigadier "Pip" Hicks' 1st Airlanding Brigade on the first day of the operation. The Airlanding Brigade plus 1st Airlanding Light Regiment
Royal Artillery
, Royal Engineer and medical units and Divisional HQ would land on LZs 'S' and 'Z' and move to secure the drop zones and landing zones for the following days drops, whilst the three battalions of the parachute brigade would arrive at DZ 'X' and follow three separate routes into Arnhem to secure the bridges. The 2nd Battalion
—under the command of Lt. Col. John Frost
—would follow the riverside roads to the centre of Arnhem (codenamed the Lion route) and secure the main road and railway bridges, as well as a pontoon bridge between the two. The 3rd Battalion
of Lt. Col. Fitch would head through Oosterbeek to Arnhem (Tiger route), assist in the capture of the road bridge and take up positions in the east of the town. Lt. Col. Dobie's 1st Battalion
would follow Leopard route north of the railway line to occupy high ground north and north west of Arnhem. The whole advance would be led by a troop of Reconnaissance jeeps from the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron, under Major Frederick Gough
on Leopard who would attempt a coup de main
on the road bridge. On the second day, Brigadier "Shan" Hackett's
4th Parachute Brigade would arrive at DZ 'Y', accompanied by extra artillery units and remaining elements of the Airlanding Brigade on LZ 'X'. Hackett's three battalions would then reinforce the positions north and north west of Arnhem. On the third day, the Polish Parachute Brigade would be dropped south of the river at DZ 'K'. Using the road bridge, they would reinforce the perimeter east of Arnhem, linking up with their own artillery who would be flown in by glider to LZ 'L'. 1st Airlanding Brigade would fall back to cover Oosterbeek on the western side of the perimeter and 1st Parachute Brigade would fall back to cover the southern side of the bridges. Once XXX Corps had arrived and advanced beyond the bridgehead, the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division would be flown into Deelen airfield to support the ground forces north of the Rhine. The remaining units of the division would follow XXX Corps on land in what was known as the sea tail. The whole operation would be re-supplied by daily flights by No's. 38 and 46 Group RAF who would make the first drop on LZ 'L' on day 2, and subsequent drops on DZ 'V'.
forces. A serious challenge to their operation was not expected and many men believed that their work would lead to the ending of the war. Some—anticipating a period of occupation in Germany—packed leisure equipment in their kit or in the sea tail. The optimistic mood prior to the operation would have tragic consequences however. Browning's intelligence officer—Major Brian Urquhart
—obtained information from the 21st Army Group in Belgium and Dutch resistance
that German armour was present around Arnhem. This was backed up with aerial reconnaissance
that he ordered to be flown. Browning however was dismissive and ordered his chief medical officer to have Urquhart sent on sick leave. In fact, SHAEF
was aware that there were almost certainly two Panzer division
s at Arnhem but with the operation looming chose to ignore them. Such information would have been gleaned from Ultra intercepts that the Allied Airborne Army was not privy to and therefore could not act upon themselves.
The Allied liberation of Antwerp on 4 September had caused a rout of German reserve troops in Holland, nicknamed "Mad Tuesday
". However the Allied pause at the Dutch border gave the Germans time to regroup and reorganise, although it would make subsequent attempts to clarify the exact German forces opposing the Allies extremely difficult.
Feldmarschall Walter Model
—commander of Army Group B
—had moved his headquarters to Arnhem and was re-establishing defences in the area and co-ordinating the reorganisation of the scattered units so that by the time the Allies launched Market Garden there would be several units opposing them. To the west of Arnhem was Kampfgruppe
Von Tettau, a force equivalent to seven battalions made up of all manner of German units (including Wehrmacht
, Luftwaffe
, Kriegsmarine
, rear echelon and Waffen-SS
troops) under the command of General
Hans von Tettau
at Grebbeberg. This included the SS Non-commissioned officer
school SS Unteroffizierschule Arnheim and the 16th SS Training Battalion
under the command of SS Sturmbannführer
Sepp Krafft whose unit would play a crucial role in the opening phases of the battle. Within Arnhem itself, the town garrison was under the command of Major-General Friedrich Kussin.
Additionally, Obergruppenführer
Wilhelm Bittrich's
II SS Panzer Corps
—comprising the remains of Walter Harzer’s
9th SS
and Heinz Harmel’s
10th SS Panzer Division
s—had moved into the area north of Arnhem to refit and reorganise. Although badly mauled after escaping the Falaise Pocket
, the Korps was made up of seasoned veterans and made available significantly more forces to the Germans than the allies had been led to expect. The divisions were also specially trained in anti-airborne operations; during their formation both divisions had undergone month-long anti airborne exercises whilst waiting for their heavy equipment, and had also spent the last 15 months studying the best reactions to a parachute attack in classroom and field exercises. The 9th SS had a Panzergrenadier
brigade, a reconnaissance battalion, an artillery battalion, two batteries of self-propelled gun
s and a company of tanks. Exactly how many men were available after the withdrawal from Normandy is unclear. Some sources suggest that the 9th had up to 6,000 men, others suggest that the combined total of the 9th and 10th SS was only 6,000–7,000 men.
There were also Dutch units allied to the Germans present at Arnhem. These formations recruited from Dutch nationals (mainly criminals, men wishing to avoid national service or men affiliated with the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) and were incorporated into the German Army. At Arnhem, the Dutch SS Wach Battalion 3 was attached to Kampfgruppe Von Tettau and the 3rd Battalion, 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland training at nearby Hoogeveen
was quickly attached to Harzer’s 9th SS Panzer Division when they arrived at the battle on 20 September.
As the battle progressed, more and more forces would become available to the Germans. Adolf Hitler
—stunned by the attack—agreed that the defence of Holland should receive absolute priority and over the course of the battle reinforcements would stream in; from Wehrkreis VI, the Wesel
area and General Friedrich Christiansen's
Armed Forces Command Netherlands. Model arranged for units to be sent straight to the units in action in order to avoid long winded logistics, and rushed in specialist street fighting
and machine gun battalions. Each day of the battle, the German military strength increased whilst the British supplies diminished. By 21 September, the fifth day of the battle, German forces outnumbered the British by 3:1 and continued to increase.
The first lift was preceded by intense bombing and strafing raids made by the British 2nd Tactical Air Force and the American 8th and 9th Air Forces. These targeted the known flak guns and German garrisons and barracks across the area. Meanwhile, the first lift suffered only light losses as the aircraft and gliders flew from British bases to the target area. The first arrivals were the 21st Independent Parachute Company at 12:40, who marked the landing zones for the gliders and parachutists in advance of the main landings. The landings were largely unopposed and the battalions formed up in good order ready to carry out their tasks by 14:45. While the Airlanding Brigade moved into defensive positions around the landing zones, the 1st Parachute Brigade prepared to head east toward the bridges, with Lathbury and his HQ Company following Frost on Lion route. Although some jeeps of the reconnaissance squadron were lost on the flight over, the company formed up in good strength and moved off along Leopard route.
The Germans were unprepared for the landings and initially thrown into confusion. Model—erroneously assuming that the paratroopers had come to capture him—fled his headquarters at the Hartenstein hotel in Oosterbeek and went to Bittrich's headquarters east of Arnhem at Doetinchem
where he took personal control of the battle. The 10th SS Division was sent south to respond to the American landings at Nijmegen and defend the "island" (the polder between the Lower Rhine and Waal rivers), while the 9th would defend Arnhem. The 9th SS was at that point making preparations to return to Germany and Harmel was in Berlin trying to secure more men and supplies for his unit. He was instantly ordered to return to Arnhem whilst his division began to prepare its forces for battle. Obersturmbannführer
Ludwig Spindler
—commander of the 9th SS Armoured Artillery Regiment—quickly organised a small battlegroup
(Kampfgruppe Spindler was initially only 120 men but would incorporate 16 separate units over the course of the battle). In the late afternoon, he was ordered to advance west to Oosterbeek and establish a blocking line to prevent the British from reaching Arnhem centre. Meanwhile, the Division's Reconnaissance Battalion under the command of Hauptsturmführer
Viktor Gräbner was ordered south to Nijmegen, crossing the Arnhem bridge at dusk. Initially, however, no units were ordered to secure the bridge itself. Arnhem Garrison commander Major-General Kussin was killed by men of the 3rd Parachute Battalion as he sped towards his headquarters, and his death led to a breakdown in command and responsibilities. It was not until late in the afternoon that the Reconnaissance Battalion of 10th SS Division were ordered to secure the bridge. At the time of the landings, only one organised unit was in place to oppose the allied advance toward the bridges (the 16 SS Training Battalion camped in Wolfheze) and their commander—Sepp Krafft—acted quickly to establish a blocking screen west of Oosterbeek.
The Allied advance quickly ran into trouble. The reconnaissance squadron was ambush
ed by the northern flank of Krafft's blocking line and withdrew. The 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions were also stalled by Krafft's defences and spent the rest of the day skirting his line. The 3rd Parachute Battalion went south and halted in Oosterbeek for most of the night while 1st Parachute Battalion went further north but hit Spindler's forces and was unable to reach the Arnhem-Ede road of Leopard route. Instead Dobie decided to abandon his plan and help Frost at the bridge and the battalion headed south into Oosterbeek overnight. Only the 2nd Parachute Battalion was largely unopposed, bypassing the defences that did not as yet reach down as far as the river. They were slowed by cheering Dutch civilians and did not reach the bridges until late in the day. The railway bridge was blown by German engineers as the Allies approached it and the pontoon bridge was missing its central section. At dusk, the men of A Company under Major Digby Tatham-Warter observed Graebner's force cross the bridge. Most of the battalion and various other supporting units—including two jeeps of Goughs squadron, four 6-pounder anti-tank gun
s, Brigade HQ (but without Lathbury), and Royal Engineers (in total numbering about 740 men)— moved into Arnhem centre as night fell and owing to the oversight in German orders were able to secure the undefended northern end of the road bridge. Lieutenant Jack Grayburn
led an attempt to secure the southern end of the bridge but was unsuccessful, and a later attempt using a flame thrower only succeeded in setting the freshly painted girders of the bridge alight. However, the British were able to make good their position and quickly repulsed the 10th SS Reconnaissance Battalion and other German units when they arrived to secure the bridge.
Meanwhile, the Airlanding Brigade moved quickly to secure the landing zones. The 2nd Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment
moved into Wolfheze, the 1st Battalion, The Border Regiment secured DZ 'X', deploying its companies around the DZ and in Renkum, and the 7th Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers
moved to secure DZ 'Y'. Here, they ambushed the Dutch SS Wach Battalion as it headed toward Arnhem from Ede. Units of the Airlanding Artillery and Divisional HQ headed into Wolfheze and Oosterbeek where medical officers set up a Regimental Aid Post at the home of Kate ter Horst
.
The Allied advance was severely hampered by poor communications in these crucial initial phases. The paratroopers' radio sets
range was instantly limited by the wooded terrain and as the battalions advanced they lost contact with Divisional HQ at the landing zones. Over the coming nine days, radio communication within the division, with Browning's HQ at Nijmegen, with XXX Corps and with the United Kingdom would be intermittent and unreliable, severely hampering the British units. Carrier pigeons were even used to make contact
with England. Partly as a consequence of this limitation, Urquhart decided to follow the 1st Parachute Brigade and make contact with Lathbury. He found the Brigade HQ on Lion route but was informed Lathbury himself was visiting the 3rd Battalion. Urquhart followed him there but subsequently would not be able to return to Divisional HQ for two days.
As the second day dawned, the 9th SS Panzer Division continued to reinforce the German blocking line. Krafft's unit withdrew overnight and joined Spindler's line, coming under his command. Spindler's force was now becoming so large as more men and units arrived at the new front, that he was forced to split it into two subdivisions: Kampfgruppes Allworden and Harder. The defensive line now blocked the entire western side of Arnhem and had closed the gap exploited by Frost alongside the river the previous evening.
Overnight, the British 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions had skirted as far south as 2nd Parachute Battalion's original route into the city, hoping to follow them into Arnhem centre. They approached the German line before light and for several hours attempted to fight through the German positions. Spindler's force—being continually reinforced—was too strong to penetrate, and by 10:00 the British advance was stopped. A more coordinated attack followed in the afternoon, but it too was repulsed. Urquhart attempted to return to his Divisional Headquarters at Oosterbeek but became cut off and was forced to take shelter in a Dutch family's loft
with two fellow officers. Lathbury was injured and also forced into hiding.
At the road bridge, German forces of the 9th SS had quickly surrounded Frost's battalion, cutting them off from the rest of the division. At around 09:00, the 9th SS Reconnaissance Battalion headed back toward Arnhem from south of the river, having concluded that it was not needed at Nijmegen. Though aware of the British troops at the bridge, it attempted to cross by force. In the resultant two-hour battle, it was beaten back with heavy losses, including its commanding officer Viktor Gräbner
. German attacks carried on around the British perimeter for the rest of the day but the British continued to hold.
At the landing zones, Brigadier Hicks was informed that in Urquhart's and Lathbury's absence, he was acting divisional commander. He was also told to send one of his units—the South Staffordshire Battalion (which was not complete and was awaiting its full complement of men in the second lift)—to Arnhem to help with the advance to the bridge. The South Staffords departed in the morning and linked up with the 1st Parachute Battalion in the late afternoon.
German forces began to probe the 1st Airlanding Brigade defences throughout the morning. Units of Kampfgruppe Von Tettau attacked the Border's positions; men of the SS NCO school overran Renkum and Kriegsmarine troops engaged the British all day as they withdrew. Small amounts of fighting broke out around LZ 'X' but not enough to seriously hamper the glider landing there. At DZ 'Y', the Dutch SS Wach Battalion became heavily engaged with the King's Own Scottish Borderers, threatening to hamper the arrival of the second lift. The communications breakdown meant that it was impossible to warn the aircraft. Equally, there was no way for the division to know that the 2nd lift had been delayed by ground fog
in England. Thus, the arrival of the 4th Parachute Brigade under Brigadier Hackett and several more troops of artillery at the drop zones was several hours overdue. When the parachutists did arrive after 15:00, they dropped under fire. Several were killed as aircraft and parachutists were shot down and the heath-land
they were landing on caught fire. Nevertheless, the arrival of a full brigade overwhelmed the Dutch who were routed and surrendered in droves.
Despite the setbacks, the units assembled with only slight casualties but the changing circumstances at Arnhem meant that their roles were quickly changed. The 11th Parachute Battalion and the rest of the South Staffords were immediately despatched to Arnhem to assist in the attempt to break through to the bridge, where they linked up with the 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions after dark. Hicks' decision to send the 11th Parachute Battalion to Arnhem (thus weakening the 4th Parachute Brigade) dismayed Hackett, who remonstrated with Hicks to no avail. However, he was given command of The King's Own Scottish Borderers who were moving toward LZ 'L' to secure it for Tuesday's landing. The 10th and 156th Parachute Battalions moved north of the railway line to take up their planned defensive positions north west of Arnhem but the leading elements of 156th Parachute Battalion made contact with the main 9th SS blocking line after dark and withdrew for the night.
Shortly after the second lift arrived, the first supply drop was made onto LZ 'L'. Although most supplies arrived, only a small amount could be collected as the area was not under full British control. The poor radio communication meant that it was not possible to alert the RAF and unsecured drop zones would be a major problem in the days to come.
With the arrival of the South Staffords and 11th Parachute battalion at the 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalion's positions west of Arnhem, the British hoped to have sufficient troops to break through to Frost's position at the bridge. Lieutenant Colonel Dobie of 1st Parachute Battalion planned to attack before first light but an erroneous report suggesting that the bridge had fallen led to the attack being cancelled. By the time the report was corrected, first light was not long away but with reinforcement at the bridge the priority, the attack had to proceed. The advance began on a narrow front with the 1st Parachute Battalion leading, supported by remnants of the 3rd Parachute Battalion, with the 2nd South Staffordshires on the left flank and the 11th Parachute Battalion following behind. As soon as it became light, the 1st Parachute Battalion was spotted and halted by fire from the main German defensive line. Trapped in open ground and under heavy fire from three sides, the 1st Parachute Battalion disintegrated and what remained of the 3rd Parachute Battalion fell back. The 2nd South Staffordshires were similarly cut off and save for about 150 men, overcome by midday. The 11th Parachute Battalion—which had thus far not been heavily involved—was now overwhelmed in exposed positions while attempting to capture high ground to the north. The South Staffords similarly attempted to secure high ground but were driven off. With no hope of breaking through, the 500 remaining men of these four battalions retreated westwards in the direction of the main force, 5 km (3.1 mi) away in Oosterbeek. As they approached Oosterbeek they were met by Lieutenant Colonel Sheriff Thompson, of the 1st Airlanding Light Artillery Regiment, who formed most of the men into a defensive screen under Major Robert Cain
0.5 mi (0.80467 km) forward of his artillery positions. The battle gave Urquhart the opportunity to escape his position and he was able to return to Division HQ at the Hotel Hartenstein in Oosterbeek, where for the first time he was able to learn the extent of the German forces facing them.
In Britain, ground fog again frustrated reinforcement. Thirty-five gliders of the 3rd lift carrying the Polish glider borne elements were delayed in taking off and the whole parachute brigade failed to take off at all. This would have serious consequences on the ground when the delayed gliders arrived.
North of the railway line, the 156th and 10th Parachute Battalions became engaged with the German defensive line as they attempted to seize the high ground in the woods north of Oosterbeek. Both battalions' advances were blunted against the well-defended German positions and by early afternoon they had not advanced any further than their original positions. Urquhart—realising the need to assume a more defensive stance and prevent the two battalions being cut off north of the railway—ordered them to fall back to Wolfheze and Oosterbeek. Making a fighting withdrawal with the Germans of Kampfgruppe Krafft closely pursuing them, the units fell back across LZ 'L', defended by the King's Own Scottish Borderers who were awaiting the arrival of the Glider borne elements of the Polish Parachute Brigade. Heavy fighting ensued as the gliders arrived in the middle of the retreat and Polish losses were heavy. All four Allied units streamed south and west toward the road crossings over the steep railway cutting at Oosterbeek and Wolfheze and gathered in ad hoc units in the woods on the south side, where most of them spent the night. Some German units followed them across the railway and an SS battalion reached Wolfheze where it was strafed by its own air force.
In the afternoon, the RAF flew its first major resupply mission, using 164 aircraft to fly in 390 ST (353.8 t) of supplies to the British. The Germans—who had been expecting resupply efforts—had moved five flak batteries into the area specifically to attack these flights and as the RAF came into view they succeeded in shooting down 10 aircraft. Despite the bravery of the pilots (Flight Lieutenant
David Lord
received the Victoria Cross
posthumously), the Airborne forces only recovered 31 ST (28.1 t) of supplies. The dropzone—Supply DZ 'V'—was still in German hands (the British would never reach this SDZ during the battle) and no message had reached Britain to explain this.
At the bridge, Frost's forces continued to hold but without supply or reinforcement their position was becoming weaker. The Germans—realising that infantry attacks were unlikely to remove the stubborn defenders—began to systematically destroy the houses the British were in using tanks, artillery and mortar
s. In the absence of any Allied air cover, the Luftwaffe were able to make strafing runs on the British occupied houses as well.
By now, the division was too weak to attempt to reach Frost at the bridge. Of the nine infantry battalions, only one (1st Battalion, The Border Regiment) still existed as a unit, the rest were badly mauled or scattered. Urquhart made the difficult decision to form a defensive perimeter around Oosterbeek, abandoning the 2nd Parachute Battalion. By securing the Driel Ferry Crossing
, Urquhart hoped to hold out until XXX Corps could reach them and establish a new bridgehead over the Rhine using the ferry crossing platforms.
The eastern side of Osterbeek was fairly stabilised after the retreat of the previous day, with numerous ad hoc units under company commanders defending the approaches to the town. Major Richard Lonsdale
had taken command of the outlying units that had retreated from Arnhem the previous day, and their positions weathered heavy German attacks before falling back to the main divisional perimeter at Oosterbeek. This sector was later designated Lonsdale Force and would remain the main line of defence on the south eastern perimeter. The Border Regiment held most of the western edge of the town, with scattered units filling the gaps to the north. As more units fell back to the new defensive area, they were re-organised to establish a thumb shaped perimeter using the Rhine as its southern base.
The mixed units at Wolfheze began to fall back in the morning but several were surrounded and captured, including one party of 130 men. 150 men of 156th Parachute battalion—led by Hackett himself—became pinned down and took cover in a hollow some 400 m (437.4 yd) west of the Oosterbeek perimeter. The men broke out in the late afternoon, with 90 men making it to the Border Regiment's positions.
The afternoon's supply drop was little better than the previous day's. Although a message had reached Britain to arrange a new dropping zone near the Hotel Hartenstein, some aircraft flew to LZ 'Z' where all their supplies fell into German hands. At Oosterbeek, the Germans had used British marker panels and flares to attract the aircraft to their positions and the aircraft were unable to distinguish the exact dropping zones. Ten of the 164 aircraft involved were shot down around Arnhem for only 13% of supplies reaching British hands.
At the bridge, Frost was finally able to make radio contact with his divisional commander and given the difficult news that reinforcement was doubtful. Shortly afterwards at about 13:30, Frost was injured in the legs by a mortar bomb. Command passed to Major Gough but by late afternoon the position was becoming untenable. As fire took hold of many of the buildings in which the wounded were being treated, a two-hour truce was organised in the late afternoon. The wounded (including Frost) were taken into captivity. Overnight, a few units managed to hold out for a little longer and several groups tried to break out toward the Oosterbeek perimeter but by 05:00 on Thursday morning all resistance at the bridge had ceased. In the final hours of the struggle, a radio message was sent from the bridge. It was not picked up by the British but was heard by the German forces, who recalled that it ended with the sentences: "Out of ammunition. God Save the King."
Throughout the morning, the Germans mopped up British survivors and stragglers in hiding around Arnhem bridge. It took several hours to clear the bridge of debris allowing German armour to cross and reinforce Nijmegen. Crucially, the British had held the bridge long enough to allow Nijmegen bridge to be captured by the 82nd Airborne. With the resistance at the bridge crushed, the Germans had more troops available to commit to the Oosterbeek engagement, although this changed suddenly in the afternoon.
Two days late, the parachute infantry battalions of Stanisław Sosabowski's 1st (Polish) Parachute Brigade were able to take off in England. 114 C-47s took off but 41 aircraft turned back after Troop Carrier Command decided it would be too dangerous to land if the aircraft were up too long. The remainder pressed on; they did not have the correct transmission codes and did not understand the messages. One of the few messages to get out of Arnhem warned the Poles that DZ 'K' was not secure and to land instead on the polder
east of Driel where they should secure the Heveadorp ferry on the south bank of the Rhine. The Poles dropped under fire at 17:00 and sustained casualties but assembled in good order. Advancing to the river bank, they discovered that the ferry was gone; the ferryman had sunk it to deny its use to the Germans.
The arrival of the Poles relieved the pressure on the British as the Germans were forced to send more forces south of the Rhine. Fearing an attack on the southern end of the road bridge or the Nijmegen road, a battalion of the 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland, Machine Gun Battalion 47 and other Kampfgruppes headed across the river overnight.
At Oosterbeek, the defensive positions were consolidated and organised into two zones. Hicks would command the western and northern sides of the perimeter and Hackett, after some rest, the eastern front. The perimeter was not a complete defensive line but a collection of defensive pockets in houses and foxholes surrounding the centre of Oosterbeek, with the divisional Headquarters at the Hotel Hartenstein at its centre. The perimeter was roughly 3 mi (4.8 km) around and was defended by approximately 3,600 men. Despite the Germans' best efforts, the line would remain roughly unchanged for the next five days, although Germans of the Hermann Göring NCO School attacked the Border positions on the west side near the Rhine, forcing them to abandon strategically important high ground overlooking Oosterbeek. The biggest boost to the besieged British was being able to make contact with forward artillery units of XXX Corps. Radio contact was made with 64th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery who were able to drop heavy and accurate shellfire on German positions around the perimeter. The radio link to the battery's Headquarters was also used as the main line of communication to XXX Corps. So important was the shellfire provided by 64 Medium Regiment that afterward Urquhart lobbied (unsuccessfully) for the Regiment to be able to wear the airborne Pegasus
badge on their uniforms.
The British had witnessed the Polish drop but were unable to make contact by radio so a swimmer was sent south of the Rhine. The British planned to supply rafts for a river crossing that night as the Poles were desperately needed on the northern bank. The Poles waited on the southern bank, but by 03:00 no rafts were evident and they withdrew to Driel
to take up defensive positions.
Overnight, the Germans south of the river formed a blocking line along the railway, linking up with 10th SS to the south and screening the road bridge from the Poles. The Polish were well dug in at Driel, however, and German armour was unable to manoeuvre off of the main roads to attack them. Hopes were raised when three armoured cars of XXX Corps' Household Cavalry
managed to skirt the German defences on the island and link up with Sosabowski's force. These were followed after dark by tanks of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards
and infantry of the 5th Battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
. Behind them, the rest of the 43rd Wessex Division was making its way up a narrow corridor.
In Oosterbeek, heavy fighting continued around the perimeter. Intense shelling and snipers increased the number of casualties and the aid posts in the hotels and houses of the town. Bittricht ordered that the attacks were stepped up and the British bridgehead north of the Rhine destroyed and at 09:00 the major attacks began with the various Kampfgruppes of 9th SS attacking from the east and Kampfgruppe von Tettaus units from the west. There were only small gains but were followed by simultaneous attacks in the afternoon when the Germans made a determined moves on the northern and eastern ends. To the north, they succeeded in briefly forcing back the King's Own Scottish Borderers before they counter attacked and retook their positions. Urquhart realised the futility of holding the tactically unimportant tip however and ordered the units in the north to fall back and defend a shorter line. To the east, the remains of 10th Parachute Battalion were nearly annihilated in their small position on the main Arnhem road, but the Germans failed to gain any significant ground.
Two of Urquhart's staff officers swam the Rhine during the day and made contact with Sosabowski's HQ. It was arranged that six rubber boats should be supplied on the northern bank to enable the Poles to cross the river and come into the Oosterbeek perimeter. That night, the plan was put into operation, but the cable designed to run the boats across broke and the small oars weren't enough to paddle across the fast flowing river. Only 55 Poles made it over before light and only 35 of these made it into the perimeter
Spindler was ordered to switch his attacks further south and try to force the British away from the river, thus isolating the British from any hope of reinforcement and allowing them to be destroyed. Despite their best efforts, they were unsuccessful, but the constant artillery and assaults continued to wear the British defences down further.
A break in the weather allowed the RAF to finally fly combat missions against the German forces surrounding Urquharts men. Hawker Typhoon
s and Republic P-47 Thunderbolts strafed German positions throughout the day and occasionally diced with the Luftwaffe over the battlefield. The RAF attempted their final resupply flight from Britain on the Saturday afternoon, but lost eight planes for little gain to the Airborne troops. Some small resupply efforts would be made from Allied airfields in Europe over the next two days but to little effect.
South of the river, the Poles prepared for another crossing. That night, they awaited the arrival of assault boats from XXX Corps, but these did not arrive until after midnight, and many were without oars. The crossings started at 03:00, with fire support from the 43rd Wessex Division. Through the remaining hours of darkness, only 153 men were able to cross – less than ¼ of the hoped for reinforcement.
In the morning, Horrocks visited the Polish positions at Driel to see the front for himself. Later, he hosted a conference attended by Browning, Major-General Ivor Thomas
of the 43rd (Wessex) Division and Sosabowski at Valburg
. In a controversial meeting in which Sosabowski was politically outmanoeuvred, it was decided that another crossing would be attempted that night. When the Germans cut the narrow supply road near Nijmegen later that day though, it seems Horrocks realised the futility of the situation and plans were drawn up to withdraw
the 1st Division.
In Oosterbeek, the situation was becoming more desperate. Hackett was wounded in the morning and had to give up the eastern command. The RAF attempted some close support around the perimeter which just held, but shelling and sniping increased casualties by the hour. The aid stations were home to some 2,000 men, both British and German as well as Dutch civilian casualties. Because many of them were actually in the front line in homes taken over earlier in the battle, the odd situation was created where casualties were evacuated forward rather than rearwards. Without evacuation, the wounded were often injured again and some posts changed hands between the British and Germans several times as the perimeter was fought over.
Throughout the fighting around Oosterbeek, there had been short localised truces around the aid posts to allow the wounded to reach them, but by Sunday the situation needed a more serious arrangement. Colonel Graeme Warrack—the senior medical officer—asked permission to arrange a truce; it was a request that Urquhart agreed to. Warrack was taken to see Bittrich who similarly agreed and offered Warrack as many supplies as he could carry. Between 15:00 and 17:00, a general ceasefire went into effect around the perimeter and about 450 stretcher cases and walking wounded
were evacuated from the perimeter, the Germans using jeeps and ambulances to take serious cases straight to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Arnhem where British, German and Dutch medical staff worked side by side.
That night, the Allies on the south side of the river attempted another crossing. The plan called for 4th Battalion The Dorset Regiment and the 1st Polish Parachute Battalion to cross at 22:00 using boats and DUKW
s. Sosabowski was furious at having to give up control of one of his battalions and thought the plan dangerous, but was silenced. The boats failed to arrive until 1 am and several had been destroyed or lost en route, so a last minute change of plan mean that only the Dorsets would cross. The small boats without skilled crews, the strong current and poor choice of landing site on the north bank meant that of the 315 men who embarked, only a handful reached the British lines on the other side. The DUKWs and most boats landed too far downstream and at least 200 men were captured.
Overnight, a copy of the withdrawal plan was sent across the river for Urquhart's consideration. Despite the obviously frustrating content, Urquhart knew there was little other choice and radioed Thomas at 08:00 to agree to the plan on the condition it went ahead that night. Meanwhile, the Airborne forces would need to endure another day in their perimeter. More men were evacuated from the aid posts throughout the day, but there was no official truce and this was sometimes done under fire.
At 10:00, the Germans began their most successful assault on the perimeter, attacking the southeastern end with infantry supported by newly arrived Tiger tank
s. This assault pushed through the defenders' outer lines and threatened to isolate the bulk of the division from the river. Strong counter attacks from the mixed defenders and concentrated shellfire from south of the river eventually repelled the Germans.
Urquhart formulated his withdrawal plan on the successful method used in the evacuation of Gallipoli during the First World War. The northernmost units would fall back first, moving through the more southerly groups who would then follow behind. The Glider Pilots would organise the routes to the river and the whole operation would be covered by an intense artillery barrage from XXX Corps. South of the river the evacuation was organised and staffed by men of the Royal Engineers of 43rd Division and Royal Canadian Engineers, using rafts and storm boats. In order to prevent the Germans from learning about the operation, the plan was not announced until the afternoon and some men (mainly wounded) would remain to lay covering fire through the night. Men were ordered to muffle their boots and weapons to help them bypass known German incursions into the perimeter. Some men took the opportunity to shave before withdrawing, providing quite a morale boost.
By 21:00, heavy rain was falling which helped disguise the withdrawal. The heavy bombardment commenced and the units began to fall back to the river. Half of the engineers' boats were too far west to be used (43rd Division mistakenly believing the crossing points used by the Dorsets the previous night were in British hands), slowing the evacuation process. The Germans shelled the withdrawal, believing it to be a resupply attempt. At 05:00, the operation was ceased lest the coming light enable to Germans to fire onto the boats more accurately.
2,163 Airborne men, 160 Poles, 75 Dorsets and several dozen mixed other men were evacuated but about 300 were left on the northern bank when the operation was ceased and 95 men were killed overnight.
Throughout the morning of 26 September, the Germans pressed home their attacks and finally linked up from both sides at the river. It was not until about noon that they realised the British had actually withdrawn. Later in the day, they rounded up about 600 men, mostly the men in the aid stations and those left on the north bank, as well as some pockets of resistance that had been out of radio contact with division Headquarters and did not know about the withdrawal.
Arnhem was a victory for the Germans (albeit tempered by their losses further south) and a major defeat for the British army. The Allies withdrew from the southern bank of the Rhine and the front stabilised on "the island" between the Rhine and Waal rivers. Although the Germans counterattacked in October they were repulsed and subsequently the front line in the Netherlands would not move until after the winter. However, the bridgeheads across the Maas and Waal served as an important base for subsequent operations against the Germans on the Rhine and the strike into Germany
.
Many military commentators and historians believe that the failure to secure Arnhem was not the fault of the airborne forces (who had held out for far longer than planned), but of the operation as a whole. John Frost noted that "by far the worst mistake was the lack of priority given to the capture of Nijmegen Bridge" and was unable to understand why Browning had ordered U.S. Army Brigadier General
James M. Gavin
of the 82nd Airborne Division to secure the Groesbeek
Heights before Nijmegen Bridge. In his analysis of the battle, Martin Middlebrook
believed the "failure of Browning to give the 82nd US Airborne Division a greater priority in capturing the bridge at Nijmegen" was only just behind the weakness of the air plan in importance.
Likewise, in his assessment of the German perspective at Arnhem, Robert Kershaw concluded that "the battle on the Waal at Nijmegen proved to be the decisive event" and that Arnhem became a simple matter of containment after the British had retreated into the Oosterbeek perimeter. After that, it was merely "a side-show to the crisis being enacted on the Waal". Heinz Harmel asserted that "The Allies were stopped in the south just north of Nijmegen – that is why Arnhem turned out as it did." Gavin himself commented that "there was no failure at Arnhem. If, historically, there remains an implication of failure it was the failure of the ground forces to arrive in time to exploit the initial gains of the [1st] Airborne Division".
The air plan was a major weakness in the events at Arnhem itself. Middlebrook believes that the refusal to consider night drops, two lifts on day 1, or a coup-de-main assault on Arnhem bridge were "cardinal fundamental errors"; and that the failure to land nearer the bridge threw away the airborne force's most valuable asset – that of surprise. Similarly Frost believed that the distance from the Drop zones to the bridge and the long approach on foot was a "glaring snag" and was highly critical of the "unwillingness of the air forces to fly more than one sortie in the day [which] was one of the chief factors that mitigated against success."
The Allies' failure to secure a bridge over the Lower Rhine spelled the end of Market Garden. While all other objectives had been achieved, the failure to secure the Arnhem road bridge over the Rhine meant that the operation failed in its ultimate objective. Field Marshal Montgomery claimed that the operation was 90% successful and the Allies did possess a deep salient into German occupied territory that was quickly reinforced. Milton Shulman
observed that the operation had driven a wedge into the German positions, isolating the 15th Army north of Antwerp from the First Parachute Army on the eastern side of the bulge. This complicated the supply problem of the 15th Army and removed the chance of the Germans being able to assemble enough troops for a serious counterattack to retake Antwerp. Chester Wilmot
agreed with this, claiming that the salient was of immense tactical value for the purpose of driving the Germans from the area south of the Maas and removing the threat of an immediate counterattack against Antwerp. Kershaw views the situation differently, observing that the north flank of the west wall was not turned and the 15th Army was able to escape. Dr. John Warren of the American Historical Division of the United States Air Force
believed that the Allies now controlled a salient leading nowhere. John Waddy
is of the belief that the strategic and tactical debate of Market Garden will never be resolved.
Although a disaster for the British 1st Airborne Division, their fight north of the Rhine is considered an example of courage and endurance and one of the greatest feats of arms in the Second World War.
. New recruits, escapees and repatriated POWs joined the division over the coming months, but the division was still so much weakened that the 4th Parachute Brigade had to be merged into the 1st Brigade, and the division as a whole could barely produce two brigades of infantry. Between May and August 1945, many of the men were sent to Denmark and Norway to oversee the German surrenders there
but on their return the division was disbanded.
The Glider Pilot Regiment suffered the highest proportion of fatal casualties during the battle (17.3% killed). The regiment was so badly depleted that during Operation Varsity
RAF pilots were used to fly many of the gliders. As glider operations were phased out after the war, the regiment shrank and was eventually disbanded in 1957.
The Poles withdrew to Nijmegen where they helped defend the airborne corridor before returning to England in early October. Shortly afterward, the British began the process of making Sosabowski and the Polish Brigade a scapegoat
for the failure at Arnhem, perhaps to cover their own failings. On 17 October, Montgomery informed Alan Brooke—Chief of the Imperial General Staff—that he felt the Polish forces had "fought very badly" and that he did not want them under his command. A month later, Browning wrote a long and highly critical letter of Sosabowski for Brooke's deputy. In it, he accused Sosabowski of being difficult, unadaptable, argumentative and "loth to play his full part in the operation unless everything was done for him and his brigade". Browning recommended that Sosabowski be replaced and in December the Polish government in exile duly dismissed him in a move likely made under British pressure. Although it may be fair to say that Sosabowski was difficult to work with, his scapegoating is judged as disgraceful by many historical commentators. Brian Urquhart
—who had done so much to warn his superiors about the dangers of Arnhem and later became Undersecretary-General of the United Nations—described the British general's actions as "grotesque and shameful"
.
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Despite being the last great failure of the British Army, Arnhem has become a byword for the fighting spirit of the British and has set a standard for the Parachute Regiment. Montgomery claimed that "in years to come it will be a great thing for a man to be able to say: 'I fought at Arnhem'", a prediction seemingly borne out by the pride of soldiers who took part, and the occasional desire of those who did not to claim that they were there.
Within days of Operation Berlin, the British returned to a heroes' welcome in England. A list of 59 decorations was quickly published for the 2,000 men who had returned and an investiture ceremony for the division was held at Buckingham Palace in December. Decorations for the 6000 who had not returned were not published until September 1945 and numbered only 25.
Five of the British participants in the battle were awarded Britain's highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross
. Four were members of the Airborne forces and one was from the RAF. They were:
The British and Commonwealth system of battle honours recognised participation in fighting at Arnhem in 1956, 1957 and 1958 by the award of the battle honour Arnhem 1944 to six units.
After the liberation of Holland, the Grave Registration units of 2nd Army began the task of identifying the British dead. They were buried together in a field that is on permanent loan to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
just north of Oosterbeek. There are nearly 1,800 graves in what is now known as the Airborne Cemetery, ¾ of which are for those killed during the 1944 battle. By 2003, there were still 138 men unaccounted for and human remains, equipment and weaponry continue to be dug up in the farmland around the city.
In Germany, the battle was treated as a great victory and afterward no fewer than eight men were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
. The German dead were gathered together and buried in the SS Heroes Cemetery near Arnhem, but after the war they were reburied in Ysselsteyn
.
The shattered Arnhem road bridge was briefly replaced by a succession of Bailey bridge
s before being rebuilt in the same style as the original. It was renamed John Frostbrug
(literally John Frost Bridge) on 17 December 1977.
On 31 May 2006, HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred two honours on the Polish forces who fought at the battle. The Polish 1st Independent Airborne Brigade was awarded the Dutch Military William Order for gallantry and Stanisław Sosabowski was posthumously awarded the Bronze Lion
. In February of that year, an appeal was launched to raise funds so that a memorial to General Sosabowski and the brigade could be erected. The memorial was unveiled in September 2006 in a ceremony that sought to undo the injustice of 1944.
The Hotel Hartenstein, used by Urquhart as his Headquarters, is now the home of the Airborne Museum. Several other memorials were built in Arnhem and Oosterbeek, and an annual parade
is held in the area. A memorial near the museum reads: "To the People of Gelderland; 50 years ago British and Polish Airborne soldiers fought here against overwhelming odds to open the way into Germany and bring the war to an early end. Instead we brought death and destruction for which you have never blamed us. This stone marks our admiration for your great courage remembering especially the women who tended our wounded. In the long winter that followed your families risked death by hiding Allied soldiers and Airmen while members of the resistance led many to safety."
The progress of the battle was widely reported in the British press, thanks largely to the efforts of two BBC
reporters (Stanley Maxted and Guy Byam) and three journalists who accompanied the British forces. The journalists had their reports sent back almost daily – ironically making communication with London at a time when Divisional Signals had not. The division was also accompanied by a three-man team from the Army Film and Photographic Unit who recorded much of the battle – including many of the images on this page.
Only two years later, a war movie about the battle was released in Britain. Theirs is the Glory
featured some original footage and used 120 Arnhem veterans as extras in many of the other scenes. This was followed in 1974 by the publication of Cornelius Ryan's
book A Bridge Too Far
, which did much to bring the battle to a worldwide audience and then by Richard Attenborough's
film of the same name in 1978, which used Frost and General Urquhart as military consultants.
Engagement (military)
A military engagement is a combat between two forces, neither larger than a division and not smaller than a company, in which each has an assigned or perceived mission...
fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
, Oosterbeek
Oosterbeek
Oosterbeek is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Renkum, about 5 km west of Arnhem.The oldest part of the village of Oosterbeek is the Benedendorp , on the northern bank of the river Rhine...
, Wolfheze
Wolfheze
Wolfheze is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Renkum, 10 km northwest of the city of Arnhem.-History:Wolfheze has had a train station on the railway line between Utrecht and Arnhem since 1845...
, Driel
Driel
Driel is a town in the municipality of Overbetuwe, approximately four kilometers southwest of Arnhem on the south bank of the Rhine, in the Netherlands.-History:...
and the surrounding countryside from 17–26 September 1944.
After sweeping through France and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
in the summer of 1944, the Allies
Western Allies
The Western Allies were a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It generally includes the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, the United States, France and various other European and Latin American countries, but excludes China, the Soviet Union,...
were poised to enter the Netherlands. Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Bernard Montgomery favoured a single thrust north over the branches of the Lower Rhine
Lower Rhine
The Lower Rhine flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hoek van Holland, Netherlands.Almost immediately after entering the Netherlands, the Rhine splits into many branches. The main branch is called the Waal which flows from Nijmegen to meet the river Meuse; after which it is called Merwede...
river, allowing the British 2nd Army to bypass the German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
Siegfried Line
Siegfried Line
The original Siegfried line was a line of defensive forts and tank defences built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916–1917 in northern France during World War I...
and attack the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
. To this end, the Allies launched Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
on 17 September. Paratrooper
Paratrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
s were dropped in the Netherlands to secure key bridges and towns along the Allied axis of advance. Farthest north, the British 1st Airborne Division
British 1st Airborne Division
The 1st Airborne Division was a division of the British airborne forces during the Second World War. The division was formed in 1941, after British Prime Minister Winston Churchill demanded an airborne force...
, supported by men of the Glider Pilot Regiment
Glider Pilot Regiment
The Glider Pilot Regiment was a British airborne forces unit of the Second World War which was responsible for crewing the British Army's military gliders and saw action in the European Theatre of World War II in support of Allied airborne operations...
and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade
Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade
The 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was a parachute brigade under command of Maj.Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski, created in Scotland in September 1941, with the exclusive mission to drop into occupied Poland in order to help liberate the country. The British government, however, pressured the Polish...
, landed at Arnhem to secure bridges across the Nederrijn
Nederrijn
thumb|left|300px|Course of the NederrijnNederrijn is the name of the Dutch part of the River Rhine from the confluence at the town of Angeren of the cut-off Rhine bend of Oude Rijn and the Pannerdens Kanaal...
. Initially expecting a walkover, British XXX Corps planned to reach the British airborne forces within two to three days.
The British forces landed some distance from their objectives and were quickly hampered by unexpected resistance – especially from elements of the 9th SS
9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen
The 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen", also known as SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 9, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 9 Hohenstaufen or 9. SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen, was a German Waffen-SS Armoured division which saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II. The...
and 10th SS Panzer Divisions
10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg
The 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg or 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg was a German Waffen SS panzer division. The division was formed at the beginning of 1943 as a reserve for the expected Allied invasion of France. However, their first campaign was in the Ukraine in April 1944...
. Only a small force was able to reach the Arnhem road bridge while the main body of the division was halted on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, XXX Corps was unable to advance north as quickly as anticipated and failed to relieve the airborne troops according to schedule. After four days, the small British force at the bridge was overwhelmed and the rest of the division became trapped in a small pocket north of the river – where they could not be sufficiently reinforced by the Poles or XXX Corps when they arrived on the southern bank, nor by the RAF's
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
resupply flights. After nine days of fighting, the shattered remains of the airborne forces were withdrawn in Operation Berlin
Operation Berlin (Arnhem rescue)
Operation Berlin was a night-time evacuation of paratroopers of the British 1st Airborne Division trapped in German occupied territory north of the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands. The aim of the operation was to safely withdraw the remnants of the division who were surrounded on three sides by...
.
With no secure bridges over the Nederrijn, the Allies were unable to advance further and the front line stabilised south of Arnhem. The 1st Airborne Division had lost nearly ¾ of its strength and did not see combat again.
Background
By September 1944, AlliedAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
forces had successfully broken out of their Normandy bridgehead
Falaise pocket
The battle of the Falaise Pocket, fought during the Second World War from 12 to 21 August 1944, was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy...
and pursued shattered German forces
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
across northern France and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. Although Allied commanders generally favoured a broad front policy to continue the advance into Germany and the Netherlands, Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Bernard Montgomery proposed a bold plan to head north through the Dutch Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...
, bypassing the German Siegfried line
Siegfried Line
The original Siegfried line was a line of defensive forts and tank defences built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916–1917 in northern France during World War I...
defences and opening a route into the German industrial heartland of the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
. Initially proposed as a British and Polish operation codenamed Comet, the plan was soon expanded to involve most of the First Allied Airborne Army
First Allied Airborne Army
The First Allied Airborne Army was an Allied formation formed on 2 August 1944 by the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The formation was part of the Allied Expeditionary Force and controlled all Allied airborne forces in Western...
and a set piece ground advance into the Netherlands, codenamed Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
.
Montgomery's plan involved dropping the U.S. 101st Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division
The 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...
to capture key bridges around Eindhoven, the 82nd Airborne Division to secure key crossings around Nijmegen, and the British 1st Airborne Division, with the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade attached, to capture three bridges across the Rhine at Arnhem. Although Lieutenant-General Lewis H. Brereton
Lewis H. Brereton
Lewis Hyde Brereton was a military aviation pioneer and lieutenant general in the United States Air Force...
commanded the First Allied Airborne Army, his second in command Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning
Frederick Browning
Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Arthur Montague Browning GCVO, KBE, CB, DSO was a British Army officer who has been called the "father of the British airborne forces". He is best known as the commander of the I Airborne Corps and deputy commander of First Allied Airborne Army during Operation...
took command of the airborne role. The British Second Army
British Second Army
The British Second Army was active during both the First and Second World Wars. During the First World War the army was active on the Western Front and in Italy...
, led by XXX Corps would advance up the "Airborne corridor", securing the Airborne Division's positions and crossing the Rhine within two days. If successful the plan would open the door to Germany and hopefully force an end to the war in Europe by the end of the year.
British plan
Operation Tonga
Operation Tonga was the codename given to the airborne operation undertaken by the British 6th Airborne Division between 5 June and 7 June 1944 as a part of Operation Overlord and the Normandy Landings during the Second World War....
, the task of securing the Rhine Bridgehead fell to the 1st Airborne Division under the command of Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Roy Urquhart
Roy Urquhart
Major General Robert "Roy" Elliott Urquhart, CB, DSO was a British military officer. He became prominent for his role commanding the British 1st Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden.-Early career:...
. The division was made up of three brigades of infantry (two parachute, one glider borne), supporting artillery
1st Airlanding Light Regiment
The 1st Airlanding Light Regiment was an airborne forces unit of the Royal Artillery during the Second World War.The regiment was raised in 1943, by the expansion of an existing airborne artillery battery...
and anti-tank batteries and substantial Royal Engineer units, as well as supporting elements such as Royal Army Service Corps
Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Service Corps was a corps of the British Army. It was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport; air despatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery ; administration of...
and Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...
units. Most of the division had seen action in North Africa and Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, particularly the 1st Parachute Brigade and 1st Airlanding Brigade. However, this was the first time the division had fought together as a complete unit.
The division was also substantially reinforced by the addition of 1,200 men of the Glider Pilot Regiment, providing Urquhart with the equivalent of two battalions of infantry for the operation. Smaller additions included a Dutch commando team and American communications teams. Urquhart also had the 1st Independent Polish Brigade under his command, who would also be joining the British in the operation to seize the bridges.
The Division was required to secure the road, rail and pontoon
Pontoon bridge
A pontoon bridge or floating bridge is a bridge that floats on water and in which barge- or boat-like pontoons support the bridge deck and its dynamic loads. While pontoon bridges are usually temporary structures, some are used for long periods of time...
bridges over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem and hold them for two to three days until relieved by XXX Corps. From the beginning, however, Urquhart was severely restricted in how he could prepare and deploy his troops for the upcoming battle. The U.S. IX Troop Carrier Command
IX Troop Carrier Command
The IX Troop Carrier Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946...
were limited in their availability; with two more major drops taking place at the same time, there were insufficient carrier aircraft available to fly the entire division to the Netherlands in one lift. Additionally, Major General Williams—commander of IX Troop Carrier Command—decided that it would only be possible for one air lift per day, meaning it would take three days to deliver the entire Division and Polish Brigade to the area. A limited number of areas suitable for glider landings and a reluctance from troop command to fly too near to Arnhem, exposing them to flak from Deelen airfield
Deelen Air Base
Deelen Air Base is a military air base in the Netherlands in the province of Gelderland...
after the drop, meant that Urquhart was forced to pick drop zone
Drop zone
A drop zone is a place where parachutists or parachuted supplies land. It can be an area targeted for landing by paratroopers, or a base from which recreational parachutists and skydivers take off in aircraft and land under parachutes...
s (DZ) and landing zones
Landing Zone
A Landing Zone or "LZ" is a military term for any area where an aircraft can land.In the United States military, a landing zone is the actual point where aircraft land...
(LZ) up to 8 mi (12.9 km) from Arnhem itself, on the north side of the river. With the need to secure the bridges, towns and drop zones for subsequent supply drops, the 1st Airborne would need to defend a perimeter of some 18 mi (29 km) whilst waiting for XXX Corps.
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
Gerald Lathbury's
Gerald Lathbury
General Sir Gerald William Lathbury, GCB, DSO, MBE was a British Army officer during the Second World War and later became Governor of Gibraltar-Military career:...
1st Parachute Brigade and Brigadier "Pip" Hicks' 1st Airlanding Brigade on the first day of the operation. The Airlanding Brigade plus 1st Airlanding Light Regiment
1st Airlanding Light Regiment
The 1st Airlanding Light Regiment was an airborne forces unit of the Royal Artillery during the Second World War.The regiment was raised in 1943, by the expansion of an existing airborne artillery battery...
Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
, Royal Engineer and medical units and Divisional HQ would land on LZs 'S' and 'Z' and move to secure the drop zones and landing zones for the following days drops, whilst the three battalions of the parachute brigade would arrive at DZ 'X' and follow three separate routes into Arnhem to secure the bridges. The 2nd Battalion
2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment
The Second Battalion, The Parachute Regiment is a battalion-sized formation of the British Army's Parachute Regiment and subordinate unit within 16th Air Assault Brigade whose Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O'Sullivan....
—under the command of Lt. Col. John Frost
John Dutton Frost
Major General John Dutton Frost CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DL was a British airborne officer best known for being the leader of the small group of airborne forces that actually got to Arnhem bridge during the Battle of Arnhem...
—would follow the riverside roads to the centre of Arnhem (codenamed the Lion route) and secure the main road and railway bridges, as well as a pontoon bridge between the two. The 3rd Battalion
3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment
The 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment is a battalion sized formation of the British Army's Parachute Regiment and subordinate unit within 16 Air Assault Brigade....
of Lt. Col. Fitch would head through Oosterbeek to Arnhem (Tiger route), assist in the capture of the road bridge and take up positions in the east of the town. Lt. Col. Dobie's 1st Battalion
1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment
The First Battalion, The Parachute Regiment is a battalion sized formation of the British Army's Parachute Regiment and subordinate unit within 16th Air Assault Brigade, but is permanently attached to the Special Forces Support Group....
would follow Leopard route north of the railway line to occupy high ground north and north west of Arnhem. The whole advance would be led by a troop of Reconnaissance jeeps from the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron, under Major Frederick Gough
Frederick Gough
Colonel Charles Frederick Howard Gough, MC, TD was a British Territorial Army officer, company director and politician.-Navy education:...
on Leopard who would attempt a coup de main
Coup de main
A coup de main is a swift attack that relies on speed and surprise to accomplish its objectives in a single blow. The United States Department of Defense defines it as:The literal translation from French means a stroke or blow of the hand...
on the road bridge. On the second day, Brigadier "Shan" Hackett's
John Winthrop Hackett Junior
General Sir John Winthrop Hackett GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC was an Australian-born British soldier, author and university administrator.-Early life:Hackett, who was nicknamed "Shan", was born in Perth, Western Australia...
4th Parachute Brigade would arrive at DZ 'Y', accompanied by extra artillery units and remaining elements of the Airlanding Brigade on LZ 'X'. Hackett's three battalions would then reinforce the positions north and north west of Arnhem. On the third day, the Polish Parachute Brigade would be dropped south of the river at DZ 'K'. Using the road bridge, they would reinforce the perimeter east of Arnhem, linking up with their own artillery who would be flown in by glider to LZ 'L'. 1st Airlanding Brigade would fall back to cover Oosterbeek on the western side of the perimeter and 1st Parachute Brigade would fall back to cover the southern side of the bridges. Once XXX Corps had arrived and advanced beyond the bridgehead, the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division would be flown into Deelen airfield to support the ground forces north of the Rhine. The remaining units of the division would follow XXX Corps on land in what was known as the sea tail. The whole operation would be re-supplied by daily flights by No's. 38 and 46 Group RAF who would make the first drop on LZ 'L' on day 2, and subsequent drops on DZ 'V'.
Intelligence
Due to poor intelligence, the British were told to expect only limited resistance from German reserveMilitary reserve
A military reserve, tactical reserve, or strategic reserve is a group of military personnel or units which are initially not committed to a battle by their commander so that they are available to address unforeseen situations or exploit suddenly developing...
forces. A serious challenge to their operation was not expected and many men believed that their work would lead to the ending of the war. Some—anticipating a period of occupation in Germany—packed leisure equipment in their kit or in the sea tail. The optimistic mood prior to the operation would have tragic consequences however. Browning's intelligence officer—Major Brian Urquhart
Brian Urquhart
Sir Brian Urquhart, KCMG, MBE is a former Undersecretary-General of the United Nations. He is also a World War II veteran and an author.-Early life:...
—obtained information from the 21st Army Group in Belgium and Dutch resistance
Dutch resistance
Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized by its prominent non-violence, summitting in over 300,000 people in hiding in the autumn of 1944, tended to by some 60,000 to 200,000 illegal landlords and caretakers and tolerated knowingly...
that German armour was present around Arnhem. This was backed up with aerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance that is conducted using unmanned aerial vehicles or reconnaissance aircraft. Their roles are to collect imagery intelligence, signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence...
that he ordered to be flown. Browning however was dismissive and ordered his chief medical officer to have Urquhart sent on sick leave. In fact, SHAEF
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command of SHAEF throughout its existence...
was aware that there were almost certainly two Panzer division
Panzer Division
A panzer division was an armored division in the army and air force branches of the Wehrmacht as well as the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II....
s at Arnhem but with the operation looming chose to ignore them. Such information would have been gleaned from Ultra intercepts that the Allied Airborne Army was not privy to and therefore could not act upon themselves.
German forces
Dolle Dinsdag
Dolle Dinsdag is a Dutch name for Tuesday 5 September 1944. On this day many rumours were spreading in the occupied Netherlands that the liberation by Allied forces was at hand...
". However the Allied pause at the Dutch border gave the Germans time to regroup and reorganise, although it would make subsequent attempts to clarify the exact German forces opposing the Allies extremely difficult.
Feldmarschall Walter Model
Walter Model
Otto Moritz Walter Model was a German general and later field marshal during World War II. He is noted for his defensive battles in the latter half of the war, mostly on the Eastern Front but also in the west, and for his close association with Adolf Hitler and Nazism...
—commander of Army Group B
Army Group B
Army Group B was the name of three different German Army Groups that saw action during World War II.-Battle for France:The first was involved in the Western Campaign in 1940 in Belgium and the Netherlands which was to be aimed to conquer the Maas bridges after the German airborne actions in Rotterdam...
—had moved his headquarters to Arnhem and was re-establishing defences in the area and co-ordinating the reorganisation of the scattered units so that by the time the Allies launched Market Garden there would be several units opposing them. To the west of Arnhem was Kampfgruppe
Kampfgruppe
In military history and military slang, the German term Kampfgruppe can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the German Wehrmacht and its allies during World War II and, to a lesser extent, in World War I...
Von Tettau, a force equivalent to seven battalions made up of all manner of German units (including Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
, Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
, Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
, rear echelon and Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
troops) under the command of General
General (Germany)
General is presently the highest rank of the German Army and Luftwaffe . It is the equivalent to the rank of Admiral in the German Navy .-Early history:...
Hans von Tettau
Hans von Tettau
Hans Bernhard Carl Otto von Tettau was a highly decorated General der Infanterie in the Wehrmacht during World War II who held commands at the division and corps level. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
at Grebbeberg. This included the SS Non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
school SS Unteroffizierschule Arnheim and the 16th SS Training Battalion
16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS
The 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS was a Panzergrenadier formation of the Waffen-SS during World War II.-History:Formed in November 1943 when Volksdeutsche recruits were added to the Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS, which was used as the cadre in the formation of the new division...
under the command of SS Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
Sepp Krafft whose unit would play a crucial role in the opening phases of the battle. Within Arnhem itself, the town garrison was under the command of Major-General Friedrich Kussin.
Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
Wilhelm Bittrich's
Wilhelm Bittrich
Wilhelm Bittrich was an SS-Obergruppenführer and Waffen-SS General during World War II.-Overview:...
II SS Panzer Corps
II SS Panzer Corps
The II SS Panzer Corps was a Nazi German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II.- Formation - Kharkov :...
—comprising the remains of Walter Harzer’s
Walter Harzer
SS-Oberführer Walter Harzer was a German Waffen-SS officer who served in the SS-Standarte Deutschland and later commanded the 9.SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen and 4.SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier-Division...
9th SS
9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen
The 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen", also known as SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 9, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 9 Hohenstaufen or 9. SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen, was a German Waffen-SS Armoured division which saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II. The...
and Heinz Harmel’s
Heinz Harmel
Heinz Harmel was a German Waffen-SS General during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
10th SS Panzer Division
10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg
The 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg or 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg was a German Waffen SS panzer division. The division was formed at the beginning of 1943 as a reserve for the expected Allied invasion of France. However, their first campaign was in the Ukraine in April 1944...
s—had moved into the area north of Arnhem to refit and reorganise. Although badly mauled after escaping the Falaise Pocket
Falaise pocket
The battle of the Falaise Pocket, fought during the Second World War from 12 to 21 August 1944, was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy...
, the Korps was made up of seasoned veterans and made available significantly more forces to the Germans than the allies had been led to expect. The divisions were also specially trained in anti-airborne operations; during their formation both divisions had undergone month-long anti airborne exercises whilst waiting for their heavy equipment, and had also spent the last 15 months studying the best reactions to a parachute attack in classroom and field exercises. The 9th SS had a Panzergrenadier
Panzergrenadier
is a German term for motorised or mechanized infantry, as introduced during World War II. It is used in the armies of Austria, Chile, Germany and Switzerland.-Forerunners:...
brigade, a reconnaissance battalion, an artillery battalion, two batteries of self-propelled gun
Self-propelled gun
A self-propelled gun is form of self-propelled artillery, and in modern use is usually used to refer to artillery pieces such as howitzers....
s and a company of tanks. Exactly how many men were available after the withdrawal from Normandy is unclear. Some sources suggest that the 9th had up to 6,000 men, others suggest that the combined total of the 9th and 10th SS was only 6,000–7,000 men.
There were also Dutch units allied to the Germans present at Arnhem. These formations recruited from Dutch nationals (mainly criminals, men wishing to avoid national service or men affiliated with the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) and were incorporated into the German Army. At Arnhem, the Dutch SS Wach Battalion 3 was attached to Kampfgruppe Von Tettau and the 3rd Battalion, 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland training at nearby Hoogeveen
Hoogeveen
Hoogeveen is a municipality and a town in the northeastern Netherlands.- Population centres :Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout the town...
was quickly attached to Harzer’s 9th SS Panzer Division when they arrived at the battle on 20 September.
As the battle progressed, more and more forces would become available to the Germans. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
—stunned by the attack—agreed that the defence of Holland should receive absolute priority and over the course of the battle reinforcements would stream in; from Wehrkreis VI, the Wesel
Wesel
Wesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.-Division of the town:Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Feldmark,Fusternberg, Büderich, Flüren and Blumenkamp.-History:...
area and General Friedrich Christiansen's
Friedrich Christiansen
Friedrich Christiansen was a World War I German seaplane ace who claimed shooting down twenty planes and an airship; thirteen of those victories were confirmed...
Armed Forces Command Netherlands. Model arranged for units to be sent straight to the units in action in order to avoid long winded logistics, and rushed in specialist street fighting
Street fighting
Street fighting is a colloquial term used to denote unsanctioned, illegal in some countries, hand-to-hand fighting in public places, between individuals or groups of people....
and machine gun battalions. Each day of the battle, the German military strength increased whilst the British supplies diminished. By 21 September, the fifth day of the battle, German forces outnumbered the British by 3:1 and continued to increase.
Day 1 – Sunday 17 September
The Germans were unprepared for the landings and initially thrown into confusion. Model—erroneously assuming that the paratroopers had come to capture him—fled his headquarters at the Hartenstein hotel in Oosterbeek and went to Bittrich's headquarters east of Arnhem at Doetinchem
Doetinchem
Doetinchem is a city and municipality in the east of the Netherlands. It is situated along the Oude IJssel river in a part of the province of Gelderland called the Achterhoek . The municipality has 56,700 inhabitants and has an area of 79.66 km²...
where he took personal control of the battle. The 10th SS Division was sent south to respond to the American landings at Nijmegen and defend the "island" (the polder between the Lower Rhine and Waal rivers), while the 9th would defend Arnhem. The 9th SS was at that point making preparations to return to Germany and Harmel was in Berlin trying to secure more men and supplies for his unit. He was instantly ordered to return to Arnhem whilst his division began to prepare its forces for battle. Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
Ludwig Spindler
Ludwig Spindler
SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Spindler was a German Waffen-SS officer who served in the VT-SS Standarte Deutschland, 2. SS-Division Das Reich and the 9.SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen...
—commander of the 9th SS Armoured Artillery Regiment—quickly organised a small battlegroup
Kampfgruppe
In military history and military slang, the German term Kampfgruppe can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the German Wehrmacht and its allies during World War II and, to a lesser extent, in World War I...
(Kampfgruppe Spindler was initially only 120 men but would incorporate 16 separate units over the course of the battle). In the late afternoon, he was ordered to advance west to Oosterbeek and establish a blocking line to prevent the British from reaching Arnhem centre. Meanwhile, the Division's Reconnaissance Battalion under the command of Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
Viktor Gräbner was ordered south to Nijmegen, crossing the Arnhem bridge at dusk. Initially, however, no units were ordered to secure the bridge itself. Arnhem Garrison commander Major-General Kussin was killed by men of the 3rd Parachute Battalion as he sped towards his headquarters, and his death led to a breakdown in command and responsibilities. It was not until late in the afternoon that the Reconnaissance Battalion of 10th SS Division were ordered to secure the bridge. At the time of the landings, only one organised unit was in place to oppose the allied advance toward the bridges (the 16 SS Training Battalion camped in Wolfheze) and their commander—Sepp Krafft—acted quickly to establish a blocking screen west of Oosterbeek.
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
ed by the northern flank of Krafft's blocking line and withdrew. The 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions were also stalled by Krafft's defences and spent the rest of the day skirting his line. The 3rd Parachute Battalion went south and halted in Oosterbeek for most of the night while 1st Parachute Battalion went further north but hit Spindler's forces and was unable to reach the Arnhem-Ede road of Leopard route. Instead Dobie decided to abandon his plan and help Frost at the bridge and the battalion headed south into Oosterbeek overnight. Only the 2nd Parachute Battalion was largely unopposed, bypassing the defences that did not as yet reach down as far as the river. They were slowed by cheering Dutch civilians and did not reach the bridges until late in the day. The railway bridge was blown by German engineers as the Allies approached it and the pontoon bridge was missing its central section. At dusk, the men of A Company under Major Digby Tatham-Warter observed Graebner's force cross the bridge. Most of the battalion and various other supporting units—including two jeeps of Goughs squadron, four 6-pounder anti-tank gun
Ordnance QF 6 pounder
The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt, or just 6 pounder, was a British 57 mm gun, their primary anti-tank gun during the middle of World War II, as well as the main armament for a number of armoured fighting vehicles...
s, Brigade HQ (but without Lathbury), and Royal Engineers (in total numbering about 740 men)— moved into Arnhem centre as night fell and owing to the oversight in German orders were able to secure the undefended northern end of the road bridge. Lieutenant Jack Grayburn
John Hollington Grayburn
John "Jack" Hollington Grayburn VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
led an attempt to secure the southern end of the bridge but was unsuccessful, and a later attempt using a flame thrower only succeeded in setting the freshly painted girders of the bridge alight. However, the British were able to make good their position and quickly repulsed the 10th SS Reconnaissance Battalion and other German units when they arrived to secure the bridge.
Meanwhile, the Airlanding Brigade moved quickly to secure the landing zones. The 2nd Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment
South Staffordshire Regiment
The South Staffordshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 38th Regiment of Foot and the 80th Regiment of Foot. In 1959 the regiment was amlagamated with the North Staffordshire Regiment to form the Staffordshire Regiment...
moved into Wolfheze, the 1st Battalion, The Border Regiment secured DZ 'X', deploying its companies around the DZ and in Renkum, and the 7th Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers
King's Own Scottish Borderers
The King's Own Scottish Borderers was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division.-History:It was raised on 18 March 1689 by the Earl of Leven to defend Edinburgh against the Jacobite forces of James II. It is said that 800 men were recruited within the space of two hours...
moved to secure DZ 'Y'. Here, they ambushed the Dutch SS Wach Battalion as it headed toward Arnhem from Ede. Units of the Airlanding Artillery and Divisional HQ headed into Wolfheze and Oosterbeek where medical officers set up a Regimental Aid Post at the home of Kate ter Horst
Kate ter Horst
Kate ter Horst MBE was a Dutch full-time housewife and mother who tended wounded and dying Allied soldiers during the Battle of Arnhem. Her British patients nicknamed her the Angel of Arnhem.Ter Horst was born Kate Anna Arriëns, daughter of Pieter Albert Arriëns and Catharina Maingay...
.
The Allied advance was severely hampered by poor communications in these crucial initial phases. The paratroopers' radio sets
Two-way radio
A two-way radio is a radio that can both transmit and receive , unlike a broadcast receiver which only receives content. The term refers to a personal radio transceiver that allows the operator to have a two-way conversation with other similar radios operating on the same radio frequency...
range was instantly limited by the wooded terrain and as the battalions advanced they lost contact with Divisional HQ at the landing zones. Over the coming nine days, radio communication within the division, with Browning's HQ at Nijmegen, with XXX Corps and with the United Kingdom would be intermittent and unreliable, severely hampering the British units. Carrier pigeons were even used to make contact
William of Orange (Pigeon)
William of Orange was a male pigeon soldier of MI14 . He was awarded the 21st Dickin Medal for delivering a message from the Arnhem Airborne Operation. This message saved more than 2000 soldiers at the time of the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. Its official name in military record is...
with England. Partly as a consequence of this limitation, Urquhart decided to follow the 1st Parachute Brigade and make contact with Lathbury. He found the Brigade HQ on Lion route but was informed Lathbury himself was visiting the 3rd Battalion. Urquhart followed him there but subsequently would not be able to return to Divisional HQ for two days.
Day 2 – Monday 18 September
Overnight, the British 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions had skirted as far south as 2nd Parachute Battalion's original route into the city, hoping to follow them into Arnhem centre. They approached the German line before light and for several hours attempted to fight through the German positions. Spindler's force—being continually reinforced—was too strong to penetrate, and by 10:00 the British advance was stopped. A more coordinated attack followed in the afternoon, but it too was repulsed. Urquhart attempted to return to his Divisional Headquarters at Oosterbeek but became cut off and was forced to take shelter in a Dutch family's loft
Loft
A loft can be an upper story or attic in a building, directly under the roof. Alternatively, a loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use from some other use, often light industrial...
with two fellow officers. Lathbury was injured and also forced into hiding.
At the road bridge, German forces of the 9th SS had quickly surrounded Frost's battalion, cutting them off from the rest of the division. At around 09:00, the 9th SS Reconnaissance Battalion headed back toward Arnhem from south of the river, having concluded that it was not needed at Nijmegen. Though aware of the British troops at the bridge, it attempted to cross by force. In the resultant two-hour battle, it was beaten back with heavy losses, including its commanding officer Viktor Gräbner
Viktor Eberhard Gräbner
Viktor Eberhard Gräbner was a Oberleutnant in the Heer who transferred to the Waffen SS with the rank of Hauptsturmführer during World War II...
. German attacks carried on around the British perimeter for the rest of the day but the British continued to hold.
German forces began to probe the 1st Airlanding Brigade defences throughout the morning. Units of Kampfgruppe Von Tettau attacked the Border's positions; men of the SS NCO school overran Renkum and Kriegsmarine troops engaged the British all day as they withdrew. Small amounts of fighting broke out around LZ 'X' but not enough to seriously hamper the glider landing there. At DZ 'Y', the Dutch SS Wach Battalion became heavily engaged with the King's Own Scottish Borderers, threatening to hamper the arrival of the second lift. The communications breakdown meant that it was impossible to warn the aircraft. Equally, there was no way for the division to know that the 2nd lift had been delayed by ground fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
in England. Thus, the arrival of the 4th Parachute Brigade under Brigadier Hackett and several more troops of artillery at the drop zones was several hours overdue. When the parachutists did arrive after 15:00, they dropped under fire. Several were killed as aircraft and parachutists were shot down and the heath-land
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...
they were landing on caught fire. Nevertheless, the arrival of a full brigade overwhelmed the Dutch who were routed and surrendered in droves.
Despite the setbacks, the units assembled with only slight casualties but the changing circumstances at Arnhem meant that their roles were quickly changed. The 11th Parachute Battalion and the rest of the South Staffords were immediately despatched to Arnhem to assist in the attempt to break through to the bridge, where they linked up with the 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions after dark. Hicks' decision to send the 11th Parachute Battalion to Arnhem (thus weakening the 4th Parachute Brigade) dismayed Hackett, who remonstrated with Hicks to no avail. However, he was given command of The King's Own Scottish Borderers who were moving toward LZ 'L' to secure it for Tuesday's landing. The 10th and 156th Parachute Battalions moved north of the railway line to take up their planned defensive positions north west of Arnhem but the leading elements of 156th Parachute Battalion made contact with the main 9th SS blocking line after dark and withdrew for the night.
Shortly after the second lift arrived, the first supply drop was made onto LZ 'L'. Although most supplies arrived, only a small amount could be collected as the area was not under full British control. The poor radio communication meant that it was not possible to alert the RAF and unsecured drop zones would be a major problem in the days to come.
Day 3 – Tuesday 19 September
Robert Henry Cain
Major Robert Henry Cain VC was a Manx recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
0.5 mi (0.80467 km) forward of his artillery positions. The battle gave Urquhart the opportunity to escape his position and he was able to return to Division HQ at the Hotel Hartenstein in Oosterbeek, where for the first time he was able to learn the extent of the German forces facing them.
In Britain, ground fog again frustrated reinforcement. Thirty-five gliders of the 3rd lift carrying the Polish glider borne elements were delayed in taking off and the whole parachute brigade failed to take off at all. This would have serious consequences on the ground when the delayed gliders arrived.
In the afternoon, the RAF flew its first major resupply mission, using 164 aircraft to fly in 390 ST (353.8 t) of supplies to the British. The Germans—who had been expecting resupply efforts—had moved five flak batteries into the area specifically to attack these flights and as the RAF came into view they succeeded in shooting down 10 aircraft. Despite the bravery of the pilots (Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
David Lord
David Lord
David Samuel Anthony Lord VC, DFC was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
received the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
posthumously), the Airborne forces only recovered 31 ST (28.1 t) of supplies. The dropzone—Supply DZ 'V'—was still in German hands (the British would never reach this SDZ during the battle) and no message had reached Britain to explain this.
At the bridge, Frost's forces continued to hold but without supply or reinforcement their position was becoming weaker. The Germans—realising that infantry attacks were unlikely to remove the stubborn defenders—began to systematically destroy the houses the British were in using tanks, artillery and mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
s. In the absence of any Allied air cover, the Luftwaffe were able to make strafing runs on the British occupied houses as well.
Day 4 – Wednesday 20 September
Pontoon (boat)
A pontoon is a flotation device with buoyancy sufficient to float itself as well as a heavy load. A pontoon boat is a flattish boat that relies on pontoons to float. Pontoons may be used on boats, rafts, barges, docks, floatplanes or seaplanes. Pontoons may support a platform, creating a raft. A...
, Urquhart hoped to hold out until XXX Corps could reach them and establish a new bridgehead over the Rhine using the ferry crossing platforms.
The eastern side of Osterbeek was fairly stabilised after the retreat of the previous day, with numerous ad hoc units under company commanders defending the approaches to the town. Major Richard Lonsdale
Richard Lonsdale
Lieutenant Colonel Richard "Dickie" Thomas Henry Lonsdale DSO & Bar, MC was a British Army officer who served with the Parachute Regiment throughout much of the Second World War....
had taken command of the outlying units that had retreated from Arnhem the previous day, and their positions weathered heavy German attacks before falling back to the main divisional perimeter at Oosterbeek. This sector was later designated Lonsdale Force and would remain the main line of defence on the south eastern perimeter. The Border Regiment held most of the western edge of the town, with scattered units filling the gaps to the north. As more units fell back to the new defensive area, they were re-organised to establish a thumb shaped perimeter using the Rhine as its southern base.
The mixed units at Wolfheze began to fall back in the morning but several were surrounded and captured, including one party of 130 men. 150 men of 156th Parachute battalion—led by Hackett himself—became pinned down and took cover in a hollow some 400 m (437.4 yd) west of the Oosterbeek perimeter. The men broke out in the late afternoon, with 90 men making it to the Border Regiment's positions.
At the bridge, Frost was finally able to make radio contact with his divisional commander and given the difficult news that reinforcement was doubtful. Shortly afterwards at about 13:30, Frost was injured in the legs by a mortar bomb. Command passed to Major Gough but by late afternoon the position was becoming untenable. As fire took hold of many of the buildings in which the wounded were being treated, a two-hour truce was organised in the late afternoon. The wounded (including Frost) were taken into captivity. Overnight, a few units managed to hold out for a little longer and several groups tried to break out toward the Oosterbeek perimeter but by 05:00 on Thursday morning all resistance at the bridge had ceased. In the final hours of the struggle, a radio message was sent from the bridge. It was not picked up by the British but was heard by the German forces, who recalled that it ended with the sentences: "Out of ammunition. God Save the King."
Day 5 – Thursday 21 September
Two days late, the parachute infantry battalions of Stanisław Sosabowski's 1st (Polish) Parachute Brigade were able to take off in England. 114 C-47s took off but 41 aircraft turned back after Troop Carrier Command decided it would be too dangerous to land if the aircraft were up too long. The remainder pressed on; they did not have the correct transmission codes and did not understand the messages. One of the few messages to get out of Arnhem warned the Poles that DZ 'K' was not secure and to land instead on the polder
Polder
A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...
east of Driel where they should secure the Heveadorp ferry on the south bank of the Rhine. The Poles dropped under fire at 17:00 and sustained casualties but assembled in good order. Advancing to the river bank, they discovered that the ferry was gone; the ferryman had sunk it to deny its use to the Germans.
The arrival of the Poles relieved the pressure on the British as the Germans were forced to send more forces south of the Rhine. Fearing an attack on the southern end of the road bridge or the Nijmegen road, a battalion of the 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland, Machine Gun Battalion 47 and other Kampfgruppes headed across the river overnight.
Pegasus
Pegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing...
badge on their uniforms.
The British had witnessed the Polish drop but were unable to make contact by radio so a swimmer was sent south of the Rhine. The British planned to supply rafts for a river crossing that night as the Poles were desperately needed on the northern bank. The Poles waited on the southern bank, but by 03:00 no rafts were evident and they withdrew to Driel
Driel
Driel is a town in the municipality of Overbetuwe, approximately four kilometers southwest of Arnhem on the south bank of the Rhine, in the Netherlands.-History:...
to take up defensive positions.
Day 6 – Friday 22 September
Household Cavalry
The term Household Cavalry is used across the Commonwealth to describe the cavalry of the Household Divisions, a country’s most elite or historically senior military groupings or those military groupings that provide functions associated directly with the Head of state.Canada's Governor General's...
managed to skirt the German defences on the island and link up with Sosabowski's force. These were followed after dark by tanks of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards
4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards
The 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1922 to 1992.It was formed in India in 1922 by the amalgamation of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards and 7th Dragoon Guards , as the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards; it gained the distinction Royal in 1935...
and infantry of the 5th Battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959. Its lineage is continued today by The Rifles....
. Behind them, the rest of the 43rd Wessex Division was making its way up a narrow corridor.
In Oosterbeek, heavy fighting continued around the perimeter. Intense shelling and snipers increased the number of casualties and the aid posts in the hotels and houses of the town. Bittricht ordered that the attacks were stepped up and the British bridgehead north of the Rhine destroyed and at 09:00 the major attacks began with the various Kampfgruppes of 9th SS attacking from the east and Kampfgruppe von Tettaus units from the west. There were only small gains but were followed by simultaneous attacks in the afternoon when the Germans made a determined moves on the northern and eastern ends. To the north, they succeeded in briefly forcing back the King's Own Scottish Borderers before they counter attacked and retook their positions. Urquhart realised the futility of holding the tactically unimportant tip however and ordered the units in the north to fall back and defend a shorter line. To the east, the remains of 10th Parachute Battalion were nearly annihilated in their small position on the main Arnhem road, but the Germans failed to gain any significant ground.
Two of Urquhart's staff officers swam the Rhine during the day and made contact with Sosabowski's HQ. It was arranged that six rubber boats should be supplied on the northern bank to enable the Poles to cross the river and come into the Oosterbeek perimeter. That night, the plan was put into operation, but the cable designed to run the boats across broke and the small oars weren't enough to paddle across the fast flowing river. Only 55 Poles made it over before light and only 35 of these made it into the perimeter
Day 7 – Saturday 23 September
A break in the weather allowed the RAF to finally fly combat missions against the German forces surrounding Urquharts men. Hawker Typhoon
Hawker Typhoon
The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. While the Typhoon was designed to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, and a direct replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, several design problems were encountered, and the Typhoon never completely satisfied...
s and Republic P-47 Thunderbolts strafed German positions throughout the day and occasionally diced with the Luftwaffe over the battlefield. The RAF attempted their final resupply flight from Britain on the Saturday afternoon, but lost eight planes for little gain to the Airborne troops. Some small resupply efforts would be made from Allied airfields in Europe over the next two days but to little effect.
South of the river, the Poles prepared for another crossing. That night, they awaited the arrival of assault boats from XXX Corps, but these did not arrive until after midnight, and many were without oars. The crossings started at 03:00, with fire support from the 43rd Wessex Division. Through the remaining hours of darkness, only 153 men were able to cross – less than ¼ of the hoped for reinforcement.
Day 8 – Sunday 24 September
Gwilym Ivor Thomas
General Sir Ivor Thomas GCB KBE DSO MC was a British Army General during World War II.-Military career:Thomas was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1912 and served in World War I....
of the 43rd (Wessex) Division and Sosabowski at Valburg
Valburg
Valburg is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Overbetuwe, about 10 km northwest of Nijmegen.Valburg was a separate municipality until 2001, when it became part of Overbetuwe....
. In a controversial meeting in which Sosabowski was politically outmanoeuvred, it was decided that another crossing would be attempted that night. When the Germans cut the narrow supply road near Nijmegen later that day though, it seems Horrocks realised the futility of the situation and plans were drawn up to withdraw
Withdrawal (military)
A withdrawal is a type of military operation, generally meaning retreating forces back while maintaining contact with the enemy. A withdrawal may be undertaken as part of a general retreat, to consolidate forces, to occupy ground that is more easily defended, or to lead the enemy into an ambush...
the 1st Division.
In Oosterbeek, the situation was becoming more desperate. Hackett was wounded in the morning and had to give up the eastern command. The RAF attempted some close support around the perimeter which just held, but shelling and sniping increased casualties by the hour. The aid stations were home to some 2,000 men, both British and German as well as Dutch civilian casualties. Because many of them were actually in the front line in homes taken over earlier in the battle, the odd situation was created where casualties were evacuated forward rather than rearwards. Without evacuation, the wounded were often injured again and some posts changed hands between the British and Germans several times as the perimeter was fought over.
Walking wounded
In first aid and triage, the walking wounded are injured persons who are of a relatively low priority. These patients are conscious and breathing and usually have only relatively minor injuries; thus they are capable of walking...
were evacuated from the perimeter, the Germans using jeeps and ambulances to take serious cases straight to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Arnhem where British, German and Dutch medical staff worked side by side.
That night, the Allies on the south side of the river attempted another crossing. The plan called for 4th Battalion The Dorset Regiment and the 1st Polish Parachute Battalion to cross at 22:00 using boats and DUKW
DUKW
The DUKW is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Stephens and General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious...
s. Sosabowski was furious at having to give up control of one of his battalions and thought the plan dangerous, but was silenced. The boats failed to arrive until 1 am and several had been destroyed or lost en route, so a last minute change of plan mean that only the Dorsets would cross. The small boats without skilled crews, the strong current and poor choice of landing site on the north bank meant that of the 315 men who embarked, only a handful reached the British lines on the other side. The DUKWs and most boats landed too far downstream and at least 200 men were captured.
Day 9 – Monday 25 September
At 10:00, the Germans began their most successful assault on the perimeter, attacking the southeastern end with infantry supported by newly arrived Tiger tank
Tiger I
Tiger I is the common name of a German heavy tank developed in 1942 and used in World War II. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, often shortened to Tiger. It was an answer to the unexpectedly formidable Soviet armour encountered in the initial months of...
s. This assault pushed through the defenders' outer lines and threatened to isolate the bulk of the division from the river. Strong counter attacks from the mixed defenders and concentrated shellfire from south of the river eventually repelled the Germans.
Urquhart formulated his withdrawal plan on the successful method used in the evacuation of Gallipoli during the First World War. The northernmost units would fall back first, moving through the more southerly groups who would then follow behind. The Glider Pilots would organise the routes to the river and the whole operation would be covered by an intense artillery barrage from XXX Corps. South of the river the evacuation was organised and staffed by men of the Royal Engineers of 43rd Division and Royal Canadian Engineers, using rafts and storm boats. In order to prevent the Germans from learning about the operation, the plan was not announced until the afternoon and some men (mainly wounded) would remain to lay covering fire through the night. Men were ordered to muffle their boots and weapons to help them bypass known German incursions into the perimeter. Some men took the opportunity to shave before withdrawing, providing quite a morale boost.
By 21:00, heavy rain was falling which helped disguise the withdrawal. The heavy bombardment commenced and the units began to fall back to the river. Half of the engineers' boats were too far west to be used (43rd Division mistakenly believing the crossing points used by the Dorsets the previous night were in British hands), slowing the evacuation process. The Germans shelled the withdrawal, believing it to be a resupply attempt. At 05:00, the operation was ceased lest the coming light enable to Germans to fire onto the boats more accurately.
2,163 Airborne men, 160 Poles, 75 Dorsets and several dozen mixed other men were evacuated but about 300 were left on the northern bank when the operation was ceased and 95 men were killed overnight.
Throughout the morning of 26 September, the Germans pressed home their attacks and finally linked up from both sides at the river. It was not until about noon that they realised the British had actually withdrawn. Later in the day, they rounded up about 600 men, mostly the men in the aid stations and those left on the north bank, as well as some pockets of resistance that had been out of radio contact with division Headquarters and did not know about the withdrawal.
Aftermath
Operation Veritable
Operation Veritable was a Second World War pincer movement conducted by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group to clear and occupy the land between the Rhine and Maas rivers. It took place between 8 February and 11 March 1945. It was a part of General Dwight Eisenhower's "broad front"...
.
Many military commentators and historians believe that the failure to secure Arnhem was not the fault of the airborne forces (who had held out for far longer than planned), but of the operation as a whole. John Frost noted that "by far the worst mistake was the lack of priority given to the capture of Nijmegen Bridge" and was unable to understand why Browning had ordered U.S. Army Brigadier General
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
James M. Gavin
James M. Gavin
James Maurice "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin was a prominent Lieutenant General in the United States Army during World War II...
of the 82nd Airborne Division to secure the Groesbeek
Groesbeek
Groesbeek is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands.-Description:Groesbeek is named after a small stream called the Groesbeek, which in its original form doesn't exist anymore...
Heights before Nijmegen Bridge. In his analysis of the battle, Martin Middlebrook
Martin Middlebrook
Martin Middlebrook is a British military historian and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He was appointed as a Knight of the Order of the Belgian Crown in 2004.-Education and military service:...
believed the "failure of Browning to give the 82nd US Airborne Division a greater priority in capturing the bridge at Nijmegen" was only just behind the weakness of the air plan in importance.
Likewise, in his assessment of the German perspective at Arnhem, Robert Kershaw concluded that "the battle on the Waal at Nijmegen proved to be the decisive event" and that Arnhem became a simple matter of containment after the British had retreated into the Oosterbeek perimeter. After that, it was merely "a side-show to the crisis being enacted on the Waal". Heinz Harmel asserted that "The Allies were stopped in the south just north of Nijmegen – that is why Arnhem turned out as it did." Gavin himself commented that "there was no failure at Arnhem. If, historically, there remains an implication of failure it was the failure of the ground forces to arrive in time to exploit the initial gains of the [1st] Airborne Division".
The air plan was a major weakness in the events at Arnhem itself. Middlebrook believes that the refusal to consider night drops, two lifts on day 1, or a coup-de-main assault on Arnhem bridge were "cardinal fundamental errors"; and that the failure to land nearer the bridge threw away the airborne force's most valuable asset – that of surprise. Similarly Frost believed that the distance from the Drop zones to the bridge and the long approach on foot was a "glaring snag" and was highly critical of the "unwillingness of the air forces to fly more than one sortie in the day [which] was one of the chief factors that mitigated against success."
The Allies' failure to secure a bridge over the Lower Rhine spelled the end of Market Garden. While all other objectives had been achieved, the failure to secure the Arnhem road bridge over the Rhine meant that the operation failed in its ultimate objective. Field Marshal Montgomery claimed that the operation was 90% successful and the Allies did possess a deep salient into German occupied territory that was quickly reinforced. Milton Shulman
Milton Shulman
Milton Shulman was a Canadian author, film and theatre critic.-Early life:He was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of a successful shopkeeper. His parents were born in Ukraine and were driven out of the Russian Empire by poverty and the pogroms against the Jews...
observed that the operation had driven a wedge into the German positions, isolating the 15th Army north of Antwerp from the First Parachute Army on the eastern side of the bulge. This complicated the supply problem of the 15th Army and removed the chance of the Germans being able to assemble enough troops for a serious counterattack to retake Antwerp. Chester Wilmot
Chester Wilmot
Reginald William Winchester Wilmot was an Australian war correspondent who reported for the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during the Second World War. After the war he continued to work as a broadcast reporter, and wrote a well-appreciated book about the liberation of Europe...
agreed with this, claiming that the salient was of immense tactical value for the purpose of driving the Germans from the area south of the Maas and removing the threat of an immediate counterattack against Antwerp. Kershaw views the situation differently, observing that the north flank of the west wall was not turned and the 15th Army was able to escape. Dr. John Warren of the American Historical Division of the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
believed that the Allies now controlled a salient leading nowhere. John Waddy
John Waddy (British Army officer)
Colonel John Llewellyn Waddy OBE is a former member of the British Army who served in the Second World War, Palestine and the Malayan Emergency before becoming director of the SAS....
is of the belief that the strategic and tactical debate of Market Garden will never be resolved.
Although a disaster for the British 1st Airborne Division, their fight north of the Rhine is considered an example of courage and endurance and one of the greatest feats of arms in the Second World War.
Allied losses
The battle exacted a heavy toll on the 1st Airborne Division from which it would never recover. Three quarters of the unit were missing when it returned to England, including two of the three brigade commanders, eight of the nine battalion commanders and 26 of the 30 infantry company commanders. Some 500 men were still in hiding north of the Rhine, and over the coming months many of these were able to escape: initially in Operation PegasusOperation Pegasus
Operation Pegasus was a military operation carried out on the Lower Rhine near the village of Renkum, close to Arnhem in the Netherlands. Overnight on the 22–23 October 1944, the Allies successfully evacuated a large group of men trapped in German occupied territory who had been in hiding since...
. New recruits, escapees and repatriated POWs joined the division over the coming months, but the division was still so much weakened that the 4th Parachute Brigade had to be merged into the 1st Brigade, and the division as a whole could barely produce two brigades of infantry. Between May and August 1945, many of the men were sent to Denmark and Norway to oversee the German surrenders there
Operation Doomsday
In Operation Doomsday, the British 1st Airborne Division acted as a police and military force during the Allied occupation of Norway in May 1945, immediately after the victory in Europe during the Second World War. The division maintained law and order until the arrival of the remainder of Force...
but on their return the division was disbanded.
The Glider Pilot Regiment suffered the highest proportion of fatal casualties during the battle (17.3% killed). The regiment was so badly depleted that during Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity was a successful joint American–British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II...
RAF pilots were used to fly many of the gliders. As glider operations were phased out after the war, the regiment shrank and was eventually disbanded in 1957.
The Poles withdrew to Nijmegen where they helped defend the airborne corridor before returning to England in early October. Shortly afterward, the British began the process of making Sosabowski and the Polish Brigade a scapegoat
Scapegoat
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...
for the failure at Arnhem, perhaps to cover their own failings. On 17 October, Montgomery informed Alan Brooke—Chief of the Imperial General Staff—that he felt the Polish forces had "fought very badly" and that he did not want them under his command. A month later, Browning wrote a long and highly critical letter of Sosabowski for Brooke's deputy. In it, he accused Sosabowski of being difficult, unadaptable, argumentative and "loth to play his full part in the operation unless everything was done for him and his brigade". Browning recommended that Sosabowski be replaced and in December the Polish government in exile duly dismissed him in a move likely made under British pressure. Although it may be fair to say that Sosabowski was difficult to work with, his scapegoating is judged as disgraceful by many historical commentators. Brian Urquhart
Brian Urquhart
Sir Brian Urquhart, KCMG, MBE is a former Undersecretary-General of the United Nations. He is also a World War II veteran and an author.-Early life:...
—who had done so much to warn his superiors about the dangers of Arnhem and later became Undersecretary-General of the United Nations—described the British general's actions as "grotesque and shameful"
| Killed in action or died of wounds |
Captured or missing | Safely withdrawn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Airborne | 1,174 | 5,903 | 1,892 |
| Glider Pilot Regiment Glider Pilot Regiment The Glider Pilot Regiment was a British airborne forces unit of the Second World War which was responsible for crewing the British Army's military gliders and saw action in the European Theatre of World War II in support of Allied airborne operations... |
219 | 511 | 532 |
| Polish Brigade Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade The 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was a parachute brigade under command of Maj.Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski, created in Scotland in September 1941, with the exclusive mission to drop into occupied Poland in order to help liberate the country. The British government, however, pressured the Polish... |
92 | 111 | 1,486 |
| Total | 1,485 | 6,525 | 3,910 |
| Killed in action or died of wounds |
Captured or missing | |
|---|---|---|
| RAF | 368 | 79 |
| Royal Army Service Corps Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps was a corps of the British Army. It was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport; air despatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery ; administration of... |
79 | 44 |
| IX Troop Carrier Command IX Troop Carrier Command The IX Troop Carrier Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946... |
27 | 6 |
| XXX Corps | 25 | 200 |
| Total | 499 | 329 |
Axis losses
German casualty figures are less complete than Allies, and official figures have never been released. A signal possibly sent by II SS Panzer Corps on 27 September listed 3,300 casualties (1,300 killed and 2,000 injured) around Arnhem and Oosterbeek. Robert Kershaw's assessment of the incomplete records identified at least 2,500 casualties. In the Roll of Honour: Battle of Arnhem 17–26 September 1944, J.A. Hey of the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum, Oosterbeek identified 1,725 German dead from the Arnhem area relating to the time of the battle. All of these figures are significantly higher than Model's conservative estimate of 3,300 casualties for the entire Market Garden area of battle (which included Eindhoven and Nijmegen).Arnhem
Dutch records suggest that at least 453 civilians died during the battle, either as a result of Allied bombing on the first day or during the subsequent fighting. After the battle, the residents of Arnhem and its surrounding towns and villages were forcibly evicted from their homes, allowing the Germans to turn the north bank of the Rhine into a heavily defended line. Residents were not allowed to return home without a permit and most did not return until after the war. The Dutch homes were then systematically looted, with the spoils being sent to bombing victims in Germany. The Germans continued to fight Allied forces on the plains between Arnhem and Nijmegen, and the bridge that the 1st Airborne had fought so hard for was eventually destroyed by the Allies to deny German forces its use. On 7 October, it was bombed and destroyed by Martin B-26 Marauders of 344th Bomb Group, USAAF. The buildings of Arnhem were heavily shelled by the Allies over the next few months and suffered further when the city was eventually liberated in April 1945Liberation of Arnhem
Operation Anger , was a military operation to seize the city of Arnhem in April 1945, during the closing stages of the Second World War. It is occasionally referred to as the Second Battle of Arnhem or the Liberation of Arnhem...
.
Honours and memorials
Within days of Operation Berlin, the British returned to a heroes' welcome in England. A list of 59 decorations was quickly published for the 2,000 men who had returned and an investiture ceremony for the division was held at Buckingham Palace in December. Decorations for the 6000 who had not returned were not published until September 1945 and numbered only 25.
Five of the British participants in the battle were awarded Britain's highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
. Four were members of the Airborne forces and one was from the RAF. They were:
- Lance-Sergeant John Daniel Baskeyfield, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire RegimentSouth Staffordshire RegimentThe South Staffordshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 38th Regiment of Foot and the 80th Regiment of Foot. In 1959 the regiment was amlagamated with the North Staffordshire Regiment to form the Staffordshire Regiment...
. - Major Robert Henry CainRobert Henry CainMajor Robert Henry Cain VC was a Manx recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire RegimentSouth Staffordshire RegimentThe South Staffordshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 38th Regiment of Foot and the 80th Regiment of Foot. In 1959 the regiment was amlagamated with the North Staffordshire Regiment to form the Staffordshire Regiment...
. - Lieutenant John Hollington GrayburnJohn Hollington GrayburnJohn "Jack" Hollington Grayburn VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
, 2nd Parachute Battalion. - Flight LieutenantFlight LieutenantFlight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
David Samuel Anthony LordDavid LordDavid Samuel Anthony Lord VC, DFC was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
271 SquadronNo. 271 Squadron RAFNo. 271 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was operational for two periods; a few brief months between 27 September 1918 and 9 December 1918 operating flying boats to protect shipping from German U-boats, and between 28 March 1940 and 1 December 1946 No. 271 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was...
, Royal Air ForceRoyal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. - Captain Lionel Ernest QueripelLionel Ernest QueripelLionel Ernest Queripel VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
, 10th Parachute Battalion.
The British and Commonwealth system of battle honours recognised participation in fighting at Arnhem in 1956, 1957 and 1958 by the award of the battle honour Arnhem 1944 to six units.
After the liberation of Holland, the Grave Registration units of 2nd Army began the task of identifying the British dead. They were buried together in a field that is on permanent loan to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...
just north of Oosterbeek. There are nearly 1,800 graves in what is now known as the Airborne Cemetery, ¾ of which are for those killed during the 1944 battle. By 2003, there were still 138 men unaccounted for and human remains, equipment and weaponry continue to be dug up in the farmland around the city.
In Germany, the battle was treated as a great victory and afterward no fewer than eight men were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
. The German dead were gathered together and buried in the SS Heroes Cemetery near Arnhem, but after the war they were reburied in Ysselsteyn
Ysselsteyn
Ysselsteyn is a small village in the municipality of Venray in Limburg, Netherlands. It was established in 1921 and named after its designer, Hendrik Albert van IJsselsteyn, then Minister of Agriculture....
.
Bailey bridge
The Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed by the British during World War II for military use and saw extensive use by both British and the American military engineering units....
s before being rebuilt in the same style as the original. It was renamed John Frostbrug
John Frost Bridge
John Frost Bridge is the road bridge over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, in the Netherlands.The bridge is named after Major-General John Dutton Frost , who commanded the British forces that reached and defended the bridge during the Battle of Arnhem in September, 1944.-Rijnbrug:There had been a...
(literally John Frost Bridge) on 17 December 1977.
On 31 May 2006, HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred two honours on the Polish forces who fought at the battle. The Polish 1st Independent Airborne Brigade was awarded the Dutch Military William Order for gallantry and Stanisław Sosabowski was posthumously awarded the Bronze Lion
Bronze Lion
The Bronze Lion is a high Royal Dutch award, intended for servicemen who have shown extreme bravery and leadership in battle favouring The Netherlands; in some special cases it can however be awarded to Dutch or foreign civilians. It was first created in 1944 and has since been issued 1210 times...
. In February of that year, an appeal was launched to raise funds so that a memorial to General Sosabowski and the brigade could be erected. The memorial was unveiled in September 2006 in a ceremony that sought to undo the injustice of 1944.
The Hotel Hartenstein, used by Urquhart as his Headquarters, is now the home of the Airborne Museum. Several other memorials were built in Arnhem and Oosterbeek, and an annual parade
Airborne March
The Airborne March is an annual Dutch commemorative event of remembrance that began in 1947 and takes place on the first Saturday in September at Oosterbeek near Arnhem in the Netherlands...
is held in the area. A memorial near the museum reads: "To the People of Gelderland; 50 years ago British and Polish Airborne soldiers fought here against overwhelming odds to open the way into Germany and bring the war to an early end. Instead we brought death and destruction for which you have never blamed us. This stone marks our admiration for your great courage remembering especially the women who tended our wounded. In the long winter that followed your families risked death by hiding Allied soldiers and Airmen while members of the resistance led many to safety."
In popular culture
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reporters (Stanley Maxted and Guy Byam) and three journalists who accompanied the British forces. The journalists had their reports sent back almost daily – ironically making communication with London at a time when Divisional Signals had not. The division was also accompanied by a three-man team from the Army Film and Photographic Unit who recorded much of the battle – including many of the images on this page.
Only two years later, a war movie about the battle was released in Britain. Theirs is the Glory
Theirs is the Glory
Theirs Is the Glory , a Rank production, is a 1946 British film about the British Airborne element of the World War II Operation Market Garden, and specifically the Battle of Arnhem. It was the first film to be made about this battle, and the biggest grossing war movie for nearly a decade...
featured some original footage and used 120 Arnhem veterans as extras in many of the other scenes. This was followed in 1974 by the publication of Cornelius Ryan's
Cornelius Ryan
Cornelius Ryan, was an Irish journalist and author mainly known for his writings on popular military history, especially his World War II books: The Longest Day: June 6, 1944 D-Day , The Last Battle , and A Bridge Too Far .-Early life:Ryan was born in Dublin and educated at Synge Street CBS,...
book A Bridge Too Far
A Bridge Too Far (book)
A Bridge Too Far, a non-fiction book by Cornelius Ryan published in 1974, tells the story of Operation Market Garden, a failed Allied attempt to break through German lines at Arnhem across the river Rhine in the occupied Netherlands during World War II in September 1944. The title of the book comes...
, which did much to bring the battle to a worldwide audience and then by Richard Attenborough's
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
film of the same name in 1978, which used Frost and General Urquhart as military consultants.
See also
- Airborne MarchAirborne MarchThe Airborne March is an annual Dutch commemorative event of remembrance that began in 1947 and takes place on the first Saturday in September at Oosterbeek near Arnhem in the Netherlands...
, the annual commemorative march through the area. - Operation FustianOperation FustianOperation Fustian was a British airborne forces mission during the Allied invasion of Sicily in the Second World War. The operation was carried out by the 1st Parachute Brigade, part of the 1st Airborne Division. Their objective was the Primosole Bridge across the Simeto River. The intention was...
, 1st Parachute Brigade's previous airborne operation during the Invasion of Sicily. - Operation LadbrokeOperation LadbrokeOperation Ladbroke was a glider landing of British airborne forces near Syracuse, Sicily, that began on 9 July 1943 as part of the Allied invasion of Sicily. The first Allied mission using large numbers of the aircraft, the operation was carried out from Tunisia by the 1st Airlanding...
, 1st Airlanding Brigade's operation during the Invasion of Sicily. - Operation PegasusOperation PegasusOperation Pegasus was a military operation carried out on the Lower Rhine near the village of Renkum, close to Arnhem in the Netherlands. Overnight on the 22–23 October 1944, the Allies successfully evacuated a large group of men trapped in German occupied territory who had been in hiding since...
, the escape of several Arnhem survivors a month after the battle. - Second Battle of ArnhemLiberation of ArnhemOperation Anger , was a military operation to seize the city of Arnhem in April 1945, during the closing stages of the Second World War. It is occasionally referred to as the Second Battle of Arnhem or the Liberation of Arnhem...
, the April 1945 liberation of the city. - Arnhem Oosterbeek War CemeteryArnhem Oosterbeek War CemeteryThe Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, more commonly known as the Airborne Cemetery, is a military cemetery in Oosterbeek, Arnhem, the Netherlands. It was established in 1945 and is home to 1759 graves from the Second World War...
External links
- Operation Market Garden Battle of Arnhem books and photos
- Paradata – Arnhem The Official Airborne Assault Museum online archive.
- The Pegasus Archive Comprehensive information about the battle and Allied units.
- Hill 107 Source material relating to the events at Arnhem.
- Defending Arnhem Information about the German defenders of Arnhem.
- Historynet: Last stand at an Arnhem Schoolhouse An account of the fighting at the bridge.