Arnhem 1944

Operation Market Garden, 17-27 September 1944

Operation 'Market Garden' was General Montgomery's plan to capture the major road bridges and canals, mainly in the Low Countries,
which would assist in a rapid advance of the Allies into the industrial heartland of the Ruhr in Germany.

The First Allied Airborne Army consisting of one British and two American divisions were picked for the operation. The Airborne troops were dropped at Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem to secure bridgeheads, as the Second Army pushed north into Holland from Belgium. British paratroop forces dropped at Arnhem encountered unexpected heavy German resistance. Two German SS Panzer divisions moved into Arnhem, with many tanks and armoured vehicles, taking on the lightly armed British parachute battalion at the north end of the bridge.

The tanks moved in, demolishing the houses in which the British were fighting from. The paratroops had few anti-tank weapons, they had
little ammunition and no food. The British forces were overwhelmed and the remaining paras started to evacuate Arnhem. Only 2,163 men out of 10,000 returned.