Image: US Army paratroopers are dropped near Grave, Netherlands while livestock graze near gliders that landed earlier. This was the beginning of Operation Market Garden during World War II, which resulted in heavy Allied losses. (Public Domain)
On this day in history, September 25, 1944, Operation Market Garden ended in Allied failure as the last British and Polish paratroopers were evacuated from Oosterbeek, near Arnhem.
During World War II, Operation Market Garden occurred between September 17 and 25, 1944. It aimed to create a 64-mile salient into the German region with a foothold over the River Rhine, establishing an Allied attack route into northern Germany. This was to be accomplished by two sub-operations: capturing nine bridges with joint U.S. and British airborne regiments (Market) accompanied by land forces quickly rolling over the bridges (Garden). Even though the operation resulted in the liberation of the Dutch cities of Eindhoven and Nijmegen alongside many towns, and several V-2 rocket operating sites, it could not obtain a foothold over the Rhine, with progress being stopped at the river.
In the aftermath of the seizure of Caen and Operation Cobra’s escape from Normandy, Allied forces performed quick progress across France and into Belgium. Attacking on a broad front, they destroyed German opposition and were approaching Germany. The pace of the Allied progress started to put considerable pressure on their progressively lengthy supply lines. These were gravely hindered by the triumph of bombing endeavors to destroy the French railroad system before the D-Day landings and the demand to open more significant ports on the Continent to Allied transport. To fight this problem, the “Red Ball Express” was created to hurry resources to the front from the invasion beaches and those harbors that were in use. With 6,000 trucks, the Red Ball Express operated until the port of Antwerp opened in November 1944. Operational 24 hours a day, they moved 12,500 tons of materials daily and used roads restricted to civilian traffic.
Compelled by the supply situation to reduce the overall advance and concentrate on a more limited front, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, began considering the Allies’ subsequent steps. General Omar Bradley, commanding the 12th Army Group in the Allied center, favored a push into the Saar to penetrate the German Westwall (Siegfried Line) defenses and expose Germany to conquest. This was contradicted by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commander of the 21st Army Group in the north, who wanted to strike the Lower Rhine into the industrial Ruhr Valley. Because Germany used bases in Belgium and Holland to release V-1 buzz bombs and V-2 rockets at Britain, Eisenhower chose Montgomery’s plan. If practical, Montgomery could also clear out the Scheldt islands, which would free the port of Antwerp for Allied vessels.
To achieve this, Montgomery created Operation Market Garden. The theory for the scheme had its foundations in Operation Comet, which the British leader had conceived in August. Meant to be executed on September 2, this arranged for the British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade to be dropped near Nijmegen, Arnhem, and Grave to obtain essential bridges. The project was abandoned due to constant bad weather and Montgomery’s increasing fears about German troop concentration in the region. An expanded variation of Comet, Market Garden, imagined a two-stage strategy that proposed that soldiers from the First Allied Airborne Army land and secure the bridges. While these soldiers held the bridges, XXX Corps would move up Highway 69 to relieve Brereton’s men. If practical, Allied armies would be across the Rhine in a spot to attack the Ruhr while sidestepping the Westwall by moving around the north side.
For the airborne element, Market, the 101st Airborne, was to be released near Eindhoven with instructions to secure the bridges at Son and Veghel. In the northeast, the 82nd Airborne would drop at Nijmegen to obtain the bridges there and at Grave. The British 1st Airborne and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were to land north at Oosterbeek and take the bridge at Arnhem. Because they lacked aircraft, the transport of the airborne forces was spread over two days, with 60% landing on the first day and the remainder, including the gliders and heavy equipment, arriving on the second. Attacking up Highway 69, the ground component, Garden, was to alleviate the 101st Airborne on the first day, the 82nd Airborne on the second, and the Polish 1st by the fourth day. If the Germans destroyed some of the bridges along the path, engineering units and bridging equipment would have gone along with XXX Corps.
By permitting Operation Market Garden to push ahead, Allied organizers were working under the belief that German forces in the region were still in complete retreat and that the airborne and XXX Corps would meet little opposition.
On Sunday, September 17, Allied airborne units launched a daytime drop into the Netherlands. They were the first of over 34,000 men flown into the fight. Reaching their landing zones precisely, they began pushing to achieve their goals. The 101st swiftly obtained four of the five bridges in their area but needed help to secure the crucial bridge at Son before the Germans destroyed it. In the north, the 82nd held the bridges at Grave and Heuman before assuming a location on the imposing Groesbeek Heights.
The American units met with an initial triumph: the British had troubles. Due to an aircraft issue, only half of the division arrived on September 17.
While there was some preliminary uncertainty on the part of the Germans when airborne troops first began landing, Model swiftly understood the connection of the enemy’s plan and started moving troops to protect Arnhem and strike the Allied progress.
The single-biggest airborne operation ever launched, Market Garden, cost the Allies 17,200 killed, wounded, and captured. Most occurred in the British 1st Airborne Division, which started the battle with 10,600 men and saw 1,485 killed and 6,414 captured. German losses totaled between 7,500 and 10,000. Because they failed to secure the bridge over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, the operation was judged a disaster as the ensuing incursion into Germany could not continue. Also, because of the operation, a thin corridor in the German lines called the Nijmegen Salient had to be protected. From this salient, endeavors were initiated to clear out the Schledt in October and, in February 1945, assault into Germany. The collapse of Market Garden has been attributed to several reasons varying from intelligence breakdowns, excessively optimistic planning, bad weather, and the absence of tactical initiative by the commanders. Despite its failure, Montgomery supported the plan by calling it “90% successful.”
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