To cut off the defending German forces in Holland and drive into Germany, British armor was assigned the task of driving north 64 miles up the Eindhoven-Nijmegen-Arnhem road corridor and link up at the great bridge at Arnhem over the Rhine River with the First Allied Airborne Army who would be dropped behind the lines to seize and hold the bridgehead at Arnhem. This would be, and to this day remains, the largest airborne attack in history. As it happened, the paratroopers carried out their mission of seizing the road corridor through Holland and secured the several river crossings, including the bridge at Arnhem. But, armor force advancing from the south failed to link up with the paras as planned.

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THE OVERALL PLAN

On 10 September, 1944, having been recently promoted from general following the Allied invasion at Normandy in June, now British Field Marshal Montgomery briefed the Supreme Allied Commander for the European Theater, American General Eisenhower on a two-part operations plan code named Market-Garden.

• Oplan Market was the code name given to the plan for the troop airdrop to secure the roadway for the armor route of advance and the river crossings. The drop would be performed by the three airborne divisions that made up the 1st Allied Airborne Army: The paras weould be dropped astride three major water obstacles in the Netherlands—the Maas, Waal, and Lower Rhine Rivers.
  • 1st British Airborne Division
  • American 82nd Division
  • American 101st Airborne Division

  The U.S. Army 82nd and 101st airborne divisions were to seize and secure the towns and eight bridges over key waterways, and hold open the road to Arnhem in support of the armor line of advance.

  The newly formed British 1st Airborne Division was given the key mission to seize the road and rail bridges at Arnhem as well as the ferry. Cruical to the success of the entire operation was holding the bridge at Arnhem.
  

  Among the elements of the British 1st Airborne Division were the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade and the 2nd Dutch Troop Commandos. The First Polish Independent Parachute Brigade was formed in Great Britain with Colonel Sosabrowski as the Brigade Commander. Under his command the brigade would jump as part of the Allied force into Arnhem. Sosabrowski's brigade was given the mission to support the British airborne division in the seizure of the railway bridge at Arnhem as well as a pontoon bridge. A former professor at the Polish War Academy, Sosabrowski is quoted as saying, "this mission cannot possibly succeed...it would be suicide to attempt it." Moreover, the element of surprise is paramount to airborne operations, but here the troops would be dropped six miles from the objective, which would require "a five-hour march so how could surprise be achieved? Any fool of a German would immediately know our plans." As events turned out, the Polish paratroop commander would be proven correct, still the Polish parachute brigade carried out its mission with valour.

• Oplan Garden called for the British XXX Armored Corps to act as the spearhead for the British Second Army. Simultaneously with the airdrop, the armor would break through German defenses and advance north along a narrow sixty-four mile roadway to the town of Arnhem. As Montgomery reasoned, the Germans were expecting the British to thrust their armor attack from their present positions directly into Germany through the Ruhr Valley, but Montgomery would surprise them by his tanks taking a "back-door" route 64 miles through Holland over the Arnhem Bridge and then wheeling east, outflanking the German defense. Crossing these rivers on bridges to be secured by the airborne troops, the Second Army was to drive all the way to the Ijssel Meer (Zuider Zee), cutting off Germans farther west and putting the British in a position to outflank the West Wall and drive into Germany along a relatively open north German plain.

The success of the overall plan, OPERATION MARKET GARDEN depended on the armor crossing the Rhine and the pivitol event for that was the British 1st Airborne Division seizing and securing

The Bridge at Arnhem

But, the German forces of the hastily formed 1st Parachute Army (1.Fallschirm-Armee) were in the way. What's more, it was armor that was in the way. In Arnhem, the British 1st Airborne Division would have to deal with the 506th Battalion of the the 33rd Panzer Regiment of the 9th SS Armor Division. The battalion had been withdrawn to Germany for re-fitting and in August, 44 years as of this month, received a total of 45 new Tiger II ausf B tanks. These tanks were particularly suited for a defensive role because of their large size and relative immobility. Their heavy armor and armament proved itself on many occasions during the defensive battles, and would prove most effective in Arnhem against the lightly armed British paratroopers.

Here are some reference for you to visit on the web.

	CLICK BELOW GOTO WEBPAGE	EVENT
	ALLIED FORCES	1st Allied Airborne Army
	AXIS FORCES	1st German Parachute Army

Song is from the film, "A Bridge Too Far"

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