The plan was daring and bold, the Allies sought to end the war in Europe by Christmas 1944. To do this they utilized a plan formulated Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in which American and British paratroopers would into Holland to secure a series of bridges while ground troops and armor would would work their up way to meet with the airborne at Arnhem in northern Holland where the British and Polish paratroopers would land.
At first all seemed to be moving according to schedule. The 101st Airborne jumped near Eindhoven and within a couple days secured the town and surrounding area allowing the British XXX Corps under General Brian Horrocks to move through. Yet as the division moved on they were caught in difficult fighting with the Germans and the area became known as Hells Highway.
As the XXX Corps moved up they continued toward the 82nd Airbornes sector. Here things fair difficult at first. A bridge was blown up which movement for over a day. And when the airborne came toward the town town of Nijmegen they found the German resistance to be stiff. With the help small boats they crossed over the Waal River in a daring effort and ultimately secured the bridge allowing the ground troops and armor to move up.
At Arnhem it was entirely differently as the British airborne fought a much harder battle against the Germans. Troops were scattered from their where they were supposed to be, but some troops made it to the bridge and town and fought a hard series of battles against the Germans.
The British were running out supplies and ammo as the Germans pushed against them with stronger force. By September 25 and the days to follow they could not hold out any longer and were forced to withdraw.
Though it was a brave effort the operation proved futile and and had too many flaws which could cause the Allies to succeed. The fighting dragged on well into the spring of 1945.
Leave a Reply