Photo By Lori Stewart | Waves of Allied paratroopers land in Holland for Operation MARKET-GARDEN.... read more read more
by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
ALLIES LAUNCH OPERATION MARKET-GARDEN
On 17 September 1944, the Allies launched a combined operation using airborne (Operation MARKET) and armor (Operation GARDEN) forces to capture a series of bridges over Dutch canals and rivers. The enemy response to MARKET-GARDEN was surprisingly swift and formidable. While commonly decried as an intelligence failure, the shortcomings of MARKET-GARDEN were not a result of poor intelligence collection but of overconfidence and divergent opinions within the Allied headquarters.
After breaking out of their Normandy beachhead in July 1944, the allied armies dashed across France. Fueled by optimism the war was nearing its end, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery proposed the daring Operation MARKET-GARDEN, which if successful would assist the Allied crossing of the Rhine River near Arnhem, Holland, before the Germans could organize their defenses in the area.
Operation MARKET-GARDEN, the largest airborne assault of World War II, began on 17 September 1944, with the landing of one British and two U.S. airborne divisions in the Netherlands. The 101st and 82d Airborne Divisions captured their target bridges and opened a road for the advance of allied armor toward the Rhine. The British 1st Airborne Division, however, encountered two Panzer divisions while trying to advance to their target bridge over the Lower Rhine near Arnhem. Meanwhile, German resistance to the British Second Army’s ground attack, combined with poor weather and terrain difficulties, delayed a quick link-up between the airborne and armor forces. Fog and rain at British airfields postponed the airdrop of reinforcements and supplies for three days and prevented close air support.
MARKET-GARDEN hinged on the assumption German defenses were thinly manned by disorganized formations. While true in early September when the operation was initially planned, the situation had quickly changed. Various intelligence sources alerted the Allies to the presence of the two Panzer divisions near Arnhem in the days before the operation.
On 5 September, decryptions of high-level German messages, code-named ULTRA, indicated the 9th and 10th Panzer Divisions had been sent to the Arnhem area to rest and refit. Concerned by this information, five days before the operation began, Maj. Brian Urquhart, intelligence officer of the British I Airborne Corps, ordered an aerial reconnaissance flight near Arnhem. Photographic intelligence confirmed the presence of the Panzer divisions. Additional confirmation was received from the Dutch underground, considered one of the most organized and effective in Europe. Discounting these warnings and indications, the Allies continued to believe the visible tanks were only being refitted and were not part of the fighting force. In fact, anticipating an upcoming airborne attack in the Arnhem area, the German 9th and 10th divisions had quickly regrouped there and were manned by veteran fighting forces.
In addition to miscalculating the German strength in the area, the Allies’ terrain analysis presumed the route to Arnhem could support the rapid advance of some 20,000 vehicles. In fact, the single road, later dubbed “Hell’s Highway,” was narrow, slowing traffic and making it vulnerable to attack. The ground on either side of the road was either low-lying farmland or woodland and poorly suited for the cross-country movement of tanks and heavy equipment.
The surprising speed and strength of the German response to MARKET-GARDEN proved the enemy was far from defeated. The stunned Allies recalled, “the regrouping and collecting of the apparently scattered remnants of a beaten army were little short of remarkable.” By 25 September, the Germans had halted the allied advance. While the Allies had successfully taken about 90 percent of their objectives, nearly 17,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured, including 3,664 Americans. The Germans held the bridge near Arnhem, and the fighting there would continue to be costly until the Allies finally liberated it in April 1945.
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| Date Taken: | 09.13.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.13.2024 14:42 |
| Story ID: | 480824 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 142 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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