By September, 1944 the victorious allied armies consisting primarily of American, British, and Canadian forces had liberated France and Belgium from Nazi tyranny and were driving towards the primary German defenses on the Siegfried Line. The German army was in disarray. What was left of their men and equipment were retreating pell-mell out of France and Belgium in anything that would move, or on foot. Cohesiveness, or any semblance of a front line was non-existent. There were some pockets of resistance, however, in a few critical areas.
The Allies were in pursuit. The British took Antwerp, Belgium, but failed to capture the Scheldt estuary and surrounding terrain that would allow allied shipping to use the port without German interference.
The Allies were still supplying themselves from the original landing beaches in Normandy and from Cherbourg. Trucks making up the "Red Ball Express" made round trips lasting hundreds of miles to deliver supplies to the front.
But the Allied advance was outstripping their ability to supply themselves. They needed to make the port of Antwerp operational to alleviate the problem.
The truth was that the Germans were losing the war faster than the Allies could win it.
But by the end of the first week of September, things had changed. The front had stabilized.
The German High Command found fresh troops and supplies as if by magic. They also noted the slowdown of the Allied advance and took advantage to improve their defenses.
The Allies, under General Eisenhower were beginning to show signs of strain in their relationship. The British had different ideas on how to conduct the war than the Americans.
Eisenhower, despite the supply issues wanted to keep the offensive going. He didn't want to give the Germans too much time to finish their regrouping and wanted to keep the pressure on.
The American General Bradley wanted to consolidate and advance on a broad front thus applying pressure everywhere along the front.
American General Patton wanted to allocate the available supplies to him. He felt that with enough gasoline and supplies he could thrust all the way to Berlin and end the war.
British General Montgomery had his own plan. It involved the use of three parachute divisions to seize vital bridges over various rivers in Holland including 2 bridges over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem. Once this was done, he would drive an armored corps up the road connecting the bridges. After crossing the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, Montgomery could then pivot his forces and drive into Germany through "the back door", perhaps even ending the war by Christmas.
Eisenhower was intrigued by the audacity of the plan and agreed to it. He wanted to strike at the Germans somewhere, and this plan seemed to hold the most promise. He allocated the bulk of the vital gasoline and other supplies to this effort. The rest of the front would have to stay where it was until the port of Antwerp could be opened and the supply situation eased.
The parachute drops went by the code name of "Market". The tanks and men of the British XXX Corps, who would drive up the main road and link up over the airborne "carpet" were coded named "Garden".
Allied intelligence indicated that this section of the front was thinly manned by the enemy. Most of what was there was supposedly made up of "old men on bicycles and young boys".
They were wrong.
The Germans were, in fact reinforcing the area. Not only that, but two panzer divisions, the 9th SS and 10th SS were placed in the Arnhem area to rest and refit. Both units were under strength both in men and equipment, but they still had some tanks and were forces to be reckoned with.
The Dutch Underground informed the Allies of these new German units, but this information was discounted.
So in broad daylight on the afternoon of September 17th, 1944 Operation Market Garden began.
The American 101st airborne division dropped on the southern end of the area. To the north the American 82nd airborne dropped and went after the bridge at Nijmegen over the Waal river.
The British 1st Airborne division along with a Polish brigade went after the prize -- the bridges at Arnhem.
Once the airborne divisions were dropped, the British XXX Corps would begin their attack and drive up the road. It was projected that it would take XXX Corps no more than 3 days to reach the British at Arnhem.
The attack was a disaster.
1. A small contingent of British troopers did take the north end of the main Arnhem highway bridge. But the British 1st Airborne dropped almost on top of the German 10th SS Panzer division. Heavy fighting prevented this small force from being reinforced. On the other side of the river, the 9th SS held the southern half of the bridge.
Eventually, the small British force at the bridge succumbed to superior German forces, while the rest of the division hung on by their fingernails in a small salient on the north side of the river a few miles west of the bridge.
The Poles, who dropped on the south side of the river were unable to provide meaningful assistance.
2.To the south, the American 82nd Airborne eventually had to take the Nijmegen bridge by executing a daring amphibious river crossing in collapsible boats to attack and take the bridge from the rear - but only after XXX Corps reached them after several days had passed.
3. The road linking the bridges up to Arnhem was under constant counterattack by German forces causing numerous delays on schedule. Worse, sections of this road were like islands on a dike with no room for maneuver. One shot taking out the lead tank in a column could cause a delay lasting for hours.
4. Not enough infantry was allocated to accompany the tanks in the leading columns. It was assumed that the American paratroopers would take up this slack. But they had their own problems just trying to keep the corridor open from German attacks.
This particularly hurt them once they crossed the Nijmegen bridge and was confronted with the "island road". More infantry was needed.
5. Eventually the British 1st Airborne had to be evacuated from their salient on the Lower Rhine by a daring night rescue operation.
The plan to outflank the Germans and perhaps end the war by Christmas failed.
