Battle of Arnhem - Wikipedia

On September 21, 1944, tast British paratroopers at the bridge of Arnhem surrender. From the article:

"Day 5 – Thursday 21 September
Throughout the morning, the Germans mopped up British survivors and stragglers in hiding around Arnhem bridge. It took several hours to clear the bridge of debris allowing German armour to cross and reinforce Nijmegen. Crucially, the British had held the bridge long enough to allow Nijmegen bridge to be captured by the 82nd Airborne and Guards' Armoured Division working together.[123] With the resistance at the bridge crushed, the Germans had more troops available to commit to the Oosterbeek engagement, although this changed suddenly in the afternoon.

Delayed by weather, the parachute infantry battalions of Stanisław Sosabowski's 1st (Polish) Parachute Brigade were finally able to take off in England. 114 C-47s took off but 41 aircraft turned back after Troop Carrier Command decided it would be too dangerous to land if the aircraft were up too long. The remainder pressed on; they did not have the correct transmission codes and did not understand the messages.[124] One of the few messages to get out of Arnhem warned the Poles that DZ 'K' was not secure and to land instead on the polder east of Driel where they should secure the Heveadorp ferry on the south bank of the Rhine.[125] The Poles dropped under fire at 17:00 and sustained casualties but assembled in good order. Advancing to the river bank, they discovered that the ferry was gone; the ferryman had sunk it to deny its use to the Germans.[126]

The arrival of the Poles relieved the pressure on the British as the Germans were forced to send more forces south of the Rhine.[127] Fearing an attack on the southern end of the road bridge or the Nijmegen road, a battalion of the 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland, Machine Gun Battalion 47 and other Kampfgruppes headed across the river overnight.[128]

At Oosterbeek, the defensive positions were consolidated and organised into two zones. Hicks would command the western and northern sides of the perimeter and Hackett, after some rest, the eastern front.[129] The perimeter was not a complete defensive line but a collection of defensive pockets in houses and foxholes surrounding the centre of Oosterbeek, with the divisional Headquarters at the Hotel Hartenstein at its centre. The perimeter was roughly 3 mi (4.8 km) around and was defended by approximately 3,600 men.[111] Despite the Germans' best efforts, the line would remain roughly unchanged for the next five days,[130] although Germans of the Hermann Göring NCO School attacked the Border positions on the west side near the Rhine, forcing them to abandon strategically important high ground overlooking Oosterbeek.[131] The biggest boost to the besieged British was being able to make contact with forward artillery units of XXX Corps. Radio contact was made with 64th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery who were able to drop heavy and accurate shellfire on German positions around the perimeter.[37] The radio link to the battery's Headquarters was also used as the main line of communication to XXX Corps.[132] So important was the shellfire provided by 64 Medium Regiment that afterward Urquhart lobbied for the Regiment to be able to wear the airborne Pegasus badge on their uniforms.[132] Members of 201 (Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire) Yeomanry Battery Royal Artillery (Volunteers), the modern-day descendants of 52 Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery which supported 64 Medium Regiment at Arnhem, still wear this flash on their Jersey sleeves to this day.

The British had witnessed the Polish drop but were unable to make contact by radio so a swimmer (Private Ernest Henry Archer) was sent south of the Rhine. The British planned to supply rafts for a river crossing that night as the Poles were desperately needed on the northern bank.[133] The Poles waited on the southern bank, but by 03:00 no rafts were evident and they withdrew to Driel to take up defensive positions."