Operation Market Garden - Wikipedia

On September 17, 1944, Operation Market Garden: In the largest airborne operation of WWII, Allied paratroopers land in the Netherlands in a failed attempt to capture the Arnhem bridge over the Rhine.

"Operation Market Garden (17–25 September 1944) was an unsuccessful Allied military operation planned, and predominantly led, by the British. It was fought in the Netherlands and Germany in World War II. The success of the operation depended on taking a series of nine bridges, the last being at the city of Arnhem over the Rhine river.[3] Airborne and land forces succeeded in the liberation of the Dutch cities of Eindhoven and Nijmegen, but failed in keeping their farthest positions in and around the city of Arnhem including the bridge over the Rhine.

Market Garden included two subsidiary operations: an airborne assault to seize the key bridges (Market) and a ground attack (Garden). The attack was the largest airborne operation up to that point in World War II.[e]

Field Marshal Montgomery's strategic goal was to encircle the heart of German industry, the Ruhr Area, in a pincer movement. The northern end of the pincer would circumvent the northern end of the Siegfried Line, giving easier access into Germany. The aim of Operation Market Garden was to establish the northern end of a pincer ready to project deeper into Germany. Allied forces would project north from Belgium, 60 miles (97 km) through the Netherlands, across the Rhine and consolidate north of Arnhem on the Dutch/German border, ready to close the pincer.

The operation made massive use of airborne forces, whose tactical objectives were to secure the bridges and to allow a rapid advance by armored ground units to consolidate north of Arnhem. The operation required the seizure of the bridges across the Maas, two arms of the Rhine (the Waal and the Lower Rhine), together with crossings over several smaller canals and tributaries.

The Allies captured several bridges between Eindhoven and Nijmegen at the beginning of the operation. Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks' XXX Corps ground force advance was delayed by the initial failure of the airborne units to secure bridges at Son en Breugel and Nijmegen. German forces demolished the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal at Son before it could be secured by the 101st Airborne Division. The 82nd Airborne Division's failure to capture the main highway bridge over the Waal River at Nijmegen before 20 September also delayed the advance of XXX Corps.

At the furthest point of the airborne operation, at the Battle of Arnhem, the British 1st Airborne Division encountered initial strong resistance. The delays in capturing the bridges at Son and Nijmegen gave time for German forces — including the 9th SS and 10th SS Panzer Divisions, which were present at that time — to organize and counterattack.[18] In the ensuing battle, only a small force managed to capture the north end of the Arnhem road bridge and after the ground forces failed to relieve them, the paratroopers were overrun on 21 September. The remainder of the 1st Airborne Division was trapped in a small pocket west of the bridge, having to be evacuated on the 25th of September, after sustaining heavy casualties.

The Allies had failed to cross the Rhine. The river remained a barrier to their advance into Germany until offensives at Remagen, Oppenheim, Rees and Wesel in March 1945. The failure of Operation Market Garden to form a foothold over the Rhine ended Allied expectations of finishing the war by Christmas 1944."