This delayed XXX Corps' advance by 12 hours however, they made up the time, reaching Nijmegen on schedule. German forces demolished the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal ( Wilhelminakanaal) at Son before it could be captured by the US 101st Airborne Division a partly prefabricated Bailey bridge was then built over the canal by British sappers. 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. The Allies captured several bridges between Eindhoven and Nijmegen at the beginning of the operation. XXX Corps took along 5,000 vehicles loaded with bridging equipment and 9,000 sappers. In contrast to this large airborne force, the ground forces were light, with only one corps moving north of Eindhoven, XXX Corps. The operation required the seizure of the bridges by airborne troops across the Meuse River, two arms of the Rhine (the Waal River and the Lower Rhine), together with crossings over several smaller canals and tributaries. 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. 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 prime aim of Operation Market Garden was to establish the northern end of a pincer, ready to project deeper into Germany. The northern end of the pincer would circumvent the northern end of the Siegfried Line, giving easier access into Germany across the north German plains, enabling mobile warfare. Supreme Commander General Eisenhower's strategic goal was to encircle the heart of German industry, the Ruhr area, in a pincer movement. Seizure and defence of this elevated terrain was considered to be vital to holding the highway bridges. Īlthough the area is generally flat and open with less than 30 feet (9 m) of variation in altitude, Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks, commander of XXX Corps recalled that "The country was wooded and rather marshy which made any outflanking operation impossible." There were two important hill areas, 300 feet (90 m) high, that represented some of the highest ground in the Netherlands one north and west of Arnhem and one in the 82nd Airborne Division's zone, the Groesbeek ridge. To this end, a vast quantity of bridging material was collected, along with 2,300 vehicles to carry it and 9,000 engineers to assemble it. In case bridges were demolished by the Germans, XXX Corps had plans to rebuild them. Plans were made to seize bridges across all these obstacles nearly simultaneously – any failure to do so could result in serious delay or even defeat. There were six major water obstacles between the XXX Corps' jumping-off point and the objective of the north bank of the Nederrijn: the Wilhelmina Canal at Son en Breugel 100 feet (30 m) wide the Zuid-Willems Canal at Veghel 80 feet (20 m) the Maas River at Grave 800 feet (240 m) the Maas-Waal Canal 200 feet (60 m) the Waal River at Nijmegen 850 feet (260 m) and the Nederrijn at Arnhem 300 feet (90 m). In early autumn this meant that observation would be seriously restricted. Dikes tended to be topped by trees or large bushes, and roads and paths were lined with trees. The ground on either side of the highway was in places too soft to support tactical vehicle movement and there were numerous dikes and drainage ditches. Highway 69 (later nicknamed "Hell's Highway") leading through the planned route was two lanes wide, partly raised above a surrounding flat terrain of polder or floodplain. Īlthough the operation succeeded in liberating the Dutch cities of Eindhoven and Nijmegen along with many towns, and limited V-2 rocket launching sites, it failed to secure a bridgehead over the Rhine, with the advance being halted at the river.Ī World War II military operation fought in the Netherlands from Sept. It was the largest airborne operation of the war up to that point. The airborne operation was planned and undertaken by the First Allied Airborne Army with the land operation by XXX Corps of the British Second Army. and British airborne forces ( Market) followed by land forces swiftly following over the bridges ( Garden). This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: seizing nine bridges with combined U.S. Its objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the River Rhine, creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the German-occupied Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944.
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