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Operation Market-Garden 1944 (1) - The American Airborne Missions (Paperback)
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Operation Market-Garden 1944 (1) - The American Airborne Missions (Paperback)
Series: Campaign
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List price R513
Loot Price R417
Discovery Miles 4 170
You Save R96 (19%)
Expected to ship within 9 - 15 working days
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Immortalized by the movie "A Bridge Too Far," the parachute
landings of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were the first
part of an Allied breakthrough attempt. In the late summer of 1944,
the First Allied Airborne Army began to plan a complex operation to
seize a Rhine River Bridge at Arnhem in the Netherlands. The
airborne mission was code-named Operation "Market," and the ground
assault was designated Garden. The American portion of Operation
"Market" was to employ the two divisions of Gen. Matthew Ridgway's
US XVIII Airborne Corps to seize key terrain features that might
otherwise delay the advance of British tank columns towards the
ultimate objective of the Rhine bridge at Arnhem. The plan
envisioned landing the US 101st Airborne Division near Eindhoven to
clear a path for the advance of the armored divisions of the
British XXX Corps, and to land the 82nd Airborne Division around
Nijmegen to seize the Waal river bridges there. In view of the
problems experienced in Normandy with night landings, Operation
"Market" was scheduled to take place on the afternoon of September
17th, 1944, with an elaborate tactical air plan to suppress German
flak positions.
The initial 101st Airborne Division conducted its combined
parachute/glider landings on the afternoon of September 17th, 1944,
using its three Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR). The 82nd
Airborne Division was dropped further northeast with its three
regiments having separate assignments. Overall, the first day's
operation was a considerable success compared to the Normandy
drops. The Wehrmacht did not anticipate the airborne attack so
resistance on the first day was light. The fighting intensified
dramatically over the next several days as the Germans attempted to
stamp out the landings, attacking the Allied forces on all sides of
the salient.
The 101st Airborne Division pressed south towards Eindhoven on the
morning of September 18th, while the British Guards Armoured
Division pressed north. The paratroopers captured the city by early
afternoon and linked up with the British tanks in the evening.
After quickly bridging the Wilhelmina canal in the dark, the Guards
Armored Division crossed around dawn on September 19th and raced up
to the 82nd Airborne Division sector by 0820. Combined British and
American attacks to seize the vital Nijmegen bridge were repulsed
through September 19th due to the arrival of elements of the
10.SS-Panzer Division from the Arnhem area. But in a bold move, the
82nd Airborne outflanked the defenses on the afternoon of September
20th by using boats to cross a mile downstream from the bridge.
Last minute German attempts to detonate the bridge failed, and
British tanks were streaming over the bridge that night, heading
for Arnhem.
Nevertheless, the delays caused by the initial defense at
Eindhoven, the need to build a bridge at Son, and the fighting for
the bridge at Nijmegen slowed the advance by XXX Corps and put it
behind schedule. German resistance against the 1st Airborne
Division in Arnhem was far fiercer than anticipated due to the
unexpected presence of two Waffen-SS panzer divisions refitting in
the area. The positions of the British 1st Airborne Division at
Arnhem proved untenable and permission to withdraw was given on
September 25th with the action taking place on the night of
September 25-26th.
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