Operation Market-Garden, September 17 - 25, 1944
On 17 September 1944 thousands of paratroopers descended from the sky by parachute or glider up to 150 km behind enemy lines. Their goal: to secure to bridges across the rivers in Holland so that the Allied army could advance rapidly northwards and turn right into the lowlands of Germany, hereby skirting around the Siegfried line, the German defence line. If all carried out as planned it should have ended the war by Christmas 1944.
Unfortunately this daring plan, named Operation Market Garden, didn't have the expected outcome. The bridge at Arnhem proved to be 'a bridge too far'. After 10 days of bitter fighting the operation ended with the evacuation of the remainder of the 1st British Airborne Division from the Arnhem area.
Joe's Bridge, the first objective of the ground operation. The original bridge was destroyed by the elgiam army in 1940 and the bridge in the period photograph was a wooden pontoon bridge built by the Germans. Joe's Bridge spans the Maas canal and was the route XXX Corps took to enter the Netherlands driving up single lane N715, now the N69 (Luikersteenweg), towards Valkenswaard.
XXX Corps crossing Joe's Bridge.
XXX Corps in Valkenwaard. The vehicle with the lights on facing the camera in front of the church is our campervan.
A Sherman tank outside a house in Aasalt. As can be seen, the shell damage has been repaired and the house is good as new.
General 'Boy' Browning, Commander of the Allied 1st Airborne Army, confers with General Gavin, 82nd Airborne Division, near Overaasalt.
Colonel Sink of the 506th PIR in Eindhoven. The 101st Airborne captured four of it's five bridge objectives but critically had the Son bridge blown up in their faces by the Germans.
XXX Corps crossing the Grave Bridge, captured by the 82nd Airborne.
General Kussin, Commandant of Arnhem, hanging dead out of his staff car after being ambushed by Bristish Paratroops.
General Urquhart standing at the rear of the Hartenstein Hotel, Bristish HQ. The hotel is now a museum with the pennant next to Urquhart on display.
Paratroopers of the 1st Borders dug in near the Hartenstein Hotel in Oosterbeek. Approximately five minutes after this photo was taken the Germans attacked. This is outside 14 Van Lennepweg. Other houses in the street still have hedges.
One of the most famous photographs of the war. A 3 inch mortar firing from within the Oosterbeek perimeter. The plaque in the foreground identifies this spot as the mortar position.
A German Stug III Assault Gun advancing in Arnhem.
Dick Winters, Easy Company, 2nd Bn, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, The Island, the Netherlands, 1944. Modern day photo of yours truly. The estate Landgoed Schoonderlogt was 2nd Battalion HQ.
Micsellaneous photographs from Operation Market-Garden.
From left to right: Top Row:
Parachute monument to 82nd Airborne at Overaasalt, Plaque at Joe's Bridge, Landing Zone X-ray at Arnhem (now a golf course), Airborne monument at Hartenstein Hotel, Sherman Tank at Hartenstein Hotel.
Second Row: Airborne pennant in museum, Diorama of German uniforms, The Hartenstein Hotel, Numer 14 Zwarteweg - General Urquhart and Brigadier Lathbury hid in this loft from German troops, The "Bridge too Far" - John Frost Bridge in Arnhem, Artillery facing the bridge at the site of the monument, Easy Company monument at the "Crossroads".
