battle of Arnhem

Arnhem, battle of (1944), part of MARKET GARDEN, Montgomery's ambitious two-part operation involving three airborne divisions to secure key bridges in Holland, cross the Rhine, and advance into Germany before the winter of 1944. MARKET involved dropping 101st (US) Airborne Division to capture two canal bridges at Zon and Veghel, 82nd (US) Airborne to take bridges over the Maas at Grave and the Rhine at Nijmegen, and 1st (British) Airborne to capture the Arnhem bridge over the Rhine. While MARKET was taking place, GARDEN called for British XXX Corps to advance 64 miles over the bridges and secure the airborne corridor. There remains a highly charged doubt whether Lt Gen Browning, commanding the Allied airborne corps, was unaware that 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions were refitting in the vicinity of Arnhem, or whether he mentally suppressed ULTRA indications as being inconvenient to the grandiose plan. The same unbalanced (and deeply uncharacteristic) precipitation can be seen in Montgomery's pointed failure even to consult Dutch staff officers, who could have told him that running armour along easily defended causeways was not the manner to advance into Holland.

The choice of the Guards Armoured Division to spearhead the 64 mile (103 km) dash was also misconceived, as dash was something it was known to lack. Although it managed to advance and link up with the two US divisions, it failed to reach Arnhem. Last in a far from exhaustive list of appalling failures of planning and preparation, 1st Airborne landed at Arnhem on 17 September 1944 by parachute and glider, on landing zones 7 miles (11.3 km) distant from their objective, and their radio communications promptly broke down. One battalion (2nd Parachute Battalion) managed to reach the bridge, but was isolated and reduced by German armour. A Polish Parachute Brigade landed on 21 September on the far bank of the Rhine, but was unable to help. Faced with dwindling supplies, heavy casualties, and no prospect of relief from XXX Corps, Maj Gen Urquhart and 2, 700 troops withdrew across the Rhine on the night of 25-6 September, leaving behind nearly 7, 600 killed or captured. Cornelius Ryan's book of the battle, A Bridge Too Far (1974), was made into a celebrated film of the same name in 1977.

— Peter Caddick-Adams

Arnhem, battle of, 1944. British and Polish parachute troops attempted to secure bridges at Arnhem over the Rhine in September 1944, while US forces seized crossings further south. The Americans succeeded; the British drop met overwhelming counter-attack from SS Panzer divisions resting nearby. Montgomery's decision to attack in spite of warnings from ULTRA intelligence was a gamble in an attempt to finish the European war in 1944.