Operation+Market+Garden

=Operation Market Garden= Edited by Sam Fabro

Operation Market Garden was an airborne landing in Normandy 1944. Many historians still discuss whether it was a failure or a brilliant role in the war. Perhaps it could have taken its brilliance from the fact that it was a real, and one of the only Allied attempts to defeat the brutal German enemies. Maybe this is said because at the time it was the largest air born battle to ever have taken flight. Whatever it is considered to be, it is not insignificant to its role in World War II. Operation Market-Garden pushed boundaries that have not been before touched. Nonetheless, the Allied technique was interesting on this attack because of its use of airborne planes and infiltration of troops on the ground. The air aspect of the invasion would be represented in the word "Market", where as "Garden" would represent the troops on ground. More meaning is taken from this event because it also held back the War's ending, as this story ends in tragedy for the Allied forces.

The decision was to make the war come to an end by Christmas 1944, (which ultimately did not get accomplished because of the failure of this operation). To do this they had to overtake Eindhoven, Nimigen, Arnhem, and five of the bridges in Holland. The bridge at Arnhem spanned what was to Germany a psychological as well a physical barrier, the Rhine. Allied troops were aching to get into this resourceful area of German territory. They assumed the only way to take down the enemy would be to infiltrate into their main area of source and capture.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, of the United States, was committed to his "Broad front" stretegy: a slow but sure way of advancing his ground forces in a coordinated manner to put the enemy under constant pressure over a wide area. General Montgomery (Monty), of Britain, however, did not like this idea. Monty argued fiercely for a concentrated narrow front; one that, needless to say would be under his command. The joining of divisions together, he argued, would create a force which would be so strong that it would fear nothing and successfully secure the bridges over the Rhine before winter began and seize the Ruhr quickly. His eyes were set on Berlin. Eisenhower frequently rejected this suggestion several times before Monty proposed the idea to his boss, knowing he wanted to test out his 'sky soldiers'.

To make this huge landing, massive ammounts of aircrafts would be in the air. It was determined that the airborne diviosions would be inserted spread over three days. to make matters worse, with so mush air traffic rumbling over the battlefield on both resupply missions and on going airlifts, no ground attack missions could be flown during these times for the fear of aerial collision. This led, in the worst case to the British 1st Airborne Division being forced to land between six and eight miles from its main objective.

At the beginning of the operation, things looked promising for the vengeful Allies. The 82nd Airborne division that flew in to attack was mastering most of their targets. On Day 1, the ground crew had captured 4 bridges out of 5, finding resistance to be weak. Later that day, the German 59th Infantry Division had been defeated. It was not until the British 1st Air-force division came into action that things started to go awry. Not every plane needed had shown up and troops were left to defend territory without the support they were relying on from the air forces. When the soldiers began to pile into their jeeps and strive to hold their captured bridge, the Germans were taking advantage of their weaknesses.

Major Brian Urquhart, of Britian, cheif intelligence officer at General Browning's headquaters, presented photograghic evidence of enemy armor in the Arnhem area. Browning reassured Urqhart the he should not worry unduly, that the reports were probably wrong, and in any case the German troops were refitting and not up too much fighting. Divisional commanders were not told about how many troops there were. They also did not know that Lieutenant General Willi Bittrich's professional and experienced II SS Panzer Corp was going to be there. The landing happened at September 17 1944. Although the success at their drop zone was yet a success. It assited the German response from the beginning. Because they weren't scattered, the Germans were able to pin point where they had landed and block them off.

The Allied troops would leave the Netherlands with causalities that were far more severe than their enemies. Approximately 12,000 Allied men did not return after battle, while about half as men German soldiers died. The opposition put up a strong, determined fight that seemed quite unexpected at the time.

Operation Market Garden wasn't only considered a failure, but a lesson on how important knowledge of enemy positions is vital to a successful mission. If they had used the 'Wide spread' tactic instead, they might have had a better chance at successful operation. The landings were placed way out of the battle front giving the enemy a way at cutting them off. This led to the war not coming to an end by Christmas, but another year of fighting. The 101st Airborne Division were among the first to land and last to retreat and naming of one highway that leads to Arnhem, 'Hells Highway'.

(Sources: Wikipedia) http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_arnhem.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Market_Garden#German