September 1944

After a summer of success for the Allied campaign in key areas of France, a new problem arose.

Their aim was to advance through the Netherlands, ahead lay the rivers of Maas, Waal and the Rhine and a myriad of canals connecting them. Their goal - to bring the frontline to the territory of the Third Reich.

However, if the Allies continued with an armoured ground offensive, then the German army could take out several key strategic bridges, severely hampering Allied progress. Field Marshal Montgomery devised a plan to counter this possibility. The Allied advance would begin with an airborne infiltration attempt. The operation, codenamed “Market Garden”, aimed to parachute masses of Allied soldiers into the area with the objectives of securing the key bridges of Wesel, Grauwe, Nijmegen and Arnhem.

No serious resistance was expected, so these British and American paratroopers could hold the bridges long enough for the armoured divisions to travel down this newly opened corridor and reach Arnhem within 48 hours of the airdrop. Once established in Arnhem, the Allies could launch an all out offensive into the heart of Hitler’s empire and finish the war just weeks after the airdrop.

The most important objective of this campaign was capturing the bridge at Nijmegen on the river Waal. This task was given to the American 82nd Airborne, famed for their fighting in Normandy. With this experience, excellent training and inspired by the importance of the mission, the division had no doubt they could succeed; but even they could not imagine how ferocious the wounded German army could be…